Motorola Droid Owners to Get Android 2.1 Update Starting Next Week

Update: Android 2.1 now slated to arrive on the Droid March 18th (we hope)

Well, that was quick. Just a month after Nexus One debuted as the first and only phone with Android 2.1, giving it a slight edge over slightly older Android handsets, Motorola announced, via its Facebook page, that it will begin rolling out the updated OS to Droid owners beginning next week.

Just a refresher: most of Android 2.1’s benefits over 2.0 are pure eye candy. This version of Android, the most up-to-date at the moment, includes animated backgrounds, five home screens instead of three, and a three-dimensional App launcher. Its best features, including free turn-by-turn navigation, are already available on phones with Android 2.0, such as the Droid.

The reason I’m surprised the Droid is receiving this update so quickly is that, in a Q&A session following the Nexus One’s launch, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha skirted the question when someone asked him how soon the Droid would get 2.1. When he started talking about balancing innovation with backward compatibility, my take was that he was putting a Droid with 2.1 on the back burner.

The update will begin rolling out next week. Cliq owners, Motorola has said that phone, too, will get Android 2.1, although it’s still unclear when.