Verizon has a star smart phone: Our first impressions of the Motorola Droid

The Motorola Droid, the spunky phone Verizon recently introduced as the anti-iPhone in a barrage of clever commercials, is now in our hands as a press sample. My initial impression? The Droid lives up to its promise as one of the more capable and interesting phones of a busy fall season.

Available from Verizon on November 6 for $199, the Droid has attracted attention initially for being the first phone to offer the “free” beta version of Google Maps Navigation, which provides spoken turn-by-turn directions and other features previously available on phone only at extra cost.

Our Cars blog will be taking a closer look at Google Maps Navigation on the Droid later this week. Meantime, here are other highlights of the phone:

“Raw” implementation of the Android operating system. The Droid employs the latest, 2.0 version of Google’s Android operating system in a different manner than many other Android phones we’ve seen. Phones such as the Motorola Cliq have fine interfaces that sit over Android, and enhance its features and functionality. Droid does Android “raw,” without such customization. It doesn’t suffer for it, however. Instead, the Droid brings out the OS’s capability for personalization via the addition of widgets and other tools.

Motorola Droid, available from Verizon. (Click to enlarge.)

Full access to Android’s app store. In a surprising but welcome touch, about the only Verizon app you’ll find on the Droid is Visual Voicemail, a $3-per-month service that lets you “view” and forward voice mails. Verizon relinquished its customary tight grip on phone functionality by giving Droid users full access to Android Market, Google’s app store, which features some 10,000 free and paid apps. For example, you can use widgets to passively monitor power consumption, stay updated on Facebook or the weather, and other services.

It’s thin. Measuring 2.36 in. x 4.56 in. x 0.54, the slick-looking Droid is one of the thinnest slider-style phones with QWERTY keyboard we’ve ever seen.

It’s fast. Several of the latest smart phones, including the Samsung Moment, boast speedy processors. But, to me, the Droid seems noticeably faster than them all, both when switching apps and when downloading Web pages—provided there’s a strong 3G or Wi-Fi signal, of course. It also responds quickly if you need to abort a mistake, such as launching the wrong application.

Big, bright display. At 3.7-inches, the high-resolution LED touchscreen outsizes the the iPhone’s 3.5-incher. It appeared sharp and bright indoors and out, even when it was sitting in the sun. A built-in sensor automatically adjusts brightness for different conditions.

Nice navigation. Touch-sensitive symbols for Back, Menu, Home, and Search handle most of the operations. The touch-screen display is not multi-touch (like the iPhone’s), so it can’t interpret gestures. But I found it quite responsive. You can move about a Web page or document by dragging your finger along the screen. A double-tap and you can zoom in and out, thanks to Android 2.0. Slide open the keyboard and you’ll find a 4-way toggle/OK button, which comes in handy when you’re trying to maneuver the cursor to a specific word or Web link. But I found it a bit too easy to accidentally launch the touch-sensitive Search Key when I held the phone in my right hand.

Interesting interface. The Droid allows you to view all of your e-mails from different accounts (except Gmail) under one view. To keep them properly sorted, each account is assigned a distinct color, which appears a little bar to the left of each message. You can also do the same for multiple text-message accounts, if you have them.

Serious searches. The Droid’s search feature works pretty much like the ones on some other smart phones, such at the iPhone and Palm Pre. Just start typing a term and Droid scours you contacts, music, and documents for that term before it moves on to the Web, where it also considers your GPS location. You can also perform these searches by voice, which, thanks to Android 2.0, works quite well. But it doesn’t search your calendars, as does the iPhone.

Fine keyboard. The real QWERTY keyboard is responsive, well-spaced, and backlit for dark environments. The virtual keyboard was responsive, too, if a bit squished when the phone is in the vertical position. The wider version you get by tilting the phone on its side is better, but the virtual keyboard disappears when you turn the phone on its side to switch from narrow mode to wide—a mild annoyance. (You can bring it back by tapping a text field.) There’s no vibration feedback in either virtual mode; it’s available only for the soft keys on the bottom of the phone (Back, Menu, Home, and Search) and for some app operations.

Cool camera. The 5-megapixel camera comes well equipped, with auto-focus and auto-flash. You can launch the camera by pressing a button on the right side of the phone, or tapping the camera icon on the phone's desktop. Tapping the menu button after snapping a photo summons action buttons to share the image via Facebook, e-mail, SMS, Picasa, or Bluetooth data. It’s easy to toggle between still images and video, which you can record in true 16x9 format. The Droid seemed sluggish when taking next shots, but that’s typical of many camera phones.

Decent phone controls. The large virtual keys make dialing easy, and a proximity sensor disables virtual keypad when you bring the phone to your face; reactivates it when you pull it away. But, as with the iPhone, getting to the phone requires pressing a virtual button on the phone’s desktop.

We’ll have more details on the Droid as we test it more fully in our labs. In the meantime, check out our smart-phone Ratings, available to subscribers, for some other interesting phones. —Mike Gikas

Comments

[Doug]

KEYBOARD
I really like all the features of the new Droid. However, I am fighting with the keyboard! As i type, I either hit a combination of letters or the wrong letters.

I would much rather have suffered a slightly thicker phone and had a raised keyboard.

TOUCH SCREEN
The touch screen keyboard is even worse for typing; I seem to make more mistakes with it.

THE REST OF THE PHONE
Very nice! I really like the web interface, touch screen features, and the navigation is definitely a step up from VZ Navigator! Everything about the phone make me want to keep it except for this darn keyboard, which is hard to live without!

On Facebook I posted a picture of my solution LOL. I am using the eraser head to two pencils to type. Hey, it works!

[Paul Eng]

To Mark:

Yes, in the video review of the Droid that is an iMac in the background. And it's there because this video was shot in Mike Gikas' office here at Consumer Reports, and yes...

We use iMacs -- AS WELL AS PCs -- here in our offices to produce the magazine, publish Web pages, e-mail, surf the Web... Just like ANY modern 21st Century office.

Paul Eng
Web, Senior Editor, Electronics

[Mark]

The review is of the Droid, a direct competitor to the iPhone made by Apple. Is the reviewer a little biased???

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe I see an iMac sitting on the desk of the reviewer. This would be like reviewing a Mustang but showing the reviewer's garage in the background with a Corvette parked in it.

What happened to objectivity?

[mark paul]

Battery life MUCH better than expected. Even with heavy use it lasts the whole day +. It is solidly built. . Heavy, but in a good way. Get it.

[bbhawaii]

Does anyone know weight and battery life?

[Chris K]

The links to the article say you have a review up, but in the title it says first impressions.

[JFF]

No mention of battery performance in your review. The battery is a major consideration when shopping for a new phone.

[Rich]

Does the Droid use "cloud" computing? In other words, is your information stored at a remote server rather than your own computer desktop? If so, that seems like a security issue.

[Tim Pease]

While I presently own an iPhone 3G, Droid is the first truly 'open source' phone that has piqued my curiosity. I look forward to the full review. Because of my distaste for the AT&T network, this phone will be the first one I check out after my contract is up, unless Apple makes the iPhone available to other carriers (preferably CDMA). I am also VERY interested in the GPS navigation.

I do hope there is an option to disable that 'droid' sound during boot up. I reboot every morning and will be 'annoyed' if that sound occurs; I fear my wife will throw it out the window.

Mike, question for you: does the SAR rating apply when a smartphone is used for computing purposes? If so, which is higher - Droid or iPhone? Thanks.

[Scott V]

Per InformationWeek, the Droid doesn't have multi-touch in the U.S. but will on the "Milestone" offering in Europe.
Motorola says:
"In response to your question regarding differences between MILESTONE and DROID, we work very closely with our carriers and partners to deliver differentiated consumer experiences on our mobile devices. At times, similar devices come to market with different features, depending on the region, carrier preferences and consumer needs."

[Sumit Mehta]

Thanks for the early review. I can evaluate almost every aspect of these phones that you have evaluated, when they come to the stores. One thing I can't tell is the talking and listening voice quality. Can't tell because not sure if it's the store's location or the phone's microphone and speaker, or the phone/service of the person I'm test calling. That's why I hope that the first thing that CR does with any phone is tell us how it sounds! Planning on reviewing Verizon's HTC Imagio?

[Jake]

The review has two claims that are not correct:

1: "The touch-screen display is not multi-touch (like the iPhone’s)..."

The Droid has multi-touch, but it is not implemented in the browser application, apparently due to an Apple trademark/patent/whatever.

2. (From the same sentence as above)"...so it can’t interpret gestures."

Gesture navigation is independent of multi-touch functionality, and there are apps in the Android market that can bring Gesturing functionality to the OS as a whole.

I don't work for Moto, Google, Verizon, or anyone else relevant here, I'm just an Android user and a fan.

[Owen Philip Epstein]

I love the review and everything I've read about this phone. I find interesting that for a CDMA offering the HTC Hero from Sprint is so much more feature packed and usable. The price point on this reviewed phone looks to be 100.00 more then the Sprint offering. Both of them run Android and presumably will be running Android V2.0 (Eclaire) in the next couple of weeks.

Overall , the major differences are that there is a physical keyboard (some see that as a plus) and the lack of UI interface with a navigable intuitive shell like the HTC Hero or Motorola Cliq.

For those of us that like to be closer to the actual OS (techies) maybe it's the right fit. Otherwise I would stick with one of the other Android phones.

[juha]

you shuld mention hysical keyoard is not tactile