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Verizon Wireless began building interest in the Motorola Droid, its first smartphone running Google’s Android operating system, with a few well-placed television ads criticizing the iPhone. The Droid is scheduled to go on sale Oct. 30-though perhaps now with a bit of its built-up suspense deflated, as the Boy Genius Report has released full specs for the device, which it says Motorola did a rather Inspector Clouseau job of hiding on its Website.
The slider-style Droid reportedly runs Android 2.0 and supports CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) 1X 800/1900 and EvDO (Evolution Data Optimized) Rev. A networks. It weighs 6 ounces, measures 2.4 by 4.6 by 0.5 inches and features a full QWERTY keyboard and a 3.7-inch WVGA 16:9 widescreen that’s 480 by 854 pixels.
There’s a 550MHz processor, A-GPS is on board, the battery offers 385 minutes of continuous usage time, there’s a 16GB MicroSD card pre-installed and up to 32GB of expandable memory is supported.
The Droid additionally has an accelerometer, a 5-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, auto-focus, image stabilization, dual LED flash and 720 by 480 video capture, and users get all of the Google-related goodies-such as Google Maps and Google Calendar-as well as built-in access to the Android Market and applications for viewing QuickOffice documents and Facebook and other popular social media sites.
There’s support for IMAP, POP3 and Exchange e-mail, instant messaging and SMS (Short Message Service), and data access, 802.11 b and g, and Bluetooth 2.1.
And finally, two peripherally notable details: The color is described as “licorice brown with sugar accents,” and the Droid name, while generally understood to be a shortening of Android and associated with Google, is a word trademarked by Lucasfilm-maybe giving it more of a “Star Wars” bent.
While many a smartphone has been positioned as a threat to the market-dominating iPhone, analysts are saying the Droid may truly be one, describing the Droid as “likely to be a serious challenger to the iPhone,” and capable of offering both Apple and Palm Pre a “sharp jab in the ribs.”
Also working in the Droid’s-and Verizon Wireless’-favor is the Android Market. While it doesn’t come close to Apple’s over 85,000 offerings, Android Market is the second-largest mobile application shop, with well over 10,000 applications. In September, Google additionally released “discoverability improvements,” which are said to be likely to attract more developers to the open-source platform, particularly as more Android phones become available.
In a Sept. 30 report, AdMob, which measures handset use, reported that Android use was significantly on the rise.
“Android continues its strong growth in both North America and Europe,” AdMob wrote in a blog post on the findings. “Ad requests from Android devices grew 17 percent month over month in August, following a 50 percent increase in July. Given the new devices launching in [the fourth quarter], it could be a huge holiday season for the Android platform.”