I Tech You To School: The Droid

So I woke up on Friday morning at 6:30am to my brother gently whispering in my ear. Why 6:30am and why my brother? Friday was the day that Verizon launched the Motorola Droid and HTC Eris to the masses. More importantly, Friday was the day that Verizon took its first steps into their new relationship with Google in bringing all the latest and greatest "Droid" phones to the public. Yes... all of VZWs android phones will now be called "Droid" as "Droid" is not a phone but instead a chain of Google phones they will be releasing... but I digress.

So I bought the Droid on Friday. My brother bought the HTC Eris on Friday. And its sweet.

Here's the quick and dirty. Both phones (one made by Motorola and the other by HTC) run the new Android OS. Android is an open source operating system, meaning anyone or any company can take it and make it their own. And it shows as my brother's HTC looks nothing like my Motorola. Both are highly polished and work just like you would expect it to.

What makes Android special? Well, for one, think of it like a computer. You have your Start Menu with all your apps but then you also have a desktop that you can customize, and this is how Android works. You have your sliding dock with all your apps but your life will revolve around your three desktops. Shortcuts to contacts, websites, or whatever else you can think of can be placed on this desktop. Additionally, Android revolves around widgets. Widgets are mini programs that sit on your desktop and does everything from stocks to weather, giving you instant info updated to your liking. It's a great little system that really takes some getting used to, but once you set it up, it's great.

Like many of you, my life revolves around Google. My email, calendar, Google Reader etc., so it's really nice that once I entered my gmail info, everything was right there on my phone. Now I know many of you are iPhone fans and if you MUST compare it to the iPhone, I'll admit that I bought the BlackBerry Storm thinking it would quiet all the iPhone snobs out there. It didn't. These new Android phones do.
If you're a die hard iPhone fan, you should stick with the iPhone and you won't lose any sleep over not having a Droid because the iPhone is a great phone. If you've been on Verizon, are addicted to the network, and have been looking for a phone that's comparable, this is it. In most aspects, it matches the iPhone and in some, even excels.