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Mobile Round-Up: Storm OS Upgrade, Droid Army Amassing

This has been a busy week for the mobile industry. Several nuggets came to light that may not have caught your eye, so Over The Air rounded them up for you. In this edition, we talk about a new operating system update for the original BlackBerry Storm and a spate of Droid-related news.

Storm OS Update

Not only is the BlackBerry Storm2 prepped to street on October 28, but owners of the original Storm will notice that on either Sunday or Monday, an official version of OS 5.0.0.328 should become available. According to CrackBerry.com, the update will not be pushed over-the-air, but rather will need to be downloaded via BlackBerry Desktop Manager. Users can launch BBDM and check for the update manually. Be sure to back-up your data before updating.

Oh, you want to know what's improved? The new system software includes an improved browser; faster and more accurate typing; better auto-correction and word completion tools in landscape mode; faster camera launching, email sending and calendar appointment saving; faster image capture with the camera; and more responsive accelerometer. That enough for ya?

Droid

The Droid news just didn't stop this week. Speaking to a trusted industry source yesterday, I learned that the "Droid" moniker is not only the name of the upcoming Android handset from Motorola, but all of Verizon's Android phones will be branded with the "Droid" name. Why Verizon would choose to launch a device with the same name as an entire line of phones is beyond me, but there you have it.

We know that the Motorola Droid will be introduced to everyone on October 28 by Verizon Wireless. We don't yet know when it will go on sale, but right now it looks like November 6 is the date in question. Here's the really, really interesting part. Verizon Wireless' second Android handset will launch on the same day. That phone will be made by no other than HTC. In other words, November 6 is now Droid-Day for Verizon Wireless.

We learned a lot about the Droid this week when Motorola accidentally posted a web site with the device's details, but the FCC has been up to its old revealing tricks, as well. This week it approved two different versions of the Motorola Sholes (codename for Droid). These new versions of the Sholes show GSM/EDGE compatibility, with one version supporting only European 3G and the other supporting the same bands that AT&T and Rogers run their respective 3G networks on in North America.

Are these really separate phones? Are they all the same phone? Will Verizon's version of the Droid also support GSM/EDGE networks for roaming over in Europe? We'll find out more on October 28.

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