Verizon Wireless and Motorola have unveiled what could be their best shot yet in the battle against Apple Inc’s iPhone — the long expected Droid. Motorola says Droid is the most technically advanced smartphone out there. Its promises:
- A speedy Cortex A8 ARM Processor and a Texas Instruments OMAP application chip that it says makes the device run 30 percent to 50 percent faster than other smartphones, including iPhone.
- First dibs on Android 2.0, the newest version of Google’s mobile software.
- A new free navigation service to battle dedicated GPS makers like Garmin and TomTom.
- A higher resolution screen that’s better than iPhone
“Once they see the display I think they’ll be hooked,” Motorola Chief Executive Sanjay Jha told Reuters.
Verizon’s Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton promised to spend more money advertising this device than any phone in its history. He said that it could be seen as a ”big risk” for Verizon, which started working with Motorola a year ago, to bet on a handset maker that had been steadily losing ground. But he said his company liked working Motorola so much that it plans to sell more Motorola Android phones in 2010.
“It almost looks like there’s a whole Droid army lining up,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at research firm Interpret. Gartenberg likes the phone’s design, but reserves criticism for how it syncs consumers’ music. Not easily, apparently.
Verizon and Motorola showed off the highlights of the device today.
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11 comments so far
Is Motorola releasing a full ecosystem including the largest music retailer and a host of millions of applications?
Someday people will realize the draw of the iPhone goes pretty far beyond the device itself.
- Posted by helloWill it teather?
- Posted by rogerThe Motorola is phones about only American community. The number one in the world is I Phone in this segment!
- Posted by Georgi Borisov@hello
Who cares if Apple offers iTunes? You are limited in choice. With Android you have multiple music stores to choose. It doesn’t really matter if Motorola doesn’t have a music store like Apple. They don’t need to be. They will make as much margin as Apple on hardware. That’s enough.
- Posted by cruxI love my I phone but hate at&t coverage, if my phone case is on and the 3g is on my coverage drops even more, so I welcome a new phone with a company that has better coverage. I own apple computers, 3 Iphones etc
- Posted by mike VidmarGee i hope they have some great copy right legal people the word Droid is trad marked and copy right to George Lucas. Last company that use Droid got hit hard.. I don’t know how they got a court to give them the rights to a slang name but they did..it’s been a few years since i seen a case so GL could have let things slip but Lawyers never forget so I think big M need to rethink the name
- Posted by CConsultantCan we please please please fire Obama and make Jha the President?
Obama operates by pandering… promising everybody money… trillions to the finance firms, billions to the auto unions and $250 to the seniors.
Jha says that we have to work to produce what consumers want, and work hard to deliver quality products. That’s what creates wealth, not great speeches.
So who do you really think the country needs as President?
- Posted by jay@CConsultant: They paid Lucas already, if the legal text on every DROID advertisement, website and text acknowledging his ownership of the trademark is any indication.
- Posted by ZithFor you IPhone fans, this is VERY good news for you; having a legitimate competitor is only going to make Apple work harder. I am psyched for this release; already have my pre-order in. I personally like having a physical keyboard, and HATE Apple’s control over apps that run on their device. But again, having competition helps all of us, no matter what our preferences are.
CConsultant - they have licensed the rights from LucasFilm for the droid name. You can even see that in the fine print of their TV adverts.
- Posted by DavidI know the name of one of the last companies to use the term droid and get attacked by lucas. That company also got hit by Harmony Gold for using designs that apparently were featured in Macross and other platform animes. The original name used by this company was battledroids. Original company name, FASA, now owned by original owner under new company name. That’s right folks, back when FASA was trying to start the battletech line, they first tried to license it under battledroids, but since the phrase ‘Droid is licensed and owned by Lucasfilms, Lucasarts, ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), Skywalker Sound, and THX; They received C&D orders. FASA then changed the name to Battletech.
- Posted by tinasman83I really like the design of the Motorola Droid. Got mine about 2 days ago.
Love the alarm clock feature with the dock station. Hope they make a new version without the keyboard so it can be thinner. The digital keyboard is good enoug for me.
Navigation is really fast thanks to Android 2.0. Typing is kinda hard on the keyboard because of the 4 way navigation pad that is in the way.
Nah, whatever I think the Droid is awesome and can easily take the iPhone.
- Posted by hotdroidphonenews.com