Motorola’s Android smartphone, the Droid will finally get the new firmware starting today. Verizon will roll out the Android 2.1 in batches of 250,000 which means that in the following next days the customer should get it. Hopefully it will all be a smooth ride and Droid users will not have to experience any rough times during the upgrade.

Verizon itself has issued a document for its customers with the full list of new features that Android 2.1 will bring you, so here’s basically what you can expect from them:

• Pinch-to-zoom is now available when using the browser, Gallery, and Google Maps.
• New Weather and News application plus widget. The Weather and News app pulls the information you want from the Web and brings it to your fingertips. You get weekly and hourly weather forecasts based on your location and news headlines.
• New support for voice-to-text entry. Whenever a text-entry box appears, simply tap the microphone icon on the virtual keyboard and speak.
• New Gallery application with 3D layout. View and share photos taken with your phone and images from your online Picasa Web albums.
• Live Wallpapers offer richer animated, interactive backgrounds on the home screen. Access them with a long press anywhere on the home screen. Tap Wallpapers, then Live Wallpapers.
• Improvements - Free Yahoo! Mail is now supported—simply sign in with your Yahoo! email address and password.
• Google Maps update. Personalized suggestions and synchronized starring with desktop maps.google.com. Starred items are stored and synced automatically between Google Maps on your device and maps.google.com on your computer, making it easy to search for places you’ve searched for before. New night mode in Google Maps Navigation automatically changes the screen at night for easier viewing.
• Improved pattern-lock functionality.
• Improved handset audio when disconnecting a wired headset.
• Email accounts no longer need to be re-entered after an over-the-air update.

[VIA]