Moto Droid

By now I am sure you have heard of a smart phone and most likely you have heard of the Motorola Droid. This may not be the first review you have read, but I hope it provides the information you are looking for.

The Moto Droid is very impressive right out of the box. Apps such as Google Goggles, Google Maps, and Facebook, make your on the go life much easier (and fun).

• Google Goggles allows you to take a picture with the phone's 5 megapixel camera and search google.com for the item. I experimented with this app the first day I had the phone while drinking a Harpoon I.P.A.. I took a picture of the bottle's label and the Droid brought me to Google with the first item in the search results being Harpoon Brewery website. Its an amazing app that is still being developed, but with Google recently purchasing Plink (a software like Google Goggles) we can expect this app to expand its recognition.
• Google Maps brings everything we love from our desktop to our hand-held with many added benefits. Google Maps for your mobile device allows you to tap into the phones GPS. With the Moto Droid you can actually speak to the phone and ask for directions, and it will give you voice navigation to your destination. Google maps for Android has a interesting feature that allows you broadcast your locations to friends using Latitude. Yes, it may be a little invasive, but it can come in handy while on a road trip.
• Facebook is obviously not a necessity, but it is nice to be able to communicate with friends and update your status on the go.

We should all be happy that Verizon Wireless has decided to enter the Open Source community. Verizon seemed to be against it in the past making you pay for almost everything in the VCAST market. With the success of the IPhone (currently only available for At&T) Verizon had to give an option to it's customers to compete. Now customers have the option to download free or paid apps from 30,000 apps on the Android Marketplace as of March 2010. Apps like Carr Matey, Fring, Shazam, Shop Savvy, Google Shopper, Zillow, Cardio Trainer, Google Earth, and can provide fun, practical tools for you everyday life.

• Carr Matey - Have you ever been to a new mall or lost your car in an amusement park parking lot? Well with Carr Matey this problem will no longer exist. This free app will let you drop you anchor when you park your car, which will set the location of your car. When you are ready to return to your car the app will show you a compass and a map which will guild you back to your car.
• Fring - is a interesting social media app that will connect instant messenger and social sites to one app, but one of the more interesting features is the ability to use Skype Out. With a Skype Out account you can use a IP phone instead of your cell phone minutes saving money on your phone bill. The App does have a small delay while using Skype Out, but many people find it tolerable.
• Shazam - Ever sit in a restaurant and you hear a song come over the loud speaker, but you are not sure who sings it? Just let Shazam listen to the song and it will give you the artist and title of the song, and even give you the option to buy it right on your phone.
• Shop Savvy - This is a great app to help you save money. With Shop Savvy you can take a picture of a barcode of a product and the app will show you the cheapest price on google, so next time you are at the store you can easily do price research using your mobile device.
• Google Shopper - This app can also scan barcodes for cheaper prices, but in addition to Barcodes you can take a picture of a book, CD or DVD cover and search the internet for a better price.
• Zillow - Zillow's mobile app allows you to get house estimates on the go. Zillow taps into your phones GPS, so you can check out estimates, houses for sale and many other stats to the houses around your current location or houses in other locations.
• Cardio Trainer - If you run, bike, kayak or do almost any other sporting activity you may be able to use this app to record your work out. This app will give you stats for average speed, how many steps, distance, calories, elevation, and it will track your workout on a map, which you can view from your home computer.
• Google Earth - With the recent 2.1 update for the Droid came a few new features which include live wallpaper, speak to text, and Google Earth. If you have not played with Google Earth for your home computer you will be amazed when you first use it. I am not sure how practical this app will be, but it will provide entertainment for sure.

I barely skimmed the top of the app market, but as you can see this device is an amazing product. To sum up this review I will have to use Verizon's tag line which is; DROID DOES..