While both the iPhone and Google based Android phones have been on the market for some time, the new Motorola Droid is the first phone with Android 2.0 The complaints of poor coverage on AT&T have long been established, and many on Verizon have been patiently awaiting a smart phone worth owning, as most would agree “The Network” is quite good. How does the Motorola Droid stack up to the iPhone 3G?
To find out, I have performed a real life page load test from a typical suburban living room. I have seen the both the iPhone and Android perform well in other tests, though these are often from urban locales, where you would expect above average signal strength. This test was performed in an average suburban living room, where both phones are receiving similar network strength.
First off, it is apparent the Droid screen is considerably larger. It is also of a considerably higher resolution, ( 3.7 in, 854×480 ) vs 480×320 on the standard iPhone 3G or 640×480 on the 3Gs. I will let the page load test speak for itself:

Clearly the Droid out loads the iPhone 3G, and does so while rendering more of the web page and scrolling faster. The Droid is not without its shortcomings, though these are expected to be resolved in the next few months.
For example, currently there is no multi-touch support in the browser. Android 2.0 does have support for this, as can be seen when using the application PicSay. This should be resolved either directly by Google (after the Apple law suit is addressed) or by a 3rd party browser application. Additionally, the current Flash plugins are not working on Android 2.0 Again, this should be resolved in the near future. Also, the scrolling between desktops is a little choppy, and despite measures of prevention, I have managed to make some phone calls from my pocket, to the disdain of the recipients. Also I have had some slow loading when pulling up text messages when moving from browser.
The benefits far outweigh the detriments though. The service is rock solid and gives 3G coverage where AT&T, T-Mobile and others cannot. Google Maps and Google Navigator are worth the price of admission alone. Time to put that GPS unit in the garbage! As more and more Verizon users pick up the Droid, and as more people move to the open source nature of both the OS and the unrestricted Marketplace, the Android platform will only continue to build on what is clearly a strong foundation.