Posts Tagged ‘Motorola’

The Motorola Droid 2 was launched somewhat quietly this Thursday.  At launch, Verizon had a modest selection of cases available for the device.  Our partner site iGear 360 took a look at these cases, and posted the video reviews below.

One thing iGear 360 observed is that all Droid 2 cases make it somewhat difficult to press the top row of keys on the device.  This issue is due primarily to the small gap between the device’s screen and the keypad.

Other than that, most cases performed well in iGear 360’s testing.  Check them out below:

Body Glove Snap On Cover for the Motorola Droid 2:

Verizon Snap-On Hard Cover for the Motorola Droid 2:

Verizon Kickstand Snap On Hard Cover for the Motorola Droid 2:

Verizon Shell/Holster Combo for the Motorola Droid 2:

Verizon Snap-On Gel Cover for the Motorola Droid 2:

Finally, the Motorola Droid 2 leaks can end.  Verizon finally made the device official today, with presales happening now, and in store pickups taking place on Thursday for a cool $200 with a two year contract.  At this point, there’s not much about the device that we don’t already know – it will feature Android 2.2, a 3.7” display, 5MP camera, 8GB onboard memory with another 8GB available via microSD card, Flash Player 10.1 and wireless hotspot functionality for an additional $20 per month.

Better yet, those rumors of a R2-D2 version of the Droid 2 were legit.  Check out this teaser site, and sign up for an email alert to be notified when this limited edition goes on sale.  According to Engadget, the R2-D2 Droid 2 will be available in September.

That’s it folks…all that’s left is for you to pick one up on Thursday.

Engadget appears to have gotten the scoop on Droid 2 pricing.  The pic above purportedly shows Best Buy’s display for the Droid 2, and as you can see the device is priced at what has become the standard price for smartphones – $200 with a two year contract, or $600 without a contract.

While there has been no shortage of Droid 2 leaks and rumors, Verizon has yet to formally unveil the device.  With an expected release date of August 12th, we’re wondering if Verizon plans to just slip the Droid 2 in the spot once held by the original Droid without much fanfare.  Droid Life observed today that the original Droid is now listed as “out of stock” on Verizon’s website, so it does appear that the launch of the Droid 2 is quickly approaching.

It looks like Droid X users may have to wait for another month to update to Android 2.2, aka Froyo.  According to “Matt,” a Motorola employee on Motorola’s Droid X support forum, the Android 2.2 update is scheduled for deployment by “early September.”  This timeframe does jive with other reports that the Android 2.2 update would be available by the end of Summer.

Matt posted this info in response to Microsoft Exchange 2003 notification problems posted on Motorola’s Droid X forums.  You can check out the whole thread here.

It’s nice to finally get a Android 2.2 update timeframe from an actual Motorola employee.  Especially after all the rumors than an OTA update for the Droid X was being rolled out last week.

Here’s some good news for Incredible, Droid and Droid X users:  WareGround.com is reporting that a “Verizon tipster” has confirmed that these three smartphones will be bumped up to Froyo, aka Android 2.2, starting on August 6th, with all devices expected to be updated by August 15th.  Who knows how reliable WareGround’s “Verizon tipster” is, but this evening Engadget reported that at least one Droid X user received an over-the-air update to Froyo.

We’re not particularly fond of the waiting-for-OTA-update-game, but it appears that this will be the case for many Android smartphone owners over the next two to three weeks.  Be honest, how many times have you checked “Systems updates” so far?

Rooting an Android device can be an intimidating proposition for some users.  But thanks to AllDroid.org member Sil3ntKi113, the rooting process just got a whole lot easier.  In a forum post yesterday, Sil3ntKi113 offered up a GUI rooting program for the Droid X that makes rooting the device as easy as pushing a single button, above.  Want to unroot your X?  That just takes a single button press as well.

And to think that just a couple weeks ago we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to root our Droid X at all.  Pick up the rooting app here.

The tablet rumor mill is buzzing once again with news that Motorola may be developing an Android tablet.  According to The Street, “people familiar with the project" claim that Motorola is planning to launch a 10” Android-powered tablet in November.  And this won’t be any Android tablet – this tablet will run Gingerbread, the next version of Google’s Android OS.

At this point, these rumors aren’t backed by much substance.  However, Android tablets are springing up at an increasing rate, and it would be nice to see a mainstream phone manufacturer launch a competitor to the iPad.

The iPad has performed well – iPad sales were only slightly less than Mac sales in Apple’s latest quarter.  It’s not clear if there is enough consumer demand for an Android tablet, however.  There are also few Android apps tailored for tablet, and it will take some time before the quality of Android tablet apps is on par with iPad apps.

Less than a week after the Droid X launched, Droid 2 leaks have begun to flood the Internets.  Phandroid got their hands on a screen shot of Verizon’s device database, above, that confirms that the Droid 2 will indeed run Android 2.2, aka Froyo.  That would make the Droid 2 the first carrier-launched Android phone with Froyo.

Engadget is also reporting that contrary to reports of an August 23rd release, the Droid 2 may be “soft launched” as early as August 12th, with full marketing efforts for the device to start the following week.

But that’s not all.  According to the same Engadget article, a special edition of the Droid 2 with R2-D2 on its back cover may be in the works, as well.  That may be the most geeky cross-promotion ever.  But boy do we want one.

Today Verizon acknowledged that a “small number” of Droid X units are suffering from screen flickering or banding issues.  According to the carrier, Motorola has already solved this problem and will continue to ship phones.  If you do have a defective unit, you can take it back to Verizon or contact Motorola’s customer support.

The company estimates that this issue affects about 0.1% of Droid X users – so it’s not a widespread problem by any means.  Still, it’s nice to see Verizon get out and nip this issue in the bud…although we do have to admit, a terse email from the company’s CEO would have been much more entertaining.

Source:  Engadget

Just a few days after the Motorola Droid X was released, pictures of Motorola’s next hot device, the Droid 2, have started to emerge.  The pic above, from Engadget, shows the QWERTY-equipped Droid 2 in the wild.  As you can see, the device does away with the D-pad that was featured on the original Droid.  The keys on the Droid 2 (below left) appear to be convex, as opposed to the convex keys on the original Droid (below right).  That should be a nice improvement over the often criticized keyboard on the original Droid.