n900

I walked into Best Buy at release date and didn’t see any lines. I asked for the Motorola Droid and got set up in about 15 minutes. The Droid is the first Android device I’ve played with, and I’m slapping myself for ignoring this platform this long. I was able to setup my email, contacts, calendar, and install apps faster than my Nokia phones and the iPhone. I guess it helps that I already use a lot of Google services. I’m sure many of you do too. After just a couple of hours of usage, I give you my unboxing and first impressions.

You can also watch this video in HD on Youtube.

I like:

• Quick setup for Gmail, Calendar, and contacts.
• Big and sharp display
• Thinnest qwerty slider.
• Android Market has a lot of apps and it is connected to my Google account. I don’t know how, but it already had my credit card info. I’m guessing it’s because I used Google Checkout before.
• Google Search by voice is awesome and recognizes what I want. My favorite is the ‘Navigate to’ command.
• Keyboard is useable for me, contrary to what I’ve read in other places. Maybe they have bigger thumbs than me.

I don’t like:

• The camera’s autofocus is horrible. It takes 3-4 attempts to make the auto-focus bracket go green.
• I can’t find the damn question mark on the keyboard. Where the hell is it? I couldnt find the ‘?’ on the Droid because I was looking for it as an ALT key. It’s actually next to letter L as a primary button!
• I can’t tell if an app is still running in the background or already quit. Holding the home key shows the last 6 apps I’ve opened.

So that’s my first impressions of the Motorola Droid. I’ll give it some more real-life usage before publishing my full review. If you want to purchase this device, Amazon is selling it for $149.99 with a service plan.