Verizon Droid Eris undercuts Motorola Droid on price

Well, we're less than 24 hours away from the release of the Droid, the much-hyped smartphone built by the folks over at Motorola. And as we noted earlier this afternoon, Verizon has been saturating the airwaves with a commercial touting the Android-equipped Droid as the phone that could finally knock the Apple iPhone off its perch.

But the Motorola Droid isn't the only Droid in town. Much of the Internet buzz today has centered on a second Droid smartphone – this one manufactured by Taiwan company HTC. The HTC Droid, which will also be sold by Verizon, will reportedly get a price tag of $100, less than half the cost of the Motorola Droid. And a partial features list obtained by ZDNet is impressive:

• Qualcomm MSM 7600 528MHz processor

• CDMA/EV-DO Rev A. support

• 3.2 inch 320×480 HVGA capacitive touch screen and trackball interface

• 5.0 megapixel auto focus camera

• Expandable memory with pre-installed 8 GB microSD card

• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3.5 mm headset connectivity

• Integrated GPS and a digital compass with a sensor that enables the phone to know what direction it is facing

In October, we reported on the possibility that Verizon was readying three Droid phones – the HTC Droid, and two Motorola models. Engadget has revealed details on the second Motorola phone, which apparently features BLUR capability. The BLUR system, which powers the Motorola CLIQ, is designed with social network users in mind. The interface facilitates access to sites such as Facebook and MySpace; photo and emailing capability are also streamlined.

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