Motorola DROID: World’s First Google Android 2.0 Phone Goes on Sale Today
Friday November 6, 2009
Image © Motorola
That's the typical price of a new, high-powered smartphone when it first goes on sale. This initial price tends to drop by $50 or so later. The DROID is the first smartphone powered by the upgraded Google Android 2.0 mobile operating system.
Android, which is Google's mobile operating system, has powered smartphones like the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and T-Mobile G1 (also known as the HTC Dream). The 6-ounce DROID now competes with the iPhone 3G S for AT&T and the Palm Pre for Sprint.
The high-speed 3G DROID by Motorola has a 3.7-inch touch screen, is one of the thinnest (0.5 of an inch) full-QWERTY sliders, has access to apps (currently about 12,000) on the Android Market, voice-activated search, a 5-megapixel camera with a dual-LED flash, 16 gigabytes of storage space and a 6.4-hour battery.
Friday's announcement of the DROID's retail availability said that Verizon Wireless will feature demonstrations at select locations so customers can see it in action.
Also on Friday, Verizon Wireless will create a first-ever interactive experience in New York City called "DROID Does Times Square". This will let callers control two of Times Square's largest digital billboards (the NASDAQ and Reuters signs) using only voice commands.
An overview of the Motorola DROID for Verizon Wireless can be read here.
Comments
Unfortunately, unlike my VZW BlackBerry, the first generation Droid is not a “world phone”. It has no GSM/world-roaming capability. This is a real buzz-kill if you travel outside of the US.
@ Traveler agreed. This was the deal breaker for me.
Verizon has always shippied their customers a phone to use when They go overseas, so the lack of gsm doesn’t bother me too much.
I was so excited about this phone and Motorola killed when i heard it was not a world phone. So you are NOT competing with the I PHONE because the iphone CAN be used overseas. And as far as verizon sending you a phone when you travel, it cost money to do that. so not a good analogy. Make the Droid a world phone and it will increase in sales.