Even by mid-2010 standards, Verizon's original Droid still looks and feels thoroughly modern -- after all, it set a pretty high benchmark for the upper end of Android's product portfolio when it launched late last year, and Motorola has managed to keep it updated through two major revisions of the platform along the way (in fact, it's still just one of a very few devices running Froyo commercially at this point). That said, it's got a handful of minor design flaws, none of which are really showstoppers in and of themselves but add up to make the phone a little less enjoyable to use than it could've been.
That's where the Droid 2 comes in: a phone that's less of an all-new, blockbuster product like the Droid X or EVO 4G and more of a genuine "version 2.0" type of effort -- hence the name, we suppose -- targeting some specific pain points we all experienced with the first-generation device. And just because it doesn't have the beastly, in-your-face appeal of the Droid X doesn't mean Verizon isn't considering it an important device; quite the contrary, actually, rolling out a big new ad campaign and making it the first Droid model to be offered in an official R2-D2 version (and let's be real: you can never downplay the significance of a gadget with a good Star Wars angle).
Like the Droid X, the Droid 2's packaging is impressively compact and barely larger than the phone itself -- just big enough to fit a USB wall charger, a micro-USB cable, the typical array of user guides and notices, and naturally, your beloved handset -- so you can feel pretty good about the fact that you're probably not single-handedly destroying the environment by tossing the box. You don't get a bundled wired headset (like other Motorola smartphones as of late), and that's just fine by us; odds are you've already got headphones or earbuds you prefer for music anyway, and if you don't, we can confidently assure you that you don't want the free ones you get with the purchase of a new phone.
Dimensionally, the Droid 2 is basically a dead ringer for the model it replaces; this phone is all about refinement. You know how a car company will design a new car, then give it a quick facelift halfway into the product cycle to extend its useful shelf life and buy a little more time before they need to scrap the design and create an entirely new product? That's exactly how the Droid 2 looks and feels in person -- and that's not an insult by any stretch, because we still think the Droid is a really handsome phone. Formerly black, squared-off surfaces are now fashioned from sculpted dark chrome, the 3.5mm headphone jack is now completely flush, and raised buttons along the edges have been replaced by contoured ones that blend into the body, for example (admittedly, the new buttons aren't quite as easy to feel out without looking for them).
Now, let's turn our attention to perhaps the Droid's single biggest pain point: the QWERTY keyboard. To get to it, you slide the phone open, which feels exactly like the first Droid -- there's no spring mechanism, and you've still got a little bit of friction to overcome as you slide. Some like it, some don't, but it feels solid without a hint of wobble. Anyhow, Motorola clearly heard the complaints loud and clear with the keyboard itself, killing off the oversized (and completely unnecessary) d-pad to the right side of the keys and giving each individual key a little bit of doming so that you can feel them out. Many old Droid owners have probably long since grown used to the flat, barren wasteland of their keyboards, of course -- but for anyone considering throwing their hat into the Droid arena for the first time, being able to feel those keys even just a little bit should make the transition far easier (seriously, they're just barely domed, but it's enough to get the job done).
Motorola's also made considerably better use of the keyboard's layout, too; heck, the original model inexplicably left two keys as blanks, an unprecedented move on a mobile device where real estate is always at a premium. No longer, though: the Alt and Shift keys are now double-width, the duplicates on the right side have been removed, a Back key has been added, and you've got a dedicated Alt Lock key, presumably useful for when you're going to be dealing with a lot of numbers. They were also able to eliminate the keyboard's Menu key by moving the screen's capacitive Menu button to the far left side, meaning it's now closest to the keyboard when it's open and pretty easily accessible. That's all well and good, but we wish Motorola would just pick a configuration for these capacitive buttons and run with it -- owners of Droids who are upgrading to the Droid 2 are going to have a devil of a time getting used to the new layout for at least the first few days of ownership, we imagine (fortunately, it's the same layout as the Droid X).
Wrap-up
There's no question that the Droid 1 was entering its twilight years, especially in the aftermath of the Droid X's release; Motorola and Verizon knew they needed to bring the old model up to spec if they wanted to keep a quality physical QWERTY Android device on the shelves. The problem is that in doing so, they've killed off one of the Droid's most endearing features -- the fact that it ran stock Android -- and have failed to make any improvements compelling enough to warrant an upgrade. In other words, Droid owners, don't feel bad that your phone has been replaced here; in fact, we're pretty sure we'd rather have a Froyo-equipped Droid over a Droid 2, especially since the 2's new processor fails to translate into huge performance gains that you can feel in your day-to-day usage.
