iPhone vs. Motorola Droid and the Reasoning Behind my Purchase

Have you wanted to get an iPhone but couldn't because you weren't willing to switch to the AT&T network? I feel your pain in wanting to get an iPhone but not being able to due to its exclusivity to AT&T. However, there is hope, while it has not been acknowledged officially, according to many, different sources it seems that Verizon has made a request to Apple to consider bring their phone onto the Verizon network sometime in Q2 or Q3 of 2010. This means that it may pay to wait it out. Apple Inc., as you probably know, is legendary in the technology industry for its secrecy. The motivation for Apple to get the iPhone onto the Verizon network is simple as it comes down to product capitalization and economics in the end. With Verizon's huge network it may be the best opportunity Apple has of increasing their market share. Growing market share is closely aligned with Apple's publically stated, overarching goal of becoming the dominant smart phone maker in the US. In addition, Apple has exhibited increasing frustration with AT&T's relatively poor network. Whenever people talk about the iPhone in critical terms it is usually because of dropped calls, poor reception, and slow data transfer rates outside of the major cities where Apple has installed support for their 3G network. With this in mind, it makes sense that the iPhone would come to Verizon's network and sooner rather than later.

Now for the Droid, after researching carefully, I decided to upgrade and make the jump from my trusty but old RAZR to the Droid on November 6th (the launch date). My reasons for doing so were as follows:

1. It tightly integrates and supports Google applications I already use and rely on such as Gmail, Search, Maps, Docs, Voice, Reader, Calendar, Contacts, Talk, and YouTube.
2. It allows for open development which enables developers to bring pretty much any application to the Android market. To me this is an abstract but crucial differentiation between the iPhone (which is closed source - hence the term jail breaking) and Google's Android operating system which is designed to be open source.
3. Motorola's physical design of the phone appears to be solid and well built. The screen is absolutely gorgeous at an incredible resolution of 480x854 (compared to the iPhones suddenly paltry 320x480). This means you can read even the finest text quite well without zooming in on most webpages. The phone, as you probably know, also has a pull out keyboard if you like that sort of thing. While not as nice as, say, a Blackberry Curve keyboard, it is quite usable in my experience and vastly superior to the RAZR's keyboard.
4. It was favorably reviewed by major, mainstream technology columnists such as Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal (who called the Droid a "smart success") and David Pogue of the New York Times (who said that Motorola did a "spectacularly great job" designing the phone). I rely on these two reviewers to give me the "real report" on a device as sometimes other sites like Boy Genius (who flat out love the Droid) and Engadget (who say the design is a gadget enthusiast's fever-dream) give favorable but occasionally unrealistic reviews of tech products just because they are new. The harshest review I found anywhere besides on Apple forums was actually from Walt Mossberg whose biggest gripe was that the physical keyboard on the Droid was, "pretty awful" because it has, "flat, cramped keys that induce too many typing errors, yet lacks auto-correction." However, just a sentence later he nearly negated this negative by praising the on screen keyboard which he found to be, "pretty fast and accurate for me, and did include auto-correction."
5. The GPS. I was going to buy a Garmin Nuvi but was alleviated of this need by Google's brand new, free, turn-by-turn Google Navigation system. I've been testing it every day and let me just say that this is a killer app for the Droid. It is amazingly accurate and fast. For example, today a coworker and I wanted to go to Starbucks for coffee so I just said, "navigate to Starbucks" and, boom!, turn-by-turn directions right to the nearest Starbucks with no typing or anything. It's amazing. Just to show you how seriously Google is getting into the GPS navigation market, take a look at this stock chart which shows both Garmin and Tom Toms stock prices plunging the day Google announced their new service; the biggest drops in each company's history.
6. The Android market. Like the iPhone the Droid allows users to download apps at their leisure to do a myriad of tasks. For example, Amazon designed a barcode scanner. It allows you to scan the barcode of any book and many other products to get a price check of what Amazon is selling it for and even allows you to buy it with 1-click purchasing. For example, I was hanging out with a group of friends last night and I was talking about a book I had with me and was enjoying reading. One friend said he tried to find the same book at Barnes and Noble but couldn't. So I fired up the Amazon app, scanned the barcode, ordered the book, and had it shipped right to him. The whole process barely took a minute.
7. It makes reliable, crystal clear phone calls. Not having a call dropped is very important to me. As a part time small business consultant I have to work with customers while on the go and I can't afford to have customers become frustrated due to my wireless provider dropping my phone calls. Verizon has the most consistent coverage around where I work and live and therefore was the best network for me. The last time I had a call dropped was in the spring of last year while driving through a remote valley with hills and heavy tree coverage all around. I was able to reconnect 30 seconds later.

In conclusion, I see the iPhone and Droid being roughly equivalent through surpassing and falling behind each other in equal measures. While I feel that the Droid is a solid phone I am convinced that Apple will be bringing the iPhone to Verizon's network soon which will mean that you can fulfill both of your desires of having a beautiful, high-tech device and having a reliable network. Alternatively, I would recommend reading reviews of the Droid to see if it is the right phone for you. While I love the Droid I see the iPhone remaining a market mainstay for the foreseeable future.

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions please let me know!