Motorola tonight released the full specifications and a photo gallery of the highly-awaited Droid phone on their public Web site, pre-empting the anticipated October 28 announcement of Verizon Wireless's first Android smartphone.
According to the Motorola site, which was first noticed by the Boy Genius Report blog but then independently confirmed and loaded by PCMag, the Droid is a large touchscreen phone with a sliding keyboard. It's 2.4 x 4.6 x .5 inches in size and weighs six ounces. That's relatively heavy, but slim. Its color will be "licorice w/brown sugar accents."
The phone has an unusually high-resolution, 3.7" 480x854 touch screen; the iPhone's touch screen is only 320x480 resolution.
The Droid's OS is Android 2.0, as Verizon previously showed on their teaser Web site for the device. It is the first Android 2.0 phone.
The Droid has a 550 Mhz processor, according to the site, which didn't describe the processor architecture. The architecture is important because most Android phones up until now have run on 528 Mhz ARM11 processors, which some users consider sluggish in some circumstances. The recently announced Samsung Moment upped the ante to an 800 Mhz ARM11. If the Droid runs a newer form of architecture, known as Cortex-A8, it could be faster with a lower clock speed.
More details and photos after the jump.
The Droid will come with a 16GB MicroSD card pre-installed, according to the site. It runs on Verizon Wireless's CDMA EVDO Rev A network and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, but not GSM networks.
For multimedia, the phone will come with music and video players. It will capture 720x480 video at 24 frames per second - that's unusually good - and will take 5-megapixel stills with image stabilization and dual-LED flash.
In terms of other software, the Droid supports Microsoft Exchange sync and comes with the QuickOffice Microsoft Office document viewer, Facebook, and lots of Google apps (including Google Search by Voice), but no IM program for non-Google protocols.
Motorola promises up to 270 hours of standby time and 6 hours, 25 minutes of talk time on the 1400 mAh battery. That's quite good for a Verizon phone.
Verizon has made it clear that the Droid is their most anticipated launch of the year. They've been sending out an unusual amount of teaser information, culminating in a recent invitation to an October 28 press event.
Earlier this month, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said his company was making a major commitment to releasing many devices with the Google Android OS, including two smartphones coming this year. In wire service photos that day, he and Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed two phones, one of which was the Droid. The other looked a lot like Sprint's HTC Hero phone, but with a Verizon logo.
The Motorola Droid Web site's main page, at http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/ci.Motorola-DROID-US-EN.vertical, was live at 8:30 PM ET on Thursday night but taken down by 9 PM. A tech specs page at http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/ci.Motorola-DROID-US-EN.alt was still live at 9 PM.
Verizon's official Droid site can be accessed at www.droiddoes.com.
Post by Sascha Segan
The Droid's face is mostly a 3.7", 480x854 capacitive TFT LCD touchscreen.
On the back of the Motorola Droid, there's a 5-megapixel camera with flash.
Slid closed, the Motorola Droid is 2.4 x 4.6 x .5 inches in size.
The Motorola Droid is relatively slim for such a powerful smartphone.
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October 23, 2009 12:28 AM
Hey, with 854 pixel horizontal resolution, phones are finally going be useful for Web browsing, as long as site designers design their pages so that they can readily viewed at 800x600 or lower resolutions.
October 23, 2009 2:32 AM
iphone, blackberry and Palm Pre killer no doubt!
October 23, 2009 4:56 AM
I for one believe that its just time that the Apple finally found a a "real-rival" towards their iPhone. I am not saying iPhone is not great, but we all know that becoming supremacy forever on your field of gadget is impossible.
we are hoping that the new motorolla droid can live-up to the expectations of its users.
our sources: Will motorolla droid phone kill iphone?
kudos to gearlog
October 23, 2009 8:47 AM
The specs don't list how much internal memory it has. It comes with a 16Gig microSD card, and can handle a 32Gig microSD card. I would hope that it does have at least 8Gig internal memory.
October 23, 2009 9:34 AM
I think you're on point there pinoytutorial - it's about time there were more competition in the space, and while the existing Android mobile phones are strong, their carriers leave a little to be desired. It's possible that Droid may wind up making a splash for no other reason than it's on Verizon, but the specs look really, really good - the battery life, video capture, 5MP camera...
Now we have to wait and see what the interface and software is like in real-world tests.
I'm wondering what that little box next to the keyboard is - some kind of D-pad? If this is the first of the two Android phones Verizon is planning to release this year and Palm is expected to bring the Pre to Verizon next year, I think the sun might be rising on Verizon's smartphone lineup.
October 23, 2009 9:44 AM
Does anyone know if the phone has multitouch in the browser and with photos? It has a capacitive screen, so I am guessing that it does??
October 23, 2009 9:45 AM
The phone looks great.
Just wondering:
How easy will it be to change the battery ?
How easy will it be to change the micro-SD card?
How rugged is it (can it be dropped safely?)
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
The last one will determine if I get one.
October 23, 2009 10:03 AM
It's a sidekick killer for sure! Hey man I hate tmobile for loosing all my data. I still have not gotten back my emails, my saved text messages, my notes, my pictures, and I had to manually restore contacts which THEY should be doing that automatically via syncing with servers. tmobile/danger/MS/Hitachi suck big time. I'm switching to Verizon's Droid ASAP!!!!!
October 23, 2009 10:11 AM
i'm thinking the pad looks like a fingerprint reader...
October 23, 2009 11:17 AM
I dont think that this phone is going to be an iphone killer. the iphone is already well established in our society and people arent going to put it and switch networks for this phone, however is this phone better than the iphone it certainly seems so and i will support it
October 23, 2009 11:23 AM
The Droid will come with a 16GB MicroSD card pre-installed, according to the site. It runs on Verizon Wireless's CDMA EVDO Rev A network and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, but not GSM networks.
No iphone killer if I cannot even use the thing in Europe.
October 23, 2009 11:30 AM
I've always seem to root for the first cell manufacturers (Motorola) to break ground with a capacitive powerhouse phone. Hopefully, they can take their rightful place in the cell phone industry once again with this device. Paired with Android which is making great strides proves to be a deadly combo.
October 23, 2009 3:03 PM
A lot of European and Asian countries have CDMA and GSM so it shouldn't be an issue.
October 23, 2009 9:45 PM
There will be many phones with the Android OS and the Droid will have way more Apps in it's 1st year then the IPhone had in it's first year. The Android OS will cruise past Apple in the # of apps for this phone compared to the IPhone.
October 26, 2009 5:47 PM
Hey cyclopsbrew,
It says " The Droid will come with a 16GB MicroSD card pre-installed " Hopefully it's true. What will be the price?
October 26, 2009 9:26 PM
Not bad. How much is this thing going to cost?
And I'm totally agreeing with pinoytutorial. I've seen enough upgrades to the iPhone. Let's see something new, Apple.
October 27, 2009 6:19 PM
Lack of GSM makes it problematic at best. Travel outside of the US and you're screwed. Frankly, even Verizon's "World Phone" isn't. I was heading to South America and was told that, a)Blackberry Mail wouldn't work and, b)Blackberry 8800 wouldn't work anyway. But, they would happily rent me a phone for the trip. What crap. How many more generations will we have to wait until we catch up to where the rest of the world has been for years. Now, I dislike AT&T as much as the next guy, but at least you can use the damn phones pretty much anywhere.
October 28, 2009 7:40 AM
NO GSM! Can't be used outside of the US. CDMA only! This phone is already limited. Too bad. Won't be a phone for a lot of people. What marketing guy decided that one!