Motorola's exciting new Droid phone (San Diego Transcript) (From Concept to Consumer by Phil Baker)

Motorola's new Droid phone from Verizon is an exciting new smart phone that will exceed most expectations of those that buy it. While it has a number of elements similar to the iPhone, it has many unique features that chart new territory. It's a phone that's greater than the sum of its parts.

Yes, it has a touch screen, a fast processor, and runs the Android operating system like a number of phones do, but it's hard to imagine how good it is without actually using it. It's a solid phone that feels great in the hand. Turn it on and you'll be looking at the highest resolution screen on any phone. Text looks better than a printed page, and Web browsing is better than on any phone, helped by Verizon's 3G network. As you navigate between applications and screens, the switching is nearly instantaneous - with a lightning bolt-like precision.

The killer app is its built in navigation software using Google Maps that provides turn-by-turn directions with voice prompts that speak street names, albeit with a Droid-like voice. It's far better than most personal navigators in that the maps are continually updated; it displays live traffic and you have a choice of navigating using street maps or satellite views. (It's the first navigator that I've used that shows the new bypass on I-5 between Sorrento Valley Rd and I-56.)

What's most remarkable is this product came from Motorola, a company that had almost been given up for dead and now suddenly has the hottest phones since the iPhone. This can be credited, in large part, to Sanjay Jha, a San Diego resident and co-CEO of Motorola. Jha joined Motorola in 2008 from the number three position at Qualcomm to try to turn around Motorola. Well-entrenched and highly respected at Qualcomm- he wanted to a chance run his own company. Most industry analysts scoffed at such a move, wondering if he had lost his mind, particularly when Motorola's troubles turned out to be much greater than anyone expected. But through the darkest hours, Sanjay focused on both fixing the organization and on coming up with the right products.

I spoke with Sanjay and asked him how the Droid came about. He explained that Motorola has several worldwide design centers in Beijing, Libertyville (IL), London, Seoul and Silicon Valley. When he joined the company he found the London center to have developed this appealing design that met his goal for a product that was simple, honest, surprising and perhaps even fun.

The Droid has a functional shape with no superfluous design elements. Its bottom edge protrudes to provide a visual location of its antennas, making it less likely that the user's hand will cover it. He said its one of the reasons for its superb radio performance. It has a sliding keyboard that moves out from the side and a removable battery, trumping the iPhone in two of its weakest areas.

I asked about the use of the high resolution screen (854 x 480). Was it to go one up on the iPhone? Jha said the reason for it was related to function. The resolution was selected to allow the display to show the full width of a Web page, 800 pixels wide, without the need to scan sideways to see the rest of the page. Secondly it enabled video with DVD quality resolution of 720 x 480 pixels, while still allowing room for on-screen controls.

This increase in resolution meant there's 2.7 times the number of pixels, but 5 times the processing requirements of most smart phones. That meant they needed to increase the processing speed and the underlying firmware. Their team of software engineers worked with Google's Android team and Texan Instruments' engineers to do just that. They analyzed many competitive phones and took high-speed photos of the transition times. They trimmed milliseconds away wherever they could. Jha said it was not by accident or happenstance that performance is so quick.

I asked why they chose to use a Texas Instruments processor rather than one from Qualcomm, considering he had been responsible for Qualcomm's processor development. He said it was a very difficult choice, but came down to time to market, making a selection that would allow him to get a product out by Q4 of this year, an absolute requirement. Jha attributed the success of Droid to Motorola's partnership with Google, TI, and Verizon.

It's much like the perfect storm where each company needed something from the other and each had something important to contribute. Verizon needed a competitive smart phone after their Blackberry Storm turned out to be far less than the perfect Storm, and they had no other strong smart phones. Motorola, with a great global presence but week products, needed a huge hit product in their recovery attempt, and Google needed a phone that could showcase their Android 2.0 OS, after the initial Android phones proved to be lackluster.

When I first turned on the Droid I signed into my Gmail account and Facebook accounts, and the phone's contacts and calendar on the phone were populated in seconds, along with images of those contacts that were in my Facebook account. If you have a Microsoft exchange account, it's equally simple to set up. Those without either can use a new GMail account to sync to their Microsoft Outlook or Mac iCal and Address Book.

A physical keyboard slides out from the left and puts the screen in landscape mode. The low profile keys took a little getting used to, but were better than any on screen keyboard. The Droid's removable battery lasted more than a day, longer than the iPhone. A useful bar chart tells you what's consuming energy so that you can change some settings to prolong your battery life. Phone reception and call quality were excellent, putting to shame AT&T's high level of dropped calls with the iPhone.

The Android operating system is mostly straightforward to use, although it's not as intuitive as the iPhone, and sometimes can be frustrating looking for a specific menu item to perform a specific operation. Android offers more than10,000 apps, many similar to those available for the iPhone including the New York Times, Open Table, Pandora, YouTube, and plenty of games. A built in 5-megapixel camera with flash and video camera provide decent performance, but so far without all of the editing apps so popular on the iPhone. And of course, there's no music store and iPod as on the iPhone.

Fortunately, Verizon has refrained from locking out features, such as WiFi, as they've done on many of their previous phones.

Bottom line is this is a terrific phone. Compared to the iPhone it has some strengths (call quality, network GPS app, speed, battery, keyboard and display) and weaknesses (no iPod player, more complex OS, more apps, desktop sync).

While there are still rumors of Verizon eventually getting the iPhone, perhaps late next year, there's no reason for Verizon subscribers to wait. The Droid shoud more than satisfy.

And one final comment from Jha: "Motorola will be introducing 20 new phones in 2010."

Comments

Thanks for the details. I value and respect your expertise and discernment. The Droid sounds worthy.

QUESTION: Under weaknesses you list "desktop sync." What do you mean by that? Doesn't have one? Doesn't work well? Confusing? I currently have a BB Stormand sync with Outlook. Wouldn't want to have to give that up.

Posted by: Charlene Ann Baumbich | November 19, 2009 at 08:38 PM

I've been wanting an actual honest review, so I'm glad you finally did one Phil! Since all of my friends & family are with the big red, I've been kind of stuck with Verizon (can't complain, their coverage is amazing). I am just thrilled to have a very thorough, intelligent, & honest review. Thanks again Phil!

Posted by: Dave Fluegge | November 20, 2009 at 02:34 PM