I was excited to hear that Verizon was finally getting a 'real' smartphone, something akin to the Apple iPhone. So excited, in fact, that I ordered the Droid on the day it became available. I had done tons of research and felt it would be capable of replacing both my flip phone as well as my 2nd gen iPod Touch, which I used for gaming, media, etc.

I'm happy to report that it's filled both bills and then some.

I don't think it really needs to be said, but what the heck: It's a very capable phone. Making and receiving calls is simple and convenient. The Verizon network here (Northern NJ) is solid. The ability to use Google Voice is a nice plus as well.

Apps? Droid has 'em. I think I have about 20 apps on my Droid. I've found the same or similar apps on the Android Marketplace that I used formerly on my iPod Touch. I kept my iPod Touch for about a week before I gave it away to my daughter since the Droid filled all my needs.

Yes, I know, iTunes Store has some 100k apps while the Android Marketplace has, what, 20k? But tell me, how many fart apps do you need?

The downside:

1. Verizon's 3G is somewhat slow. I haven't used an Apple iPhone on the AT&T network, but I suspect it's faster (when available).

2. I sometimes need to reboot the phone, I think due to running so many apps. There's no build-in way of stopping an app, at least that I'm aware of. There's several Task Killing apps on the Marketplace in order to do this, but I feel this should be part of the standard package.

3. The camera seems to be inconsistent; sometimes takes great pictures, sometimes not. Sometimes focuses quickly, sometimes not. Not a real big deal, just sayin...

In all, I'm very happy with the purchase and have recommended it to others.