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Motorola And Verizon Wireless Make Droid Official

This morning Motorola and Verizon Wireless officially unveiled the Motorola Droid. The Droid features some fantastic specs and looks to be a winner for Verizon Wireless and Motorola both, especially at the price point of $200.

(click image for larger view)

Motorola Droid

The Motorola Droid runs Android 2.0, with EVDO Rev. A on board for super fast 3G. GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and USB 2.0 will help it connect to whatever you can think to connect it to. The whole thing is powered by a Cortex A8 processor. Motorola said that the processor can hit a max of 600MHz, but its variable and will depend on demand for computing tasks.

The screen measures a whopping 3.7 inches, with WVGA (480 x 854 pixels) resolution. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio. Nice. The device measures 2.4 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches, and weighs in at 6 ounces.

The camera rates 5 megapixels and has image stabilization, dual LED flash and autofocus. It can capture DVD-quality video (720 x 480 pixels) at 24 frames per second. The phone will be packed with a 16GB microSD card, which is quite generous.

On the messaging side of the equation, it has support for multiple Exchange, Gmail, and POP3/IMAP email accounts. It also supports SMS, MMS, IM and visual voicemail. All this, and over-the-air syncing. Motorola claims up to 270 hours of standby time and 6 hours, 25 minutes of talk time on the 1400 mAh battery. Not bad, but the Motorola CLIQ didn't live up to its claimed talk/stand-by times.

Of course, it will integrate with many of Google's services, such as Maps, Search, Talk, Voice, Contacts, Calendar, Gmail and the Android Market.

One of the most interesting new features is a beta version of the Google Maps Navigation application which will be preloaded on the device. The Maps navigation app will let users route directions and view them in 3D, and will also offer voice and turn-by-turn directions.

Verizon Wireless said that the partnership between Google and Verizon will be a multiyear partnership and any Android devices launched by Verizon Wireless will run under the Droid moniker.

Motorola Sanjay Jha said that the device is a "with Google" device, meaning it will run a native version of Android with no customization. That means no MOTOBLUR. An interesting move, especially since Android devices that offer the "with Google" experience are getting a bit boring.

The device will be available November 6 for $199.99 with a new contract.

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