Android 2.0 Takes On iPhone

On October 30th, Verizon Wireless is scheduled to release the Verizon Motorola Droid smartphone which will showcase the new version of Google’s much anticipated Android 2.0 operating system.

Yes, I know, a lot of people seem concerned about Motorola’s track record for producing low quality phones; however, the beauty of the Droid lies in the operating system, not the hardware that is running it.

If it makes you feel any better to know this, Google micromanaged Motorola during the design and development of the droid.

Here’s a run down of the basic differences between the droid and the iPhone:

1. Android 2.0 will run a flash player. According to https://tech.yahoo.com, “Starting this year and rolling into 2010, expect to see a slew of new smartphones, ranging from Google’s Android platform to Windows Mobile, capable of displaying Flash-powered content and video in their Web browsers.” There is still no word on if or when there will be a flash player available for the iPhone.

2. The droid can run simultaneous apps. The iPhone can only run one program at a time (but this is not a limitation of the iPhone hardware, but of the operating system).

3. In my opinion, the droid has a much better keyboard. This is a major difference. It is a real keyboard, not that annoying tiny onscreen keyboard.

4. The droid has a 5 mega pixel camera with a flash – this is huge! The camera on the current model iPhone has a three mega pixel camera with no flash.

5. Android 2.0’s open source development encourages more people and developers to write for it. In the name of user experience, Apple has made it so the only way to install 3rd party apps (without hacking) is to go through the Apple app store which is quite restrictive.

6. Users can replace the interchangeable batteries on the droid so there is no need to take it into a service center to have the battery changed, like on the iPhone.

7. In the states, Verizon is the carrier of the droid. Verizon has a better network (both voice and data) than AT&T. No contest there.

Will this dethrone the iPhone as the top smartphone? Probably not with the head start that iPhone has. It is pretty late in the race for Google, Motorola and Verizon to catch the iPhone, but I think the technology is quite impressive for sure!

Click on this link for an Android 2.0 screenshot walkthrough from http://www.boygeniusreport.com.

An interesting side note: According to https://phandroid.com – “DROID is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. Used under license. Just so you know… George Lucas owns the rights to the word Droid – wow that’s kinda crazy!”