The Motorola-built Droid teams with Google to bring open architecture to VZW - an outfit that has firmly resisted that open-app notion in the past.

A couple of Verizon connections were kind enough to loan me a Droid for the Thanksgiving holiday. In the short time I drove the Droid, I found it played well with the main apps I use every day - Gmail, Facebook, SMS, surfing and real-time Google maps. (Which were free! See, VZW is starting to get this open-app thing.)
Phone function was up to snuff with my BlackBerry, even as I adjusted to the new interfaces.
Watching the rest of my family interact with the Droid was the eye-opener, though. My nephew was nearly drooling, while my oh-so-cool (and BlackBerry-equipped) niece seemed less impressed.
My two sons, both of whom are on iPod Touches (but VZW phones) enjoyed messing with it a bit. In fact, since I didn't load a bunch of music on the Droid, we streamed music from Pandora on our drive through the Ohio flatlands, then fed that into the minivan stereo.

Our standard-sized jack was a bit wonky, and the music got a bit choppy when multitasking the Droid at 75 mph, but neither was unexpected. Left alone, the Droid flowed the music just fine.

This is a slick unit, about the same size as an iPod Touch or iPhone. Its removable battery and slider keyboard make it a bit weighter, but that's not entirely bad. It gives the device a heft that feels good when in use.

It does make somewhat of a load in a pair of Levi's, however.

(Reading that sentence makes me smile. Remember the Handspring Visor Deluxe, or even a Treo? Remember the thick-brick size and functionality (or lack thereof) of those critters? Also, on the kitchen table at our family get-together was a plethora of products - multiple cellphones, digital cameras, Blackberrys, iPods and laptops owned by three generations of family. It was a stark reminder on how far technology has come in a few short years.)

The Droid's big, beautiful screen does need lots of attention, however, and not just from your eyeballs. Smudges and fingerprints show up quite a bit. Resolution and colors make up for that, though, with things very easy to see and read. There's a virtual keyboard that pops up, and the actual keyboard is simple to use and navigate.

The keyboard is different enough - flatter and spread out more - from a BlackBerry to slow down the flying fingers. Use should cure that.

A quick double tap on the screen springs things up a notch in size for aging eyes. The images keep up well when you flip the screen from vertical to horizontal.
Reviewing a Picasa album via Gmail was easy and pleasant.

Having been on a corporate-supplied VZW BlackBerry for a few years, the Droid is a big leap forward for BB users.

BlackBerrys are wonderful things, and rule the corporate world, but once you've handled an iPod Touch or iPhone, the slow speeds and odd, layered interfaces on the BBs are a bit of a pain. Not real intuitive. (That's why the Droid's tagline fits so well - "Deactivating Compromise.")
Apple fanboys may turn up their noses just a bit at the Droid. Call it a party crasher. A less-than-elegant attempt. Or even, "about time" for VZW, which has tried to protect its revenue streams from interlopers.

Perhaps. Whatever.
But until (or is it if?) Verizon gets the iPhone on its own, the Droid is a lovely, functional, fun bit of kit for folks.

Folks who want The Network as much as they want an iPhone.

Other quick hits:

• Camera is a bit slow, clunky.
• Real-time nav is good.
• Screen is great.
• Slider keyboard nice for fumble-fingered. Virtual keyboard works well with a little practice.
• Music app: Didn't use. (Can't say, but bet not as slick as iTunes.)
• Phone. Not major issues found in light use.
• Battery life: One day to play seemed to be the rule.