Time Magazine named the Verizon DROID by Motorola as its Gadget of the Year for 2009.
Everybody likes Android, Google’s open-source smartphone operating system. But a smartphone operating system isn’t all that satisfying without an actual kick-ass smartphone wrapped around it. Now Android has one: The Droid is a hefty beast, a metal behemoth without the gloss and finish of the iPhone, but you don’t miss it. The Droid’s touchscreen is phenomenally sharp and vivid, it has an actual physical (not great, but good enough) keyboard, and best of all, the Droid is on Verizon’s best-of-breed 3G network. It’s Android’s first credible challenge to the iPhone.
Other gadgets making the list were the Barnes & Noble’s Nook ebook reader, the Dyson Air Multiplier, the Apple iPhone 3GS, and the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV.
Who would have guessed that Motorola would have the top gadget of 2009, especially in light of the amount of buzz generated earlier in the year by the Palm Pre? In the end, the latter did not make the list at all.