droid

BGR has exclusively learned from a close source of ours that Verizon Wireless has passed on offering the Samsung GALAXY S II in favor of something even bigger.

You may remember that the venerable Motorola Droid was chosen by Google to usher in Android 2.0. Now, the smartphone maker, which was once on the ropes before it chose to adopt Android, has been seemingly given a similar honor for Android 3.0.

The biggest Android ROM update of the week was obviously the Motorola Droid X with its Froyo update , but there have been a significant number of smaller ROM releases this week.

Although the Android 2.2 update for the original Droid started rolling out last week, it was halted for a still unexplained reason, which meant that not too many folks got it.

Folks have been concerned that the upcoming Verizon Motorola Droid X would be in the same situation as the earlier Motorola Milestone, in terms of having a similarly locked bootloader.

Those who have been waiting for the HTC Droid Incredible devices to be shipped have waited so long, some have changed their orders to the Motorola Droid X.

Verizon is sending out letters apologizing for an extra seven-day delay for those who ordered on or before June 28, and besides an apology, folks are a getting a gift card, to boot.

BillShrink, a site that reportedly helps you "shrink your bills," has come up with a comparison between the newest app phone, the Nexus One (or Google Phone) and the iPhone, Motorola Droid and Palm Pre.

Unfortunately, the information they have (above, click to enlarge) is, in some areas, either out of date or just plain wrong.

Thus, I would add the words "more or less" the the title above.

Have you been gifted with hearing that annoying default notification sound on the Motorola Droid yet? To be exact, that robotic Droid sound that makes people want to substitute the word "dork" for "Droid." At any rate, while Verizon has been quiet about the number of Droids sold in the first week, there are estimates, and the latest comes up with about 250,000 of the nascent app phone.

Verizon has pulled no punches against AT&T and the iPhone of late. In addition to the "Droid Does" ad which has garnered rave reviews, they've also done the "There's a Map for That" ad which points at the lack of 3G support nationwide on AT&T.

However, AT&T feels that ad is misleading, and has sued.

Verizon's upcoming Droid phone, its first smartphone based on Google's Android platform, has received a date, a price, and some exciting news, as well.

The date is Nov. 6th, the price is $199 (after $100 mail-in rebate), and the exciting news is that it will be the first device to have Google Maps Navigation, providing turn-by-turn voice guidance.