Droid debuts today

Motorola's new smart phone, Droid, debuts today on the Verizon network. While many want to compare how it stacks up against the iPhone, does it really matter? After all, you can use the Droid only if you are a Verizon customer and the iPhone only if you're with AT&T. As I noted previously the coolest gee-whiz feature of the Droid is its voice-prompted turn-by-turn GPS navigation, part of Google's Android 2.0 operating system. The Droid is the first to use Android 2.0, but other devices are in line for it, too. The Droid's other major difference with the iPhone is its ability to run multiple apps at the same time. So, for instance, you could cue up Pandora and then work on other things while the music continues to stream in the background. The Droid is launching with about 10,000 apps, nearly all ports of iPhone apps, of which there are nearly 10 times more. The Droid also includes a 5-megapixel camera vs. the iPhone's 3MP, and it has a slide-out keyboard for those who don't care for the touch-screen interface. Like the iPhone, the Droid costs $200 with a two-year contract. The website Bill Shrink estimates that a Droid user on Verizon's average plan will spend $2,839 for the two-year contract, the same as an iPhone user on the average AT&T plan. So if that's your measure, the Palm Pre on Sprint or the MyTouch on T-Mobile should be your choice, because they each will cost $2,309 over two years. One area where Verizon has the others beat is in statewide 3G network coverage, which is a big deal if you live outside the Twin Cities or do a lot of traveling in Minnesota.