Tuesday, November 17, 2009

DROID is the Woid

Motorola and Verizon have put their heads together to take on the juggernaut that is the Apple iPhone. The result is the much heralded DROID that promises smarter than smart operation thanks to it’s Google Android 2.0 operating system. But let’s have a look and see what you get when you pack a DROID.

Motorola DROID for Verizon Wireless, shown closed.One big difference between the iPhone and every other smart phone, save the BlackBerry Storm, is a physical keyboard. If you’ve spent years developing texting thumbs, then moving to a virtual on-screen keyboard is understandably uncomfortable. Some people gotta have their little pushbuttons. Others just prefer a physical QWERTY keyboard. The DROID doesn’t disappoint. Slide out the hidden keyboard and text so fast you cause sonic booms.

Those who believe that the Microsoft Windows operating system rules the universe and always will, may not have noticed that there are other players looking to unseat the king of Redmond. Apple is quietly selling premium price and quality iMacs in a recessionary economy. The iPhone is going strong and now making a move into other countries, like China. Meanwhile, Google is stretching its tentacles far beyond search. The Android operating system has only crept into the mobile marketplace, but it’s growing. The new DROID will be a big boost to that initiative. Especially since it’s coupled to Verizon Wireless with their excellent nationwide coverage.

With the DROID comes a tight integration between phone and Google’s online empire. That includes thousands of apps downloadable from the Android Market. Apple has quite a head start in the apps marketplace, but DROID has the potential to make downloadable apps a key advantage of this phone. There’s an onboard eCompass along with the expected GPS to enable Google Maps, geo-location web search, geo-tagging and other location based applications.

You can expect a desktop-like experience surfing the Web from your DROID. That’s thanks to the HTML Web browser and Verizon’s 3G data connection called EVDO Rev A. For even faster performance, you can connect to public, personal or corporate WiFi hotspots running 802.11b or g. That’s pretty much all of them now.

What’s a smartphone today without advanced multimedia support? The DROID sports a 5.0 Megapixel digital camera with geo-tagging, flash auto-stabilization, zoom and editing tools. Do you really need to buy a separate digital camera anymore? For most purposes, I’ll bet not. This high resolution camera takes pix good enough to print, as well as share with friends via multimedia messaging or post to photo sites. The 3.7” light responsive color display that doubles as a touch sensitive control screen offers a great platform for viewing video. It has a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels so your images and videos will have a sharp appearance.

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