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Motorola Droid now best Android phone ever *
A few weeks I go I proclaimed the Motorola CLIQ the best Android phone ever, asterisk, at the time it came out.
On Nov. 6, the new Android champion will be the Motorola Droid. That'll make Verizon customers/Apple haters happy now that the carrier has a phone to match its vaunted 3G network, or will have when it becomes available on Nov. 6 for $200 after the usual contract stipulations and rebate.
Handling the phone for the last couple of hours, I find Droid's imperfections overwhelmed by Android 2.0 advances that help unify related functions and, first and foremost, its gorgeous screen. More on why the Droid is be best Android yet after the Continue jump.
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At 3.7 inches diagonal, Droid's display is the biggest on a cellphone, yet the Droid is only a hair larger and actually a bit thinner than the CLIQ. Even better, the LCD is 854 x 480 (WVGA) or 400,000 pixels. Most similarly sized screens are 480 x 320. In less tech terms, text and colors are sharper, bolder and crisper than on any other cellphone LCD I've seen.
All Together Now
Droid is more than its screen and slide-out QWERTY keypad. To make non-verbal communications easier, Motorola borrows the contact-centric phonebook from CLIQ's MOTOBLUR social-network interface. Contacts in your phone book include text and email data, but let you compose a message or post to varying your contact's pages on social-networking sites such as Facebook without having to actually boot the Android Facebook app. Droid also handily merges all the info from contacts culled from varying app phonebooks and email contact lists, such as Facebook and Gmail.
Further unifying disparate functions, the home page-based Google Search now scours not only the Web but data on your Droid. For instance, if you do a search on U2, you'll find websites, plus websites you've visited or bookmarked, apps, contacts or, optionally, YouTube and your music. You can change these search options in the settings.
Google Maps now comes with voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions and "layers" — instead of having to choose a normal map view or a traffic view or a satellite view, you can overlay these options on top of each other. You can also share your location with other Google Navigation users for keeping track of your peeps or coordinating arrival at a mutual destination, i.e., "I'm lost, do you see where I am? How do I get to where you are?"
Moto Quibbles
I have some initial complaints. First, the 5MP camera is slow to process the large images. And, despite included image stabilization, indoor shots with the dual LED flash come out blurry if you don't hold the camera stock-still until the shot is processed. Photos also can be geotagged, but oddly this is not the default setting. I'm not even sure why there is an option to begin with — what is the drawback to having all your photos automatically geotagged?
Like the CLIQ, Droid's slide-out horizontal keyboard is three-line rather than four, which means you'll need to tap ALT to access the number keys.
YouTube playback was hinky on my demo unit, especially when I tried to watch videos in HQ. They'd get stuck in "loading" and never actually play. Unlike other Android phones, there isn't a "full screen" zoom option, which means videos that do play play in the middle third of the screen.
But Droid's big, sharp screen makes everything easier to read, Android 2.0 adds the kind of intuitive interface that makes using a complex cellphone easier, Verizon's EV-DO network speeds net surfing, and Droid's solid metallic body fills klutzes with confidence.
Now all we need is an iTunes-like Android client software.
By Neotyguy40 at 7:47 PM ON 10/28/09
Wow, DVice REALLY wants to have this phone be the iPhone slayer...
Sorry guys, but ontop of the Apple fanboys, user-base of the iPhone, and the chance the iPhone may come to other carriers? Not likely... Or possible...
By geotag? at 8:13 PM ON 10/28/09
Do you really want pictures of your kids to have geotags so that any one that happens to get a copy ot the the digital picture has directions to go directly to them?
By dix at 8:49 PM ON 10/28/09
Maybe it's just me. But between WebOS and Android pulling all of this information from all of these online sources... I don't want to muck up my contacts list with all of this useless information. I only have Facebook and there are probably 70 "friends" that I don't need their bdays, addresses, phone numbers, and blah blah blah crowding up my contact list. If I need any of that information, I can merge into contacts myself OR just go to facebook. Maybe it's me, but I don't want everything merged like that.
By sanity at 9:19 PM ON 10/28/09
Don't be ridiculous. The reason geotagging is an option is because it requires that GPS be turned on, which is clearly not always the case and drains battery life.
You don't have to sync your Facebook contacts. It's a feature, not a prerequisite.
Of course it's not going to kill the iPhone. Even a phone which was obviously superior in every way to the iPhone would not kill it, but that doesn't matter. It's a big market, and Droid is going to cut into the sales of every other smartphone. DVice's extraordinarily mediocre review quality aside, Droid is easily the best Android phone yet released and it (finally) provides a strong hardware platform for my preferred mobile OS.
By Neotyguy40 at 9:32 PM ON 10/28/09
I never liked the Android OS... Seems too slow, and when I tried it in a store, I get that 'user friendly' feel that I did with my old BlackBerry or iPhone.
By dix at 10:51 PM ON 10/28/09
Thanks sanity for the heads up on the facebook option. Since I thought it synced automatically I felt that was a negative imo.
By googly_eyes at 11:35 PM ON 10/28/09
Why does everything have to be a 'this' killer or a 'that' killer?
It has it's own strengths, weaknesses, and it's own "personality". I for one am excited to see the droid come out. I think it's cool to see all the great aps and features.
Is it perfect? no, is it cool? I think so.
By afwoal at 12:50 AM ON 10/29/09
I don't believe it is a i phone killer(at least not yet)if android works out i see it hurting blackberry's,palms and the oh so wonderful windows mobile way before it does any damage to the iphone.There is plenty of room for both, but i am looking forward to it .Seeing how Verizon is the only signal i can get where i am,and after years of Verizon controlled phones this is definitely a phone to get excited about.
By Pinwheel at 11:15 AM ON 10/29/09
I'm really excited for this new release. As a Verizon customer I have been waiting for the iPhone, contemplating switching carriers, and holding on to a 3 year old Moto Maxx VE. I don't want this to be an anything killer. As a consumer I want major competition from hardware manufacturers and software developers.
Android on Verizon will be a wakeup call to Apple and Rim, and in a short time the dividends for us consumers (specifically Verizon subscribers) will duly payoff.
Apple will release a 4G phone on Verizon (hopefully) in a year or so, and when my new two year contract is up I am looking forward to debating which phone and software to choose between.
iPhone loyalists should be extremely happy that more competition will require Apple continue to innovate, not resting on previous successes.
By Jay at 1:38 AM ON 10/30/09
I have owned an android im not really all that impressed honestly. if android wanted to take a stab at iphones they should have came off original with their own style Yes android is pretty much "have fun you dont need to jailbreak" but even with that it is still not impressive i loved android when it released and hated iphones but i gave iphones a try for the heck of it and i think android will never outperform apple thats just my honest opinion. When the 4g iphone releases well see who's king i really there are many rumors of the iphone having a ton of new capabilities since the new iphone wont be out for a year or so i have a feeling apple is sitting back and taking a look at what android is doing and im sure apple will be stirring up something to make android look bad.
By Gary Wilkes at 9:19 PM ON 10/30/09
The Droid is comparable to a lot of other sliding touchscreen/button smart-phones, the OS is definitely noteworthy, and surprisingly easy to use... I'd say it was a good move by Verizon
By Anonymous at 2:43 PM ON 10/31/09
Wow they really want this phone to be the best phone there is and that's what it's turning out to be
By chris at 4:52 AM ON 11/09/09
Your last statement was that you wanted itunes like client software for syncing with your droid:
By Anonymous at 7:39 PM ON 01/26/10
hvd
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