Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola is set to refresh its original Droid phone with the launch of the Droid 2 later this week. The new Droid 2 phone will sport a better keyboard, the latest Android 2.2 Froyo operating system and a faster 1-GHz processor.

Droid 2 will cost $200 with a two-year contract on Verizon Wireless or $600 without a contract, according to Best Buy.

Motorola hasn’t confirmed a release date for the Droid 2 but widespread rumors suggest the phone will be introduced on Aug. 12.

The original Droid phone is now listed as “out of stock” on Verizon’s website.

The Droid 2 refresh comes nearly ten months after Motorola and Verizon launched the original Droid phone. In October last year, the two companies introduced Droid, then one of the most advanced Android devices in the market. The Droid debuted with a 3.7-inch touchscreen display, a slide-out keyboard, a 5-megapixel camera and a 600-MHz processor. Since then, the device has become one of the best-selling Android phones.

In June this year, Motorola announced Droid X, a device that extended the Droid brand. The Droid X, however, didn’t come with a keyboard. With its 4.3-inch touchscreen, the Droid X also sports a bigger display and a faster processor compared to the original Droid.

Droid 2 will now catch up to some of those specs. One of the key criticisms with the original Droid phone was the device’s keyboard. Many users complained that the keys weren’t comfortable to use. Motorola seems to have heard that. In a newspaper ad touting the imminent arrival of the Droid 2, Motorola has highlighted the Droid 2’s “new, advanced keyboard.”

Droid 2 also hopes to be the first phone to ship with Android 2.2 Froyo and support Adobe’s Flash technology for mobile phones — a distinction that shouldn’t matter much now since other devices including HTC Evo and even the original Droid are getting over-the-air upgrades to Froyo.

Another point to consider is that the feature upgrades won’t put the Droid 2 at the front of the pack of Android phones. HTC’s Evo has an 8-megapixel camera, compared to Droid 2’s rumored 5 megapixels. The Evo also has a front-facing camera and HDMI out — two features that will likely be missing in Droid 2.

If that’s the case, it is unlikely Droid 2 can on top of the best-seller charts like its predecessor.

See Also:

• Is This the Motorola Droid 2?
• Motorola Droid Rules Android
• Why I’m Not Getting a Droid Today
• Droid X Debut Leaves Hardcore Android Fans Leery
• Hands On With the Motorola Droid X
• Verizon Denies Tethering, Hot Spot Features to Droid Customers

Photo: Motorola Droid (Gubatron/Flickr)

We aren’t quite sure what kind of deal Cincinnati Bell has going on, but darn if this regional carrier doesn’t score some fairly fantastic handsets. Also known for landing Nokia’s white E71 and its XpressMusic 5800 first in the US, the operator is now the first American home to Motorola’s Milestone XT720. As we’d heard most recently, the smartphone packs a 720MHz TI OMAP3440 processor, 3.7-inch FWVGA touchpanel (854 x 480), Android 2.1, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, an inbuilt accelerometer, USB 2.0 connectivity, proximity sensor, 8 megapixel camera (with Xenon flash) and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s yours for the taking — provided that you reside in southeastern Indiana, southwestern Ohio or northwestern Kentucky, that is — but the $199.99 on contract ($449.99 sans strings) price tag might just push towards more fully featured alternatives. Tough call, we know.

[Thanks, Josh]

Motorola’s Milestone XT720 makes US debut… on Cincinnati Bell originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In another case of Canadians getting things ahead of their southerly neighbors, the Motorola Flipout has made its journey across the Atlantic and settled on Rogers as its first North American carrier. 3-year contractual commitments will be greeted with a lowly C$30 charge for the phone, or if you can’t bear the thought of being locked in for so long, you can buy the flipping thing outright for C$375. As a quick reminder, the Flipout runs on Google’s Android 2.1 OS, but embellishes things a little with a freshened up variety of the Motoblur UI. If that, together with the “hip to be square” form factor, sounds like your slice of pie, we suggest you head on over to the source link and put those Canadian Dollars to good use.

[Thanks, CoconutCheez]

Motorola Flipout makes North American debut with a Rogers exclusive originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boy are we tired of this phone leaking instead of launching.

Update: Two more shots after the break.

[Thanks, anonymous]

Continue reading Droid 2 mockups land at a Best Buy Mobile store

Droid 2 mockups land at a Best Buy Mobile store originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not often that we know this freaking much about a major smartphone prior to its announcement — not to say that we’re complaining. Latest in the never-ending string of Droid 2 leaks is this handy little flyer, seemingly part of internal training for sales reps, pimping a variety of features like Android 2.2 out-of-the-box (something the original Droid is just now getting), the 8GB of on-board storage with another 8GB on an included microSD card, the Droid X-like UI skin, Swype, and — this is interesting — a claimed 40 percent gain in website loading time over its predecessor thanks to the 1GHz core. Of course, Froyo’s quite a bit faster than Eclair, so if they’re benchmarking a Froyo Droid 2 against an Eclair Droid, that could account for part of the performance improvement, too — not to say that we’re complaining. Hit the gallery below for a larger version of the page.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Droid 2 flyer confirms Froyo (again), promises 40 percent boost in website load times originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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