Droid commercial touts arrival of an Apple killer. But where's the proof?

Verizon has not yet included a photograph of the Droid phone in the iDroid advertising campaign.

Verizon is in the midst of saturating airwaves with a commercial for a new phone called the Droid, which should be available by the end of the month. The iDroid commercial campaign takes direct aim at the Apple iPhone – in the TV spots, the Droid is lauded for having a sleeker interface, a full QWERTY keyboard, and more versatility than the iPhone.

“iDon’t have a real keyboard. iDon’t run simultaneous apps. iDon’t take night shots. iDon’t allow open development,” reads anti-Apple copy posted on the Droid website. “iDon’t customize. iDon’t run widgets. iDon’t have interchangeable batteries. Everything iDon’t, Droid does.” (See iDroid video below.)

Fair enough. So where are the photos of the Droid? None of the commercials are any help – they rely solely on extensive anti-Apple rhetoric. But at least one blogger says he's had time to test the Droid, and he's giving it rave reviews. "The Droid, even in its non-final form, is the most impressive phone we’ve used since the iPhone," writes the tech blogger Boy Genius. "It’s positively amazing."

To judge by photos purportedly of the Droid – one of those images is at right – the phone is a little like a Sidekick. It has a touchscreen out front, which flips open to expose the QWERTY keyboard.

"The feel of the device is very reminiscent of the OQO 02 model computer. Just smaller. It’s metal with a non-spring-assisted slide, very sturdy, and half soft-touch plastic," the BGR blogger writes. "Awesome capacitive display. Plus it’s huge. Easily the best screen we’ve ever seen on an Android handset, and an amazing screen overall."

So why didn't Verizon use images of this Apple killer in its adverts?

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