Verizon Droid

PreThinking has a comparison between the Droid and the Palm Pre, here are some of the highlights of the comparison: One area in the phone department where the Verizon Droid takes an edge, is on the amount of time you have to wait to actually get into a call. For some reason the simplest app on the Pre, the ‘Phone’ app, seems to have quite a bit of lag. The Pre’s phone app takes 1-2 seconds longer to load then the Verizon Droid and it takes longer to switch between screens such as, recent calls, the dialer, and the contacts list. Also the Pre is lacking a favorites list which comes in handy when you have hundreds of contacts. When scrolling through the contacts list on the Verizon Droid it feels much smoother and has virtually no lag or skips. The Pre’s contacts list within the phone app has quite a bit of lag and skips often. The Pre isn’t completely out of it in the phone app though. There is nothing more rewarding than sliding out the Pre’s small keyboard in portrait mode and typing a name to immediately get results within any part of the phone app. With the Pre you can basically start typing any time when in the phone app or on the home screen. When using the Verizon Droid you have to be specifically in the contacts list and either slide out the big keyboard in landscape or hit menu then tap search. Other than that the phone apps work as they should and both offer excellent quality calls as long as you’re in a decent coverage area. The Pre and Verizon Droid both have the TI OMAP 3430 which is also seen in the iPhone 3GS and have 256mb of RAM and 512MB of ROM. Other than their processing chip the Pre and Droid are two very dfferent beasts. The Pre comes with a 3.1 inch screen that is displayed in a colorful 24bit 320×480 resolution HVGA display. The Pre, because of its smaller screen and high color density, actually looks better than other phones with similar resolutions like the iPhone and G1. The screen is a plastic capacitive multitouch screen which has a bit of roundedness to it. The Droid has a 3.7 inch WVGA display at 854×480 Resolution. The Droid has a glass capacitive screen with multitouch (YES IT DOES HAVE MULTITOUCH) and is completely flat with a bezel around the screen that has about a 1mm lift. There is no doubt the Verizon Droid has better quality video playback when it comes to videos you put on the phone itself as well as videos streamed from YouTube. The colors are more accurate, sharp, and the videos are always nice and big due to the large screen size. Both phones have a hardware keyboard which sets them apart from the all-powerful iPhone. So which keyboard is better? It really all depends on your personal preference. The Pre has a portrait slider that can seem a little cramped but once you get used to it you can fly. The Droid has a landscape slider that can seem a little too spread at times but once you are used to it you can fly. Neither keyboard is the best at what it is. For example the portrait keyboard the Blackberry Bold/Tour has is the one to beat in the portrait department. As far as landscape QWERTY goes, the Droid’s keyboard is not nearly as good as the TouchPro 2 slider and personally I don’t think it’s even as good as the G1 keyboard. Though Motorola did away with the chin that the G1 had, there is still a 4 way directional pad to the right of the keyboard which causes your right thumb to stretch farther than your left while typing. Both keyboards require a little bit of attention while typing because there isn’t a whole lot of difference in feel between the keys. I find myself being able to type just over 40 words per minute on both keyboards which is just fine for me. The Droid has a bit of an edge because it also has a virtual keyboard in both landscape and portrait mode. This keyboard is NOT a better alternative to either the Pre or Droid’s hardware keyboard but it is convenient and useful when making quick notes or a text. Conclusion: WebOS and Android are so similar and so different at the same time it really is hard to tell which is better. They both have their strong points and they both have their weak points. WebOS is easier to use and a bit easier on the eyes when it comes to the UI. Android allows you to do a lot more customization and tweaking but is a little bit less user friendly. Android has behind it the fact that it is an open source operating system and there are multiple manufacturers working on putting out the best Android devices possible. Palm is working on getting its WebOS into customer’s hands and only has two devices. There is room in the market for both platforms. If I had to recommend a phone to someone just joining the smartphone community for the first time, I would feel obligated to recommend the Pre because of how easy it is to use. If I was recommending the phone to someone who loves customization and is coming off another platform, I might recommend the Droid.

Wait – before you rush to the store to pick up the Motorola Droid from Verizon, you should really, seriously consider the HTC Droid Eris. The Motorola Droid has been getting all the glory as of late, thanks to it’s cathartic bashing of the iPhone via its “iDon’t but Droid does” commercials, but the Eris might actually be the Droid you’re looking for. Check out the reasons why from Cell Phone Plans:

1. Form Factor
2. HTC Sense – Eris Has It, Motorola Never Will
3. Coming Soon to HTC Droid Eris: Android 2.0
4. Still Packs a Punch
5. Price

Highlights of a review from Electronista
HTC’s Hero is the company’s first signal that it’s serious about taking the lead in Android smartphones; it’s the first to try and improve in a significant way on Google’s platform — including multi-touch and in-browser Flash — as well as the first to reach multiple North American carriers. Much is riding on its success, especially as it’s one of the most important phones for Sprint, Telus and Verizon (through the Droid Eris) all at once. Our review hopes to gauge whether the phone has the strength to carry that burden and give the iPhone serious pause.

the Hero’s design: Telus, Sprint, Verizon

Discussing the ergonomics of the Hero is difficult than for most smartphones simply because of the liberties HTC has taken with customizing the design for different regions. While our review unit is the world version that ships to Telus, the Sprint model and the Droid Eris at Verizon have both undergone major cosmetic overhauls.

wrapping up

The Hero has a knack for creating an oddly emotional attachment with its owner. While we’ve had gripes with the strictly average performance or the lackluster camera, the subtle but unique design and the customizations to Android make it feel like a constant companion. Its design always seems tailored specifically to help you, especially in terms of long term wear and tear. The Sense UI additions also provide just that much extra help, saving the trouble of going one layer deeper or having to resort to an outside app. Combined with a very Internet-aware OS with a robust app market, the net effect made us eager to hold on to the phone for as long as possible — something we can’t often say for the phones that pass by our desk.

Our only true disappointment is that the Hero at times feels more like a bug fix for the Magic than the follow up you’d expect. Besides expanding carrier choices, there doesn’t appear to be any real reason for the Hero to exist without the Magic being phased out. A truer upgrade should be available soon with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and other possible improvements, so if you’re willing to spend the premium those are likely to command, consider that option first.

Sprint’s Hero or Verizon’s Droid Eris won’t have the design advantage, but they’re still well-shaped. Whether or not the handset is a good deal depends entirely on which of the three networks you use, even so. Arguably, those worst off are Sprint customers: the phone there costs $180 on contract and comes only with a 2GB microSD card, which will be enough for photos and apps’ content storage but far from adequate for serious media playback. In the States, the Droid Eris is the better bargain as it not only costs $100 but packs a much more reasonable 8GB card. The international version we tried with Telus sits somewhere in between: it has the anemic 2GB card and requires a three- year plan, but it too costs $100 and has the best call quality and design traits of the three.

Sprint customers may have the option of levelling the playing field by shopping through a third-party or simply waiting for a sale; we should also add that Cellular South has the Sprint version of the phone for $100 if you happen to live inside its coverage area.

Regardless of how your geography dictates your purchase, the Hero is arguably the best touchscreen-only Android phone in North America for 2009, even when pitted against the technically more advanced Samsung Behold II at T-Mobile. HTC’s ability to balance hardware and software design makes it a tough phone to defeat, and if it weren’t for the existence of the Motorola Droid, we’d consider it the go-to phone for Android, full stop. We don’t think it will unseat the iPhone from its throne as the iPhone 3GS’ speed, browser and media features still give it an edge, but anyone disillusioned with Apple’s policies in the App Store, who craves multitasking, or who simply wants to be different will be satisfied with a Hero.

eWeek has a review of the HTC Droid Eris, here are some highlights:
The other high-profile Google Android phone, the HTC Droid Eris, takes a different approach. Unlike the Motorola Droid, which slides apart to reveal a physical QWERTY keyboard, the Droid Eris is a single-piece touch-screen device reminiscent of the iPhone. At 4.23 ounces (and no physical keyboard), it is substantially lighter and sleeker than the Motorola Droid, which feels like a miniature brick in your pocket.
However, the HTC Droid Eris comes with a trackball for navigation, which I feel was a substantial mistake; Research In Motion has been eliminating trackballs in favor of trackpads for a reason. Besides clogging with grime after weeks or months of use, the trackball made certain functions of the HTC Droid Eris—such as snapping photos—into mildly annoying chores.

Verdict
At the risk of instigating a flame-war, I feel that the Verizon Droid is the closest that an Apple rival has come to creating a true iPhone killer. Subsequent versions of Google Android will iron out the few kinks, and the Android Marketplace will expand its apps offerings—maybe not enough to challenge Apple’s App Store, but certainly enough to make it a more robust challenger.
The one drawback to the Verizon Droid is its form-factor. I did appreciate the physical keyboard, but I felt it also came at the cost of a weightier-than-necessary device and blocky form-factor (the Palm Pre had a sliding physical keyboard, too, and yet its designers managed to keep it fairly light). This may be a benefit to people who prefer to carry a physically substantial phone. I am not one of them.
The HTC Droid Eris shares many of the same benefits of the Verizon Droid. It is also lighter, and I didn’t mind relying only on a virtual keyboard—although that could be an insurmountable problem for some users. The one major drawback to the Droid Eris was that trackball, which was annoying and made some functions decidedly un-user-friendly; but future editions of the device may take a page from RIM and adopt a trackpad. At $99 after rebate, as opposed to $199.99 for the Droid, the Droid Eris may present a better price proposition for some users, depending on their data-plan.
In my own opinion, I declare a three-way draw between the Verizon Droid, HTC Droid Eris and the iPhone—but the next generation of the latter two devices could very well overrun Apple, unless Steve Jobs has something particularly innovative up his turtleneck’s sleeve.

There’s no doubt about it, the HTC Droid Eris is one of the best smartphones we’ve used. Like the nearly identical Sprint HTC Hero, it represents a serious step forward in smartphone design, and if you’re a smartphone user looking to step up to something better, the HTC Droid Eris does a great job at nearly everything it can do. Ironically, comparisons to the Apple iPhone 3GS don’t quite pan out, because everything Apple’s phone does well, the Droid Eris doesn’t, and vice versa. From advanced calling features to deep social networking integration to wide customization options with active, useful widgets on the desktop, the HTC Droid Eris on Verizon Wireless bests Apple’s device, and even comes in ahead of the slightly faster, much larger Motorola Droid. But where the Apple iPhone 3GS excels, in ease of use, multimedia features and the deep App Store library, loaded with high-end games and apps, the HTC Droid Eris, like all Android phones, falls flat. We’d also like to see a much better camera tacked on this phone, and Verizon would be wise to patch up some holes in the feature set with VZ Navigator and tethered modem support. Still, the Droid Eris isn’t just effective, it’s delightful, and though new smartphone buyers might be intimidated by the complex system, time spent learning the ins and outs of the device will be rewarded handsomely. Release: November 2009. Price: $100.

Pros: Best interface on a mobile device. Social networks integrate neatly with online contacts and calendars. Detailed and useful information presented during calls.

Cons: Interface may be too complicated for new users. Lacks GPS turn-by-turn navigation. Camera is horrible.

Score – 81% Very Good

Read the full review in Info Sync World

It’s apparently not common knowledge that there are actually two Droids: the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Eris. They’re both Android-based phones, but significantly different in form and firmware. The Motorola Droid is a slider phone with a large screen and a physical keyboard that runs Android 2.0. The Droid Eris is cheaper, with a slower CPU and no dedicated GPU, but it’s also far slicker than the Motorola Droid.
The initial layout of Android 1.5 on the Eris is quite pleasing. The home screen offers a customizable selection of application shortcuts and a heads-up display with the current time and weather. Off to each side of this screen are three “desktop” screens that can be populated with widgets, application shortcuts, or any mixture of the two. The standard widgets, including an e-mail quick-viewer and a text messaging app, are extremely handy. The e-mail quick-viewer, for example, shows the last received e-mail and lets you flip back in your inbox easily, without opening the full e-mail client.

On the other desktop screens, you can easily drop in launchers for any application, additional widgets such as the one for Google search, and shortcuts to common tasks such as turning Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on or off. Once you grok the concept of having multiple configurable screens rather than, say, the iPhone’s launcher-only screens, you’ll appreciate the wealth of possibilities.

Read the full review at Infoworld

If the Motorola Droid is too much and too expensive an Android phone for you, Verizon now offers an entry level Android phone, the HTC Droid Eris, for half the price ($99 with contract and post-rebate). Even though oddly named for the Greek god of strife, Eris provides anything but. Essentially a slightly spruced-up version of the HTC Hero from Sprint, Eris is a quick powerhouse packed with a 5 MP camera, WiFi and visual voicemail, and offers seven home screens, four more than the more expensive Droid.

Verizon took its sweet time jumping into the Android marketplace, but the carrier has quickly jumped into the fore of Andoid phone suppliers. Eris is an excellent and inexpensive Introduction to Android for its subscribers looking for an iPhone alternative. While its short battery life is annoying, Eris is an outstanding phone in every other way.

read the full review at Digital Trends]

CIO.com has some articles about the Motorola Droid:

Is the Droid Good News for iPhone Owners?
“The more platforms, the merrier,” says Gartner analyst. “Competition is a good thing.”

Verizon Droid: 5 Standout Features
Well, gang, it’s official: Verizon’s Motorola Droid smartphone is on its way into the world. The Droid, unveiled Wednesday, will hit store shelves on November 6 with a $199.99 price tag, after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a new two-year contract.

Motorola Droid Vs. Apple IPhone 3GS: Finally, a Contender?
Today’s formal unveiling of the Motorola Droid smartphone on Verizon’s network was an anticlimax, given most of the details had been leaked days earlier. Nevertheless, it’s the boldest, most open iPhone challenge yet.

The Motorola Droid party is still going on, and here are 2 more reviews for you:

From Phone Arena:
Comparison between the leading Android phones:

Conclusion:

It’s almost unfathomable to see Verizon tie the knot with Android – especially seeing how the carrier passed up the iPhone and usually packs on its applications on smartphones. The obvious comparisons will be made between the DROID and other premier handsets available on the market, including ones that are already part of the Android lineup. Verizon has definitely got itself a jewel in the form of the Motorola DROID and will most likely provide some much needed attention to the open platform. In doing so, it shows Verizon’s commitment in lessening their control on how a phone should be retrofitted with software out of the box. As for Motorola, the hype and talk around this phone lives up to the expectations. Being the creators of such a quality product, it clearly places Motorola in the correct direction to becoming the dominant figure it once was. We’ve slowly seen in the last year how they’ve changed their focus on the design of their handsets, for example the Motorola Krave ZN4 and Karma QA1 – all culminating to the eventual creation of the Motorola DROID.

With a lot of attention in both ads featured online and television, the DROID is fast becoming a household name. We found very few faults with the device – specifically the minor choppy movements when you navigate through the three home screen pages. Its improvements in the hardware department make it a worthy addition to the Android lineup that’s becoming more robust. It’s too early to tell whether the DROID will have a profound impact on how the Android platform is received by consumers, but we’re sure that its presence on Verizon will attract a whole new audience, not to mention that the HTC DROID Eris will also make its Verizon debut. For Google, this is a win-win position for them thanks partly to Android 2.0 – we’re going to expect to see a shift in the mind share of Google’s playing field in various software industries. Pack all of these things in a sleek body that’s constructed and put together with the finest of materials, you’ll have yourself a winner that’s sure to stand top among the best of the best. It may not be completely perfect, but it does place the emphasis of DROID in Android.

From The Gadgeteer:
The Droid’s home screen:

and Facebook widget:

Verizon Droid party day today:
The Droid by Motorola is back live on Motorola’s home page.