Weekly Wish List: The Droid

The Droid is, right now, at the top of my Wish List, which is to say that if I could afford one, I'd certainly look into getting it. I can't afford it, so it will remain right there on the list, for possibly as long as forever, but that doesn't suppress my interest.



As far as technical specs are concerned, the Droid has a 3.7" screen, a 5 megapixel camera (with a flash), and a slide-out keyboard. Its display is the largest on the market and has a striking 270 pixels per inch, and 5 megapixels is at the higher end of the resolution spectrum for a camera phone (not to mention the virtually uneard of flash, allowing for pictures to be taken in minimal lighting conditions). For the sake of convenience as one who loves to take pictures, having a camera that good built into a phone is appealing to me. Possibly my favorite thing about the Droid is its full sliding keyboard, an aspect that its main competitor, the iPhone, lacks. Typing on a touchscreen keyboard, to me, is about as easy as trying to grab a goldfish out of a bucket of water with your bare hands... it makes my digits feel unwieldy, useless blocks of wood, so having solid buttons to press is always a plus.

In addition, the Droid has an interchangeable battery, which is specifically being highlighted as an advantage the Droid has over the iPhone. While that's nice, it's not really a make-or-break aspect for me (how many people actually swap phone batteries anyway?), nor is the claim that it can run simultaneous apps. On the other hand, I'm relatively unfamiliar with the smartphone lifestyle, so maybe being able to run two apps at once is a very good thing. All of these features set the Droid a notch above the iPhone, in my opinion (and you can Click Here for a reasonably in-depth comparison of the two machines, if you want more detail), but what really has me sold is the way Verizon is marketing the Droid. Check out this commercial, one of my recent favorites:





Finally someone is giving Apple a taste of its own medicine. For years, I've been enduring those insufferably self-righteous "I'm a Mac... and I'm a PC" commercials that don't so much advertise Macs as they do bash on PCs. Now, Verizon is pointing out the shortcomings of an Apple product, and the result is not only beautifully accurate, but cleverly and seasonally implemented. Before the Droid was even launched, Verizon came out swinging with those "Everything iDon't... Droid does" spots that aired frequently during the MLB playoffs. Anyone with the guts to take on Apple so boldly gets my vote from the start, and doing it with a product that has more to speak of than the iPhone is a solid plan.

In a nutshell, I want the Droid because it's a cool gadget in its own right (cooler, even, than the iPhone), and as an added bonus, it's the first product I know of that is using Apple's own proven marketing formula and air of superiority against them. That's a winning combination I'd like to see more of in the future.

-Billy