Hasta La Gadget!

It’s not unusual for information about upcoming devices to leak out well in advance of their consumer availability. But sometimes the leak comes early enough to catch a glimpse of the process that a particular device goes through before the final design is approved.

In this case, the culprit is the Windows 7 Device Stage, which actually shows a photo of the Droid X prototype–known as the Motorola Shadow when it was first discovered last December by Electronista. The photo looks quite similar to the Droid X releasing today, with a few notable differences. There are only three buttons beneath the display for menu, home, and back; there is no search button in the photo. 

Also of note is the fact that the casing of the prototype device was black and white, instead of all-black like the final version. This is the same color scheme that was supposed to be used on the rumored and then canceled Motorola Nexus Two 

Other details from the December 2009 leak turned out to be correct, such as the 8-megapixel camera, HDMI out, 9.9 mm thickness, and large 4.3-inch display running at an 854-by-480 resolution. It’s unusual to see a prototype device photo show up in Windows 7 Device Stage, but that just goes to prove that you never know just when or where they might turn up.