What's "Droid" got to do with it?

Verizon's been teasing us for days with those "iDon't" TV ads—you know, "iDon't take night shots," "iDon't customize," "iDon't allow open development")—and now we're seeing reports of printed flyers advertising a mysterious touchsceen gadget, complete with a scary glowing eye and stamped with a "Droid Does" logo. What gives?

No, we're not talking R2-D2 here (although the "iDon't" ads carefully state that "DROID is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd" in the fine print, proving that even Verizon Wireless is wary of George Lucas and his army of Jedi lawyers)—nope, it's a new phone, and one that Verizon clearly hopes will be an iPhone killer.

Verizon hasn't said anything officially quite yet, but the Droid is widely believed to be a new, Android-based QWERTY slider built by Motorola, and based on the rumored specs, it looks like a beauty.

The Boy Genius Report has a series of photos and a hands-on report about the Droid (a.k.a., the Motorola Sholes), and the handset in the snapshots has a jumbo-sized touchscreen and a full QWERTY keypad, similar to the just-released Motorola Cliq.

But the Droid—er, the phone in the leaked pictures, anyway—doesn't look nearly as big and bulky as the Cliq, though. Indeed, The Boy Genius Report calls the new phone "the thinnest QWERTY slider we've ever seen," adding that it "makes the Cliq look like a child's toy." Ouch.

Some other details from the Boy Genius post: the phone's shell is a combination of "very sturdy" metal and "soft-touch" plastic with a "huge" capacitive display, a speedy TI OMAP3430 process (making for "the fastest Android device we've ever used"), and a desktop cradle that turns the handset into an instant "multimedia station," complete with time and weather readouts.

As its name implies, the Droid would arrive running Google's Android mobile OS—and not just any ol' Android, according to Boy Genius, but Android 2.0, the whispered-about revision that's said to bring such improvements as a revamped user interface, Web browser improvements, new Google Maps with layers, and native Exchange and Facebook support.

Meanwhile, Verizon's teaser site for Droid promises "Directions," "Video," "Tunes," "10,000 apps," "The Network" (as in "America's Fastest Network," no doubt), and a "5MP" camera.

OK, but what about pricing and release dates? Well, there's no word on pricing quite yet, although given that Verizon is taking aim at the iPhone in its "iDon't" ads, I'd expect a price tag in the $199 range. Meanwhile, TechCrunch is pegging November 6 or 7 as possible release dates.

And as for the printed Droid flyers that Engadget Mobile got its hands on, the ones with the red glowing eye? One word: scary.

[Image credits: Verizon's Droid Web site, The Boy Genius Report]

Update: In my original post, I speculated that the Droid would come with support for Motorola's new MotoBlur service (which pushes a stream of social-networking updates to your phone's home screen, among other features); unfortunately, word is that's not the case (although the rumored Moto Calgary might be a Blur phone). Bummer.

Related:
Motorola Droid hands on! [The Boy Genius Report]
Motorola Droid ads invading mailboxes, too? [Engadget Mobile]