Motorola Droid 2: Day 1 Review Roundup

So the sun has set on day #1 that Droid 2s were in users' hot, sweaty hands. What do early customers think of the updated Android 2.2 slider? Motorola and Verizon are eager to hear what you think. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers unbox and chatter.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention an absolutely awesome abbreviated airshow...

Gregg Binder calls it "a beast":

The long-awaited Droid 2 has arrived ... featuring a 1-GHz processor, Android 2.2, a 5-megapixel camera with DVD-quality video capture, and 8GB of on-board memory and microSD storage. ... The raised keys ... make for a better, more responsive typing experience than ... on its predecessor, the Motorola Droid.
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The Droid 2 is now available on Verizon ... for $199.99 with a two-year contract. ... Customers whose contracts are up this year are eligible. ... The mobile hotspot service costs an extra $20 per month. More . . .

Vincent Nguyen paints his palette blue and grey:

Motorola's latest QWERTY Android phone looks pretty similar to its first-gen predecessor, but there are some key changes.
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Metallic blue finish ... revamped QWERTY keyboard ... gone is the oversized D-pad ... direction arrows are neatly integrated. ... Upgraded CPU ... performs well, multitasking swiftly and flicking between apps with minimal lag. ... 3G Mobile Hotspot ... with up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices. More. . .

Matt Newsom and friends tear down a fresh unit:

The new Droid 2 looks sleeker than its predecessor. ... Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 4 is much thinner ... the price you must pay for a keyboard with actual buttons. ... Unlike the iPhone 4 ... the Droid 2 has a helpful note stating "battery removal here." Thanks, Motorola. ... The gold sticker applied to the speaker housing is a cleverly placed antenna.
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Are you wondering if the Droid 2 has the capability to reassemble itself? So are we. More . . .

And Kelly Hodgkins analyzes the analysis:

The placement of many of internal components in the DROID 2 is almost identical to the original Verizon DROID. ... [It] has a 3.7V, 1390 mAh Li-Ion Polymer battery which is identical to the DROID. ... [But] Motorola claims the DROID 2 lasts 49% longer. ... The D2′s camera slightly outperforms the D1, recording DVD-quality video at 30FPS instead of 24FPS.
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Thought to have a TI OMAP 3630 processor but this component is inaccessible as it is buried beneath a mobile RAM chip. ... Includes a SanDisk SDIN4C2 8 GB NAND flash package on the motherboard and an 8GB microSD card. ... Has an improved TI WL1271B WLAN Bluetooth/FM chip which offers 802.11n connectivity. More . . .

Justin noticed something odd at the Verizon store:

[I] played with three demo units, and they all showed touch screen wackiness. ... However, I found a fourth one that did not have this problem. ... When the USB cable is plugged in, the screen will misbehave ... unless you are touching the back of the phone. It appears to be some sort of grounding issue. ... I can reproduce this at will.
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So, why are all the demo units jacked? Because ... you tend to play with them while they're pegged to a stand. The one unit I found at the store that was problem-free had its cable unplugged. So rest assured. More . . .