droidStory

The DroidX went on sale today. The Verizon online store listing went live around 2AM EDT, and I woke up to an email from Verizon telling me that the DroidX was ready.
Unfortunately it seemed their website was not quite ready for the onslaught of interested buyers, showing some serious overload problems between 7-9AM.  I kept hitting refresh but no luck in getting through to the actual site.
Oh well, off I went to the nearest Verizon store.  It was now a little after 9AM and the store was already filled with over 30 people waiting in line. There was a sign-up kiosk, but only the names of the next 15 or so customers were displayed on the overhead screens. I had no idea how many others were in front of me or how many phones the store actually had on hand. The store manager refused to provide any insight into how many phones they had received and if waiting in line would get me a phone today. I suddenly felt more like being at the DMV than a retail store. Verizon can certainly learn a bit from Apple and how they handle their retail launch events. Still, their sales staff was friendly and worked very fast. An hour later my number was up and I got my DroidX- YES! The sales rep told me that only 18 phones were left. Not everyone left waiting was going to get one today. I wonder when they were told…

My first impression. This phone is awesome indeed. Its giant screen makes my Nexus One look puny next to it.

Setup was a breeze using AppBrain to get all my current apps loaded. But the most notable and very pleasant surprise so far is the battery life, which was a big concern given the fast CPU and large screen. I had charged both the N1 and the DroidX to 100%, and 8 hours later the Nexus One is down to 29%, while the DroidX still has 50% charge remaining. This is amazing, given that I mostly used the DroidX today.

More to follow…