Droid vs. iPhone: the big hitters weigh in

Yesterday, two tech greats chimed in on reviews of the Droid. Both Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and David Pogue of the New York Times reviewed the phone and both came away with an overall positive overview. Neither reviewer could stay away from constant iPhone comparisons.

Mossberg’s review

Mossberg reviewed the Droid and only managed to say, “iPhone” nine times. He thought the phone would be a success on the Verizon network, perfect for loyal Verizon users who lust after a decent smartphone without jumping carriers. “I regard it as a success overall. It’s the best super-smart phone Verizon offers, the best Motorola (MOT) phone I’ve tested and the best hardware so far to run Android.”

That is not to say Mossberg didn’t find problems, it is no secret Mossberg is a huge iPhone fan. Things like, “Unfortunately for lovers of physical keyboards, I found the one on the Droid to be pretty awful,” and “Another downside: The Droid’s screen has only three panels for displaying apps, versus 11 on the iPhone, and some large apps, called widgets, hog much of the space on these panels.”

Pogue’s review

Pogue, gets right to the heart of the matter: “So is it true? Is the Droid an iPhone killer? No, but it’s certainly a killer phone.” Pogue mentions the iPhone 18 times in his review but is able to sum up the phone’s successes:

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.

Pogue laments not having multitouch when surfing. He must use that a lot more than I, as double tapping seems to be my predominate way to focus. Pogue also points out that the Droid won’t work out of the USA, out of CDMA anyway which is a point to consider. Other phones like the BlackBerry Storm can do both CDMA and GSM networks so it can make the trip, too bad that wasn’t included in the Droid.

Summary

Both writers liked the phone and would recommend it. The tone of both reviews wasn’t one of giddy excitement as they had when reviewing the iPhone. Both suggest the iPhone is still the king though the little droid is getting close.