Hasta La Gadget!

There was little about the mighty Droid X that we hadn’t already known — but for what it’s worth, Verizon and Motorola have teamed up today to expose everything we want to know about the next Android beast for Big Red. The 4.3-inch 854 x 480 handset features Android 2.1 with an all-new UI skin, a TI OMAP3630 processor galloping along at 1GHz, HDMI out, 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and 720p video capture, and 8GB of onboard storage with expansion of up to 32GB (you get a 16GB card in the box) all stuffed in a package 9.9mm thick. Software wise, you’ve also got an integrated mobile hotspot with support for up to 5 devices connected over WiFi, DLNA support, and a legit multitouch keyboard with Swype built-in. It won’t launch with Froyo, but that’ll come later in the Summer as an upgrade along with Flash 10.1 support; the phone will be available on July 15 for $199.99 on contract after rebate, while the mobile hotspot service will run $20 extra a month with a 2GB cap and 5 cent per MB overage (data consumed on the phone itself is unlimited). Mirroring AT&T’s move with the iPhone 4, all Verizon customers with upgrade dates in 2010 will be pulled up so they’re eligible for the Droid X as soon as it’s available. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Motorola Droid X for Verizon official: July 15 for $200

Motorola Droid X for Verizon official: July 15 for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Moto’s composed of a number of fairly distinct divisions that produce vastly different kinds of hardware for different industries; some are cash cows, others — namely the handset and set-top box units — aren’t. It looks like the company is preparing a pretty radical plan for its upcoming split that would call those underperforming divisions to get most of the cash reserves and almost none of its debt. Actually, neither Motorola Mobility nor Motorola Solutions (as they’ll likely be known) will see much of the combined company’s current debt load, as they’re currently undertaking a massive debt buyback; afterward, Mobility will allegedly be cut a check for somewhere between $3 and $4 billion to go about its high-stakes business in the ultra-competitive smartphone game. The idea is to position both post-split companies with as much leverage as possible for acquisitions and low-cost borrowing. Solutions shouldn’t have a problem, as its businesses already generate the overwhelming majority of Moto’s cash — but for Mobility, this should give the lil’ sprout the best chance it has for survival.

Motorola’s split plan calls for a debt-free, cash-heavy mobile unit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What, our ultra-special Droid dock‘s not enough for you? There’s now another way to avoid buying Motorola’s official accessories, though this one’s a bit more blasphemous. Thijs Bosschert over in the Netherlands has put together a fully fledged adapter for his Milestone (aka Droid European Edition), which allows it to interface with docks designed for iPods and iPhones. He’s done it using mostly parts he had lying around — and a well-placed magnet, of course — though he had to resort to using the 3.5mm headphone jack to extract audio from the device. The result might not look like a million bucks, but then it didn’t cost that much either. See more pictures and Thijs’ full how-to guide at the source.

Droid made to work with iPod docks using unholy homemade adapter originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We always like to hear of companies burying the hatchet (and the lawyers with it, if at all possible), and our latest source of good vibes are two North American phone makers that have been at each other’s throats over patents since early 2008. Motorola and RIM had a previous intellectual property-sharing deal that expired at the end of ’07 and with the companies unable to come to a suitable extension agreement, it all spiraled out into a big and silly legal discord. That has at long last been settled now, with RIM paying a one-off fee and regular royalties, as well as licensing some of its own patent catalog out to Moto, in exchange for using the Americans’ knowhow in WiFi and other areas. All in all, an inevitable conclusion to an unnecessarily legalized negotiation. Now how about both you guys get back to building us those QWERTY sliders and 2GHz Androids?

Motorola and RIM settle patent dispute with a good old cross-licensing deal originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quickly becoming the most well-leaked handsets since the next iPhone, Motorola’s fine little piece of kit informally known so far as the Droid Shadow / Xtreme has shown up yet again — and this time, we’re getting a great view of that bulbous posterior. The 8 megapixel cam, HD video capture, and dual LED flash are all confirmed, which takes just a little edge off the EVO 4G’s reign, we’d say. Competition is grand, ain’t it?

Motorola Droid Xtreme pictured yet again, still not announced originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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