Motorola’s Droid

The Motorola Droid is a multimedia smartphone, which runs on Google’s Android platform 2.0.1. The phone includes Wi-Fi networking, a 5-megapixel low light capable digital camera, a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, interchangeable battery and 3.7-inch 854 x 480 touchscreen display. Unfortunately there’s no multitouch on this device. It also supports MicroSDHC and come bundled wih 16GB card. It has a OMAP 600MHz processor build by Texas Instruments with a 256 RAM & 512 MB ROM.

The Droid is a mix of plastic and metal with the basic structure made up of two main pieces, the large glass 3.7 inch display screen and the slightly longer keyboard. It has four buttons at the bottom which represents back, menu, home, and search. The top section slides upwards to reveal the QWERTY keyboard which is wide with minimal amount of spacing between the keys. To the right of the four row QWERTY is a 5-way rocker and atop the phone is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a power button. Also it has a volume rocker on the right edge, and a camera button on opposite ends. The left side contains a MicroUSB port with a 5 megapixel camera (and flash) at the back. The Droid is just a 13.7mm thick (including the physical keyboard). The body itself can be considered narrower than the iPhone.

The sound quality of the Droid is absolutely fabulous. This is no doubt one of the best sounding devices ever created. It also supports multiple Gmail or Exchange accounts, and a new universal inbox which allows the user to get a look at his/her electronic correspondences in a single view. The Facebook account is also integrated in Droid using “sync adapters” which allow the third parties to plug into the contact and calendars of the phone. This feature can be turned off as and when required. The Droid provides enhanced browsing experience. The pages now loads fully zoomed-out which is like the iPhone and Pre. The updated browser also now supports double-taps to zoom (as does Google Maps) making navigation a bit more natural.

One of the biggest feature of Droid is the fully realized turn-by-turn navigation which integrates with Google Maps. It makes further use of this functionality by switching into a nav mode when snapped into a dock. Google has gone all out on this, providing a rich mixture of its satellite, map, traffic, and location info with text-to-speech directions. When it comes to battery life, it is pretty impressive considering it’s only packing a 1400mAh battery which lasts for approx. 24 hours.

At the end Droid can be considered as a good smartphone or possibly the best Android phone to date. But only time will tell as many players are entering the competition.