Hasta La Gadget!

The Droid’s shaping up to be a beast of an Android phone — well played, Verizon — but Motorola’s banking much of its future on its MOTOBLUR platform, which the Droid curiously lacks (though Android 2.0 adds at least some of BLUR’s functionality back in). Don’t worry, though — Verizon hasn’t forgotten about BLUR altogether, and the rumored Calgary is looking to arrive as the carrier’s next Android phone from Moto featuring BLUR in all its social network-aggregating glory. It’s clearly positioned as a lower-end device than the Droid, stepping down to a 3 megapixel cam but still managing nifty features like an optical pad, 3.5mm jack, and naturally, a full QWERTY keyboard. Considering Rubin’s ties to Danger, you could think of this as the ill-fated Sidekick Slide all grow’d up. Word has it this might hit before the end of the year, so we’ll see just how much breathing room Verizon and Moto feel like giving the Droid before coming back for Round 2, eh?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Motorola ‘Calgary’ to bring BLUR to Verizon, Droid not looking worried originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Despite Verizon’s best efforts to ignore the obvious, RIM’s BlackBerry Storm2 is not only official, it’s (un)officially destined for Big Red’s airwaves. If you’re one of those slightly disgruntled Storm 9530 owners, however, you could be looking at a rather nice firmware update coming your way in the near future. According to phoneArena, the Storm and Storm2 will eventually be “practically identical” in terms of software, with a forthcoming update to add flick scrolling, tabbed browsing and threaded texting to the original. Of course, we should probably wait for VZW to confirm the existence of the Storm2 before expecting any formal word on this, but feel free to go about your day with cautious optimism.

Filed under: Cellphones

Original BlackBerry Storm to get flick scrolling, better browsing through firmware update? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

What a difference two months make. It’s was late July when we first saw a render and spy shot of Motorola’s “other” Android devices, the Verizon-bound Droid, a.k.a. the Artist Formerly Known as Sholes. Boy Genius Report has been teasing the handset for the better part of the week, and now it’s giving us the full monty of the hardware, including its 5 megapixel autofocus camera on the back, and various Eclair-powered screens. Boy Genius himself notes that it’s the fastest Android device he’s used — thank goodness for an authentic OMAP3 — is “slightly” thicker than an iPhone 3GS, runs that Android 2.0 we’ve been hearing so much about, and includes a desktop cradle that turns the Droid into a glanceable display with weather and the like (sounds like a miniature Hub in a way, doesn’t it?). Anyhow, you want all to see the whole show? You know just where to click.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Motorola Droid stands in for glamorous photo shoot originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Verizon’s new Motorola Droid site is notable for more than its coded clock counting down to October 30. It’s also full of direct attacks on Apple. The site says, in an Apple-like font with Apple-like graphic design:

For one last twist, the site makes its claims using Adobe Flash, which was recently announced for every major mobile OS except the iPhone. Flash on Android phones will require Android OS 2.0, which the Droid has.

The phrasing, ownership and branding of the site make a lot of interesting points. As John Gruber over at Daring Fireball points out, this is a Verizon site – Motorola doesn’t make a single appearance. The competition set up here isn’t Verizon vs. AT&T or Motorola vs. Apple, it’s Verizon vs. Apple. As Rene Ritchie of the iPhone Blog says, Verizon wants to make it clear they have no intention of being a “dumb pipe” anytime soon.

Various Web sites are nitpicking Verizon’s claims, but the most interesting phrase here is “open development.” While Verizon is referring directly to Android’s App Market, “open development” is a Verizon buzzword for a new project of theirs that approves mostly-non-phone devices through speedy means. Verizon gives up some control of open-development devices’ branding, too. The irony here, of course, is that the Droid wasn’t approved using the Verizon Open Development Initiative. If anything, it seems to be the opposite: the ultimate Verizon-specced, Verizon-branded device.

Oftentimes a picture shouts a thousand words. Other times it belts out precisely a dozen. Straight from Verizon Wireless’ official Twitter account comes this, a confirmation that the Palm Pre we knew was coming to Big Red, well, is coming to Big Red. If you can hold off through the tempting holiday rush, you’ll find Palm’s first-ever webOS device on VZW “early next year.” Huzzah!

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Filed under: Cellphones

Verizon confirms: Palm Pre hitting Big Red “early next year” originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments