This is the one a lot of people have been waiting to get their hands on, and rightfully so! Verizon has loosened their belt a bit and finally allowed an Android phone on their network. The Motorola Droid, backed by a large advertising campaign, aims to stomp on the iPhone 3GS in every way possible. It is being released November 6th for $199 (w/ 2 year contract), and will be the most powerful Android device on the market.

Here are some quick specifications:

• Android 2.0
• 5mp camera w/ autofocus & dual flash
• 3.7in display
• 550mhz processor
• 256mb RAM
• 16gb microSD card (class 2)
• CDMA Rev A
• Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• Magnetometer (compass)
• 3.5mm headphone jack

CPF managed to obtain a new Droid in its release state. Keep on reading, it gets good!

Cosmetic
The first thing I noticed, after running around looking for something to open this marvelous UPS delivery, was a red eye peering back at me. Right away you get a sense that this phone means business and not in a BlackBerry way.


On the reverse:


After sliding the cover off:


Inside the box is a charger with USB cable - the cable doubles as the charger cable. The charging/data port on the phone is micro USB.


Backside of the phone with protective plastic on it:


The phone is sleek, kind of boxy, with a rubberized backing. Most of the body is made of metal so it doesn't feel cheap. It has some weight to it and gives you the impression that it can take a beating.




With the keyboard out:


Some side views:




Compared to a BlackBerry Storm2 (not really a good comparison, I know, but I didn't have another sliding phone laying around)




Boot Up
When turning the phone on you get a "DROID" across the screen, then a red eye like on the cover. DROID emits from the speakers and it boots up, quite quickly I should add.

Screen
This is a large screen! It comes in at 3.7in (854x480). It's very sharp and has a lot of contrast. The response of the screen is gratifying; the phone buzzes when you touch it (haptic feedback). Touch sensitive Back, Menu, Home, and Search buttons are also included. The only thing this screen is missing is multi-touch. (yes, the hardware supports it, but there is no trace of it in the built in software)


Applications
Some notes on applications:

• Facebook, Amazon MP3 Store, and Verizon Visual Voice Mail all come pre-loaded.
• Google Maps w/ Navigation
• Naturally Google Gmail, Calendar, Talk, and YouTube come pre-loaded

Google Maps with Navigation beta is incredible. Here's the video that Google put out just a couple days ago:

I was able to pretty much mimic what happens in the video. This is the first phone to feature this application. In fact, right now it's exclusive. It works just how you'd expect any GPS to work, but it can have actual pictures of the road (satellite or street view) and just about live traffic data. I would buy this phone for this feature alone. Alas, I'm sure it will be on other phones soon though. This is really going to give GPS companies a run for their money.

Keyboard
The keyboard is flat and soft to the touch. It will take some getting used to if you regularly use a phone with raised keys. It's understandable why they had to use such a keyboard; One - it's a slide out keyboard phone. Two - to make the phone thin (and it is very thin for a slide keyboard phone). Still, they could've made the spacing of the keys better. Moto did make it easy to access all the important web and texting keys like . @ / and ? without pressing the Alt key. They also threw in a search and menu button. It's a mystery though as to why there are two blank keys. You would think they would have utilized this space better.



The directional pad is good, but I would've liked to feel a little more of a difference between what direction you're pushing and the center 'enter' key.

Of course you also have the option of using the on screen keyboard while the phone is in portrait. I should mention that the shift and alt keys are a toggle and you cannot press shift or alt while pressing another key at the same time.

Calling & Sound Quality
Call quality is great on the Motorola Droid. Verizon's network helps with this, I'm sure. Some notes about calls:

• The standard dial pad operates quickly and easily.
• I love the favorites feature built into Android.
• You can use Google Voice if you choose to. Awesome!
• A proximity sensor turns off the touch screen when you have the phone up to your face.
• The speaker, found under the gold screen in the back of the phone, reproduces sounds surprisingly accurate.

Battery Life
The battery life is outstanding. The Droid is rated with a talk time of 6.4 hours and a standby time of 11 1/4 days on a 1400mAh battery! So with a running web browser, wi-fi, bluetooth, facebook, etc you'll get a whole days use out of it. That's pretty darn good. One of the things that Verizon is pushing as a feature over the iPhone is that you can remove the battery and replace it if/when needed. That's kind of funny considering how good the battery is anyway. I guess they really wanted to work it from all angles.

After removing the back cover you see the battery and 16gb microSD card (the battery does have to be removed to remove the microSD card)


Android 2.0
Google seems to have hit a home run with Android 2.0. They've added several new features that many people will love. Here's a couple:

• Streamlined UI
• Combined e-mail inboxs
• New web browser
• Voice commands
• Exchange compatibility
• Universal search (searches the phone and the web)

Things that are missing from Android 2.0:

• Phone Password - you can't set a real password on the phone other then setting a unique gesture (literally a series of lines) to unlock the phone.
• No password timeout setting - this means that the phone's screen will go to sleep and you're fored to unlock it every time at a hard coded interval.
• A good Facebook app - I found the Facebook app to be lackluster compared to the BlackBerry version - you can sync contacts like with the BlackBerry version, but it doesn't give you dedicated Facebook notifications other than the standard e-mail. Also, I found duplicate entries for some of my Facebook contacts. This is a bug in the software, I'm sure. This really isn't Google's fault, but I'm sure this is a program that a lot of people will use and contribute to their experience of the phone.
• No updates to music player (see below)

Accessories
Motorola and Google also put a lot of thought into accessories that will be available for the phone. We're not just talking about cases and bluetooth headsets here, but special docks and car mounts that enable features of the phone when connected to them.

• Home Dock - turns the phone into an alarm clock complete with large time display, weather and music icons
• Car Dock - sets the phone to 'car home' which integrates with Google Maps Navigation (see video above)

Web Browsing
The web browser is smooth and fast. It just works how you'd expect it. You can easily zoom in/out (double tap), select objects, and navigate with the directional pad. I really like how when you select a form, it automatically zooms in and displays the keyboard. It's really sharp and ads to the whole phone's experience. There are also shortcut keys to add bookmarks, find text, select text, view page info, share the page, downloads, and settings. HTML 5.0 is supported. At the moment flash lite is not supported, but a plug-in is supposed to be on its way. Some may miss a pinch-zoom feature, but the double tap works fine for me.


Media Player
Unfortunately Google didn't do too much with the media player in Android 2.0. The music player has the standard controls that you're used to, but I still think the iPhone/iPod has won in this category. There is no way out of the box to sync music with your computer, although it can be done with programs like iTunes Agent. If you want to get music on the phone you have to connect the phone via USB cable and drag/drop the music files you want 'into' the phone. The other method is to buy songs from the included Amazon MP3 application. I'm actually surprised Verizon didn't put Rhapsody on the phone.

The phone does have a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you don't have to worry about adapters. You can also play the music through the phone's speakers if you want. Once more accessories are released I'm sure you'll see docks a la iPhone/iPod docks.

YouTube comes pre-loaded. Videos look great on the large screen and they load in a reasonable amount of time (depending on the size of the video). This is really thanks to the Verizon 3g connection. Of course having Wi-Fi connected will help on download time.


Camera

The 5mp camera includes auto-focus, dual LED flashes, and image stabilization. The user interface for the camera is better than on Android 1.0. Android 2.0 adds 'scene' modes like landscape, sunset, night, etc. You have several options to 'share' the photo, crop/rotate it, set it as contact icon or wallpaper. You can also geotag your photos. The camera application itself is a little slow, however. I expected the photo to be shown to me after taking it, like on every other digital camera device I've ever used, but it didn't. To view the picture you've just taken you have to click on a thumbnail of it in the upper right corner. I should note too that that it froze a couple times while trying to open up.

Here is a picture taken of my cat that I immediately uploaded to Facebook:


She was moving a little bit, but I'm finding that the auto-focus could be a little better. The image is just a little bit fuzzy, something I didn't expect with a 5.0mp camera. It was having a hard time focusing on anything.

Video on the Droid is very good. Resolution is 720x480 in MPEG-4. You'll find that there are less options for video, however. There are no options to 'share' like with photos, presumably because of the larger file size.


Conclusion
This phone is going to make some people wish they didn't switch from Verizon to AT&T just for the iPhone. I'm positive that some people will switch to Verizon just for this phone. The music player and camera could be better, but all the other features make up for it. For those that say 'well, the iPhone can do that', well yes, I suppose it can if you find the right app. Big deal. I'm not saying it's better than the iPhone, but it certainly is a fierce competitor with a bad boy image. I'm sure this is exactly what Verizon wants. They're finally trying a different angle and I believe it's going to work out for them.

I will update this thread if I find anything else worth noting - stay tuned...

Post your thoughts in the Motorola Droid Forum

The BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 is a fantastic update to an already great phone. This highly anticipated phone is finally going to be released by Verizon. It has several new features and tweaks that current storm users will love. New users will love it as well.



What's New
So what's new in the Storm 2? Here's a quick rundown...

• New touchscreen w/ SurePress technology
• Configuration of buttons, or lack of them
• 256mb of memory (128mb in Storm)
• 2gb of internal storage (Storm has 1gb)
• BlackBerry 5.0 OS
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Internet Browsing is faster

The Screen / Typing
The new touch screen with SurePress technology is the first thing you'll notice. It's hard to describe without actually using the phone, but it somehow feels like you're typing even though you aren't actually pressing a button with your finger.

• Compared to the original Storm, instead of feeling like one big washy button, the SurePress feels more even, accurate, and more responsive. The corners of the screen function much better.
• 'Mushiness' is gone.
• Contrast is better (see pics)
• You can type faster on the Storm 2 without typos
• Multitouch capabilities have been added to the screen. This is one reason typing is so much better on the Storm 2; because it can register two different places at once. You can now press alt + shift. This also opens up possibilities for other multitouch applications.
• The screen doesn't move from side to side and show backlight through the cracks like with the original.
• When the device is locked, you cannot press the screen.
• Face detection! When you're on a call the phone knows that it is up to your face (via a proximity sensor). No more accidental face muting and speaker phone!

Cosmetic
The second thing you'll notice is some slight cosmetic changes:

• The buttons at the bottom of the Storm 2 are now part of the screen (send, menu, back, end)
• The chrome outline of the phone is now more of a gunmetal
• The speaker for the speaker phone has been moved from the back to the bottom. There are no rubber 'feet' on the back of the phone that prevent it from laying flat.
• The headset port is now flush with the casing
• The back material is just about the same, but instead of two push clips there is just one clip in the middle. Inside the cover is some rubber material for deadening and, I assume to prevent things from moving around.

Other then the above the two devices are almost identical in size and could easily be mistaken for one another.

Memory / Speed
Ah, some relief from laginess!

• The Storm 2 has more memory (256mb compared to original's 128mb). It's more snappy.
• Opening programs, taking pictures, and the hated lock button lag have all been relieved (the camera still isn't as fast as I'd like but it's faster than the original).
• The browser has been updated and is faster at rendering pages.
• BlackBerry 5.0 OS is also more streamlined and packs several new features of it's own, including inertial scrolling with snap back. Update 10/26/09: I should point out that the new OS is now available for the Storm 1
• Expandable memory up to 16gb, for a total of 18gb!
• Update:The Storm 2 will come with a 16gb sd card loaded!

Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi! This one has Wi-Fi! It seems that Verizon is loosening its belt a little! The Wi-Fi is definitely a great addition.


Web Browsing
The internet browser performs better than the latter. Unfortunately RIM didn't take advantage of the multitouch feature here to zoom in and out like iPhone users are used to. It still doesn't seem as fast at rendering pages as Opera Mini either, and it's still lacking tabs, but if you want you can just download Opera on the phone.

Threaded SMS
This is an improvement that a lot of people will like. Below is an image of the same conversation on a Storm and a Storm 2. Notice how much more condensed the conservation is on the Storm 2. It's also in the order you're used to when using IM programs. When you touch a message, the time the message was sent appears in the upper right. It really bugged me on the Storm that you have to do menu > send to send a text. With the Storm 2 you can press the enter key to send a message. Oh, and they also added smilies :)

Update 10/26/09: I should point out that the new 5.0 BlackBerry OS is now available for the Storm 1, so threaded SMS is now exactly the same.

Camera & Media Functions
Unfortunately, the camera is basically the same, besides being a bit faster from when you press the button to when it actually takes the picture. It doesn't perform well in low light conditions despite the flash. The menu has been updated a bit though; 'Send As...' condenses the many options you can have to send a picture into one menu item. Once you select a way to send the picture you are now given the option to resize the photo. There's also a new option to turn auto-focus off, or set it to a close-up mode.

The music player has a new song slider a la iPhone along with shuffle and repeat buttons under it. There is also a new option menu for the music player complete with headset EQ, audio boost, and appearance controls.

I can't spot any changes in the video player.

Applications
I'm still confused as to why BlackBerry App World doesn't come preloaded, but Application Center does. Having both seems redundant, but why not ditch Application Center? Regardless you can download BlackBerry App World and get access to the thousands of applications that are available for your BlackBerry. CPF currently has a list of these applications here: BlackBerry - Cell Phone Apps

Conclusion
The BlackBerry Storm 2 is a great phone. A lot of people who already have a Storm will be upgrading, I'm sure. There will also be a lot of first time users that will absolutely love the features of this phone. RIM really listened to what people wanted in a phone this time. They continue to churn out quality phones that will make a lot of people happy with their purchase.

The BlackBerry Storm 2 will be available October 28th, 2009 for $179.99 with 2 year contract (including $100 rebate) in Verizon stores

The Nokia Shade is for people that need a basic phone in a small package. It replaces the older Mirage 2605. Here are some of its features:

• It comes with or without a 1.3mp camera
• Support for VZ Navigator
• Can store up to 1,000 contacts
• Interchangeable covers
• Light weight and small (2.6oz - 3.32 x 1.69 x 0.63 inches)
• Large display for small phone (2in)
• 300 min of call time or 360 hours of standby time
• Bluetooth
• MicroUSB 2.0
• $30 with 2 year contract

Immediately you'll notice just how small this phone is. When closed it is just over a half inch thick. It's smaller than the new enV phones.

The interchangeable Xpress-on covers are a nice feature. This allows the user to easily customize the color of the phone. If you are rough on phones this may not be a friendly feature, however. The plastic tabs used to hold them on are sufficient, but after time you may find them in the bottom of your pocket or purse.



When you first turn on the phone there is a handy little setup wizard to set things like the homescreen text, backlight times, wallpaper, the theme, menu layout, font, and clock format.

The outside screen is a nice feature. By default it displays a digital clock, but can be changed to analog, a wallpaper, or off completely. Status of signal and battery are visible on the top, and icons appear for txt messages and voice mail on the bottom.


Things that you'll find missing from this phone are a web browser and a microSD card. Since this is a basic phone, these features really aren't needed. The phone functions great for a low cost, nice looking phone solution.

Attached Thumbnails

       

Just got the MyTouch for the wife on Friday, and its seems like an awesome phone. Well start with the box. The phone comes in a hard fabric case, kind of like a blood pressure machine Doctors carry around some clinics have, with foam surrounding what is housed for the phone. Its a nice size, and is color coded (I believe) depending on what color phone you choose. On the right side of the case is your phone, and the left side has a velcro strap holding it down. Inside of the strapped area there is your batter, Sim card, a USB adaptor, a wall adaptor for the USB cord, a fitted screen protector, a USB converted to 3.5 mm headphone jack line, a paid of ear buds, and a draw string carrying case, other than the manuals and such.

The Hardware

The phone it's self feels alot lighter than the G1. The lake of a physical keyboard helps with the weight of the phone, and as well as the thickness and the size of the phone. On the bottom of the phone are 6 buttons, Call, end, home, search, back, and menu, as well as a trackball. The trackball is slightly wider than on the G1, and feels better than on the G1 as well. Gives good feedback, and moves alot better. The buttons feel alot stiffer, and provide better feedback and spring than on the G1. The case around the phone is very slick, and a fingerprint magnet, but is pretty slick. You can customize a back cover and get a personalized look to the phone, or get a pre-made one that fits your wants.

The Software

The software out of the box is the Android 1.5 Cupcake, so its just like the G1 from that end. There is not physical keyboard, so its all on screen typing, The phone is smooth moving from one task to another, and has 3G speed so its blazing fast on the internet browsing around. I have not tested out the e-mail functions, but I would assume anything the G1 is doing, the MyTouch is just as good/or better than.

Phone calls sounded ok, in good coverage areas calls sounded pretty clear on my end, but callers complained it sounded slightly distant on the other end, and could tell I was on a cell phone, but this may have been that tower/area.

Messaging was quick and messages popped up as they were susposed to.

The Camera had a hugh delay on the button press to the capture, which was not good for the kitties, because the loose interest very quickly, so all the pictures look like action shots when they weren't infact.
Overall

The phone performs better than the G1, the phone is much lighter and thiner than the previous model, and has the same software. The phone is new with an old school feel. The phone is feels good, has some great customization featuers, and is really going to help springboard the Android onto a whole new generation of Smartphone user.