Android Smartphone Motorola Droid Gets Unveiled

The new Motorola DROID QWERTY slider touchscreen smartphone is the world’s first Android handset running the latest 2.0 version of the open-source Google platform.  The new handset is the product of three players that have put their best foot forward, so to speak.  You have Motorola who made the hardware.  You have Google who supplied the Android OS and other software products, Motorola is said to have not bothered putting its 2-cents worth on the software. Then you have Verizon who actually owns the Droid name as it plans to out Verizon-exclusive handsets under the Droid brand. That basically puts Motorola as an OEM.

Features

In Europe, the Motorola DROID will be the Motorola Milestone and will feature pretty much the same hardware and software features. Except for having CDMA which Europe doesn’t need.

For starters, the handset is your basic GSM and 3G/ UMTS supporting HSPA data connectivity for broadband online surfing with WiFi 802.11b/g as well as Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR for wireless data connectivity. It is arguably the world’s thinnest full QWERTY slider touchscreen smartphone at only 13.7mm. With Google firmly behind it, you get Google Maps navigation unique to the Android and is as good as any GPS system with spoken turn-by-turn guidance provided free of charge.

It’s got a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and zoom as well as DVD-quality video recording.  Its multimedia features ends with a brilliant 3.7” capacitive touchscreen display with wide-VGA resolution and auto-rotate accelerometer. Memory is modest but you get microSD expansion support for up to 32GB.  Its sale package comes with 16GB microSD card.

Verdict

Motorola is keeping its fingers crossed that its Droid will be the phone to humble the iPhone 3Gs. With a flawless telephony features on an equally flawless Verizon network, the Motorola DROID can be expected to be communicator first and a versatile entertainment handset second.  The iPhone has that in reverse.  Expect this to hit the European markets by end of November under the Milestone name.