First, let me get one thing straight. I've used the iPhone since day one. It was the third one that went out the door at the Michigan Avenue Apple Store. I loved the first iPhone and I love my current 3G S. I've played with a lot of phones that have been touted as iPhone killers. Sorry, guys, these past phones didn't even come close. But today, just before its unveiling, I got my hands on the new Droid from Motorola and showed it to you first in Chicago on CBS2. I really think this is the closest anyone has come to having a phone that's even close to the iPhone's elegance. Now, I've only had it for a short time but here are my initial impressions. On the plus side it's solid, with none of the cheap feel of so many "sliders" I've tried. It's speedy, with a super fast processor and with multiple processors to handle different functions. It's gorgeous, with a display that has to be the highest resolution out there. It's a nice phone to browse with, having a display that shows an entire web site from left to right, zooming easily when needed, scrolling quickly and smoothly. You can even have a number of things running at the same time. It's Android 2.0, the first phone to have it, it takes voice commands, it's friendly, and a lot of apps are available for it. Finally, for those who hate the virtual keyboard idea, it has a slide out QWERTY keyboard. The thinnest QWERTY phone. If you like a virtual keyboard on the screen, it offers that as well in portrait and landscape modes. The battery can be removed (what a novel idea) and it is touted as having a longer battery life than the iPhone. That little battery door on the back also allows access to the tiny SD card. It comes with 16gig and cards can currently take you to 32gig. It also has a 5mp camera. What I don't like thus far is the weight, which is more than an ounce heavier than the iPhone, and the smudgy screen which picks up my fingerprints like the original iPhone did. Is this an iPhone killer? It's the closest anyone has come and I'm glad the local guys at Motorola are the ones who did it. Those of you who would not, could not, and have not made the move away from Verizon just for an iPhone finally have a quality choice. The Droid will be available November 6, for $199, with the standard 2 years from Verizon. Learn
more at their web site.
