The Behold II is equipped with a crisp 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, full Microsoft Exchange support, WiFi, GPS, and a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and video capture capabilities.

Check out Wirefly’s video review (at right) for a comprehensive look at the ups and downs of the Samsung Behold II.

While the nation’s other major carriers are just getting around to launching their first Android-powered smartphones, Android veteran T-Mobile continues to lead the charge, releasing their fourth Android handset in the form of the Samsung Behold II.

As of late, Samsung has been incorporating its ubiquitous TouchWiz interface into virtually every new phone it pumps out — and the Behold II is, surprisingly enough, no different. Following in the footsteps of HTC’s Sense user interface and Motorola’s MOTOBLUR, TouchWiz brings a changed look and feature set to the Android platform, including a unique interactive cube for navigating media content.

The Behold II is equipped with a crisp 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, Microsoft Exchange support, WiFi, GPS, and a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and video capture capabilities.

Check out Wirefly’s unboxing at right for a quick look at the Behold II and what goodies come along in the box, and stay tuned for a full video review of Samsung’s latest Android-loving phone.

	iPhone 3GS	Verizon Wireless Droid	T-Mobile Cliq	Sprint Moment	T-Mobile G1	Verizon Wireless Droid Eris
Customize Settings	Limited	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
App Store	App Store	Android Market	Android Market	Android Market	Android Market	Android Market
Multitasking	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Keyboard	Touchscreen only	Touch + Slide-out QWERTY	Touch + Slide-out QWERTY	Touch + Slide-out QWERTY	Touch + Slide-out QWERTY	Touchscreen only
GPS Navigation	AT&T Navigator – Monthly Fee	Google Maps Navigation – FREE	TeleNav GPS Navigator – Monthly Fee	Sprint Navigation – Monthly Fee	TeleNav GPS Navigator – Monthly Fee	Verizon Navigator – Monthly Fee
Camera Megapixels	3 MP	5 MP	5 MP	3.2 MP	3.2 MP	5 MP
Removable Battery	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Weight	4.8 oz.	6.0 oz.	5.6 oz.	6.4 oz.	5.6 oz.	4.2 oz.
Dimensions	4.5″ x 2.4″ x 0.5″	2.4″ x 4.6 ” x 0.5″	2.3″ x 4.5″ x 0.6″	4.6″ x 2.3″ x 0.6″	4.6″ x 2.2″ x 0.6″	4.5″ x 2.2″ x 0.5″
Price	$199.99 for 16GB version or $299 for 32GB version with a new account and 2-year activation with select AT&T iPhone plans	$149.99 after instant discount with a new Verizon Wireless account	$99.99 after instant discount with a new T-Mobile account	$149.99 after instant discount with a new Sprint account	$97.99 after instant discount with a new T-Mobile account	$49.99 after instant discount with a new Verizon Wireless account
Service Plans (unlimited)	$149.99 – voice, data, and messaging	$149.99 – voice, data, and messaging	$99.99 – voice, data, and messaging	$99.99 – voice, data, and messaging	$99.99 – voice, data, and messaging	$149.99 – voice, data, and messaging
Total Cost over 24 months excludes taxes	$3,800 or $3,900	$3,750	$2,500	$2,550	$2,500	$3,650
See More Phones	AT&T	Verizon Wireless	T-Mobile	Sprint	T-Mobile	Verizon Wireless

Wirefly is the Internet’s #1 authorized dealer for AT&T Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. This offer is fulfilled by Simplexity, LLC, an authorized dealer for Alltel Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. This offer is only available with select service plans and a two-year subscriber agreement, and is subject to eligibility check by Alltel Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, including credit approval or deposit for new customers. Discounted phone offer applies to primary and second lines only. Discount will be invalid if the rate plan is changed to a lower monthly service rate, or if this equipment is transferred to another line of service. Not all US markets are served by Alltel Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. Activation and early termination fees apply. Additional restrictions apply. See full offer for details. Offer valid for a limited time only.

© 2009 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Verizon Wireless Surcharges (incl. Fed. Univ. Svc. of 9.5% of interstate & int¹l telecom charges (varies quarterly), 7¢ Regulatory & 85¢ Administrative/line/mo., & others by area) are not taxes (details: 1-888-684-1888); gov¹t taxes & our surcharges could add 4% – 36% to your bill. Activation fee/line: $35 ($25 for secondary Family SharePlan lines w/ 2 yr Agmts). Verizon Wireless and the Verizon Wireless logos are trademarks of Verizon Trademark Services LLC © 2009 Verizon Wireless.

By Ari Driessen

At right: Droid unboxing & hands-on

With no shortage of manufacturers vying to be top dog in the booming smartphone market, a couple hundred million dollar ad spend certainly can’t hurt, right? Right. Especially if much of that ad buy is focused on hitting Apple’s iconic iPhone right where it hurts.

Well, at least in part thanks to its advertising muscle and little claim to fame as the nation’s largest wireless carrier, Verizon has managed to help Motorola stir up quite a bit of excitement around the Motorola Droid – Verizon’s first Android-powered handset and the first device to be equipped with Google’s turn-by-turn GPS navigation solution.

The Droid is arguably the first major sign of life from Motorola’s beleaguered handset division since its introduction of the RAZR. Propelled by no shortage of hype and media fanfare, the Droid stands to awake the Moto sleeping giant from its nearly six-year slumber – and there just might be something to all the hype beyond the dubiously compelling slew of Apple-esque Droid commercials.

The Bottom Line (eat dessert first)

When it comes down to it, the Motorola Droid is in more ways than not worthy of all the buzz and hype — even if it is the best hype money can buy. While there are some that might protest that the Droid has a face that only a mother could love, we learned to find beauty in the Droid’s unique looks and bold defiance of the conventional smartphone design (gold accents aside, of course). The keyboard could use a couple minor improvements, though for the most part we understand and appreciate why it was designed the way it was. The lack of world-roaming capabilities was a disappointment, and the camera certainly could have been more finely tuned.

Our comparatively minor criticisms aside, we are prepared to give the Droid the coveted moniker of the best Android-powered phone to date. Though the Droid undoubtedly had some fierce competition, we were won over by the Droid’s overall quickness and feel, gorgeous 3.7-inch touchscreen, and Android 2.0 updates — particularly those in the way of contact integration. The Droid’s inclusion of the Google Maps Navigation application put the bow on an already very nicely wrapped package, and sealed the deal for us.

Look and Feel

Depending on who you talk to here at Wirefly, you are likely to get quite a range of opinion and emotion regarding the Droid’s physical attractiveness. Most will agree, though, that Motorola’s second Android phone and the first phone to be running Android 2.0 right out-of-the-box dares to defy the conventional smartphone look and form factor. In its own way, the Droid is a strangely beautiful device that almost mirrors the mystique of its commercials.

The relatively boxy Droid is a marriage of black metal and plastic. At nearly six ounces, the phone is surprisingly hefty – though, measuring 4.56 inches tall, 2.36 inches wide, and just over half-an-inch thick, the Droid is still easily pocketable. The phone feels impressively solid, and the slightly rubberized backing makes the device feel great in the hand.

Adding to its unique looks, the Droid’s display doesn’t fully extend the length of the bottom half of the phone, leaving a quarter-inch shelf (if you will). There’s also no shortage of gold accents on the device – including a golden back speaker grill, side camera button, and four-way directional key inlay. The gold makes the Droid almost reminiscent of an 80’s boom box rocking some gold trim. If you’re the nostalgic type, maybe this falls in the plus column for you, but we would have much preferred a more contemporary silver.

The Droid is dominated by a gorgeous 3.7-inch WVGA capacitive touch screen. At 440×854 pixel resolution, the display is truly among the most sharp and vibrant on the market. Underneath the display is a set of four touch-sensitive buttons – including a back, menu, home and search key.

A tap of the search key will bring up the Quick Search box where you can perform a quick Google search or easily find contacts and applications on the phone. It’s certainly worth mentioning that you can also tap the microphone icon next to the search box to speak a search phrase – a feature found on other Android devices, but one that worked impressively well on the Droid.

Unfortunately, unlike most other Android devices, there’s no hardware call button. As such, reaching the on-screen phone dialer, call log or contacts list requires a couple taps if you’re anywhere but the home screen when you happen to want to make a quick call.

On the left side of the Droid you’ll find a microUSB port for charging and synching the phone. On the right of the Droid is a volume rocker and shortcut key, that when held down for a couple seconds, will launch the camera application. On top of the Droid is a lock/power button alongside a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for your media listening pleasure.

The back of the phone is home to a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and a dual-LED flash (more on the camera later). Below the battery cover is a microSD card slot which can support up to a 32GB card – and the Droid comes with a 16GB card pre-installed and hungry for your library of music, video and photos.

User Interface & Performance

Those familiar with the Android operating system will, of course, feel right at home on the Droid. Unlike the Motorola CLIQ and HTC Hero, respectively equipped with MOTOBLUR and HTC’s Sense user interface, the Droid runs Android’s standard 2.0 fare. While MOTOBLUR and Sense bring the Android platform some great additional features and customization options, we didn’t find ourselves missing anything too terribly much – though it would have been nice to have more than three home screen panels.

Like other Android-powered phones, the Droid’s three home screen panels can be customized with widgets, shortcuts and folders. Of course, the wallpaper can also easily be changed. The Droid comes with a number of helpful widgets, including a Facebook, Google search, calendar, music player and power management (easily toggle WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc.) widget.

Long-tapping on the screen brings up the customization options, and we chose to include shortcuts to our most frequently used applications, one-touch dialing shortcuts for our most frequently called contacts, and a number of widgets. We also downloaded several additional widgets from the Android Market, giving us mission-critical capabilities such as the ability to update out Twitter status while on-the-go with just a few taps. Important stuff, we know.

We’ve had no shortage of Android phones cross our paths as of late – and we’ve been impressed with most of them. That said, powered by a Cortex A8 processor running at 600MHz, the Droid certainly rivals and in most cases wins over each and every one of them in the performance realm. From animation such as the pull-down ‘window shade’ notifications screen to scrolling through home screen panels and changing screen orientation using the accelerometer, everything felt superbly quick and smooth on the Droid.

Features

Basics

The nicely updated phone dialer screen is composed of four tabs – Phone, Call log, Contacts and Favorites. Within the contacts tab, tapping a contact’s picture will launch a helpful menu displaying the contact’s latest Facebook update and offering the ability to call, text, email, or check out that contact’s Facebook profile. Instead of having to program favorite contacts, the Droid will automatically list the people you communicate with most frequently in the favorites tab. Though we originally wanted to program our own favorites (you can create home panel contact shortcuts instead), we learned to really like the automated Favorites tab.

Similar to Palm’s webOS, the Droid is capable of importing and merging contacts from your Exchange, Google, and Facebook accounts. For the most part, the Droid did a fine job identifying and merging contacts, though there were a few duplicate contacts the phone didn’t catch for whatever reason.

A small but indisputably handy update in Android 2.0 comes in the form of an updated lock screen. Of course, holding down the lock icon and dragging to the right, following the green arrow, will unlock the screen. Holding down the speaker icon and dragging left, though, will allow you to easily toggle silent mode.

Messaging & Exchange Support

Though we first saw it on the HTC Hero, Android 2.0 brings full Microsoft Exchange support to the Droid, including support for Outlook email, contacts, and calendar. Of course, the Droid also supports Gmail and any other POP3 or IMAP email account. As potentially a major added plus for those with many-an-email-account, the Droid can support multiple Exchange and Google accounts.

Exchange accounts can be set to automatically push new email as it arrives, or to check for new messages anywhere from every five minutes to every hour. As far as we could tell, Gmail accounts only offer push support, and POP3 and IMAP accounts cannot be set to push new email. Strangely enough, while all email accounts can optionally be integrated into the same inbox and color-coded by account, Gmail retains its very own inbox.

The Droid offers full-fledged Exchange calendar support. New meetings can be created with the usual information including required and optional attendees, meeting location, and description. The Droid, though, didn’t appear to be able to search for contacts on the Exchange server, limited invitees to stored contacts.

Personal and corporate calendars can be viewed in an effective visual format by day, week or month. Although the same calendar format, personal and corporate calendars cannot be looked at in a unified view, and instead open in separate calendaring applications.

Keyboard

Joining the ranks of just a few Android-powered phones sporting full physical QWERTY keyboards, the Droid offers a pretty decent four-line QWERTY. Although the right thumb will have to reach somewhat further than the left due to the placement of the directional key, the Droid feels comfortable in both hands and we didn’t experience any thumb fatigue when engaging in lengthy instant messaging diatribes.

The keys have a pleasant slightly rubberized feel to them, and are adequately sized for accurate typing. Though undoubtedly a space saving measure to allow the Droid to achieve its slim profile, we would have liked to see the keys slightly raised and perhaps offset in place of the directional key. While some users may find the directional key helpful in navigating web pages and menus, we preferred to opt for using the touch screen. Each to their own.

The bottom right keys on either side of the keyboard are, surprisingly enough, actually not keys at all. At first glance, we figured they might be programmable shortcut keys to favorite applications or something of the like. Oddly enough, they are merely dummy keys that serve no purpose.

When the keyboard is closed, you can opt to use Android’s virtual on-screen keyboard. There are no abundantly obvious changes to the virtual keyboard in Android 2.0 that we noticed, but we were satisfied with the keyboard’s accuracy and responsiveness and often used it instead of the physical keyboard for shorter messages. With multitouch support, rapid typers will delight in knowing that the Droid will register key presses even if keys are pressed simultaneously.

Browser

Although the browser in the Android 2.0 update now supports HTML5, there aren’t too many groundbreaking changes to report. Perhaps the most significant change comes in the form of the ability to double-tap to zoom in on a page rather than having to use the magnification buttons. While certainly a great step in the right direction, we would have liked to see pinch zooming capabilities as seen on the Android-powered HTC Hero. Additionally, the OS update brings visual bookmarks to the Android browser and pushing the menu button now brings up the URL field to avoid the need for an additional tap.

While there weren’t too many ohhs and ahhs when it came to new browser features, the browser’s speed in rendering web pages was a much different story. Running on Verizon’s EVDO Rev. A network, the Droid dominated the competition, rendering websites including CNN and ESPN more than twice as fast in some cases as other Android-powered devices that we had connected over a WiFi network.

Media & Entertainment

With the obvious exception of video playback on the Droid’s dazzling 3.7-inch screen, media options on the Droid are pretty standard. The Droid supports MP3, WAV, AAC, AAC+, eAAC and WMA music play back with all the usual options you’ve come to expect including playlists and album art. Supported video play back formats include MPEG4, H.263 and H.264.

As we’ve noted before with other Android devices, the Droid unfortunately doesn’t come equipped with any quick and easy method of synchronizing your music library and playlists. Instead, you’re limited to using the drag-and-drop method. Motorola does offer a solution called Media Link that can be freely downloaded from their site and reportedly will sync up music and playlists, though we didn’t try it out. Amazon’s MP3 store offers the ability to purchase and download music to the Droid wirelessly.

The Droid is pre-installed with the same basic YouTube application that we’ve seen on other Android handsets. The phone also offers a well-developed Facebook application and the aforementioned tight integration with the popular social network. Of course, there are thousands more free and paid applications, games, and widgets available from the Android Market.

Camera & Video

Android 2.0 offers some much-anticipated changes to the camera application. The Droid adopts an updated and sleek interface and offers greater control over images and settings, including a number of scene modes, white balance settings, color effects and focus modes. Google also added a toggle button to easily jump between camera and video mode.

The Droid boasts a 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, autofocus, and a 4X digital zoom. Despite the camera’s fairly impressive specs and respectable feature set, it wasn’t all that we were hoping for. While macro shots generally turned out clean and crisp (expect in lower light conditions), the Droid struggled with focusing in on close-up objects, often resulting in dull and out-of-focus images.

Where the Droid struggled in image quality, it somewhat made up for its shortcomings with remarkable video quality. The Droid is capable of recording video at a 720×480 resolution, and while we wouldn’t call it DVD quality as Motorola purports, we’d certainly say it rivals that of…the leading competitor on the market.

Wireless

The Droid is equipped with WiFi and Stereo Bluetooth. New with Android 2.0, the Droid supports object push and phone book access profiles in addition to headset, handsfree, and audio/visual remote profiles.

Perhaps Motorola’s biggest Droid omission is dual-mode support, rendering the Droid incapable of hopping on GSM networks overseas and frustrating world travelers hoping to use their Verizon phone abroad. If you don’t often find yourself in foreign countries, the lack of world-roaming capabilities may not be worth a second thought – but it could be a deal breaker for heavy travelers.

Google Maps Navigation

The Droid is the first phone to boast Google Maps Navigation, Google’s free voice guided turn-by-turn GPS navigation solution. With Google’s navigation application and the Droid, the days of paying for VZ Navigator are over. An application called “Car home,” which can be manually accessed or will automatically launch when the phone is placed in an optional car cradle, provides large driving-friendly buttons that let you navigate to an address or point of interest, access contacts, and perform voice searches.

The software provides an attractive birds eye view of the route, and will even continue to guide you while you’re on a call. Given the software is still in beta, it’s not without some flaws and didn’t always guide us on shortest route available to get to our destination. But, all things considered, our hats are off to Google for developing an innovative product and the world’s first truly free turn-by-turn cell phone navigation software.

By Ari Driessen

Each minute that passes is one less minute you will have to wait to get your hands on arguably the most highly anticipated phone since the Palm Pre.

We had to feed the fanfare and frenzy just a little bit, right? Available for order starting Thursday at midnight on Wirefly, and hitting Verizon store shelves this coming Friday, the Motorola Droid is the first phone running Android 2.0 right out-of-the-box.

The Droid boasts an impressive spec sheet, including a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash, a full physical QWERTY keyboard, a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen with a tremendous 480×854-pixel resolution, and support for Google turn-by-turn GPS directions. The device comes with a 16GB microSD card pre-installed, and can support up to a 32GB microSD card. Also in the box is a wall charger and microUSB cable for charging and syncing the device.

Check out our video unboxing for a hands-on look at the Droid and to see for yourself what’s in the box.

Buy the Droid now for an unbelievable online price!

By Ari Driessen

If you haven’t logged onto the internet, turned on the TV, or flipped on the radio in the last week or so, there’s at least still a chance that you’ve managed to somehow shield yourself from the barrage of hype and fanfare surrounding the Motorola Droid. Slated to touch down in Wirefly’s virtual store November 6, the Droid is already being billed by some as a wireless world messiah – the one that will finally unseat Apple’s iPhone and become the must-have gadget that the masses lust after.

Does the Droid truly have what it takes to succeed where other iPhone -killer-hopefuls have failed? Well, just as Verizon Wireless’ iPhone attack ad (at right) shouts loudly from the roof tops, there are certainly a number of things that the Droid does that the iPhone doesn’t. But are they enough to take on Apple’s iPhone?

iDon’t have a real keyboard

If you had considered the iPhone, but then decided that you couldn’t live with a virtual keyboard, you’re not alone. Although most would agree that the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard does its job, and in most cases does it well, there will always still be those who will never be satisfied without a full physical keyboard. The Droid’s ‘real’ keyboard will undoubtedly appeal to this demographic, and stands to sway a potential iPhone buyer to go the way of the Droid.

iDon’t run simultaneous apps

The most resounding complaint about the iPhone is its inability to multitask. Sure, the case can be made that Apple’s fairly recent addition of push notifications (pop-up windows from select applications) provides multitasking abilities. But, when push comes to shove, iPhone users are likely to be green with envy after seeing the superior multitasking capabilities of Android devices and of phones previously lauded as potential iPhone killers, most notably the Palm Pre.

With few exceptions like the music player, the iPhone can only have one application open at a given time. If you’re having an instant messaging conversation but want to check the weather, for example, you must close the instant messaging application in order to access a weather app. The Droid will allow you to continue the same instant messaging conversation while you do anything from check the weather to send an email.

iDon’t take 5-megapixel pictures

When it comes down to simple megapixel math, the Droid Does win. The iPhone 3GS’s camera is a respectable 3-megapixels, while the Droid sports a 5-megapixel camera. As a general rule of thumb but not a certainty, the more megapixels the better the photo quality. As the reviews hit the web (including Wirefly’s very own, of course), it will be interesting to see how the Droid’s camera stacks up against the competition — both in photo and video quality.

iDon’t customize

As an engineer close to the early development of Android succinctly put it, a phone running Android gives you “the ability to have your cell phone do whatever the heck you want it to do.” While you can add whatever apps you want to the iPhone (as long as they are available in the App Store, of course) and arrange their icons in whatever order you please, the iPhone’s customization options stop there.

With Droid and every other Android-powered phone, the customization options are virtually limitless. If you don’t like the way your Android phone handles text messages or voicemail, you can download a different interface. Android also allows for the addition of folders, widgets, and shortcuts to settings and applications.

iDon’t run widgets

The concept of widgets — small applications that automatically display updated information on-screen — is nothing new. In fact, Apple was one of the early widget pioneers, offering support for widgets built into its desktop operating system. Yet, the iPhone doesn’t support widgets, while there are Android widgets that display anything from the weather in the phone’s current GPS location to Twitter updates.

iDon’t allow open development

While Apple arguably aims to provide the best user experience by unequivocally restricting the iPhone’s hardware and software, Android looks to accomplish the same ends very differently – by inviting innovation from anyone with a contribution to make. While developers must go through a rigorous approval process to make their wares available to iPhone users, anyone can offer applications and widgets for Android, including applications that effectively change the phone’s core-interface.

iDon’t take pictures in the dark

The Droid is armed with a dual-LED flash. The Apple iPhone is flash-less. Sure, if you rely on your cell phone to capture frequent shots in darkly lit rooms, a flash may indeed be on your list of required features. Either way, the Droid joins a veritable army of flash-toting cell phones. Yawn.

iDon’t have interchangeable batteries

Road warriors live and breathe by their cell phones, and chances are that when their battery dies, they have a second one at the ready to pop right in. While seemingly every other smartphone on the planet allows for interchangeable batteries, Apple decided to go against the grain. Despite the downsides of not being able to easily insert a new battery, there are mobile battery packs and chargers available for the iPhone that will effectively get the job done if you’re in a crunch.

What Verizon Wireless forgot to mention iDon’t do

While there are third-party applications that provide the iPhone with turn-by-turn GPS directions, they come with a somewhat hefty price tag (e.g. TomTom’s GPS app will run you $99). The Droid will be the first phone to feature Google’s new turn-by-turn GPS application, complete with voice guidance and voice commands.

For the vast majority of people, the iPhone 3GS’s 16GB-32GB of internal memory (depending on the model) should be plenty of space. But in the case that it’s not, the iPhone does not have a removable memory port. The Droid comes with a 16GB microSD card, and the port can accept up to a 32GB card.

Devouring the iPhone, the Droid boasts a 3.7-inch, 854×480 pixel touchscreen, compared to the iPhone’s 3.5-inch, 480×320 touch display. The added screen real estate promises to mean less scrolling when web browsing and checking email. And with anticipated DVD-quality video, the iPhone simply can’t match the Droid’s entertainment experience.

But is it enough to topple iPhone?

In more ways than not, the Droid’s specs best those of the iPhone. The Droid offers capabilities that iPhone users can only long for, and running the latest version of Android, the Droid won’t be subject to many of the usability gripes leveled at early Android phones.

The iPhone, however, has virtually always had a lackluster spec sheet. After all, the iPhone just got the likes of basic MMS messaging. Yet, the iPhone has managed to develop a passionate and loyal following that appreciates its intuitive interface and finger-friendly gestures.

The Apple ‘ecosystem,’ closely integrating iPhone, iTunes, and the App Store is also a powerful draw that can’t be overlooked. Combined with the relative ubiquity and familiarity of iTunes, users love the ability to synch their phones with the popular music application. They also love the ability to browse and download applications through iTunes without having to turn to their phones.

There is undoubtedly an ever-evolving Google ecosystem made up of Google search, Gmail, Maps, Docs, Voice and a slew more. If Google brings the Android Market and a competitive media synching solution to the desktop, the search engine giant’s bid to forever change the face of the wireless industry may not be too far off.

In fairly little time at all, Android has managed to amass more than 10,000 applications in the Android Market. Though undoubtedly impressive, it’s still a far cry from Apple’s nearly 100,000 apps. Most every iPhone user has one or two apps that they feel they couldn’t live without, and until the catalog of available applications more closely mirrors that of the iPhone, those used to the conveniences offered by their favorite iPhone applications won’t find the Droid a viable candidate for their next upgrade.

Without a doubt, the Motorola Droid will prove a formidable iPhone competitor, and may even lure some iPhone users away from AT&T. The true measure of success, though, will not be how many loyal iPhone owners the Droid can convert or how many handsets are sold as compared to the iPhone. Instead, success can be defined by how much traction the Droid can win the Android platform and by how many Verizon Wireless subscribers forget that they ever wished that the iPhone would make the leap to Verizon’s network.

Check out Wirefly’s unboxing of the HTC Hero for Sprint in the video at right. If you’re interested in the lunchbox, visit Wirefly’s YouTube channel and send us a message or leave a comment.

Those who chose to hold off on picking up the first Android handset to hit the U.S. market may have chosen wisely. The myTouch 3G is perhaps closer to what many were expecting from the G1 before coming away somewhat disappointed. The G1 reincarnate offers a sleeker form factor, virtual QWERTY keyboard instead of the G1’s physical keyboard, limited Microsoft Exchange support, and enhanced battery life.

Despite the notable improvements over its predecessor, the myTouch 3G still lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack and camera flash. The virtual keyboard is generally effective and the inclusion of possible word choices is a great touch. Heavy texters and emailers, however, may miss the G1’s physical QWERTY.

The added support for Microsoft Exchange is a significant nod to corporate users. Although the myTouch lacks push abilities and some advanced features like the ability to access corporate address books, the overall email experience is positive and I had no problems setting up my Exchange account. Without the native ability to sync directly with Exchange calendars and contacts, however, the myTouch 3G still has a ways to go to fully appeal to power business users.

Although the T-Mobile myTouch 3G is not without some shortcomings, the next generation Google handset offers all of Android’s customizable goodness in an eye-catching device that offers a fairly comprehensive feature set and satisfactory performance. Check out Wirefly’s video review for an in-depth look at the myTouch 3G.

Form/Design

The G1’s shape and form factor is… utilitarian. The iPhone proved that simplicity sells, and, in that sense, the G1 succeeds, with one large display, four small buttons, and a trackball on its face. It’s a very clean presentation. But it doesn’t quite grab you. It’s just a little too plain, lacking the glossy finish or unique tapered edges of other devices.

The spring-loaded slider mechanism, however, is excellent. The beautiful screen slips sideways to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard; when open, the display hangs off the body of the phone while still feeling solidly attached. It’s a nicely designed element that leaves the G1 feeling spacious while in use.

The G1 is relatively heavy, weighing in at 5.6 ounces. It’s also fairly thick, thanks to the QWERTY keyboard. Neither of these facts are a strike against it, though; the G1 isn’t intended as a super-slim phone that disappears in your pocket. I rather liked its heft, since this is such a high-functioning device. I’d rather handle a sturdy smartphone than a featherweight.

In the end, the physical look and feel of the G1 is solid, but not nearly as alluring as some of HTC’s other recent efforts, like the Touch Diamond.

Display/Interface

The G1’s touchscreen, on the other hand, is terrific. For starters, it’s big. And it’s beautifully crisp. The 3.2” TFT-LCD screen features HVGA resolution – identical to the iPhone. We tested the G1 outdoors, and in the dark, and its screen delivered exceptional results in all cases. It’s a pleasure to browse the web or check email with such a sharp display.

The touch interface is superb as well. It’s extremely responsive, with little to no learning curve. We were swiping and sliding from screen to screen in no time. The geographic breakdown of the touch display seems well-designed also; none of the touch-activated features reside in counter-intuitive locations. As an added bonus, the home screen is actually three times as big as it might appear – with a simple flick of the finger, you can slide either right or left to open up extra real estate for your shortcuts and applications.

Downloadable games work well with both the touch interface and the automatic orientation feature. We downloaded a version of PacMan that allows players to control the action simply by tilting the phone in a desired direction.

Operating System

And now we arrive at what really sets the G1 apart from any other cell phone to date: the Android operating system. For months – years, even – Android-related speculation ran wild online. Would Google release its own cell phone? Its own wireless network, even? When Android’s details surfaced earlier this year, some were underwhelmed: it was only an operating system. However, in true Google fashion, the end product might wind up being far more revolutionary than any new branded handset or MVNO could have been.

The main draw of Android – and the G1 is the very first Android-powered phone to hit the market – is that it’s an open source operating system. As a result, the most exciting aspect of the G1 might not even reside within the phone itself. Google’s App Market is an online collection of user-created downloadable applications, many of which are free; the rapidly growing community of Android programmers offers limitless potential to expand the G1’s capabilities. Even now, before the official launch date, we found helpful programs like ShopSavvy (a comparison shopping aid that uses the phone’s camera to scan barcodes and check online vendors for competitive pricing) and a cut-and-paste tool.

Thanks to the G1’s tight integration with all things Google, most of your organizational features are tied directly to your Google account (you’ll be asked to either login to an existing account or create one upon initial use). That means your email, calendar, and contact features all interact with the info stored within a wide range of Google web services. Because of this, there’s no need to physically sync the G1 to your PC to grab updates. It’ll always be connected to your Google profile.

Unsurprisingly, there’s also a Google search bar built right into the G1’s home screen, making any search a breeze. Finally, the pre-loaded web browser designed to work with Android (and based on WebKit) is excellent. It loads fast, and looks sharp, although Flash content remains an issue.

Basic Phone Features

The G1 operates well on T-Mobile’s 3G network, for both voice and data. We encountered no issues with sound quality or dropped calls, and data speeds reached 700 kbps – typical for a 3G service. Even better the G1 offers WiFi support, so you’ll be able to bypass T-Mobile’s cellular network whenever you’re in a Hot Spot.

Multimedia features are only okay. The G1 supports plenty of memory, with 60 MB built-in, and room for a 16 GB microSD card. However, the MP3 player is a little awkward; there’s no direct phone-PC syncing option, so you’ll need to load your songs directly onto the memory card. Also, as of yet, the G1 does not support video… although, thanks to Android, video players will likely be available in the App Market soon.

The built-in camera is easy to access and sports a 3-MP resolution, which is perfectly acceptable for a new smartphone these days. But the editing tools are somewhat lacking. Again, this is something that could be improved by an enterprising Android programmer.

We loved using the G1 for email and text messages, mainly thanks to the display and interface. The email application is attractive, and familiar to anyone with a Gmail account. It’s easy to scroll through your inbox, or to compose new mail. And text messages are organized as threaded conversations, which, if you’ve ever enjoyed this format, is the only way to go.

The Bottom Line

There’s a lot to like about the HTC G1 for T-Mobile. It’s the first Android phone to hit the market, so you’ll be able to impress friends and colleagues by carrying around a “Google” phone. If you’re already fully immersed in Google’s web applications – Calendar, Gmail, etc – you’ll be right at home with the G1. And the touchscreen itself is one of the best we’ve experimented with.

We ran into a few complaints. For a phone with so much hype, the G1 isn’t the flashiest you’ll find. Heavy multimedia users might also want to look elsewhere, or at least follow developments in the App Market.

In general, though, the G1 has tremendous potential. And if you don’t want to wait until 2009 to jump into the world of Android, we’re fully prepared to recommend this device.

Pros: Beautiful touchscreen with great interface, Android offers unprecedented flexibility, nice integration with Google web services.

Cons: Somewhat drab design, media playback could improve, no 3.5mm headset jack.

Buy this phone now!