Christopher Price is the Founding Editor of PhoneNews.com. Today, he leads the team building Console, Inc. - a new kind of Android™ device. He still likes to pontificate... a lot. You can visit his personal blog at ChristopherPrice.net.

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31 responses to “Review: Motorola Droid (Verizon Wireless)”

  1. Ashwin

    You are wrong about “having to powercycle a phone this modern just to copy a few files over to the microSD”.

    When you connect the DROID to your PC using a microUSB cable, you can “mount” it to copy files between your PC and the phone. It basically becomes a USB flash drive. This is one thing I really like about the DROID!

  2. Daniel H.

    Chris –

    I have a VX6800 which I have refused to upgrade, because I didn’t want to pay Verizon for a Smartphone data plan.

    Is this the first phone that might actually be the tipping point for me? In your opinion, is it worth the $360/year that a data plan costs to get this phone? The free GPS part seems like a really good draw. (Might I add, GPS on the 6800 using TomTom Software is really slow, and not reliable, although it is “free” of monthly charges.)

  3. David Friedman

    I’m a G1 user, thinking of switching to Verizon and the Droid. So far, the only important thing that the Droid seems to be missing is the ability to connect with an external bluetooth keyboard, something not yet supported by the Android software. With that, the large screen, and DocumentsToGo from Dataviz (Word, Excel, and pdf compatible), the Droid would be pretty close to a laptop replacement for trips.

    But I haven’t yet gotten my hands on one, so don’t have first hand information on the keyboard. I keep wishing that Psion would license the magic spell that gave its pda’s usable miniature keyboards to one of the current cell phone manufacturers. So far as I can tell, nothing currently on the market comes close.

  4. Kevin25a

    Chris,

    A quick question that I have seen no answers to is.. Does the Droid, and Android 2.0 finally allow you to install apps to the SD card? Having only 256mb or Ram severely limits the apps that can be installed.

  5. Don Louie

    I really want to hate this phone but the more I read about it the more jealous of vzw subs I am. I hope 2.0 helps out the rest of the Android users, the Moment doesn’t do it for me because I wanted something like this

  6. Alissa

    I honestly thnk that this Android/ Droid Phone could be designed way better i mean people want a phone that can do almost everything.

  7. david

    will sprint ever get this phone

  8. Neil

    how does this compare to the upcoming samsung moment on sprint?
    i know the moment is supposed to have 1.5 as of now, but i’m sure there’s a way to get 2.0 on to it or will be very soon. and the hardware seems more powerful. no doubt it’s uglier, but in terms of functionality what kind of difference can we expect?

  9. Christopher Price

    Google has only confirmed Android 2.0 for the HTC Hero, though it is probable that the Samsung Moment will eventually be upgraded.

    Having used Android 2.0, it’s hard to use Android 1.5 without feeling that it’s meant for a more basic audience. It’s not bad, it just isn’t the high end anymore. It will be interesting to see if the Moment’s faster CPU (compared to the Hero) is able to bridge the gap between Hero and Droid.

  10. Don Louie

    I think if Sprint is getting it they should do like McAdams did and say we’ll be getting it too

  11. Christopher Price

    Carriers don’t like doing that, unless a device has extremely high buzz (like the Palm Pre), for a sustained period of time.

    The reason is that the carriers never want you “waiting for Device X to sign up.” In Sprint’s example, they want you to buy a Hero or Moment now, and not wait. So, like the other carriers, they likely won’t talk about it until Droid is a household name, or it’s within weeks of launch.

  12. Don Louie

    I guess, the Pre had a buzz going since January

  13. Neil

    you say that Moment’s CPU is faster than Hero – how does it compare to the Droid’s CPU? it’s 800MHz, but what does that mean in terms of actual performance?

  14. Don Louie

    The author italicized how big the CPU doesn’t matter but I would like to know that too

  15. celz

    i wonder how powerful that gpu chip is in the droid.. and if the moment has anything like it

  16. Christopher Price

    Certainly the Moment will be closer to Droid than the Hero/Droid Eris. We’ll take a look at the Moment in the near future and let you know how it stacks up.

  17. i like dan hesse

    Chris –

    In your opinion…Which handset will save their company: Palm Pre or Moto Driod??

  18. Christopher Price

    I don’t think one handset will save any company. It took Apple three generations of iPod to generate game-changing sales.

    I think the key for both companies will be how fast they can grow both their device portfolios, and their communities, using these devices as launch points. Both manufacturers, as Palm has seen already, cannot rely on a single carrier exclusive to push sales.

    The Palm Pre is not causing mass defections to Sprint, and that’s stifling growth of the platform. Likewise, a Sprint customer that can buy an HTC Hero or Samsung Moment, will not likely defect to Verizon and the Moto Droid.

    In sum, Palm needs to get webOS fleshed out in terms of code support, app store delivery, and on a broad range of devices that span carriers. If they aren’t willing to license webOS in the near term, they need to go out on their own and deliver everything from Centro-style free after rebate phones, all the way on up to the post-Pre superphones.

    Motorola is in a similar camp. They need to bury Synergy and MOTOMAGX as quickly as possible, and deliver Droid-style devices that cost $0 with contract, and stay ahead of iPhone in performance.

    Neither Palm nor Motorola has an easy road ahead. But, if they follow the course I laid out, neither company is in the near-death position they both were in 12 months ago.

  19. chad

    is the droid a world phone meaning cdma/gsm like the storms?

  20. chad

    if the droid is world phone gsm/cdma then its in the bag

  21. Christopher Price

    Droid is not a world phone. The Android platform does not yet support dual-technology (CDMA & GSM) officially. Based on what I have been briefed on the subject, it’s something that will be implemented next year in Android, so devices then can start adding it.

  22. KP

    Will the Droid have Verizon’s VCAST and Mobile TV?

  23. Christopher Price

    The Droid may offer V CAST Video as a separate download, much like how it was added for BlackBerry.

    There’s a separate corner of the Android Market on Verizon phones labeled V CAST. It appears to be for future use… the only app listed under it is Visual Voicemail, which is identical in functionality to the app for Windows Mobile and non-smartphones.

    V CAST Mobile TV requires MediaFLO hardware inside the device, because Android does not support MediaFLO, the Droid does not include Mobile TV. Qualcomm has yet to author Android support for MediaFLO chipsets.

    I would expect both V CAST Video and Song ID to eventually be released.

  24. JO-NA

    i heard rumors that the droid once had a feature of both on-screen keyboard and a physical keyboard….could a phone someday come with a feature like it?

  25. lost1ny3gurl

    The droid apparantly has 3 keyboards to it. A qwerty on the inside, and 2 seperate digital ones going horizontal and vertical. That’s what it said on the video review about this phone.

  26. youserbase Julio

    Hi
    This phone is great. But you got to compare it with other phone. Go to http://www.youserbase.org/uk/Mobile/Motorola/Droid to view a little details about Motorola Droid

    Thanks

  27. John Miller

    Droid DOES have the “pinch” function if you use the Dolphin Browser.