Hasta La Gadget!

From now on, Motorola will be the only company that makes Droid-branded phones for Verizon says CNET. But of course that won’t stop half the world from calling their Samsung and HTC Android phones Droids. Sigh.

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If you’re anxiously anticipating the release of Motorola’s common hero smartphone Moto X and like the idea of confirming specifications before the device itself is revealed in full, today is your lucky day. What we’ve seen today in the reveal of three new Motorola smartphones with DROID branding for Verizon is the re-appearance of a few features that’d previously been tipped for the Moto X. They’ll carry ever-so-slightly different user interfaces, but will they keep the same Android-deep features?

Gesture to Launch Camera

As we saw in a leaked video earlier this month and as indicated by Motorola’s own Dennis Woodside back in May, Moto X will be able to detect when you take it out of your pocket, then will be able to activate its built-in camera with a flick of your wrist.

“The [Moto X] knows when it is in my pocket, it knows when I take it out of my pocket. I might want to do something, I might want to take a picture, so it fires up the camera.” Dennis Woodside for Motorola

Today Verizon’s new DROID line hints at a similar bit of functionality. They suggest that you’ll be able to “quickly launch the 10-megapixel camera with a simple gesture”, just the same. This indicates that there are two possibilities, the first being Google adding this flick feature to Android itself, therefor moving it to their Nexus line not too far into the future. The second possibility is that this feature will be Motorola’s own, and will only appear on Motorola smartphone (until hacking can commence.)

Camera Interface

This morning we saw a leak of what was called a Moto X camera interface. There we saw what very well could appear on a Nexus device and not look out of place in the least. Many of these same images appeared on-screen at this week’s Verizon event introducing the phones, shown as Motorola’s new UI for cameras on all devices.

It’s shown again on Verizon’s purchase page for the DROID MINI in short. They’ve also reminded us there that the device “helps you take better photos in low-light environments” – that kind of power comes from the device’s processor, but it’s very possible the same claims will be made of the Moto X.

Always On Voice Commands

Back in June of 2013, Qualcomm (with LG) revealed that they’d be bringing on “Always On Voice Commands” in their next-generation processing architecture. We’ve heard from Qualcomm earlier in the year that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 brought this ability natively, then we heard about Android’s Open Mic.

It was leaked as part of the hands-on video shown earlier this month of the Moto X, and here once again we’re seeing the exact same user interface appearing on the new DROID lineup.

“When Droid Mini is on, it’s ready. Command this smartphone without touching it, even when it’s asleep. Use voice commands to get directions or open a Mobile Hotspot.” – Verizon

So don’t expect that bit of functionality to be limited to Moto X, not by any measure. Instead we may very well see not one whole heck of a lot of Motorola-centric software appearing on the Moto X when it’s formally revealed on August 1st at all. Not unless Google has something up their sleeves for reveal tomorrow morning!

And don’t forget that fancy super-minimal notifications screen while the device is sleeping, either.

“The low-power notification system displays alerts so you can avoid constantly waking your phone.” – Verizon

We’re to understand that Motorola has formulated a way to only light up a portion of the display to show these notes, saving energy as they do so. Stay tuned!

Moto X Android software features confirmed by DROID lineup is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Motorola released a trio of devices today at a special press event for its line of Verizon phones in New York City. The company showed off phones that in many ways resembled their Droid devices of the past, and these keep the Droid branding, too. They’re looking mostly like successors to Razr devices, but with tweaks that could signal what we’ll see now that Google is more directly taking the reins at the company.

The new Droids likely represent the last vestiges of Motorola’s pre- Google acquisition product pipeline, which Google has said repeatedly needed to be worked through before it could get to the devices Google was planning to build with its new hardware division. But it’s not all “out with the old” – there are a few new noteworthy tricks up Motorola’s sleeve with these Droids, and these could be signs of what’s next for the company as Google’s in-house Android device maker.

Chief among those is the Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System, a new 8-core system-on-a-chip that Motorola is customizing based on a Qualcomm processor, instead of just using a standard design. Consider these Motorola Droids both a closing and an opening act, then, ejecting all the dross that’s left over from the company’s previous life, and bringing in the kernel of the new.

The Droid is being promoted with the pomp and circumstance of a flagship line of devices, but it’s key that this is a Verizon event – this is likely a commitment made to Verizon by Motorola long before Google got involved. Don’t expect the Droids to come anywhere close to playing in the same ballpark with Samsung’s Galaxy devices, or maybe even the HTC One. But these Droid devices are definitely worth watching if only for the X8 eight-core mobile SoC, and the features that come with them.

The X8 chip allows touchless control for hands-free operation, an active display that selectively lights up to display just notifications and other features previously leaked in a Moto X demo. The Kevlar involved is also something that the Droids share in common with the Moto X, but I don’t think we’ll see the X as just a rebranded Droid when it’s unveiled next week. For one, they share the Moto X’s patriotic place of manufacturing origin, but without any further details there’s little else to draw on for comparison.

Motorola once had brand leverage through trade names like “Droid” and “Razr” (the latter of which has been notably dropped here) but in recent years those brands haven’t meant much next to more successful rivals like Samsung. X is the future of the brand, and we’ll likely see differences between those devices and the past highlighted over potential similarities

At Verizon‘s unveiling event where they announced a line of new DROID phones, Motorola also unveiled a new processor, which they’re calling a computing system. The X8 features eight cores that consist of a dual-core application processor by Qualcomm, a quad-core graphics processor, a single-core contextual processor, and a single-core natural language processor.

All three of the new DROID smartphones are based on this new computing system, which sports 24% faster CPU performance and GPU processing that’s twice as fast than before. Details on this new eight-core system are extremely sparse right now, but we do know that it was made in partnership with Qualcomm, but we’re not sure what kind of Qualcomm processor is inside.

The processor is being used in all three DROID devices, which consists of the DROID Mini, DROID ULTRA, and DROID MAXX. These devices are latest in the DROID series for Verizon, and they go on pre-order starting today, with availability beginning on August 20 (DROID Mini will see a slight delay to August 29).

The DROID Mini is the entry-level device in the bunch, with a compact design that sports a 4.3-inch HD display and wireless charging capabilities. Essentially, it’s the successor the DROID RAZR M from last year. As for the DROID ULTRA and MAXX, these sport larger 5-inch HD display, with the MAXX boasting a 3500 mAh battery for “two days” of battery life.

Details are still a bit scarce at this point, especially with the new X8 SoC, but hopefully we’ll hear more info about it soon. Verizon announced all of the goodies today in a matter of ten minutes without really going over details, so stay tuned as we update later today.

Motorola X8 8-core computing system official with Qualcomm backing is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

As expected, Verizon announced a line of new DROID devices today, and while the carrier held a stage event, the unveilings were quick and dirty. Verizon announced three new DROID smartphones today, consisting of the DROID Mini, DROID ULTRA, and DROID MAXX, all of which have different price points to cater towards any budget.

The DROID Mini is the entry-level device in this new lineup, and it’s all about a compact design for this one. It’s essentially a refresh of the DROID RAZR M, which was the compact DROID device from last year’s lineup. The phone runs a 1.7GHz dual-core processor with quad-core graphics and 2GB of RAM (this goes for all three phones).

The next step up is the DROID ULTRA, which Verizon says the main focus is thinness. It sports a kevlar shell, which gives it some ruggedness as well as a sleek look. The device also has a glossy red finish to it, which Motorola says is “a lot like a sports car,” but this isn’t the first time we’ve heard this statement about past phones (DROID Incredible, anyone?)

As for the big daddy of them all, the DROID MAXX is a lot like the ULTRA in that it sports the same kevlar body, but the MAXX also packs in a much larger battery as you’d expect. We’re still waiting on official details on battery life and size, but Motorola says that you can get around two days of battery life with “normal usage.”

All three phones will be available for pre-order today and will begin shipping on August 20. The DROID Mini costs $99, while the DROID ULTRA will cost you $199. The DROID MAXX will be priced at a steep $299, but that’s the price you pay for better battery life, it seems. All these prices are after signing a new two-year contract.

Verizon Motorola DROID lineup arriving next month with Goldilocks subsidies is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.