Video: Verizon Wireless Droid

I love the fact there is a Droid, even if it's a bit over-hyped - IMHO.
One thing about using Google Maps for navigation... god awful experience, personally, only useful in a bind. I've tried traveling with Google Maps for navigation - ever see that Office episode where they ended up in a pond?
Relying on Cell Data and GPS to get where you want to go can be rough. After using an App like TomTom on the iPhone, you can immediately experience the different of having the maps locally installed.

Granted The iPhone uses AT&T and Verizon (according to there Map for That) has much better 3G coverage. I still like having locally installed maps.

Widgets are nice, but got bored with them on the iPhone, and Im sure Droid users will soon see there short-comings as well.

So the European version includes Multi Touch,that is not good having different feature sets in the same phone.

For Google Navigation to be reliable you will need to have an option to pull down the maps to your device of the planned route or atleaste have a large prefetch cache to help you get through areas of bad or no data connection. I used Wayfinder earlier and it was a nightmare when suddenly one lost connection and the road ended..

@jngold I know from first hand experience that there are dead areas in the UK where you cannot even get a phone signal let alone gprs,edge or 3G, prior to the release of turn by turn apps for the iPhone with maps stored on the device I used Google maps and it was a nightmare when you have no service, its very common in the UK.

The car dock is nothing but a holder which then you need to put the device into "Car mode". Coming from someone who has full integration with my car stereo, that ain't much.

The Media dock is cool but once again it is specific for the motorola device - will it work for the Hero, G1, etc? Segmentation.

Google Maps turn by turn - Only good if you have a good connection, no? What happens when you travel thru an EDGE or even worse GPRS area when you are driving. No one wants to mention that, eh?

I for one agree at seeing Moto make a comeback with a decent device. It looks decent (minus the dpad location) and it appears it is goig to be competitive to some devices (Pre, WM) i dont see that it could compare to the iPhone, I mean I wont go getting a droid and giving up my iPhone or Tilt 2 anytime soon, but I will be watching this combo of Moto and android to see what comes next, exciting times for sure. Dont get me wrong I would like to get my hands on one to see how well they implemented this device, because I dont like TMobile's android phones at all, I find them cheap and overall disappointing for HTC devices.

While google maps is a good feature, try using it when your lost in the middle of nowhere and have no data connection, much use as a chocolate fire guard, give me a gps solution with maps stored on the device any day.

Jerry you havent seen the Droid.. I hate to say it.But did you checkout the car dock? Did you checkout the media base? That to me is fantastic customizations!! Oh yeah how bout the killer google maps?

It's good see Motorola making a comeback and I have to say they sided with the right OS. Yes the stock UI isn't as polished as Sense, but keeping it stock means direct upgrades from Google will be easier (I'm still not sure about the official OS upgrade path for HTC Android users.) And soon, somebody will probably do a Sense-lookalike port for "Driod."

Interesting times indeed and a boatload of questions. For instance, is the "Droid" moniker for a specific phone or for the entire Verizon Android phone line? With Verizon getting the Pre and possible the iPhone at some point, will Verizon pursue a multi-OS strategy, or is it placing multiple bets and letting the marketplace sort out the winner? What does all the buzz surrounding Andriod mean to Verizon's commitment to RIM, and more importantly, Microsoft?

@Mike HTC Hero

Jerry, we are always comparing past accomplishments. When you said the UI looks boring and uninspiring, what device did you compare it to? And like I said before, compared to other mobile operating systems that I used, this version of Android does not look too bad. I think the use of widgets makes Android an exiting mobile OS.

I prefer features more than the look and feel myself. I went with the Pre mainly for multitasking and the Google integration. The polished UI was a bonus for me. The card system on the Pre reminds of expose and spaces on the Mac. Definitely makes it easier to multitask.

Michael,

Exactly (re: being polished). Verizon and Moto just plopped the stock Android 2.0 on the phone. With all the complaints I have had in the past with HTC, I do commend them for their interfaces which value add over the stock OS they are working with.

Dave,

We are not comparing anymore to past acomplishments. The iPhone has NOTHING to prove. It is a sales success and people want it as the numbers are (still) proving. However, like I mentioned above, Moto and Verizon have done nothing to improve the stock OS presentation, which is disappointing since stock Android isn't that alluring in the first place.

I am sure that this phone will do ok for Verizon. But an iPhone killer? Surely they jest! I think this phone will appeal to geeks as their commercials are targeting (iDont) for.

Boring interface? Cough Cough.. IPhone is exciting in the interface functionality?

Jerry and Chris, that's funny that you two find the interface to be boring and uninspiring. For me I find the interface to be just fine. Yeah it may not be as polished as the webOS or simple looking like the iPhone, but it still looks nice. For me, being a Palm Pre user, I find the UI on the iPhone to be boring but of course that's just me.

Nice UI, Widgets rock! kbd & d-pad combo implementation=weird.

iDon't see anything too inspiring, Android needs to do better than this to lower my iPhone lust

The interface looks boring and uninspiring! It's almost like Verizon made no effort to improve the user experience.