Tag Archives | Verizon Droid

Help Us Pick the Hottest Smartphones

Posted by Robin Raskin on October 28, 2010 at 10:05 am

Seriously, folks–these days, you can barely move your contact list to your new phone before coveting the next one.

I queried a few of our Last Gadget Standing judges and they’ve got no shortage of opinion on which phones should be in the running for the award we’ll hand out at CES next January.

Some voiced concern about the Nokia N8 being an oddity.  Yeah, well, it’s an oddity with a 12 MP camera (with Zeiss lens) and HD video recording.  Those video watchers amongst us will be intrigued by the form factor; those who are dubious about Symbian less so.

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The Droid 2 is Official

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 10, 2010 at 10:18 am

The Android-handset trend is clearly moving away from physical keyboards, but I’m glad that the Droid 2–which Verizon and Motorola announced today–offers one. It’s impossible to tell from a photo how good a keyboard is, but this one looks like it might be better than the so-so one on this first Droid…

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Verizon: Droid X Will Be In Stock Thursday

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 14, 2010 at 1:36 pm

The nation’s largest wireless carrier has had one hell of a time keeping the Droid Incredible in stock. In fact, those ordering the device today may end up waiting until this time next month to actually receive it. For whatever reasons — be it poor planning or just unexpected demand — that’s just the way it is.

Verizon isn’t about to let the same thing happen to its highly anticipated Droid X. Checks by several blogs indicated average stocks of between 50 and 100 units. While not a lot, it certainly means in most cases if you’re there early, you’ll be taking home the phone that day. Boy Genius Report added that the company also has backup stock in its warehouse, so stores would be able to replenish the ones they sell.

With all the negative publicity surrounding the iPhone 4 right now, this is not the time to have supply issues, and Verizon knows this. If the reception issues of Apple’s device continue to spread through the mainstream media as they have, there’s no doubt that some may choose to purchase another phone.

I think it’s also fair to mention the two Android phones with the most serious supply issues — the EVO 4G and the Incredible — are both from HTC. The X is produced by Motorola, and with their last big hit being the Droid, they’ve obviously had more time to focus on manufacturing this latest device.

For those interested, the Droid X will become available Thursday at a price of $299.99 with a two-year agreement out the door, but a $100 mail-in rebate would put it on par with the iPhone 4.

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Are Cameraphones Killing the Point-and-Shoot? Not Yet, Not Hardly

Posted by Harry McCracken on July 6, 2010 at 10:54 am

Over the past few days I’ve had fun taking photos with a couple of neat new cameras…that happen to be phones. They’re the iPhone 4 and Verizon’s upcoming Droid X, and their cameras are the best in any phones I’ve ever used. So much so that they left me pondering the future of point-and-shoot cameras that aren’t phones.

Phones have already killed traditional PDAs dead. The best ones also render media players such as an iPod largely superfluous, and the days of standalone GPS handhelds are clearly numbered. Are we nearing the moment when a meaningful number of people will skip buying a separate camera in favor of snapping photos with a phone?

Some thoughts on that in a moment–but first, my impressions of the photographic capabilities of these two handsets. When I had plenty of natural light, I liked most of the photos from both phones quite a bit…although even the nicest portraits I took looked slightly out of focus and lacking in detail. In murkier environments, the iPhone performed better than the Droid X, although the LED flashes on both phones aren’t very useful. (They only made a noticeable difference when there was very little available light, and even then tended to produce unflattering, fuzzy portraits.)

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Verizon's Droid X is Official

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 23, 2010 at 11:29 am

At an event in New York City–which I watched via Webcast from here in San Francisco–Verizon Wireless just announced the Droid X, its latest Motorola Android smartphone. I’ve given up trying to determine if any particular Android phone is the most impressive one to day–the honor changes every few weeks–but the X is clearly among the top ones so far in terms of sheer specs. It’s got a 1-GHz TI CPI, a big 4.3″ LCD display with 854-by-480 resolution in a thin case, 512MB of RAM, both 8GB of fixed storage and a 16GB MicroSD card, HDMI out, an 8MP camera that does 720p video, Android 2.1 (2.2 will come along late in the summer), and the ability to act as a wireless hotspot for up to five devices.

[NOTE/UPDATE: Verizon made a big deal out of the X supporting Flash–Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was in New York for the unveiling–but it’s not shipping with Flash. Instead, it’s “Flash ready,” which is a total misnomer: Flash requires Android 2.2, which the X doesn’t yet have. But this phone will run Flash. Eventually.]

The X will go for $199.99 after a $100 rebate with a two-year contract, and Verizon customers whose contracts are up in 2010 can get it for that price. Data plans cost $29.99 for “unlimited” access; the Wi-Fi hotspot feature is $20 extra a month for 2GB of data.

Oh, and it doesn’t go on sale until July 15th…although you don’t need an advanced degree in marketing to figure out why Verizon is announcing it today.

More thoughts–including hands-on impressions–soon.

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A Really Big Droid

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 15, 2010 at 2:25 pm

Engadget’s Joanna Stern got her hands on Verizon’s upcoming, unannounced Droid X. With a 4.4″ display, it looks like a handful indeed, and a neat one–Verizon and Motorola’s answer to Sprint and HTC’s EVO 4G. I don’t expect supersized phone displays to completely take over–too many people want a smaller device-but I’d love to own a phone with one someday. Wonder if there’s even the slightest chance of Apple unveiling an iPhone 4XL?

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