The Verizon DROID’s Legitimate New Hotness

So for all you cellphone watchers and geek tech folks out there, a new toy has come down out of the sky for you to lick your chops over – the new DROID from Verizon. Whether it’s on the slick Motorola or solid HTC version, these are apparently the DROIDs you’ve been looking for.

Whenever new tech comes out, especially in the highly competitive and saturated cellphone market, there’s always a propensity to be a bit cynical. After all, there are a ton of powerhouses out there and very few huge successes or splashes, in part due to the dominance of AT&T’s iPhone market. But the DROID is, I think, the real deal, for a variety of reasons.

Before I get into those, a mini Verizon DROID review, for those looking for some DROID impressions. I was able to handle a Motorola DROID today, and I do have to say, the presentation is pretty impressive. A cool loading screen with the DROID red eye, smooth transition from sideways to veritcal, a real interesting slide wheel for navigating options, and a virtual potpourri of common applications, from Facebook to documents to Gmail. We used the turn by turn navigation and voice-activated location stuff on the way home, and both worked seamlessly and perfectly. Gotta love real time navigation/travel that you only normally see on Tomtoms or Garmins.

Mini-review aside, I really do think that Verizon’s DROID is here to stay, and will become a major player in the industry to threaten the iPhone, Blackberry, and any other offerings. The legitimacy of the the Verizon DROID has yet to be established from a time and operations standpoint, but several key points justify the hype:

• A Direct and Viral Ad Campaign – Most viral ad campaigns rely on buzz and visuals, and Verizon is no different here. But this is also tempered by the direct facts with which they go on the offensive. The DROID primarily takes aim at the iPhone’s weaknesses, including multimedia messaging, open development of apps, and interchangeable batteries, and these factual elements help create the DROID as more than just a hype machine.
• An Epic Alliance – MMO players will know – when you put together an alliance of some of the most powerful guilds on a server, that’s something to be noted. DROID brings together Verizon, Google, Motorola, and even Lucasarts in a bid to dethrone Apple and AT&T. The collective resources of these companies is insane, almost fearsome, so you wonder what will be thrown behind the DROID campaign to make it more attractive to customers.
• The Geek Buzz – Waiting in line to get the DROID was a trip – while the lines were short for first adopters like me, there were still a significant amount of people waiting to either take advantage of upgrades, pay the premium to get their hands on a DROID, or best of all, defect from other carriers to pick one up. Online sales and third-party sellers like Best Buy contribute to modest lineups, but more than that, the DROID is more of a geek phone than a “chic” phone. Passionate geekery, which tends to embrace and torch new tech with equal fervor, has been fairly kind to the DROID so far. The coming weeks should prove interesting.

Now, don’t get me wrong – there’s people not hot over the DROID, but in the end, it depends on who you are. I value call signal strength, application dev, and practical usage, so my camp is set clearly with the DROID. Others may disagree, but one thing is certain – the DROID is here to stay, and its place in the industry will force the kind of competition we customers will ultimately benefit from.