Expected November 2009 (United States) 28th Oct 2009
Billed as the worldly concern’s first Android 2.0 smartphone, the Motorola DROID is an impressively specified device that is initially exclusive to Verizon Wireless.
The good news is that this is potentially a truly great offering from Motorola, the badness newsworthiness is that this is a CDMA-only gimmick that volition be limited to use in the United States. In other words, for most voltage customers.. this is not the DROID you ar look for.[see note]
We’re hoping that Motorola will launching a GSM / UMTS version of this for everyone else to manipulation, and if you look at what the Motorola DROID can do, then you will see why.
Android 2.0 (codename "Eclair") is brand new, and it completely overhauls the user interface to make it bettor to manipulation. Much of the software system has been improved, including the vane web browser and Google Maps, and now Android can documentation Microsoft Exchange electronic mail which is apotheosis for corporate customers. The latest version of Android has improved camera functionality, including support for flashbulb and digital zoom, which brings Android photography more into line with the contention.
The Motorola DROID itself is an impressive firearm of outfit. and the most obvious feature to begin with is the very large 3.7" 480 x 854 pel touchscreen display. The display will be ideal for web browse and multimedia system playback, indeed it has single of the highest pixel counts of any mobile earphone on the market.
But this isn’t just a touchscreen earphone, as the DROID has a fairly conventional slide-out QWERTY keyboard as well. There’s no real number spatial arrangement between the keys though, and the navigation lodgings that sits alongside them looks strangely retro and out of place.
On the back is a 5 megapixel photographic camera with dual LED flash, autofocus and image stabilization. Video capture solving is an impressive 720 x 480 pixels at up to 24 frames per second, which means that the Motorola DROID looks like a potentially very capable photographic camera phone.
The DROID’s GPS receiving system is tied in with the latest variant of Google Maps, which in itself is a pretty significant update as it now gives free people turn-by-twist voice steering, and also comes with voice recognition so that you can tell it where you want to go without touch it. Android 2.0 also features a "Car Home" screen which reflects the fact that this should shuffle be a useful in-cable car artificial satellite seafaring device. The DROID also has an electronic orbit.
Android multimedia system documentation has always lagged behind rivals a little, but this latest version can cope with MP3, AAC, WMA and AMR audio, plus H.263, H.264 and MPEG4 video. As we said before, the large blind is apotheosis for film playback. The DROID also has a standard 3.5mm audio frequency socket, and it supports stereo system Bluetooth as well. Motorola say that a 16GB store card is included in the earphone, and this tin be expanded further using the microSD one-armed bandit.
This is a CDMA / EVDO device with documentation for wireless local area network connectivity, and as such it volition only employment in the US. Maximum talktime from the large 1400 mAh assault and battery is 6 hours with up to 11 days understudy meter.
It’s a pretty large and rather heavy gimmick, coming in at 4.6 x 2.4 x 0.5 inches and 6 ounces, or 116 x 60 x 13mm and 169 grams in metric. But when you consider the large screen and QWERTY keyboard, then this is hardly a surprise. The central processor is a 550Mhz ARM Cortex A8 CPU which is roughly equivalent to most of the contention.
Verizon ar pricing the Motorola DROID at $200 when taken with a new two-year contract and when taking a $one C chain armour-in rebate into history, and they say that it should be available in Verizon retail outlets and online from 6th Nov.
This is an exceptionally impressive smartphone, and Verizon customers are very lucky to have a world exclusive on it. We father’t know if Motorola will make the DROID available on other networks, but we certainly promise so!
You tin see more of the DROID here.
Note: DROID is a Trademark of Lucasfilm (who made Star Wars).. so the quotation is not completely silly!
Update: The GSM variant of the DROID has been confirmed as the Motorola MILESTONE.
