A funny thing happened while I was reviewing the new Verizon Droid smart phone for Home Office Highway and Chief Home Officer.

I never made a call.

With 10,000 available apps, Verizon’s 3G network, and Google’s Android 2.0 operating system, there’s a lot to do with a phone without ever making a call. In fact, that’s why I may never buy one.

Listen as I review the Droid with Jim Blasingame. Read on below the widget to hear why I’m a tried-and-true BlackBerry person – at least for the moment…
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Verizon will tell you the Droid is faster, runs simultaneous apps (like Pandora — which I downloaded and was streaming some new tunes in less than two minutes), has a larger screen, lots of onboard memory (about 500 megs), plus room for a 16 gig card. It’s the basis for Verizon’s whole iDon’t comparison campaign.

The resolution is sharp. It shoots great video and stills — even in low-light settings.

It’s almost like two first cousins are battling it out for a suitor (and that suitor just happens to be tens of millions of consumers).

And sure, it has 10,000 available apps. But the real Killer App is the fully-functional, QWERTY keyboard that slides out from beneath the device. That has wowed even the most die-hard iPhone junkies to whom I’ve tossed that tidbit.

“OK,” iPhone enthusiasts will type (with some difficulty). “That’s all well and good, but it’s a beast to hold, right?” Hardly. Just a few millimeters thicker than the iPhone, it’s light on the hand and pocket (speaking of pocket, it’s about $200 after mail-in rebate – or it will be, once it debuts in early November).

Still, it’s twice the size of my BlackBerry Pearl, whose form factor I dig so much, I can’t see myself separating from it right now. Besides, give me 10,000 apps, and reviews like this one might never get written.

Maybe in time I’ll switch. Maybe one day, I’ll say adios to my BlackBerry, and hola to a Droid.

But for now, iPearl.