Motorola and Verizon officially unveiled the Motorola Droid, an Android 2.0 Flagship phone. The Droid features some fantastic specs and looks to be a winner for Verizon Wireless and Motorola both, especially at the price point of $200.
The Motorola Droid runs Android 2.0, with EVDO Rev. A on board for super fast 3G. Buetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS, Wi-Fi, and USB 2.0 connects it to anything and everything. The whole thing is powered by a Cortex A8 processor, which in processing lingo, is a fat turbo-charged engine. Motorola said that the processor can hit a max of 600MHz.
The screen measures 3.7 inches, with WVGA (480 x 854 pixels) resolution. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio…yes, movies look awesome, The device measures 2.4 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches, and weighs in at 6 ounces.
The 5-megapixels camera has image stabilization, dual LED flash and autofocus. It can capture DVD-quality video (720 x 480 pixels) at 24 frames per second. The phone will be packed with a 16GB microSD card, which is quite generous.
The Motorola Droid will support multiple Exchange, Gmail, and POP3/IMAP email accounts. It also supports SMS, MMS, IM and visual voicemail. All this, and over-the-air syncing. Motorola claims up to 270 hours of standby time and 6 hours, 25 minutes of talk time on the 1400 mAh battery. Naturally, it will integrate with many of Google’s services, such as Maps, Search, Talk, Voice, Contacts, Calendar, Gmail and the Android Market.
One of the most interesting new features is a beta version of the Google Maps Navigation application which will be preloaded on the device. The Maps navigation app will let users route directions and view them in 3D, and will also offer voice and turn-by-turn directions.
Verizon Wireless said that the partnership between Google and Verizon will be a multiyear partnership and any Android devices launched by Verizon Wireless will run under the Droid moniker.
Motorola Sanjay Jha said that the device is a “with Google” device, meaning it will run a native version of Android with no customization. That means no MOTOBLUR. An interesting move, especially since Android devices that offer the “with Google” experience are getting stale. The device will be available November 6 for $199.99 with a new contract.
I played with the Motorola Droid. The hardware is solid and the Android 2.0 “Eclair” software is even better. It’s a bit heavy, and that 3.7-inch screen translates into a large footprint, almost netbook-size in your pocket, but it is beautiful. Websites look unbelievable, and video beats DVD quality. The keyboard could use some work. The keys are rather shapeless, but are responsive, and Android supports both landscape and portrait on-screen software keyboards.
