Android is quickly becoming the OS of choice for many mobile phone makers and after much mudslinging at the iPhone in a series of ad campaigns, Motorola and Verizon have gone official with the DROID. The handset is set to hit on November 6 on Verizon for $199 with a new contract after a $100 mail-in rebate.

DROID will run Android 2.0, which has been widely anticipated for a while. Other features of the handset include Visual Voicemail, a 3.7-inch 854 x 480 resolution display, 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, and a 16GB memory card bundled in the box. The handset will also ship with a beta version of Google Maps Navigation. The DROID has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, voice-activated search, and Amazon MP3 download capability over-the-air.

Google Maps Navigation turns GPS smartphones into full turn-by-turn navigation systems. Gizmodo offers more details on the free Google Maps Navigation app that Google is offering on the DROID. The app has street and satellite view and voice controls for search. The app will work with Android 2.0 only for now.

Addresses can be entered by typing or by voice commands. The app can also reportedly work with soft commands like "that museum that has the king tut exhibit" reports Gizmodo. The Maps are cached along the way so if you lose connectivity you can keep navigating. Street View images are also featured to give you a look at the actual street on which you are driving.