Eric Friedman – Marketing.fm

I started using the Motorola Droid on Friday and have been using it as my primary device all weekend.

In a sense this is a comparison against other phones out there, but primarily against the Blackberry as that is what I have been most satisfied with to date – specifically the Blackberry 8900 with T-Mobile.

Using a phone for voice/apps/email/misc. gives you a full understanding that simply browsing a website or jotting down a note on the memo pad gives you, so if you are thinking about switching make sure you test everything out.

“So your saying there’s a chance”

This is a great phone. The Droid is a viable alternative to the iPhone and a serious competitor to other smart phones. With the next iteration coming soon (so I have heard) this operating system will only get better. In the end, like most industries, have strong competition ends up being great for end users. I look forward to continued testing of the Droid and will report back with my findings.

Price
$370 + $99.99 a month
I signed a 1 year contract and at a $99.99/month plan which gives unlimited everything but only 450 minutes per month of talk time.
There is a $100 rebate bringing the hardware total down to $270 (would be $200 with a two year contract)

Screen
The screen is bright, clear, and better than the Blackberry and iPhone. This became very clear when using the phone during the day in bright sunlight. There is no multi-touch which is sorely missed. this is such a native gesture I found myself constantly pinching on maps and pics. Video looks very clear and crisp and refresh rates are fast.

Keyboard
In a word; painful. Comparing the physical keyboard to the onscreen keyboard its a no brainer to never slide the unit open. Getting the on screen keyboard to pop out can sometimes be an issue as the functions are buried beneath the many on phone and on screen buttons.

Android
In a word; amazing. This is no winmo copycat. Things are thought through and seem road tested. This is a direct result of this being the 2.0 release – but that is a good thing.

The marketplace is everything the blackberry app world isn’t – fast, clear, concise, oh and did I mention fast?

You can see top paid, top free, and a very cool filter called newest which shows the latest apps added in that category.

Service
Verizon mobile service in the NYC metro area blows away all other service providers in my opinion. This phone was working in random locations around the city that my TMobile blackberry would not stand a chance in – and the Subway!

3G speeds are a game changer if you havnt experienced them already. They add a layer of snapiness to the OS that is appreciated. Texts, emails, MMS, and videos got sent over the network without any apparent congestion issues all around manhattan.

Apps

Foursquare (disclaimer: USV investment)
Fast and elegant design. Works much better than the blackberry app and wap site. iPhone app for foursquare may be on par with the droid app – its just that good.

Gmail
Fast, native email. This is a killer feature for the Droid. It just works – something that blackberry is catching up to now.

Calendar
Could not get calendar to sync but didn’t try the desktop software so this feels like and unfair dig – but nontheless it didn’t work.

Imeem
Killer music service delivered well on the Droid

Amazon
Great app to browse and buy from

Tip calculator (about 50+ in the marketplace)
Good to have with groups

Contacts

Between facebook and gmail I was bale to load up my contacts from the cloud and have a almost fully stocked list when I hit the road.

The fast dial features of the blackberry were sorely missed here as I like to just start typing a friends name to dial. Not the case witht the droid.

Scrolling long lists has a cool tab similar to the ipod/iphone but let’s you drag to the letter in question vs rolling around the wheel or wiping.

Google night sky
This was the wow factor app with anyone I showed the droid to. Its an augmented reality view of the night sky complete with all planets and constalations – with search built in.

Google maps navigation (native to the Droid)
This is a game changing application for drivers and GPS devices. Its slick, polished, and probably the best turn by turn navigation GPS app I have ever used. Seeing is believing and it really exceeded my expectations.

Email

Email on the Droid is great as it gives a full functioning email client and Gmail client. The web browser also gives that feeling of being a native app (if you have used Gmail.com on an iphone you know what I mean) and its great.

Writing emails on the other hand was tough. The pop-out keyboard is good, but as I said above not great. I would rather wait to get back to the Blackberry or a real keyboard before typing out something very long.