As Verizon’s gazillion-dollar marketing campaign for the Droid points out, the Droid does a lot of things the iPhone doesn’t. Similarly, the iPhone does a lot of things very differently than the Droid and in a way that no one, including Motorola, has duplicated.

Part of the problem inherent in comparisons between the iPhone and anything else is Apple has effectively indoctrinated legions of consumers with a set of very deliberate features, commands and general expectations. While the Droid may succeed in stealing some market share from Apple, it’s simply not going to convert a significant number of loyal iPhone users who have become accustomed to a very unique kind of simplicty.

Regardless of these reservations, I began by noting the inevitability of comparisons between the iPhone and the Droid, so I’ll proceed in that spirit. Here’s the rundown on how the Motorola Droid stacks up against the iPhone 3GS.

HARDWARE

Any iPhone user who refutes the Droid’s superiority in the nitty-gritty specs department has simply drank too much of Apple’s home-brewed cider. The Droid offers a 5-megapixel camera with a flash. The iPhone offers a 3-megapixel camera and no flash. That may not seem like a big difference until you try to make a print of that photo you just snapped on your iPhone. Go any bigger than a 4 x 6 and you’re risking a very grainy photo.

The Droid also trumps the iPhone with its 16GB removable memory, which can be upgraded to 32GB. iPhone users are subjected to minor torture with the knowledge that their device has as much capacity on the day they take it out of the box as it ever will. However, the cloud is easing that pain, with certain services allowing storage for pictures, messages and even music.

The Droid’s battery gives users an extra 1.4 hours of talk time over the iPhone’s 5 hours. However, battery life on a smartphone can vary by the user’s sophistication. Smartphone users of all brands realize that shutting off Wi-Fi or 3G, as well as adjusting screen brightness, can dramatically improve battery life. Nevertheless, most iPhone users would give their left arm for an extra 1.4 hours of juice.

While the Droid offers a slide-out qwerty, it subsequently suffers the fate of a moving part and the myriad bad things that can go wrong when anything on one of these devices moves (i.e., the Palm Pre’s reported “Oreo” condition). It’s a preferential consideration, but the iPhone’s virtual keyboard is generally well received and lack of a slide-out adds to the iPhone’s sturdiness.

It would be foolish to approach the merits of a device’s hardware without considering the overall package. The way a device feels in the hand is one of the iPhone’s gleaming successes. The iPhone’s slick screen, one-piece design and all around smooth surfaces add up to a device that everyone wants to touch. In this arena, the Droid is also impressive, however, quite heavy. It’s boxier than the iPhone, to be sure, but nonetheless a nice design effort by Motorola.

UI

Here’s the crux of the argument against comparisons. The majority of iPhone users are going to walk away from the Droid feeling frustrated. However, those who just came off a mid-range smartphone will be delighted. The Droid really does have a fairly intuitive UI. It employs certain swipe gestures and easily accessible pre-loaded Google services, including the Android Marketplace, that make it a really great and competitive addition to the smartphone market.

But let’s be honest about the comparison we’re making. Next time you’re out in public, look around and see how many young kids are playing on their parent’s iPhone or iPod touch. The multi-touch, swipe and pinch-to-zoom gestures and commands made so popular by Apple perfectly lend themselves to the tactile impulses of the world’s millions of bored children waiting for their parents to finish dinner in a restaurant. The continuity of Apple’s easy-to-locate icons and menus are equally well received by children.

While geeks everywhere decry Apple’s over-simplification of technology, consumers hold such ease with adoration and idolatry. Droid parents simply won’t find it as easy to hand their 5-year-old their phone and say, “Here, go wild.” It’s true that not every parent wants a phone that can babysit, but the example aims at highlighting the ease of Apple’s UI. And the UI that finds its way into children’s hands with the consent of the parent is not only the superior UI but also the one that wins the most market share in the long run.

WHERE THE iPHONE FAILS

For all its merits, the iPhone has made many a wrong turn. In fact, take one trip from door to door using the Droid’s pre-installed Google Navigation service and you’ll understand why an open-source operating system backed by Google can be one seriously amazing attribute for a smartphone maker. You’ll also understand why stocks of companies that make portable navigation systems tanked the day the Droid arrived.

But the iPhone’s deficits don’t stop there. The Droid’s deep integration of Google’s free services, including Google Voice, points to the more general realization that Apple’s gate-keeper mentality could be the company’s Achilles heel going forward. While the FCC may be a pain in many a side as it preaches any app, any device, on any network, that’s exactly the future for which most consumers are hoping. While that ideal may never be achieved, the Droid comes closer than the iPhone does. Ultimately, it will be money that breaks things open for everyone. It always is. And as it stands, only consumers’ wallets have the power to topple Apple’s walled garden now.

WITH WHICH TO STUFF THY STOCKING

In the end, both of these devices are technological marvels. The Droid makes a relic of that old bar phone sitting in the junk drawer at home. Both the iPhone 3GS and the Droid are at the pinnacle of technology. The lucky person who receives either one in their stocking this holiday season will no doubt find one reason or another to shout with glee (until they get the monthly bill, of course).

However, if you’re an iPhone user who, for one reason or another, has decided to “go Droid,” you might not be quite as happy as the person who just tossed their LG VU in favor of the Droid that just came down the chimney. Does that make the iPhone a better phone? Perhaps. Closer to the truth may be that the smartphone market is finally seeing some diversity, and quality, in a market that was standardized by Apple’s revolutionary smartphone.

With that out of the way, the new Motorola Droid is recommended to almost any smart phone shopper. It’s not going to outsell or render obsolete Apple Inc.’s device. But it’s competitive, combining neat technology with the reliable Verizon Wireless 3G network.

The Droid lives up to its name. Here’s a rundown:

Screen: It’s astoundingly sharp, with much higher resolution than most phones, and text and pictures redefine the word “crisp.”

OS: The latest version of Google’s Android operating system feels polished and sturdy. There are tons of apps, and the new Google Maps Navigation GPS software works great. It’s undeniably cool to just speak your destination into the microphone and see it pop up on the screen.

Browsing: The Web browser is zippy and responsive, and adding e-mail is a cinch. With a handful of apps running, the system never bogged down.

Media: The music app is acceptable. Motorola doesn’t have an iTunes-like program to manage tunes, but there is an Amazon MP3 download app, and plugging the Droid into your PC and dragging and dropping files is easy. Sound quality is good, although the software player is rudimentary.

The video player, though, is unpleasant. It’s buried inside the “Gallery” app, and I had problems getting video files I transferred from my PC to play back accurately. Sometimes I got audio but no video; other times the player crashed altogether.

Camera: Playing back videos I recorded with the Droid’s built-in camera was painless, though. But the 5 megapixel camera isn’t great, and its autofocus struggles with nearby objects. Some people will complain about the lack of pinch-to-zoom and multitouch (although I think that’s overrated).

Keyboard: Flat, unspaced keys on the slide out keyboard make touch typing largely impractical, but the on-screen keyboard is excellent. You’ll probably end up using that.

The Droid is unapologetically brash and different. Despite some rough edges, it’s a standout device that deserves to be a big seller. Motorola Droid

Pros: Awesome screen, bold design and intuitive software make a great first impression.

Cons: If you’re a big music or video user, the Droid will feel limited and awkward.

Bottom line: Cellphone technology is advancing so rapidly that committing to a new handset is becoming intimidating, but the Droid seems built to last and Google’s track record of continually upgrading its software is undeniable. Just don’t call this an iPhone killer.

The scoop: Motorola Droid smartphone (Verizon Wireless service), about $200 (with two-year agreement, plus $70 monthly voice/data service).

What it is: With apologies to Terrell Owens, “Get your popcorn ready!” The Motorola Droid smartphone is ready to take on the iPhone for the hearts and minds of consumers (and, gasp, enterprises). Running on Google’s Android operating system, the Droid features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard as a way to combat the lack of a physical keyboard on the iPhone — but like the iPhone it has a touchscreen (3.7 inches with 480 x 584 resolution) with an iPhone-like UI. In addition to the cell phone, the Droid lets you access e-mail, send text messages and download additional applications from the Android Market.

Why it’s cool: The Droid’s 5 megapixel digital camera is a step up from the iPhone’s camera (the iPhone 3GS has a 3 megapixel camera), and the addition of Wi-Fi on a Verizon Wireless smartphone is a much appreciated feature (unlike last year’s BlackBerry Storm, which was Wi-Fi-less). Accessing applications from the Android Market was as easy as an iPhone, although some of the applications available were not completely formatted for the Droid (I tried the apps out before the phone’s official launch, so hopefully they will conform more to the Droid’s screen size). Connecting to Verizon’s 3G wireless network was especially appreciated in New England. The built-in GPS and navigation application was very cool (and free), especially when it gives you a street view photo of your location when you arrive at the destination (it’s possible Street View can be active while you’re driving, but I had other things to worry about — driving — when I was trying that application.

Some caveats: I’m not completely sold on the slide-out keyboard. The physical placement of the keyboard (it slides out from the side, or the bottom if you rotate the phone 90 degrees) becomes an issue on the right side — extra space is used, making it harder for people with smaller hands to do the thumb-typing method. Since I have smaller hands, typing on the keyboard was more difficult. I gave the phone to a colleague with larger hands, and he was not bothered by this feature.

Bottom line: I’ve seen a lot of iPhone clones and alleged “iPhone killers” come and go by the wayside. It’s possible that the Droid will join them as well, but I don’t think so. I think this device has legs, and it seems to have the support of Verizon Wireless behind it, based on some of their latest ads challenging AT&T’s 3G coverage (somehow I think it means hopes for a Verizon iPhone has dimmed). The final decision on whether to go with a Droid vs. an iPhone could ultimately end up being a choice of whether you prefer AT&T’s network or Verizon’s.

Here we go again: Another swaggering company claims to have the iPhone killer. This time, it’s Motorola and Verizon Wireless, with the Droid. You’ve seen the “Droid does” campaign, but let’s cut to the chase: The Motorola Droid does not do that much. It’s a real letdown after all the hype, with some amazingly dumb design decisions, such as lack of a multitouch screen (no gesture support) and a hard-to-use keyboard.

Worse for Motorola is that HTC, a company hardly known for its investment in design, has come out with a better Android-based smartphone. The consumer-oriented HTC Droid Eris has a surprisingly good user interface that could teach Apple a thing or two.

Despite the flaws, the Droid does show real movement in the high-tech industry to truly compete with the iPhone. The Palm Pre earlier this year was the first credible competitor to Apple, while the Droid and the Droid Eris move that competition along. The iPhone remains the victor, but the number of viable competitors is sure to rise further.

Deathmatch: E-mail, calendars, and contacts The heart of what a smartphone user does — maybe even more than talk — is deal with e-mail and calendars, both of which tap into your contacts database.

The Droid’s Email app is superficially similar to the iPhone’s, but it lacks much of iPhone Mail’s richness. For example, both let you select multiple e-mails for deletion, but the Droid doesn’t let you quickly delete a message without reading it (the iPhone does it with a swipe gesture). The Droid’s Email app doesn’t let you move e-mail into folders, and worse, you can’t search e-mails from the Email app in the Droid.

Although Motorola advertises the Droid as supporting Exchange e-mail, it does so in limited circumstances. If your Exchange server doesn’t have any ActiveSync policies enabled, you should be able to access Exchange e-mail from the Droid. If such policies are enabled, the Droid will let you connect to the server and send e-mail (I had to reboot the Droid after Exchange setup to get it to work), but it won’t display your messages or folders. (My colleague Paul Venezia’s testing shows the Droid can get e-mail from an Exchange server that does not use ActiveSync policies.)

It’s not clear if the Droid supports any Exchange ActiveSync policies — the tech support staffs at Verizon and Motorola had no idea, and the Web sites provide no details. The iPhone doesn’t support all ActiveSync policies, but it works with a commonly used subset, and if it can’t connect to Exchange due to a policy conflict, it sends you an alert.

There is a solid Exchange client app, Touchdown for Exchange from NitroDesk, that works with the Droid, but only by lying to Exchange about ActiveSync policy support for on-device encryption and password requirements. The tech support staff at NitroDesk told me I shouldn’t use the app with the Droid because of that bug. Touchdown is a good app, with iPhone-like capabilities such as setting which folders to keep synced, and it even lets you set away notices, which the iPhone Mail app can’t do. However, it doesn’t display your Sent folders, which is a major gap.

For calendars, the Droid syncs to Exchange calendars (even if your server uses ActiveSync policies), but you can’t accept invitations. On the iPhone, you can — unless the invite came in as an e-mail attachment on a non-Exchange account.

The Droid displays Exchange calendars in a separate app, so you can’t see your personal and corporate appointments at the same time. In the iPhone, you can see all or any calendars at once. (The HTC Droid Eris, which has extensions to the stock Android UI used by the Motorola Droid, also lets you see your Exchange and personal calendars in one app.) The one calendar advantage the Droid holds over the iPhone is that the Droid lets you select which personal calendars to view simultaneously; with the iPhone, you see all or just one.

If you intend to use your Droid for Exchange access, don’t tell Verizon — don’t inform the salesperson that you’ll be using Exchange or corporate e-mail, and don’t call tech support with Exchange questions. Otherwise, Verizon will add $15 to your monthly data plan.

The iPhone can sync to Outlook on the PC, as well as iCal and Address Book on the Mac via a USB connection. The Droid cannot. Both devices support Gmail syncing (which you can use an intermediary to sync with Outlook and iCal/Mail/Address Book), though the Droid can do so over the air without a $99-a-year MobileMe account, as the iPhone requires.

Both the Droid and the iPhone let you view common attachment formats such as Word, Excel, and PDF; the Droid bundles the Quickoffice viewer apps to do so, while Apple has its own document viewer baked in to the iPhone. But neither can handle zipped attachments. I give Droid a nod for letting you save attachments for use with other apps, which the iPhone still can’t do. (The iPhone can save image attachments.)

In its address book, the iPhone lets you jump easily to contacts by tapping an onscreen letter, such as T to navigate to people whose last names begin with T. Or you can search for someone in the Search field by tapping part of the name. The Droid lets you type a letter on the physical keyboard to jump easily to contacts; if you are using the touchscreen, you have to go through a menu command to search just your contacts (the standard Search button searches both the Web and the Droid). Both the Droid and the iPhone let you designate favorite contacts, which are handily displayed in a separate pane, and both have call log and phone dialer panes in their Contacts apps.

The winner: The iPhone, thanks to its real-world Exchange support and better calendar capabilities. The Droid’s only advantages — the ability to save e-mail attachments and over-the-air syncing with Google Gmail — can’t overcome its deficits.

Deathmatch: Applications Motorola has made a lot of noise about the Droid’s ability to run multiple apps simultaneously. The iPhone can’t do that, and often when you switch from one app to another and then back, the first app resets. The Droid easily moves among apps, but it does so in the same way as the iPhone: You have to return to the home page and select the app. I much prefer how the Palm Pre handles multiple simultaneous apps, letting you move among them through the row-of-cards metaphor, and I wish that the Android OS had something similar.

The iPhone, of course, shines in the amazing variety of iPhone apps. Although many are junk, there are some real gems in the App Store. The Android Market is too young to have anywhere near the selection of the Apple App Store, but I am encouraged by the number of high-quality apps that exist for the Droid and other Android devices. (Yes, there’s a lot of junk, too.) And you can download apps for the Droid outside the Android Market and install them directly — Apple gives you no such flexibility.

When using the Droid, I also miss some of the iPhone’s apps-handling capabilities. For example, the iPhone lets you save Web pages as if they were apps; they display on the home screen for easy access. This feature lets me save as such an icon the Web page that tells me how long until my local bus arrives, and I don’t have to wade through my browser’s bookmarks to load it. On the Droid, I can’t do that.

Apple’s method of letting you rearrange your apps is more intuitive than the Droid’s. When you select apps, they shake, and you can move them among the home screen’s panes and put them where you want. If a pane is full, the iPhone moves an app to another pane to make room. On the Droid, you can move apps from the application window to your home screen’s panes, but there is no visual clue that you’ve selected an app. Worse, if you move an app to a full home screen pane, you can’t drop it onto that pane or scroll to another pane. Instead, you have to first go to the home screen pane you want, then the application window and drag the desired app to the home screen pane you previously switched to. It’s the kind of rough edge you rarely see on an iPhone but crops up fairly often in the Android UI.
For business document editing, the $20 Quickoffice for iPhone lets you perform basic edits in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents and retain revisions tracking in the original documents. But it doesn’t work with zipped files. Apple’s prohibition against saving files on the iPhone means that Quickoffice can’t get to those e-mail attachments. Quickoffice does offer a cool tool to transfer files to and from the iPhone over Wi-Fi, but you need your computer up and running to do that — in which case, why would you edit the documents on the iPhone?

There is no business-class Office editor for the Droid. The bundled Quickoffice for Android is just a viewer, and the $30 Documents to Go app from DataViz is unable to edit files sent via Exchange. It does work with files received over Gmail, but few businesses use Gmail.

I tried using Google Docs on both the iPhone and Droid, with the same results. It’s barely possible to edit a spreadsheet; the most you can do is select and add rows and edit an individual cell’s contents. You can’t edit a text document, and for calendars all you can do is view and delete appointments.

The iPhone’s copy and paste capabilities are both richer and better implemented than the Droid’s. To select text on the Droid, you have to use a menu option or keyboard shortcut to turn on text selection, then tap elsewhere to stop the selection, and use another menu option or keyboard shortcut to paste. It’s also hard to tell where your text cursor is on the Droid, due to its tiny, thin appearance. The iPhone, by contrast, doesn’t require menus to select or deselect text, and its menus for copying, pasting, and deleting come up automatically when you select, then disappear automatically when you deselect.

On the iPhone, copying and pasting e-mail text, Web text, or Web graphics is straightforward. On the Droid, copying graphics is not supported. Furthermore, you can copy text in e-mail on the Droid only if you are composing a message in the text-entry window; you cannot copy text in received e-mails. The Droid does detect phone numbers and addresses in e-mails, turning them into hot spots that can be clicked to launch the phone and map apps.

The winner: The iPhone, though its lack of multitasking is a major obstacle to using the huge array of available apps, and it keeps them from working together. The Droid needs more business-capable apps in its repertoire, and it must fix some of the roughness in its UI for apps handling. Its awkward cut, copy, and paste capabilities could use some work too.

Deathmatch: Web and Internet The iPhone redefined the mobile Web experience, but the use of the Safari browser’s WebKit technology in competing smartphones such as the Palm Pre and the Motorola Droid has largely leveled that playing field. Both devices let you scroll through real Web pages and take advantage of technologies such as JavaScript and QuickTime. Neither support Flash videos outside their YouTube player apps.

But Apple’s Safari browser has a better UI. That means you can go forward without invoking a menu, as the Droid requires. You can also easily switch among Web pages without using several steps, as well as select text and graphics on Web pages for copy and paste, another multistep operation in Droid.

The Droid’s lack of multitouch capability really shows on the Web; maneuvering through Web pages is difficult, as you have to use zoom buttons, which means you scroll on your page, then jump to the bottom of the screen to click an onscreen zoom button, watch the page zoom and recenter, then scroll again. It’s just so much easier on an iPhone (or a Palm Pre).

The winner: The iPhone. Both the iPhone and Droid are real Web devices, giving you the true Web experience — minus Flash — but both navigating the Web and copying and pasting Web content are more difficult with the Droid.

Deathmatch: Location support Both the iPhone and the Droid support GPS location, and both can triangulate location based on Wi-Fi signals. Both devices also come with Google Maps, which can find your current destination, provide directions, and otherwise help you navigate. Both devices let developers integrate location information in their apps, so location is just another native feature.

Where the Droid has an edge is in its bundled turn-by-turn navigation app. It may be beta (like most Google software), but it works darn well. The map and directions update as you travel, and you can have the app speak directions to you. AT&T charges iPhone users $10 a month for a similar service; you can also buy an app such as Navigon’s $90 MobileNavigator or the $100 TomTom.

I like the Droid’s implementation of Google Maps better when it comes to following directions. The iPhone pages from one junction to the next, so I lose the context of where I am in relation to my whole trip. The Droid — like the Palm Pre — moves the map along the path, so you have a better handle of the next junction point.
The winner: The Droid. The built-in navigation app sets it apart in a big way.

Deathmatch: User interface Many users hate the touch keyboard pioneered in the iPhone, which is one reason the BlackBerry remains more popular. The Droid tries to let you have it both ways, with a slideout physical keyboard and an iPhone-like touch keyboard.

The Droid’s touch keyboard is very much like the iPhone’s. It lacks the multilingual support of the iPhone, but it lets you choose from suggested words as you type (the iPhone only lets you decide whether to accept its sole suggestion). Both are clear and easy to tap on, once you get the hang of touch-tapping. Call it a draw.
But the Droid’s keyboard is awful. The keys hardly move, and they’re flat and hard to distinguish from each other, so it’s difficult to carry off the two-thumb touch-typing that a BlackBerry Bold or Palm Pre user would expect. It’s hard to type accurately on it; I wish the Droid’s sugegsted-spelling feature worked when I as typing on the physical keyboard, not just when tapping on the touch keyboard. I can type quickly on the BlackBerry Bold’s keyboard, but I barely inched along on the Droid’s physical keyboard. And the rocker-style trackball that works with the physical keyboard is equally awkward. Basically, the Droid’s keyboard is a waste of hardware, and as you’ll likely not use it, it simply drags down the phone, adding unnecessary thickness and weight.

The iPhone’s screen is smaller than the Droid’s, but it’s sharper and consistently holds its brightness level. I like the idea of the Droid’s larger screen, but it tends to flicker if you leave its autobrightness setting on. Also, the Droid’s lack of gesture support, due to the absence of a multitouch screen, limits your ability to maneuver through apps and information.

Overall, the iPhone’s UI is cleaner and more intuitive, as examples throughout this review have noted.

The voice quality of the Droid’s phone is better than the iPhone’s — and in my home town of San Francisco, the reach of Verizon’s 3G network is much more extensive than that of notoriously stingy AT&T, so I expect speedy data access to be more available to Droid users. The two devices rapidly eat through battery life, each lasting less than a workday on a single charge if used for regular data access and a few phone calls. You can carry a spare battery for the Droid but not the iPhone, though most people will instead keep a USB cable handy to charge the devices from their computers (both use proprietary cables).

The winner: The iPhone. The Droid’s poor keyboard and lack of multitouch screen are inexcusable, and the fact that Motorola could think those were acceptable design choices reminds me why Motorola has been a nonentity in smartphones for the last decade. The fault is not just Motorola’s, though; Google’s OS also delivers an uneven UI. The Droid’s Android OS suffers from an ailment common to most OSes: lack of user-oriented elegance. The Android UI is not terrible, but it clearly has not received the care and attention it deserves. It doesn’t have to be this way; the HTC Droid Eris’ Sense UI extensions show that an Android device can compete with the iPhone in terms of UI quality.

Deathmatch: Security and management I was excited when I heard that the Droid would finally support Exchange servers. But as noted, it doesn’t support Exchange ActiveSync security policies, so the Droid removes itself as a smartphone option for many organizations. By contrast, the iPhone supports a decent set of ActiveSync policies and thus can meet the compliance requirements of many companies.

The Droid’s lack of concern over security extends beyond Exchange. It does not support on-device encryption, unlike the iPhone 3G S, and its palette of security features is quite limited: You can require a touch pattern as a sort of visual password to use the Droid upon startup or after a timeout (a nice feature), but there are no capabilities for, say, requiring complex passwords, disabling the device after several failed access attempts, or wiping the device remotely. The iPhone supports several such security methods, though you need to use the iPhone Configuration Utility to set up most of them, and you need either an Exchange connection or a MobileMe account to enable remote wiping.

The Droid supports two additional security features worth noting. One, you can set it so applications use security credentials, such as those supplied on an SD card. Two, you can set up VPN access using several VPN protocols. The iPhone also supports security credentials and VPNs, but because the iPhone does not support removable media, credentials must be installed via e-mail, URLs, or the iPhone Configuration Utility.

The Droid also falls short of the iPhone when it comes to manageability. The iPhone has limited management capabilities via the iPhone Configuration Utility — which doesn’t work over the air and can’t enforce deployment of policies — but that’s better than the utter lack of management capabilities of the Droid. (Note that an increasing number of mobile management providers are promising iPhone and Android support, but that means getting an additional server product.)

The winner: The iPhone. Although it doesn’t match the BlackBerry’s security and manageability, it is far ahead of the Droid. Small and medium-size business can consider the iPhone seriously; the Droid is essentially an option only for businesses that don’t have security or management practices in place.

Where the Droid wins The Droid beats the iPhone in only two areas: location support, thanks to its built-in turn-by-turn navigation app, and phone voice quality. It does have some small innovations that Apple and others might consider adopting. For example, its gesture pattern “password” is an interesting approach that could thwart some device thieves, and its large screen is a welcome bucking of the trend toward smaller displays that are harder for us middle-agers to read.

The Droid also supports multiple simultaneous apps, but it provides no real way to take advantage of that fact, other than the ability to switch among them. The Pre is a better model for taking advantage of multitasking than the Droid.

Where the iPhone wins There’s no question that the iPhone is a better device for both business and consumer users. Its business capabilities are stronger, and it’s a better fit for corporate security needs. Its wealth of apps is unmatched, its ability to take full advantage of the Web is much stronger, and it simply is much easier to use than the Droid.

The overall winner is … There’s no surprise here. The iPhone significantly outclasses the Droid. After all the hype about “the Droid does” and how it could match or even beat the iPhone, the Droid has turned out to be much more like the BlackBerry Storm, a device with interesting ideas hobbled by stupid design choices. There are too many competitors for a Storm wannabe to survive.

The Droid isn’t a serious contender. If you want an Android device, consider the HTC Droid Eris instead. Although not business-capable (it has the same limitations there as the Droid), it has a much more iPhone-like UI.

Verizon Wireless, the carrier for the device, had 200,000 Droid phones on hand, and most stores sold at least half of their stock, Mark McKechnie at Broadpoint AmTech Inc. said yesterday. Including other models, Motorola will sell 1 million phones based on Google Inc.’s Android software in the fourth quarter and 10 million in 2010, he said.

Motorola and Verizon are competing against a new version of Apple’s iPhone, offered in the U.S. through AT&T Inc. Apple sold more than 1 million of the latest model in its weekend debut in June. Motorola’s share of the global phone market dropped to an estimated 4.7 percent last quarter from about 5.5 percent in the second quarter, the company said last month.

“I see the first few days as encouraging,” McKechnie said. “There seems to be pretty good demand — they’ve taken the right steps and picked a good partner with Google on the Android side.”

Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, rose 6 cents to $9.04 at 9:54 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Before today, the stock had more than doubled this year.

The Droid, which uses Google’s Android operating system, went on sale Nov. 6 on Verizon’s Web site and in retail stores. It costs $199.99 with a two-year agreement after a $100 mail-in rebate. Apple’s basic iPhone costs $99 with AT&T, while its newer 3GS model costs $199.

‘Much Anticipated’

Verizon and Motorola ads demonstrate Droid features that aren’t available on the iPhone, including running more than one application at a time and allowing users to swap batteries on the go.

The debut of the Droid was “exciting given its much anticipated arrival,” said Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson, who declined to comment on sales numbers. Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, didn’t return an e-mail seeking comment.

The Droid’s release is a step in the right direction for Motorola, said Jim Suva, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in San Francisco.

“It wasn’t as good as the iPhone, but anybody that was expecting that had their expectations too high,” said Suva, who recommends buying Motorola shares. Traffic in Verizon stores through the first three days was “continually good,” he said.

Motorola may sell 1.3 million Android phones in the fourth quarter and 9 million next year, Suva said. Apple will sell 8 million iPhones this quarter and 28.5 million next year, he predicts.

Smartphone Demand

Shipments of so-called smart phones, which allow users to surf the Web and compose e-mail messages, climbed 4.2 percent to 43.3 million in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to market researcher IDC.

Still, as unemployment climbs to the highest level since 1983, carriers may have a tougher time persuading customers to sign up for the pricier data plans that come with smart phones, MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen said in an interview.

“I have this nagging suspicion that Android is being overestimated by technology enthusiasts,” said Kuittinen, who is based in Greenwich, Connecticut. He advises investors to sell Motorola shares, which he doesn’t own. “They haven’t really resonated with average consumers.”

Motorola Inc. (MOT) launched the Droid on Friday in an exclusive deal with Verizon Wireless, which is heavily promoting the device for the holiday shopping season. Although long lines did not form at Verizon stores, analysts say the Droid appeared to be selling well.

New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), the No. 1 mobile operator in terms of customers, hopes the Droid will help it better compete with AT&T Inc. (T), which is the exclusive U.S. supplier of the iPhone. AT&T outgained Verizon by a net 800,000 customers in the third quarter, largely because of latest iPhone’s strong sales.

“Demand seems brisk,” Broadpoint AmTech analyst Mark McKechnie wrote of the Droid in a report Monday. “While we heard of no stores that were completely sold out, the majority reported that more than half of the initial stock was sold and some said they had just a few remaining.”

Verizon and Motorola released the Droid this week to take advantage of the fast-approaching holiday season, when wireless-phone sales traditionally peak.

Though some may compare the low turnout to the long lines that greeted the launch of the iPhone 3G last year, analysts say Motorola does not have to draw a crowd of that size to be successful.

“Although the press is stating the Droid launch was not as successful as the iPhone launch, we don’t believe investors expected an iPhone-like launch, but rather a first step in a cadence of products that will help bring Motorola’s handsets out of the death spiral experienced during the past three years,” wrote Jim Suva of Citigroup in a note to clients Monday.

The Droid also has the benefit of drawing the buzz of a new device. Apple Inc. (AAPL) updated its iPhone line over the summer, which is also when Palm Inc. (PALM) launched its much-anticipated Pre device.

Analyst Mark Sue of RBC Capital Markets forecasts Verizon Wireless could sell as many as 1 million units of the phone in the fourth quarter.

The Droid has a touch-screen similar to the iPhone, but it adds a slide-out keyboard and a higher quality camera. The device also has a fast processor and speedy access to the Internet via Verizon’s network. Other notable features include GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and Google Inc.’s (GOOG) easy-to-use Android software.

“It sure looks like we’ve captured the marketplace’s imagination and the buzz is good,” said Verizon spokesman Tom Pica. Yet he emphasized that Verizon is releasing a slew of new phones, including the HTC Droid Eris and BlackBerry Storm 2, in time for the holidays.

“It’s more than just one phone,” he said.

Independent reviewers have mostly praised the Droid–with caveats. Avi Greengart of Current Analysis praised the quality of the hardware components used in the Droid and said the latest version of Google’s Android software is much improved.

Jane Zweig of The Shosteck Group said the Droid represents a welcome addition to Verizon’s lineup of phones.

“My biggest complaint is that it’s not as intuitive,” Zweig said. “It’s user friendly once you get the hang of it.”

The Droid will turn out to be a success, analysts say, if it keeps Verizon customers who want an iPhone-like device from defecting to AT&T. So far the vast majority of Verizon subscribers have remained loyal because its network is widely viewed as the best in the U.S.

Verizon customers will be disappointed, however, if they think the Droid can mimic the entire iPhone experience, analysts say.

“Is the Droid an iPhone equal? In my view, no,” Zweig said. “From a consumer standpoint it has a long way to go.”

-Jeffry Bartash; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

If you’re interested in either an iPhone 3GS or DROID, here are some points to consider:

Network: AT&T vs. Verizon

Many would say pick your network before you pick your device, but sometimes we love a device so much we’ll put up with limited or even lousy networks. However, it’s important to remember that Verizon has better 3G coverage than AT&T. CDMA/EVDO (the technology Verizon uses) simply has greater range, and there are so many millions of data-hungry iPhones on AT&T that their GSM/HSPA towers can get overwhelmed (especially New York and San Francisco). So, yes, you will get more bars in more places with Verizon.

On the flip side, AT&T’s GSM/HSPA network is the same standard used in almost all of the rest of the world. This means that you can use your iPhone when you travel (though you’ll pay a premium for the privilege) on carriers from the US to Canada to Europe to Australia to… you get the idea. Verizon’s CDMA/EVDO network, on the other hand, might roam in Canada, but that’s it. If you go DROID, you’re not taking it with you.

Lastly, AT&T’s GSM/HSPA can handle simultaneous voice and data, so you can talk on the phone while surfing the web, emailing, or using apps over 3G. Verizon’s CDMA/EVDO can’t do that. If you’re on the phone, you’re off the 3G internet. Wi-Fi can make up for this if available, but if you’re on the road you’re out of luck — and yes, that includes Google Maps Navigation for anything but cached data. (That is, if you have an AT&T 3G connection to work with, remember our first point above).

So if network matters to you — and it should! — figure out the best carrier for where you live, work, and travel, and that will help you figure out the device, be it iPhone or DROID.

Hardware: Slab vs. Slider

The iPhone 3GS is all about the singular slab, black and silver and glass, with rounded corners and ultra-slim profile, and only the Apple logo by way of branding. The DROID is in two “licorice and brown-sugar” parts, screen and sliding keyboard, with sharper angles, and Verizon, Motorola, and Google proudly etched all over it. Both are solid; both are well built.

Inside those bodies, the DROID boasts a 3.7-inch WVGA (480×854), 16:9 capacitive touchscreen with a 550 MHz processor, microUSB slot (comes with 16gb microSDHC card), user-changeable 1400 mAh battery (rated at nearly 6 and a half hours of usage time), and 5 megapixel camera with image stabilization, 4x zoom, dual-led Flash, and auto-focus. Oh, and a physical keyboard.

The iPhone is 3.5-inch (320×480) capacitive touchscreen with an undisclosed but snappy processor (600MHz Cortex A8 when investigated), no removable storage but 16GB or 32GB of internal memory, built-in battery with 5-hours of talk time, a 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus, and no physical keyboard.

So, DROID wins the spec battle, but there are a few caveats. Though capacitive and touchscreen, the Verizon DROID doesn’t support multi-touch gestures. Yes, Android 2.0 supports them, yes the DROID’s Euro-counterpart, the Milestone, includes them, yes developers can make apps that implement them, but for some reason, the DROID’s built-in apps don’t let you do things like pinch-to-zoom or multi-touch typing. The iPhone, on the other hand, is a multitouch monster. It’s fully and uniformly supported on every iPhone, in every app.

Though it can use up to a 32GB microUSB card, unless you “root” (hack) the DROID, you can’t store apps on that card. Supposedly due to piracy concerns, Android 2.0 only allows you to install apps on 256MB of internal memory (some developers work around this by installing a small host app, then downloading extra data to the card). Depending on your usage pattern, that may not affect you, of course. But for gamers who want lengthy adventures with tons of textures, or offline navigation with all the localized maps, it could be an annoyance. The iPhone, by contrast, lets you use almost all available space for apps — up to just shy of 32GB on the high-end model.

While the DROID has a 5 megapixel camera, we’ve learned via the megapixel wars on point-and-shoots that size doesn’t matter. Quite often small sensors are cut up far to much, sacrificing quality for quantity. When it comes to the DROID camera, while it’s far from terrible, it’s pictures aren’t as pretty as the iPhone 3GS’. At least not yet. iPhone 3GS is currently auto-focusing better and its software is processing better looking stills.

Lastly, the DROID has a physical keyboard and a virtual keyboard. The iPhone only has a virtual keyboard. Early reviews suggest the DROID physical keyboard is a little flat, a little hard to differentiate one key from another, and a little off-center to accommodate the 5-way control. In other words, it’s no BlackBerry. Likewise, the virtual keyboard is good but not iPhone great. If you care about physical keyboard, however, DROID has one and iPhone doesn’t.

Both have top-of-the-line hardware, with the DROID raising the stakes to tip-top. It’s not what you have, however, but what you do with what you have, and in that regard the scales look pretty well balanced.

Software: iPhone 3.0 vs. Android 2.0

Android is an open-source, Apache-licensed operating system that Google makes available free of charge to device manufacturers who can add their own proprietary “secret sauce” to the mix. So, there’s no single, unified Android platform like there is for iPhone. On the plus side, you get a much greater amount of diversity, hardware and software, then the iPhone. On the minus side, it means what you see on one Android device may not be what you see on another. In terms of the DROID, this means you won’t see HTC’s Sense UI or even Mototola’s own Blur social networking interface. What you do get is Android 2.0 Eclair with Google’s proprietary Push Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Voice, YouTube, and Google Maps (now including the incredible looking Google Maps Navigation) rolled in. If you’re heavily invested in the Google experience, that alone is compelling.

The iPhone doesn’t offer as much Google goodness — certainly and controversially not Google Voice for example, and not Navigation (yet?) either. It does offer some, however, including push Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts via GoogleSync, and built-in Google Maps and YouTube. By contrast, the iPhone has tons of Apple’s very best software, and Android/DROID has absolutely none of that. For prime example, no awesome iPod app and everything that goes with it. The iPhone also supports MobileMe, which might be meaningless unless you’re a multiple Mac user who lives on iDisk, Mac Sync, and Back-to-my-Mac.

Apps: iPhone App Store vs. Android Market

Apps are the current killer-app. Sounds funny, but from “app for that” commercials down to blogs keeping running tally of which platform has how many (100,000+ for iPhone vs. 10,000-ish for Android if you’re curious), arguably nothing is supposed to matter more to consumers right now.

To be fair, not all those iPhone apps are what we’d call high quality. Apple’s mature, well polished Xcode and Cocoa touch development environment and iPhone SDK makes it easier to build iPhone apps — maybe too easy at times. By the same token, not all the Android apps are exactly golden either.

DROID’s advantage is that Google offers a more open development environment, meaning they don’t moderate their marketplace the way Apple does the App Store. Developers are free to make and upload pretty much anything they want, and only if there is a complaint will Google investigate and potentially remove it. Also, developers can provide “side loading”, or apps that can be installed outside the market. This may appeal more to pro-level or geekier users, but it should be a consideration for everybody.

Apple only allows apps that Apple approves into the App Store (and limits side-loading to 100 “ad-hoc” seats, or custom Enterprise deployment). While this should theoretically make for a “safer” environment, the capricious nature of what’s accepted and what’s rejected really just makes it more frustrating. Again, for geeks. Most users, however, will never notice this. With 100,000 apps, chance are you’ll find what you want and never notice what makes all the bloggers crazy. It’s just not a consumer issue.

What’s more noticeable is that DROID allows you to multitask all of its apps, built-in and 3rd party alike. You can keep apps open and running in the background, and with the press of a button, bring a 6-way app selector up for easy switching. If you want to run Pandora Radio while surfing the web or navigating a trip (as long as you don’t take a phone call), or keep your Instant Message app open all the time, this may be a big deal to you.

Apple’s iPhone only lets the built-in apps like Mail, SMS, Phone, iPod, etc. run in the background. So, you can listen to music on your iPhone, or streaming via Safari or iTunes, while you use most other apps (even the phone), but you can’t do likewise with a 3rd party app such as Pandora. The iPhone does implement “push notification” to alert you to activity in Instant Message clients and other apps. It works in most cases, but lacks Android’s more sophisticated notification management as well.

So — and it’s a theme that will come up over and over again — Android offers the potential for more kinds of apps and more ways to get them, but the iPhone’s controlled environment currently offers a greater quantity of apps, and among them many higher quality, highly polished 3rd party apps.

Ecosystem: Cloud vs. Cloud+

Google has virtually become the internet and their range of services from search to Gmail to Google Calendar to Google Voice… we’re not going to list them all again but suffice it to say if there’s a web-based service Google isn’t currently offering they’re planning it — or planning to buy it. And all of those will, as mentioned above, work first and best on Android and DROID.

On the other hand, as mentioned, the iPhone supports most of those services and supports them good enough for many users. In addition, it plugs into Apple’s cloud and client based iTunes ecosystem. It can’t match Google on pure cloud, but it offers local sync many users still want and need. And just like Google works best on Android, iTunes and Apple works — and just works — best on the iPhone, that includes all the music and media, the Mac and Apple TV, and all the accessories that years of iPod dominance have made so popular.

If you love the freedom of a wireless world filled with free Google services, you can go all in with DROID. If you want most of that, and are heavily invested in iTunes and Apple, then iPhone might be a better fit.

Media: iPod vs. ??

The iPhone is, according to Apple, the best iPod they’ve ever made, and if you’re interested in a media-equipped phone, that’s hard to ignore. As we just discussed, the iPhone enjoys incredibly easy and increasingly robust sync with iTunes, and the massive music, movie, TV, podcast, and other content the iTunes store provides. And that’s not even counting your existing iTunes content, if you’ve already ripped your CDs, DVDs, and other media into iTunes-supported format.

That last part is just as important, however. Not all media is supported by iTunes, and so it’s not all supported by the iPhone. If you’ve built up a collection of Xvid, DivX, MKV, OGG Vorbis, etc. content (all from legitimate sources, of course), the iPhone won’t play them unless and until you convert them to MP3/AAC or H.264 MP4. And that can be a hassle.

Now, Android’s built in music player is… anemic, and its movie player even more so, but given their open environment if there’s a format they don’t play, there’s a good chance you can find an app that will play it (or that one will be developed). It might not be as slick or elegant as the iPhone’s iPod player, but if you need to play those formats, does it really matter?

User-Experience: Design vs. Engineering

There’s no simpler way to put it, Google is an engineering company while Apple is a design company. The DROID was constructed to meet a set of features. The iPhone was crafted to meet the exacting tastes and incredible demands of one Steve Jobs. That might sound funny, but it’s the difference between something that sounded usable in the schematics, and something that just works in the real world.

Android 2.0 is no doubt leaps and bounds ahead of Android 1.x (which famously presented users with a Google Search box and flashing cursor when no keyboard was present with which to enter any input), as DROID hardware is ahead of the original T-Mobile G1. It will even recognize desk and driving docks and become “finger friendlier” on contact.

Notwithstanding the lack of multitouch mentioned above, however, there’s a reason why even the original iPhone revolutionized the smartphone space long before the App Store showed up — it’s interface is pure usability. From 2 year old to octogenarian, it’s intuitive and consistent, and you can never underestimate the importance of — or difficulty in achieving — both of those.

Again, many consumers may not care. Good enough is often good enough.

Conclusion: Which One Should You Buy?

If you have to have Verizon, don’t need to travel internationally, love you a physical keyboard, want everything Google has to offer, are a spec-fiend, chronic multi-tasker, and want a device that’s arguably more complex but also arguably more flexible, this — cliche warning — might just be the DROID you’re looking for.

If AT&T and international GSM compatibility is your priority, you consider virtual keyboards to be the future, are invested in the Apple/iTunes ecosystem, want those 100,000 apps unlimited by storage concerns, are a multitouch fanatic, want to talk while you surf 3G, and want a device that arguably is controlled and compromised but is also arguably the most usable on the planet, the iPhone 3GS could be what you want.

Try both. Try the Palm Pre as well while you’re at it. Take them home if you can and use each for a while. Return the one(s) that doesn’t suit you and enjoy the one that does. And just remember — the smartphone space is evolving rapidly again. You can bet both Google and Apple are both hard at work on the next, even better version(s) of their devices.

In an aggressive new ad campaign teasing a mystery phone with the potential to slay Apple’s leading smartphone, Verizon Wireless appears to have thrown down the gauntlet.

Its Web and TV ad lists the iPhone’s most notorious flaws, such as the lack of a physical keyboard, the inability to run several applications simultaneously and a camera that can’t take shots at night, and then ends with the tag line: “Everything iDon’t, Droid Does.”

Verizon has not said anything about the phone outside of its ads, but some say the new device, which has the backing of Verizon Wireless, cell phone maker Motorola and tech giant Google, could shape up to be the iPhone’s biggest threat yet.

The popular blog TechCrunch called it “the first phone that will pose a significant threat to Apple’s iPhone” and the tech blog VentureBeat went even further, saying “it will likely have the glitz and power to bury the iPhone.”

Apple’s popular touchscreen phone, which helped the company post a 47 percent profit jump in just the last quarter, has successfully fended off attacks from wannabe “iPhone killers” in the past.

iPhone Has Fended Off ‘Killers’ in the Past

T-Mobile’s G1 “Google phone,” Verizon’s Blackberry Storm and Sprint’s Palm Pre all tried — and failed — to knock AT&T’s iPhone off its throne.

But even those who don’t think Verizon’s mystery droid will beat the iPhone say that it could still be a formidable opponent.

“I don’t know that people can out-Apple Apple because they re-defined the existing [smartphone] market,” said Kevin Tofel, editor of the mobile technology blog, JKOntheRun. But, he continued, “If we’re looking for an iPhone killer, the Droid probably has the best shot.”

Though Verizon and Motorola declined to comment on the phone, the ad campaign’s Web site DroidDoes.com, directs to a site that includes both companies’ names in the Web address.

The site hints at a “robot sidekick” that runs on Google’s Android software, is capable of serving multiple applications at once, has a 5-megapixel camera, speech recognition and more.

Google’s Android Software Has ‘Matured’

Tofel said that Google’s open source Android software, which debuted on the T-Mobile G1 phone last September and gives third-party developers the opportunity to create new applications, has matured from being “the teenager to the young adult.”

That improved operating system, combined with a keyboard coveted by many and hardware expected to be advanced could make for an all-around very solid phone, he said.

On Sunday, the gadget blog BoyGeniusReport, which often manages to review products before their official release dates, posted photos of a phone thought to be the new Verizon Droid.

The pictures show a sleek phone just slightly thicker than an iPhone 3G, equipped with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen.

“It’s a really good phone, I was incredibly impressed,” the blogger behind BoyGeniusReport, who asked to be referred to as “BG,” told ABCNews.com. “I use an iPhone and BlackBerry daily. To get me excited about anything else is really hard.”

Gadget Blogger: New Droid Could Eat into BlackBerry Sales

In addition to the impressive hardware and sensitive touchscreen, he said the Android operating system was basically untouched by Verizon or Motorola.

“Google had a direct hand in making the phone with Motorola,” he said, adding that the operating system effectively links different applications on the phone, such as Facebook, e-mail accounts, calendars and more.

But, he said that instead of luring people away from the iPhone and AT&T’s network, he said the new Droid could eat into Verizon’s Blackberry sales.

“I think a lot of people are going to be jumping ship to grab this instead,” he said.

Other analysts also expect that the new mystery phone will not live up to its “iPhone killer” hype.

“It’s a me-too competitor to the iPhone. It’s not a game changer,” said Gene Munster, a senior research analyst for Piper Jaffray.

The new Droid might live up to its promises of a better camera, the ability to run several applications at once and more. But, he emphasized, those reasons don’t get at why people buy an iPhone in the first place.

Why Is the iPhone so Strong? Apps

“They want the apps,” he said. “The iPhone movement has really gotten behind the idea that you can change your phone into anything you want.”

With more than 100,000 applications available to download in its App Store, iPhone apps far exceed those available for Android phones (about 10,000), the Blackberry (about 3,000) and the Palm Pre (about 100).

And, for those who are holding out for an iPhone that can run on Verizon instead of AT&T’s notoriously inconsistent network, Munster had some potentially distressing news.

Given its aggressive Droid campaign, Munster wondered about conversations between Apple and Verizon and if the cell phone carrier would be able to score the iPhone after its exclusivity deal with AT&T expires in June 2010.

“The ad campaign is just a low blow to Apple,” he said. “It begs the question: How’s the relationship between Verizon and Apple? And I can’t imagine it’s doing well.”

Still, Munster said, the campaign likely just shows that Verizon needs to compete for the next nine months but could still patch things up in time to ink a deal with Apple.

But though its marketing push touts a phone intended to topple the iPhone, he said the iPhone is likely to maintain its dominance for the next five years.

“I think every few months there’s going to be a phone proclaimed to be the iPhone killer,” Munster said. “[But] until there’s a platform out there that has comparable apps to the iPhone, there is no iPhone killer.”

I mean that in the good sense of what a PC represents, namely compatibility. Yes, Google’s Android operating system may someday–probably will–become the standard for comparison among smartphones.

That time, however, is not here and may not arrive for several years. In the meantime, if I want just one smartphone, it will be an iPhone. The iPhone today represents compatibility and standards.

This is the opposite of the situation that Apple finds itself in with computers. In computing, a Mac comes close but is not, in the end, a real PC. Why? Because a Mac may be able to do 90 percent of what a PC can do, but that other 10 percent can be critical.

While I do most of my writing on my trusty MacBook Pro, there are still applications I use that are not available for Mac. Granted most of these are specialized apps, but they are important, even vital, to my various activities.

The applications used in my search-and-rescue and emergency management lives, just are not available for Macintosh. I wish they were, but the Mac is just too small a part of what is a small market to begin with.

Yes, I could use Apple’s Boot Camp to turn my Mac into a PC. Or run a virtualized PC under Mac OS. But why? My current Macs are just a tad wimpy for such use, which also adds complexity, resulting in a computer that is harder to physically share with other users.

Therefore, I use a Mac for most of my personal work, including this blog, and a PC for applications that are not available natively for Mac. It is easy enough to grab the computer I need when I need it.

Less so with a smartphone. Sure, a Droid would be small enough to grab, but I do not need another phone number or another expensive monthly bill. The bill part really says it all since either an iPhone or Droid costs about $2,400 over the course of a two-year service agreement.

I really do like the Droid, just not enough to double my wireless expense. Especially, when I use iPhone apps that are simply not available for the Droid. Moreover, it will be a long time before Android offers the breadth and scope apps that iPhone offers.

Over time, there will be more Android apps that “beat” iPhone apps in features and functions. There will also be worthwhile apps that are only available for Android (and don’t come from Google).

When that happens, I will reconsider my decision. That will, in any case, happen no later than a year from next June, when my AT&T contract ends.

In the meantime, I will be happy to have a phone that can do pretty much anything a smartphone can do. I will look longingly at a friend’s new Droid, but I will be happy with my decision to saw with my iPhone.

P.S. I am also hearing that the Droid’s shallow keyboard may not be such a good choice for people with big fingers, such as myself. Another reason to stay with my iPhone.

David Coursey tweets as @techinciter and can be contacted via his Web site.

Given that Motorola (MOT) and Verizon (VZ) pitched the Droid in its first TV ad as everything Apple’s (AAPL) and AT&T’s (T) iPhone was not, it was perhaps inevitable that every reviewer so far, including these two, treated its arrival as a grudge match.

Mossberg’s review is positive but tepid — especially the video version. He plods through the comparisons item by item like a slightly boring homework assignment. His top-line summary:

“While it has some significant drawbacks, I regard it as a success overall. It’s the best super-smart phone Verizon offers, the best Motorola phone I’ve tested and the best hardware so far to run [Google's (GOOG)] Android. I can recommend the Droid to Verizon loyalists who have lusted for a better smart phone, but don’t want to switch networks.”

Pogue being Pogue has more fun with the assignment, even running a Twitter contest to come up with a new term for these newfangled gizmos. (He’s going with “app phones”; Mossberg calls them “super-smart phones.”) Pogue’s bottom line:

Since Verizon seems to want a Droid-iPhone faceoff, here it is: the Droid wins on phone network, customizability, GPS navigation, speaker, physical keyboard, removable battery and openness (free operating system, mostly uncensored app store). The iPhone wins on simplicity, refinement, thinness, design, Web browsing, music/video synching with your computer, accessory ecosystem and quality/quantity of the app store.”

For a more thorough comparison, written by someone who actually seems to care, check out developer Greg Kumparak’s 2,500 word review in TechCrunch. His conclusion: “At this point, I honestly feel that either choice would make any sane person incredibly happy.”