If you walk into a Verizon store today and pick up a DROID, you'll be out $300 (before tax) out of pocket, then you'll twiddle your thumbs for a few weeks while you wait for some mysterious PO box in Texas to send you your $100 rebate on a debit card. Wouldn't you rather just pay $200 upfront? Or better yet, $150? Sears -- which, we have to admit, we didn't know sold phones -- is charging just $150 without a rebate for the DROID today, a full $50 less than Big Red proper with rebate. We don't know how good these guys are with customer service (Simplexity is running the store on Sears' behalf, it seems), but truth be told, we can deal with a little incompetency for $50.

[Via I4U]

It appears that last night's midnight opening in Manhattan went off like gangbusters, but the situation across the country is a little more subdued this morning with seemingly short lines and easy access to DROIDs at every location we've visited. We won't put out a number, but we can confirm that several Engadget editors have taken the plunge today -- and if riffraff like us can waltz into the store and get them, you should certainly be able to. Good luck being assimilated out there today, and be sure to post pictures of your experience in comments (up above we've got San Francisco's first buyer courtesy of Ross Miller, and after the break, you can live it up with the good folks of Albany as they were paid a visit by Tim Stevens).

When the bulk of your business suddenly shifts virtually all of its marketing and engineering resources to Android, certain things are bound to fall through the cracks -- take the "Ruby," for example, once said to be the fallen would-be successor to the RAZR 2. We guess Moto got far enough along on engineering with this one that they figured they'd toss it over to one of its lower-volume markets rather than canning it altogether, though, because the higher-end flip has reemerged in South Korea as the KLASSIC. For anyone who keeps track of these sorts of stats, that's exactly three more letters than the typical Moto model name has, but the phone breaks all sorts of rules -- after all, it combines an old-school 2G radio (which in operator SKT's case, means CDMA) with a relatively fresh 5 megapixel cam, not unlike the ZN5. There's no word on a release outside South Korea at this point, but frankly, we're pretty sure the DROID would eat it anyhow.

[Via AVING]

Turns out that the DROID does support multitouch after all -- it's just not as baked as the MILESTONE's, and it's certainly not the kind you'll see out of the box. The DROID's European cousin features multitouch right in the phone's core software load (most notably pinch-and-zoom in the browser, which we've seen demoed on video) whereas the DROID itself still features multitouch capability in APIs but doesn't expose it through any built-in app. Translation: the apps you use every day -- Google Maps and the browser, chiefly -- get left out in the cold for some reason that neither Google nor Motorola (nor Verizon) have thus far been willing to adequately justify. Where you can experience the magic of pinch-and-zoom is in third-party apps written to take advantage of Android 2.0's new APIs (Phandroid demos it on a fresh version of Picsay, for instance), but at the end of the day, that's a consolation prize -- we still want a spin-free explanation of why this was all turned off for the base apps. Follow the break for video of Picsay's support for the good stuff in action.

[Image via mobile-review]

We'd already heard through the grapevine that select Verizon Wireless stores would be cracking their doors open early to deal with the presumed flood of consumers "Humans" eager to snap up the first-ever Android 2.0 device, and now the carrier has come right out with the official details. We're told that "many" of its over 2,000 retail locations will open at either 7AM or 8AM local time to field orders for the DROID, though VZW mall stores will all open at their regular time. You should check with your local store to see exactly when they'll open, and while we can't guarantee it, we'd guess that having an Android-related tattoo on your person is a good way to get VIP treatment once you arrive on scene. Or, you know, you could just get your Best Buy pre-order in now and save $100 up front by dodging the mail-in rebate.

If you've run into trouble trying to load up Hexage's Buka or Totemo on your CLIQ, you're not alone -- it seems that some wonky handling of a few OpenGL API calls on Motorola's first Android device are causing heartache for users and developers alike. It's not clear how many apps in total make use of the calls, but we'd imagine they're in line to be fixed -- and thanks to the CLIQ's support for over-the-air updates, we're hoping those fixes come sooner rather than later. In the meantime, we suppose that DROID's always an option, right?

[Via I4U and Android and Me]

We've already seen the MILESTONE showing off multitouch capability, something the DROID clearly lacks in the States despite the fact that Android 2.0 rocks kernel support for it -- and now we've got another smoking gun: the official spec sheet. A quick glance at Motorola's tech specs for the Euro-flavored handset lists "pinch and zoom" as an interface feature, so yeah, it looks like this'll be in the shipping firmware. There's speculation out there that Apple was somehow involved in making sure that multitouch "fell" down a flight of stairs before reaching US-bound Android devices, but really, it's anyone's guess what's going on here -- and Moto's official statement isn't helping much:

"We work very closely with our carriers and partners to deliver differentiated consumer experiences on our mobile devices. At times, similar devices come to market with different features, depending on the region, carrier preferences and consumer needs."

Nor is Google's:

"The Android 2.0 framework includes support for multi-touch. As with other platform technologies, such as the text-to-speech engine, carriers and OEMs can choose to implement it."

So let the speculation -- and the firmware hacking -- begin.

[Via Gearlog, image via mobile-review]

Motorola's Android-laden CLIQ has been available to existing T-Mobile USA users for a hot minute now, but not until today has the handset been widely available to all that care to take notice. Of course, the proper launch has been dampened somewhat by the emergence of the DROID (alongside Android 2.0), but hey, MOTOBLUR ain't nuthin' to scoff at, right? Feel free to locate your nearest T-Mob retail location, waltz in with $199.99 and get yours today.

Hey, HTC -- we're onto you. We know you're a little upset that the lower-end Droid Eris isn't getting much attention now that the DROID is all over Verizon's marketing agenda, but it's not like we don't feel your pain. For those interested in spending a full Benjamin less on their next Android handset (on Big Red, anyway), the Droid Eris looks to offer that very solution, and now a few more sneak peeks have shown that a 5 megapixel camera (with a video record mode) is gracing the rear. We're also told that WiFi will be onboard (right, VZW?), and a bundle of joy will also be thrown in after mail-in rebate. Whatever that means.

Read - Boy Genius Report
Read - phoneArena

For Motorola, any profit at all is a Good Thing right now, so we're sure there are a lot of smiling faces out in Schaumburg today on news that the company managed just a smidge of black ink in the third quarter. The Mobile Devices division specifically turned in $1.7 billion in revenue (about $100 million less than the quarter prior) and accounted for a $183 million loss, which was offset by wins in the company's other divisions ultimately resulting in $12 million in bankable profit. The company says that it expects to push fewer handsets in the fourth quarter as it scales back "unprofitable" devices in favor of its new Android-based gear -- which is just fine by us -- and yes, indeed, it still intends to split the company into two entities when the time is right. In the meantime, the company has announced a permanent CFO -- Edward Fitzpatrick, who was conveniently already appointed to the position on an interim basis -- putting to bed some of the drama to bed that's surrounded Paul Liska, who vacated the post months ago on bad terms. All told, the DROID and CLIQ launches have cast a rosy glow on Moto's current situation, so now it's time to put the nose to the grindstone and see if these guys can deliver financially through the end of the year.

Read - Earnings
Read - CFO announcement

We knew good and well this thing was coming sometime in November, and now Verizon Wireless has made it official: the Motorola DROID will hit Big Red on November 6th for $199 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate). Naturally, the DROID itself is just the first of what could be many Android-laced phones coming to the carrier, and Verizon Wireless CMO John Stratton even stated that the phone "is wide open" -- pretty big words from a company like VZW. Android 2.0 will be front and center, along with Visual Voicemail, a 3.7-inch display (854 x 480 resolution), 5 megapixel camera (with dual-LED flash), a bundled 16GB memory card and a beta version of Google Maps Navigation(!). For those wondering, yeah -- the DROID is the first phone to offer that, which transforms Google Maps into a turn-by-turn routing system that'll have your dedicated TomTom / Garmin trembling in fear. There's also a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3G, WiFi, voice-activated search and over-the-air Amazon MP3 downloads. With all that, who needs the iPhone, right Ivan?

Remember how in grade school, you usually made fun of the people you had crushes on? Verizon -- hot on the heels of some surgically strategic anti-iPhone marketing to promote its upcoming Android line -- is singing a very different tune in the corporate boardroom, with CEO Ivan Seidenberg (who has a storied reputation for running his mouth) saying during the company's earnings call today that the company "obviously would be interested at any point in the future that they would be interested in having us as a partner." He went on to say that the decision to bring the iPhone to Verizon is "exclusively in Apple's court," though we doubt that's entirely true -- Verizon has a reputation for putting manufacturers and devices through the wringer, and if any carrier in the world were to spike the iPhone for failing acceptance testing or throw its gargantuan weight and reputation around to put pressure on the contract, it'd be Big Red. Either way, though, it's an olive branch and a potential start to the near-constant cries of "if only the iPhone were on Verizon" that we've been hearing for the past two years; we're still having an awful hard time picturing a CDMA-equipped version ever happening, but with Verizon's LTE network progressively lighting up over the next few years, it might just be the perfect opportunity for these wayward souls to finally find common ground, especially with the tune AT&T's singing these days.

We've been led to believe in the past that there'd be a GSM version of Motorola's mighty Sholes for markets outside the US, but this particular version that passed the FCC this week -- ID IHDP56KC5, if you must know -- has us particularly interested. Why? Well, it's packing WCDMA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands, which means it'd work on AT&T, Rogers, and HSPA newcomers Bell and Telus. We've been led to believe, though, that this particular device is destined for Latin America where 850 / 1900 is also used in favor of the 2100MHz spectrum more prevalent in Europe. That doesn't rule out Canada, but our instincts tell us that Verizon has every intention of locking up the Sholes as a US exclusive, which means AT&T is a likely no-go -- the carrier's been strangely silent on Android, anyhow, and we haven't heard a peep of recent intel suggesting they're prepping Google-powered gear in time for the holidays. Of course, enterprising individuals will probably figure out how to unlock and import this bad boy, so if you're an American and the thought of switching to Big Red for a Droid makes you physically ill, take heart that there might yet be hope.

[Via MobileCrunch]

Boy Genius Report has thrown up a full preview of the Motorola Droid -- or some prototype of it, anyhow -- and any way you slice it, it looks like Android fans, Verizon fans, phone fans, and red-blooded Americans alike should all be feeling pretty good that this thing is gonna kick some ass. As if feeling and looking like a rock-solid, metallic beast wasn't enough, Big Red's first Android outing is said to have killer battery life -- surprising, considering how mediocre the CLIQ's is -- and the seemingly flat keyboard apparently performs admirably, all things considered. Android 2.0 clips along at a nice pace thanks to an OMAP3 core, and obviously, there's not much to complain about visually when you're staring at a 3.7-inch capacitive display sporting roughly WVGA resolution. The icing on the cake, though, might be a magnetic sensor that detects an accessory dock that'll be sold at launch, turning the Droid into a desktop clock and weather station -- perfect for those rare moments when you're not out and about scaring little kids with the phone's robotic red eye. Needless to say, we're looking forward to the 28th.