Note to iPhone fanboys: I don’t think this is an iPhone-killer as much as it’s another scoop out of Blackberry’s bucket. This beats the crap out of the Storm, and probably also the Tour. I think the Palm Pre will also get smooshed a bit by this phone, too.

Let’s look at what it can do. (And quick note: I bought this phone with my own cash. This is not a sponsored review.)

For another perspective, I think Bryan Sherman’s reviews are all pretty worthwhile, too.

Easy Keyboard and Touch Screen Input

The Droid has both the ability to input information via a touchscreen, similar to the iPhone, but there’s also a slide-out keyboard. The keys feel flat instead of bubbled like a BlackBerry, so you can’t exactly type blindly (BB users know what I mean), but what I do like about the keyboard is that the special characters make a lot more sense, placement wise. There’s also a five-position controller that you can use to scroll around if touch isn’t getting you precisely where you need to go. The touch screen, when just using that keyboard, worked just fine for me, too.

Applications

Honestly, the real war will be fought and won over a few spots: the network and applications. I’ll get to the network part, but I’ll start by saying I’m already pretty impressed by the applications. The commercials for Droid say there are over 10,000 apps already (these are Google widgets and android-specific apps). I had no trouble finding pretty much all my iPhone apps for a Droid version, including a beta of my favorite note app, Evernote, SnapTell visual product search, a Twitter client, and more.

Most surprising of the apps was Google’s new Maps with Navigation. I clicked this baby on and suddenly, I had turn-by-turn instructions given in a typical GPS voice, with traffic condition overlays and more. When I say this app pretty much makes the phone a must, it could replace my Garmin (I know that both Garmin and TomTom are a bit uncertain what Google’s new app means for their future).

I’ll review other apps as I get into them, and if they make sense to share with you. For now, suffice to say that I was very impressed with their selection, with one exception.

I had to download an app to close apps that were running on my phone.

What? Unless I missed a really simple instruction in the manual that I didn’t read, that strikes me as utterly silly. (Someone may come here and correct me.)

Google Integration

The Droid seamlessly integrated with my multiple Gmail accounts, including my @chrisbrogan.com accounts. It also integrated with my Google Calendar, my Google Voice, and all the other Google apps I run. That was delicious to experience. Having these apps run native on the phone makes them even faster, and even more slick. The calendar, for instance, runs even faster than the web-based version (though I wish it had custom views like the web version).

I’m very impressed with that integration. This, if you’re a Google fan, is a great reason to consider the phone.

The Network

I’ve been using AT&T for over a year now, and switching back to Verizon was a breath of fresh air. The web browsing is markedly faster on the Verizon 3G network. Calls stayed up on the three times I made a longer call while driving. In short, it just worked. iPhone fanboys, you have to admit that’s a weakness.

The network might be the thing that sells more people into trying out the Droid.

The Phone

The phone is loud and clear. The contacts and dialing mechanisms and stuff remind me a lot of the iPhone. It’s really simple and easy to use, and I don’t have anything bad to say about it.

The Camera

I haven’t shot a lot of photos yet with the Droid. The few I took were in poor lighting conditions, but even that was a change, because hey, it has a FLASH. Oooh, modern technology has equipped the Droid cameraphone with something that other cell phones have had for 9 years, but that has eluded my other previous smartphone of choice. Oh, and the camera is 5 megapixels. It also shoots video. You’ll see a test video of that soon enough here, but why rush things?

I’m pretty impressed with the quality. I also used the app PixelPipe (also available for iPhone and also my Mac desktop) on my Droid so that I could shove photos to as many sites as I wanted all at once. (A worthwhile app to get).

What’s Missing – iTunes

The most obvious app/feature missing is something that emulates the iTunes experience of an iPhone. There’s a music player, a video player, and a lot of 3rd party apps (Pandora for Android is quite noteworthy).

But there’s no store where I can blow $1.29 every time a whim strikes me. I’ve got several gigabytes of media on my iTunes account and on my laptop, and I’ve yet to try and port it over, but I’m reasonably sure that won’t really go anywhere. In the absence of that, why hasn’t Verizon led with a similar-to-iTunes or even a better Amazon integration? (You can correct me here if I missed something).

Overall: A Keeper

Today’s Day 2 with the Droid, so let’s not get crazy here. But so far, I’m really impressed. I think it’s a great phone, and will definitely give Blackberry users something to think about. I’m not as convinced that there will be a mass exodus from iPhone over to Droid, but then again, some of the other frustrated masses might just give it some thought.

For me, it’s not as much about a religion. I wanted a phone that worked better than what I was using. The iPhone raised the bar on what I was willing to accept. Thankfully, I feel the Droid meets and/or exceeds those standards.

Have you tried it? Are you considering it?

And then you see who’s going on the same tour with you:

• Steve Garfield – friend and video superstar and professor.
• Stacy DeBroff – just hugged her yesterday, and this would be a chance to talk parenting-blogging stuff.
• Melissa Pierce – filmmaker of the moment right now.
• Cliff Ravenscraft – who I’ve met at a few PodCamps now.

You discount the fact that Verdino’s going, as is Joseph Jaffe (Oh, I’m kidding. They’re both fun to have a beverage with, and I think they’re doing some smart work in the space.)

All in all, it’s a chance to go see some cool stuff, to speak at Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Jungle event (and maybe find some new clients), and that’s good enough.

What Panasonic’s Doing

I’m not sure what they’ve got up their sleeve, but here’s what they say I can do while hanging out there at CES as their guest:

• Watch some announcements and see what strikes my fancy.
• Play with their toys, like digital cameras, camcorders, and stuff.
• Be part of a CES Tweet-Up on Thursday night. (EDITED)
• And everything else people do at CES.

I’m not obligated to talk about anything specific, but I’m sure that I’ll kick the tires on their toys, as well as other products while I’m out there. CES is all about the gadgets if you haven’t gone, and while I don’t do a lot of gadget reporting directly here at the site, I use all kinds of things to make media. I will look at it from that perspective, and be able to report back on it.

If you’re going to CES in Las Vegas this coming January 8-11, I’ll be there for the above-mentioned, but also to talk with companies about their social media business strategies for 2009. If you want to have a meeting along those lines, drop a line to kathryn@chrisbrogan.com and let’s try and schedule a quick meeting.

If you’re going and just want to hang out, I’ll be there. Easiest way to get to me, probably, is to send a direct message via Twitter. If we’re friends, I’ll give you my cell for texting at the event.

So, let’s see what fun I can stir up with that above-mentioned crew at CES, thanks to Panasonic and Crayon.

Was that enough disclosure?

By the way, Paolo knows about Zunes, too. : ) He works with Microsoft on their podcasting platforms.

Christopher S. Penn had a really useful idea about a social media dashboard. His had all kinds of great news information, as if you were the press. Me? I’m hacking the idea for the upcoming conferences I’m attending. Only, I don’t know what else I’d want to see in there.

So, I think YOU should do something better with my idea.

Conference Dashboard

Let’s make a “dashboard” using a tool like iGoogle to “see” the elements you might want to know about at a conference. Thus, whenever you have web access, you can get a fast scan of a lot of data that might prove useful during the event. Here’s the steps I took to start the project.

1. Log into iGoogle (or NetVibes or Page Flakes.
2. Add some search strings from Twitter Search for the event. (Oooh, I just realized that I’ll want to add “Las Vegas” for my Blog World Expo one.)
3. Add a local map.
4. Add a news feed. (Nice to know if Godzilla is invading the city where your conference is being held.)
5. Add a chat client (if that floats your boat).
6. Add a Technorati search for the event

Voila: a functional conference dashboard.

Even as I’ve started this, I can see lots of other things to add: Flickr tag searches, for instance.

Make YOUR Own Dashboard

What would you want to see? How would you change this? What other kinds of gadgets or widgets or feeds would you add to the above?

Why not make your own “Conference Dashboard” post and see what you can do with the basic premise? If you’re not attending any events soon, how about a “local dashboard” for your town or village?

Make sure you link back here, so I’ll know to go and check out what you’ve created.

Questions?