Motorola's DROID Does Plenty the iPhone Can't

[Sabre]

Article
If you haven't seen the commercials, they're funny as hell

[Sabre]

More news on the specs:

DROID will run on Android 2.0 (Éclair), feature a 5 mega-pixel camera with 4x digital zoom, dual-LED flash and autofocus; it'll also have video capabilities (with a capture rate of 24 fps), Wi-Fi MicroUSB, GPS, all the usual Google bells and whistles (Gmail, maps, YouTube), a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 3.7-inch (480×854) display.

BGR also points out that the wesbite promises HTML5 and Flash 10 support in 2010.

Anyone interested?

[WRXWagon2112]

Yes, very much so! But I'm trying to contain my excitement and wait for the Verizon version of the Palm Pre.

--Alan

[complacent]

Yes, very much so! But I'm trying to contain my excitement and wait for the Verizon version of the Palm Pre.

--Alan

GIVE UP ON TEH PRE. Unless you have binoculars for eyes, the smaller screen is a real deal breaker. Oh yea, the calendar takes about 15 secs to update as well.... better keep that "card" open all the time.

Now the droid series... I'm paying serios attention to this.

[chicken n waffles]

i hope it's not just another poor iphone wannabe. apple really needs some competition. right now there's nobody.

[Cereb Daithi]

Very interested...

[Libra Monkee]

[ElZorro]

Droid is going to be pretty impressive... not excited about the network it'll be on, so its probably a pass for me.

And a second on skipping the Pre... every Pre owner I know says they should have bought an iPhone instead.

[Sabre]

And a second on skipping the Pre... every Pre owner I know says they should have bought an iPhone instead.

Thirded.. a couple of the engineers who LOVED their Palm devices said the same thing I really liked Palm, it's a shame to see where they have gone

[Mr Kleen]

I know 2 Pre owners. 1 is very happy with his choice.

[complacent]

teh google released the Android 2.0 SDK.

some cool highlights:

New User Features

Quick Contact for Android

Multiple Accounts

Messaging Search

Email Combined Inbox

Camera Modes
Contacts and accounts

* Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts. (Handset manufacturers can choose whether to include Exchange support in their devices.)
* Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources.
* Quick Contact for Android provides instant access to a contact's information and communication modes. For example, a user can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. Other applications such as Email, Messaging, and Calendar can also reveal the Quick Contact widget when you touch a contact photo or status icon.

Email

* Exchange support.
* Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page.

Messaging

* Search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages.
* Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached.

Camera

* Built-in flash support
* Digital zoom
* Scene mode
* White balance
* Color effect
* Macro focus

Android virtual keyboard

* An improved keyboard layout to makes it easier to hit the correct characters and improve typing speed.
* The framework's multi-touch support ensures that key presses aren't missed while typing rapidly with two fingers.
* A smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions.

Browser

* Refreshed UI with actionable browser URL bar enables users to directly tap the address bar for instant searches and navigation.
* Bookmarks with web page thumbnails.
* Support for double-tap zoom.
* Support for HTML5:
o Database API support, for client-side databases using SQL.
o Application cache support, for offline applications.
o Geolocation API support, to provide location information about the device.
o <video> tag support in fullscreen mode.

Calendar

* Agenda view provides infinite scrolling.
* Events indicate the attending status for each invitee.
* Invite new guests to events.

[schvin]

ooOOOOooooo

multiple exchange accounts is a nice touch.

[complacent]

ooOOOOooooo

multiple exchange accounts is a nice touch.

i thought so as well... odd that it's never been pursued much by devs prior to this.

[complacent]

looking at the video at the bottom of this slashgear article, it looks like this is going to be one seriously cool phone.

I'm very excited to hear about it after it has been out for a few months.

[complacent]

Also, check out Google navigation.

damn.

[Sabre]

Wow, now there is an idea that should have been here long ago. If the industry was looking for an iPhone killer, I think they just found it!

[Libra Monkee]

It's not that I want to destroy my iPhone. I just don't want it to exist anymore. I am ECSTATIC to see that's it's finally getting some decent competition. I hope these Droid phones live up to the hype.


These ARE the Droids you're looking for.

[ElZorro]

And rumors of a GSM Droid are leaking: http://androidandme.com/2009/10/phones/ ... -on-video/

I am a happy boy.

[Sabre]

Things keep looking up for this phone/OS!

[ElZorro]

http://androidandme.com/2009/10/news/mo ... -palm-pre/

[complacent]

I'm bummed to hear about the paltry app storage space and the lack of multitouch.

dang... i had higher hopes for this phone.

[Sabre]

Ya, kind of odd that they tout 16GB above (with a 32GB extension available), but don't allow storage of apps in that space. The ROM on board only allows 256MB of it to be used for apps. WTF?!?

[complacent]

Ya, kind of odd that they tout 16GB above (with a 32GB extension available), but don't allow storage of apps in that space. The ROM on board only allows 256MB of it to be used for apps. WTF?!?

my guess is paid apps and piracy. if the apps are on a removable card, they can be shared easily. and even if they're protected in some way, the medium itself is removable... all the time in the world to look for a solution to that.

apple really is an incredibly smart design house. keeping everything "inside the box" was a brilliant idea. it's helped them stave off many problems that way.

i feel like android just needs one more year... sooo close!

[ElZorro]

Ya, kind of odd that they tout 16GB above (with a 32GB extension available), but don't allow storage of apps in that space. The ROM on board only allows 256MB of it to be used for apps. WTF?!?

my guess is paid apps and piracy. if the apps are on a removable card, they can be shared easily. and even if they're protected in some way, the medium itself is removable... all the time in the world to look for a solution to that.

apple really is an incredibly smart design house. keeping everything "inside the box" was a brilliant idea. it's helped them stave off many problems that way.

i feel like android just needs one more year... sooo close!

But that isn't how app storage is implimented on the G1 and myTouch is it?

[complacent]

nope, always on the rom, not on the card. unless it has been rooted.

aside: i distinctly remember palm os not having any of these problems... *shrug*