Written by Noah Darnell
With the debut of the Motorola Droid, could it be that the days of the Apple iPhone superiority are coming to an end?
For two and a half years now AT&T has held a trump card.
To the throngs of cell phone buyers stretching to the horizon, Verizon would say, “Our network is the most reliable!” AT&T would say, “Yeah, but we have the iPhone.” And the crowd goes wild for AT&T.
During the summer of 2009, however, the rumor mills churned among the masses and the Verizon camp brewed with tight-lipped excitement as their answer to the iPhone took shape.
Then on Oct. 17, the television ad spots began, and the promo Web page went online. The countdown began. The loyal Verizon-ites kept their fingers crossed. AT&T still held fast to “But we have the iPhone.” However, this time with notable shuffling to figure out and reply with advertisements, “Well, other than the iPhone, what else do we really offer?”
On Nov. 6, the Droid arrived, and a Motorola-built and Google Android-powered slider smartphone was released on the world along with an aggressive ad campaign based on a parody of the AT&T iPhone’s “There’s an app for that.”
Verizon is currently holding the Droid in direct competition with the iPhone and boasting its prolific 3G broadband coverage.
So how does it stack up compared to the iPhone?
In a single word? Bulletproof.
From the outside, the Droid is extremely solid. It is thinner than the iPhone and only very slightly heavier but arguably just as pretty. The body is solid black with gold accents, and, with the addition of a protective shell, the Droid takes on a bit of an armored appearance.
The Droid is a slider, which came as a pleasant surprise to some. You can type on the glass screen in either vertical or horizontal orientation, but the addition of the physical keyboard sets it apart from the iPhone in my opinion. The QWERTY keyboard responds with soft clicking and is smooth to the touch. It’s a little awkward to get used to at first – even coming from a Blackberry – because the phone also sports a directional pad that can be used to select text (instead of trying to peck at the glass screen to select or squeeze the cursor between letters).
Internally, the phone is fast. Blazingly fast. Every program loads as if it is already running. Additionally, the ability to run simultaneous apps while making calls and browsing up to eight Web pages at the same time reveals the power this little Droid can muster. In short, the Droid can run more programs faster than the typical user will be able to use at the same time.
A major claim to fame is the Droid’s integration with Google and, more specifically, Google Maps. It has full GPS capability and will manage turn-by-turn directions just as well as the best Tom-Tom or Garmin navigation system on the market. An additional perk is Google’s Street View integrated into the turn-by-turn directions, and, yes, that means being able to see what the turn actually looks like before you even get there.
The addition of a five-megapixel camera is extremely welcome to the usual camera options on typical Verizon phones. Not only is it five-megapixel (more resolution than my first digital camera) but it has autofocus, a close-focus macro mode and a rather powerful flash. The camera is a bit slow on the shooting, but for everyday use the camera is actually extremely versatile.
Some prospective buyers might like to know that the Droid is not quite as “smooth” as the iPhone. It relies more on quick snaps between programs or horizontal/vertical orientation instead of the fluid transitions for which Apple is known. This difference is more of a aesthetic choice than actual fault, but it makes the Android software on the Droid look a little rougher.
Without any partiality to the Droid, I can confidently say that it outperforms the iPhone in side-to-side speed tests. In my office in Searcy, Ark., I am able to test both Wi-Fi and the 3G broadband speeds with the Droid – both of which outpace the iPhone. The Droid’s browser loads standard Web pages almost twice as fast as the iPhone’s Safari with Wi-Fi. And, as far as my local area is concerned, I was only able to test the Droid with Verizon’s 3G broadband services because the AT&T has no 3G broadband services here. Major advantage: Droid.
The apps run smoothly seamlessly with each other with the phone. You can take a photo and send it from the camera app to an editor app where you can edit it, then upload it to the Internet via the Facebook or Flickr app – or text message it to your friend.
Of course, along with every piece of technology come its shortcomings. The battery life is embarrassingly and annoyingly short. We’re talking a mere 14 or 16 hours under normal use. However, in the grand scheme of things, you’re carrying a laptop’s worth of power in your pocket, so I’m not surprised by its diminutive battery life.
So what is the verdict? Did Verizon bring a serious competitor to the beat-the-iPhone fight?
I say: absolutely.
The iPhone has a solid two years of growth on the Droid, and that makes it an easy win on name recognition alone. However, the Droid has hit the ground running: over 250,000 were sold in the first week. Originally touted as the iPhone-killer, the Motorola Droid is a rugged piece of hardware running reliable software with more technological firepower than most computers possessed only a few years ago.
