Verizon Wireless, Motorola, Google and Adobe executives held court June 23 to unveil the Motorola Droid X. The device will be available July 15 for $199 with a $100 mail-in rebate and will receive over-the-air upgrades to Android 2.2 and Adobe Flash 10.1 support later this summer. Powered by a 1GHz TI OMAP processor and running Google's Android 2.1 operating system, the smartphone features a 4.3-inch screen with WVGA 854-by-480 resolution to let users capture high-definition videos at 720p for playback on HDTV.
NEW YORK-Verizon Wireless, Motorola,
Google and Adobe executives held court here June 23 to unveil the Motorola
Droid X, a smartphone with an intense focus on bringing consumers strong
multimedia capabilities.
Powered by a 1GHz TI OMAP processor and running Google's Android 2.1
operating system, the smartphone features a 4.3-inch screen with WVGA
854-by-480 resolution to let users capture high-definition videos at 720p for
playback on HDTV.
Verizon Executive Vice President and CMO
John Stratton called attention to the screen:
"When you have a screen and form factor like this-very, very thin, very
lightweight-it certainly screams video," Stratton said. "We've taken
some special time to bring more video content and video applications to the
device."
The black device, which weights 5.47 ounces and measures 5 inches long, 2.6
inches wide and one-quarter inch thick, offers an 8-megapixel camera capable of
1/1,000-second shutter speed. The camera is endowed with auto-focus, touch to
focus, panoramic capture and dual LED flash for crisp photo production.
Droid X owners will be able to share the video they shoot with friends with
an optional HDMI cable or HDTVs, game consoles or PCs that support the Digital
Living Network Alliance (DLNA) technology.
The smartphone, unveiled one day before Apple's similarly
multimedia-intensive iPhone 4 launches to the public, comes with 8GB of on-board
memory and a preinstalled 16GB memory card. However, it can be expanded to up
to 40GB with the addition of a 32GB memory card.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt dropped by to
join executives on stage to discuss why the marriage of mobile computing with
the cloud is so important.
"There are many, many applications where this is perfect. ... This is
not a toy, this is not just an app engine. This is a very, very powerful new
kind of an operating system."
He said to make this effective, users need applications and services for
multimedia from companies such as Adobe, whose Flash technology has come under
fire by Apple and others who believe it is too slow and balky.
The Droid X, which leverages pinch-to-zoom technologies like the Android 2.1
HTC Droid Incredible and HTC
Sprint Evo before it, also doubles as a WiFi hot spot, allowing users to power
up to five WiFi-capable devices. This costs an additional $20 per month on top
of the $29.99 unlimited smartphone plan.
The Droid X also sports several preloaded applications, including a Swype
gesture application for using gestures to create and send e-mail messages at up
to 50 words per minute, Skype for Mobile,
NFL Mobile and a Blockbuster mobile application.
This app will let movie lovers download, rent or buy thousands of videos and
TV shows.
Users can actually download movies and TV content from Blockbuster On Demand
through V CAST Video via a link icon on the home screen.
Google mobile apps are obviously a standard for this device and include
Google' search and search by voice, Google Maps with Street View, Google
Latitude, a YouTube widget, and Gmail Google Calendar. Users will be able to
browse the Android Market and its 65,000 applications.
Verizon and partners such as Best Buy and RadioShack will sell the Droid X
July 15 for $199 with a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract.
Current Verizon Wireless customers who have contracts ending by Dec. 31, 2010, can
upgrade to the Droid X without penalty.
Importantly, Droid X users will receive Android 2.2-the Froyo build Google unveiled at Google
I/O last month-and Adobe Flash Player 10.1 via an over-the-air update in late
summer.
When this upgrade becomes available, business users of the Droid X will be
able to access both Microsoft Exchange and Gmail for business. Remote password
control and wipe via Exchange server will be available in Android 2.2.
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