The long awaited Motorola Droid is out in the wild.  How does it fare?  Click through to find out.

Android has come quite some way since the release of the HTC G1/Dream and has proven itself to be the “hot new thing” in terms of cell phone OS’s.  Many of you may have noticed a recent influx of Android handsets in the smart phone market within the past couple of months.  T-Mobile, birth place of the Android handset recently released the HTC MyTouch3G/Magic, Motorola Cliq, and the Samsung Behold II.  With much fanfare Sprint also released its line of Android smart phones with the HTC Hero and the Samsung Moment.  Now with a third entry, Verizon, has entered this battle for Android domination and handset supremacy by releasing the Motorola Droid, the first handset with Android 2.0.  Does Droid have what it takes shake up the smart phone division and take the title??

The first thing you notice about the phone is its size.  It’s a pretty big phone with a large 3.7” capacitive screen.  That’s not a knock against the Droid.   The Droid is just noticeably larger, especially the screen, than some of its other competitors.  In your hand the phone feels solid. It’s interesting to see how Motorola made it so big without being clunky or awkward in the hands.   Another interesting thing is how slim the phone is, especially given the fact it’s a slider phone with a full QWERTY keyboard.   It has 4 touch sensitive buttons on the front and none of the other buttons on the phone; volume rocker, camera button etc, feel out of place even with the size.

In regards to hardware, Droid doesn’t disappoint there either.  It comes with a 16gb microSD card straight out of the box.  It has a 3.5mm headphone jack, 5MP camera, Autofocus, zoom, and dual LED flash.  Now all of that is well and good but the real sexiness comes from the screen.  The 3.7” capacitive screen, simply put, is a BEAST.  It has over 400,000 pixels which translates to twice the resolution of another highly touted phone.  Droid also comes equipped with 802.11 b/g wifi and Bluetooth connection but with a high end phone like this that should go without saying.

One of the most delicious parts of Droid is Éclair/Android 2.0.   This version of Android is by far the most responsive and smoothest of the versions.  Applications launch quicker, the accelerometer snaps, the animations flow A LOT smoother, and even the web browser takes less time adjusting web pages.  The virtual QWERTY keyboard is much improved as well.   It’s a lot more responsive this time around, specifically for those fast fingered typist that don’t have the time to slide to the physical keyboard.   2.0 is also the launch of a more robust voice search and Google’s turn by turn navigator via Google Maps.   The voice search is spot on, allowing you to search everything from phone numbers, voice dial, web sites, and even applications. When I tested, out of my 15 attempts, it only gave me the wrong search twice.  The turn by turn navigation seems to be a solid point for the phone as well.   To be honest with you if you have a Garmin or a Tom Tom navigation set already, you may find yourself using it less and less just given the accessibility Google Maps, your contacts, and a seamless connection to Google Nav.  I think that Garmin and Tom Tom share holders recognized this as well because their stock fell something nasty once the launch of the device hit on the November 6th.

With the release of Motorola Droid, it not only pushed the envelope but its throwing down the gauntlet for other smart phones to come after it. It’s a beautiful mix of hardware and software and all for a pretty good price of $199 (2 year contract). Overall the phone feels like what a luxury, high-end smart phone should be. Droid seems to do it all.