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Saturday October 17, 2009
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 A new promotional Web site from Verizon Wireless appears to mention an October 30 date for their new Android 2.0-powered "Droid" phone. It's still unclear whether that's an announcement or sale date.
The site, at www.verizonwireless.com/droid, contains a countdown clock in code using ten symbols, each of which represent a number from 0-9. If you decode the symbols, the clock is counting down to midnight at the beginning of October 30, 2009. (At 9:29 PM on October 17, the clock read 12 days, 2 hours, 30 minutes, and some seconds.)
The site's promotional language describes the Droid further. It promises "5 megapixels ... Android 2.0 ... speech recognition ... notification panel ... directions ... video ... tunes ... 10,000+ apps ... the network ... multitasking ... high speed ... hi-res."
The site also attacks Apple's iPhone in direct language that's rarely been seen before. "iDon't take night shots," it says in an Apple-like font on a white background, similar to the look of Apple ads. "iDon't allow open development ... everything iDon't, DroidDoes."
The Droid is generally assumed to be the name of a Verizon Android phone produced by Motorola. Last week, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam promised the first of several Android phone launches "in a few weeks" and followed up with an official press photo of himself and Google CEO Eric Schmidt wielding two Verizon Android phones, one assumed to be the Motorola device and the other looking like a variant of Sprint's HTC Hero.
No other phones so far have run version 2.0 of the Android OS, codenamed "Eclair," though the appearance of a giant inflatable pastry on the Google campus this week foreshadowed its coming.
Verizon has been stepping up their widely-derided smartphone line recently with the Windows Mobile 6.5-powered HTC Imagio and an anticipated near-term release of the BlackBerry Storm2, which we reviewed this week.
You can sign up for more information about Verizon's "Droid" at http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/?cmp=OTC-Droid-redirect1
(Thanks to Boy Genius for tipping me off to the site URL via Twitter)
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October 18, 2009 2:27 PM
this is gonna be craP
October 19, 2009 3:32 PM
So spaketh the fanboi...
October 19, 2009 4:28 PM
This thing had better be good. VZW has talked the talk before, and their version of walking the walk was the BB Storm. Here's hoping this is better.
And seriously, I'm hoping. I don't want to ditch Verizon if I don't have to, but their smartphone lineup is horrible.
October 19, 2009 5:24 PM
Verizon states "iDon't allow open development ... everything iDon't, DroidDoes."
Really? Have you ever tried to use another Navigation service on their Windows Mobile phones? Hmmm...locked the GPS chip so only VZ Navigator works? This is their idea of open?
I have had 17 Windows Mobile phones on Sprint, (2 Different Treos and the rest were Mogul's), two HTC Touch Pro's on Verizon and two BB Storms.
Windows Mobile is accurate for the 8 nano-seconds prior to the phone hitting the wall. Now I know what the Storm drain is used for at the corners.
I finally got an iPhone two weeks ago. EASIEST phone I have ever used, works nearly flawlessly though the battery life is 1/2 of the Storms. Since it is easier to operate and does not require a Master's in BB Science to configure and 8 hours daily of hand exercises to be able to rapidly type typos, I cancelled the Verizon contract and will eBay the Storm.
This IS the easiest phone to use and navigate, no touching and pressing and then trying to correct the multiple errors from a crappy implementation of touchscreen. (Worse, each touchscreen Storm has different levels of pressure sensitivity on the actual screen with some easier to press the screen than others.)
Verizon's smartphone lineup should be nicknamed "The Bad News Bearers".
October 20, 2009 1:35 PM
The Droid countdown clock has been decoded at http://keywestchronicle.blogspot.com/2009/10/droids-cryptic-countdown-clock-code.html