Here’s a weird one for you: A few hours ago, Motorola DROID users began reporting that the cameras on their handsets were suddenly.. better. The camera’s ability to auto-focus, which I’d railed in our review of the product, seemed to drastically improve overnight. And it did!
Most assumed that Verizon and Motorola had managed to sneak out some sort of stealth over-the-air update, patching the camera’s settings on the fly. A number of sites reported as much. Some even took offense to this idea, declaring that such things shouldn’t be allowed without their explicit permission. According to the folks that should know best, there was no over-the-air update at all; the camera fixed itself, and in 24.5 days, it’ll break all over again.
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When the Motorola Droid launched this month everyone was amazed that a company so down on its luck was able to put together a well-designed phone running a powerful, “brand new” OS. The whole package – hardware, software, and marketing – seemed flawless. In fact, phones running Android 1.5 now look hopelessly outdated and with 2.0’s gesture, CDMA, and search support you’d wonder why handset manufacturers like HTC, LG, Kyocera, and Samsung are using 1.5 at all.
The reasons have more to do with Google than any decision on the carriers’ part. In fact, according to a source close to the handset business, Google’s Android team directly assisted Motorola and Verizon in building the Droid’s software from the ground up and is currently assisting another, unknown, handset maker in Korea to create a finely-tuned hardware and software combination. Most important, however, is that this is sort of assistance most manufacturers do not receive and, in the end, they are dinged for running an “older” version of Android.
While Android 2.0 has been floating around on Motorola DROIDs for over a week now, one important chunk of it has been under lock-and-key: the source. Even amongst manufacturing partners, we’re told, Google hasn’t been completely open; outside of Motorola (and more recently, HTC), most of the other handset manufacturers have been left out in the cold with nothing to keep them warm but Android v1.6. Until tonight, that is.
As the sun set over the Silicon Valley last night, Google pushed the source code for Android 2.0 to the Android Open Source Project. Within two hours, the endlessly able Android community had it up and running on the eldest Android of them all, the T-Mobile G1.
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According to Web analytics company, Clicky, Motorola’s flagship DROID handset has already caused a major disturbance in the Force Android-based web traffic. The new hotness purportedly already accounts for more than 23 percent of all Android web traffic here in the States.
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Update: Sounds like Verizon probably sold about 100,000 Droids over the weekend.
Good news for Motorola and Verizon, it looks like the Droid is a hit. The new phone is certainly living up to the hype, and seems to be the breakaway hit of this holiday season.
Reports from retailers so far have been positive, with the initial stock of 200,000 phones selling rather quickly, however not selling out. There haven’t been any verified reports of people being unable the find the new phone, however there has been some rumors of people not being able to find the charging stand. This is exactly what Motorola needs right now, given their lack of success in the handset market since the introduction of the RZR.
Oh, and if you just picked up one of those shiny new Droid phones, you should totally check out our article on the top 10 apps a new Android phone owner should have.
My inbox is in pain. Almost immediately after I hit the publish button on last week’s iPhone 3GS vs Motorola Droid Smartphone Showdown, a torrential blast of comments and questions has been barraging just about every communication inlet I’ve got. Phone calls. Twitter DMs. Lots, and lots, and lots of emails. Across the board, it all seems to indicate one thing: people want more. We hear you.
There are a number of worthwhile topics I simply didn’t get a chance to touch on, and a few observations I’ve made since that are worth mentioning. For those, may we present: Round 2.
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Not sure what to make of this Droid-alike but it seems Verizon has another Droid on its way, this time called the Saygus VPhone V1. It looks very much like the standard droid but a bit smaller and with a 624MHz Marvell processor.
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The HTC-built DROID ERIS will go on sale tomorrow at Verizon stores for $99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and two-year contract agreement. Equipped with HTC’s “Sense” user interface, the ERIS “offers customers the opportunity to customize a seven-panel wide home screen with a wide variety of widgets designed to bring the most important information to the surface.” On sale tomorrow at Verizon’s retail stores and website.
If this latest commercial is any indication, the Motorola Droid is going to be air dropped from stealth fighter planes into random locations where people have no idea what it is.
If hype were to be believed, the Motorola DROID is the pièce de résistance of the mobile world; the conclusive creation sent down by the Great Smartphone in the sky to rid us of our woes. It would prepare your breakfast promptly each morning, tuck you in at night, and, maybe — just maybe — knock the iPhone down a notch or two.
Beginning about a week before its launch (largely due to Verizon’s incredibly intense marketing campaign) I began getting calls and tweets from friends and colleagues asking about the Droid. They always had two questions: the first would be something like “What do you think of the Droid?”, followed by “Would you recommend it over the iPhone?” Same questions, each.. and.. every.. time.
I’ve been using the Droid as my primary phone for a few days now, and I think I’m finally ready to answer them.
Not amazing news but interesting nonetheless: Billshrink, a site dedicated to “saving you money” compared the total cost of ownership in the 3GS, the Pre, the MyTouch 3G, and the Droid. They found that TCO for an unlimited rate plan costs $3,799, the same as the iPhone 3GS. Both the Pre and the MyTouch are over $1,200 cheaper.
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Here you are, friends and Romans, the Motorola Droid from Verizon, the phone you’ve been salivating over for the past few months. It’s now sitting quietly on the desk next to me, wondering where you are. The Droid wants you.
Today is the International Day of the DROID. Well, not really, but Verizon did follow through and officially announced its new flagship Motorola Android device – DROID.
Along with the official presser, Motorola was also kind enough to provide some glistening press shots of the DROID, “A no-compromise supergenius” as they like to call it, along with an official DROID by Motorola Fact Sheet (all after the jump).
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Verizon just confirmed that the Moto Droid will arrive next week for $199 with a new, 2-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. Customers will need a voice plan starting at $39 and a web and email plan for $29 per month.
See our full Droid coverage here and look for a full hands-on later today.
I don’t know how you could forget, considering we’ve been posting Droid updates just about every day, but according to our calculations, tomorrow is October 28th: the day Droid drops. Now, we don’t expect the Droid to set the mobile world on its head exactly, but we’re pretty sure that it’s going to be the premier Android device — until the next premier device comes out.
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Chalk this one up as a rumor, but it’s looking like Droid is going to be an army, rather then a lone warrior. There’s been some rumblings that at least other handset manufacturers are creating their own Droids as well.
Looks like Verizon might not be the only one getting the Moto Droid. A few days ago, we wrote a post highlighting the fact that a GSM version of the oh-so-hypetastic Motorola Droid (otherwise known as “Sholes” or “Tao”) had cleared the FCC runway. At first, we got a bit excited and misread the details, reading them as if that GSM version of the Sholes had AT&T-friendly 3G bands built in. It didn’t (it was the European GSM version) – but this one does!
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It should be known by now that there probably won’t be much happening with the Motorola Droid until October 28 at the earliest, but according to these screenshots of Best Buy’s system, the retailer might have the phone available early on October 24. Now, the 24 is this coming Saturday, which is a usual inventory restocking day so just because the stores have them somewhere doesn’t mean they will be available for purchase.
About an hour ago, we received a mysterious package from Verizon bearing the somewhat-gorgeous, somewhat-creepy red eye that the Motorola Droid is now known for. We, of course, could hardly wait to tear it open – but not before we put up a shot of the box to give you guys a chance to guess what was inside, first.
Some guessed that it was a T-shirt; others guessed that it was a human head. Most guessed that it was a Droid.
And sure enough, there was a Droid inside that box. It’s just not the Droid that we – or you, most likely – were looking for.
Update: We’ve reuploaded the video to fix the corrupted bit at the end, so it now includes ~13 seconds of never before seen, Director’s Cut footage. Fine, it’s not that exciting.
Their seems to be two distinct camps when it comes to the Motorola Droid. One group looked at it and said, “Wow! That is a gorgeous phone!”; the other looked at it and said, “Wow! That is a horrendous phone!”.
I, personally, am in Camp 1 – I think the Droid is pretty stunning. The same can not be said for Motorola’s other Android phone for Verizon.
