Google and Verizon has made a new commercial for the upcoming Verizon Droid mobile phone. The new commercial features a stealth bomber dropping what looks like a bomb in different areas of the world. The commercial looks like it could be a science fiction movie. The last Verizon Droid commercial made fun of the iPhone by saying “iDon’t” followed by a feature that the Apple iPhone does not have which the Droid does have. AT&T is suing Verizon for the “there’s a map for that” theme ads.
Best Buy Mobile announced that they are pre-selling the Verizon DROID today. The phone will be available on November 6. The DROID is the first phone on Verizon to run on the Google Android operating system. By ordering the phone through Best Buy, customers are able to avoid mail-in rebates and instant savings. Best Buy is selling the phone for $199.99 with 2 year activation.
“We’re excited to feature this new device for our consumers, as it represents the latest and greatest in mobile technology,” stated Best Buy Mobile President Shawn Score in a press release. “Bringing the DROID to Best Buy Mobile expands our already unmatched assortment of smartphones allowing customers to compare high-end devices like the iPhone 3GS, HTC Hero and DROID all under one roof. The fact that customers can purchase the phone first at Best Buy through the pre-sell is an added bonus.”
The DROID has a 3.7″ screen, 5 MP camera with autofocus and image stabilization. The camera also has dual-LED flash and DVD-quality video. The DROID is the first phone to have Google Maps Navigation.
HTC sent out a tweet about 18 hours ago that said “The rumors are true! Hero will be getting an Eclair update. We ask for your patience as we update Sense for the fancy new Android OS.” Eclair is the code name for the second version of the Google mobile operating system.
Some of the new Android 2.0 features include:
- Multiple email and contact accounts (including Microsoft Exchange).
- Combined inbox for browing multiple e-mail accounts on one page.
- Search functions for SMS and MMS messages
- Auto delete old messages when limits are reached.
- Digital zoom, scene mode, white balance, color effects, and macro focus for photos
- Multi-touch keyboard support
- Smart dictionary that learns word usage and suggests even contact names
- Thumbnails of web pages in the bookmarks section of the browser
- Double-tap zoom support
- HTML 5 support
Boy Genius Report gave the hands-on treatment on the Motorola Droid. Based on the screenshots I’ve seen, it looks very similar to an iPhone and the sliding QWERTY keyboard reminds me of a Sidekick. Below are some of the specs:
- Android 2.0 operating system (as predicted)
- Almost as thin as an iPhone 3G S and very thin QWERTY sliding keyboard
- Capacitive display
- The phone is made out of metal and rubber. The keyboard has a soft-touch rubberized finish.
- Each phone will have a desktop charger that comes with it. The charger turns the phone into a Multimedia Station by displaying the local weather and time.
AT&T has poached a lot of customers from Verizon Wireless because of the exclusive Apple iPhone contract. The iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3G S have been the hottest smartphones selling on the market over the last few years. Motorola has also felt the pain of losing customers to the Apple iPhone too as their sales have decreased substantially. Given that Verizon and Motorola have both been feeling the pain, they teamed up with Google to launch a new smartphone called the Droid. The Droid is expected to arrive in late October or early November.
As the three companies are preparing to launch the Droid, a video has been released in order to get the hype going. The video knocks on all the features that the iPhone lacks such as the lack of a keyboard, background application capabilities, and a high resolution flash camera. The Droid commercial points out the lack of the features starting with the expression “iDon’t.” And everything “iDon’t,” Droid does. Based on how intense the video looks, I’d say Apple should be concerned. This video has a “we’re not messing around this time” vibe towards the end.
The Droid is expected to be powered by the TI OMAP3430 core which is also used by the Palm Pre and iPhone. The Verizon Droid will be using the Android v.2.0 operating system. Google expects at least 18 devices to be powered by Android by the end of 2009.
Google Android is spreading at a viral pace on mobile phones and now its hitting a new market, netbooks. Acer has been able to port the operating system in a new netbook that they have put together called the AOD250-1613. The AOD250-1613 has a dual boot Windows XP/Android operating system and 10.1″ screen. The cost of the netbook is $349.99. Other features include a 1.66GHz Intel N280 processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 6-cell battery and a 9 hour runtime charge. Not bad for basic computing needs.
Say what? Rumor has it that the Barnes & Noble e-book reader that will be competing with the Amazon.com Kindle will be powered by Google Android. The rumor was started by a source over at Gizmodo. The source apparently works for the mobile apps division over at B&N. Although a colored version of an e-book reader with applications sounds very appealing, I’m going to take this rumor with a grain of salt.
Dell, AT&T, and Google are in a partnership to launch a smartphone, powered by Google Android next year according to The Wall Street Journal. AT&T would become the fourth major U.S. telecommunications company to sell a smartphone powered by Android.
Clearly this is an interesting turn because AT&T is exclusively selling the Apple iPhone in the U.S.. By selling smartphones powered by Android, that gives more choice to AT&T customers which essentially is not a good thing for Apple.
Google first announced the Android operating system in 2007 and launched it on about 9 smartphones since. Given that Dell does not have much experience in developing smartphones, all the companies involved have to be careful in making sure nothing goes awry.
Thus far Motorola, HTC, and Samsung have launched Android mobile phones. Nokia is rumored to be launching Android on a netbook too. Motorola launched a custom version of the Google Android operating system called Motoblur. The phone is expected to launch the vote in early 2010.
Apple may have decided to reject Google Voice, but Verizon Wireless plans to embrace the application. Google and Verizon have an Android partnership and the results of this deal will appear in the next few weeks. The first two Android powered phones will be available on Verizon later this year.
“In Verizon, somehow, the leadership has decided to embrace a very different philosophy, which works very, very well with the Internet,” added Google CEO Eric Schmidt on the conference call. Verizon and Google started their partnership discussion about 18 months ago. Verizon was the third telecommunications company to launch a phone on the Android operating system. T-Mobile and Sprint were the first two companies. Verizon is the largest wireless carrier based on the number of subscribers.
The Samsung Behold II has a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash, video recording, 3.2″ AMOLED display, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, and 16GB microSD expansion. The phone appears to be powered by Google Android and has a TouchWiz user interface. The phone has a 3D cube menu for rotating between different applications. Prices and availability is currently not known, but we are nearly certain that it will be here in time for the holidays.
The Motorola CLIQ is powered by the Google Android operating system and has a heavy focus on social networking features. The device will be available on pre-order between October 19 and November 1. The cost is $200 and voice plans start at $30 per month. The data plan will cost an additional $25 per month. The company dubbed the CLIQ as the “first phone with social skills.”
Sprint created a Sprint Developer Website for Android developers earlier this week. Sprint recently unveiled the HTC Hero as their first device. The website is intended to be a resource for helping Android developers to create applications. The company also launched the Sprint Developer Sandbox on the Sprint Developer Website. The Sandbox will offer access to message, Geofence services, and location-based services. About 400 developers attending the Sprint Developers Conference will be given an HTC Hero along with one month of free service. The conference is taking place at the end of October in Santa Clara, CA.
iMo is a startup that launched out of the TechCrunch50 conference that aims to make the iPhone or iPod Touch act as a gaming controller for PC games. Most PC games use a mouse and keyboard to play but sometimes people prefer to play with a wireless controller. This is where iMo’s future application comes in. iMo’s application would make the Apple iPhone or Apple iPod Touch work as a wireless controller.
The application would communicate with the PC through a WiFi or Bluetooth connection. iMo will cost $0.99 on the Apple App Store and the application will be available on the Google Android Market in the future too. Below is a video demo of the presentation from TechCrunch50.
LG Electronics has announced the LG-GW620, the company’s first phone powered by Google Android. The GW620 has a 3″ touchscreen with a QWERTY keypad. LG will be launching 13 smartphones over the next 16 months that run on Windows Mobile.
“The LG-GW620 will appeal to first-time smartphone customers by offering a new and different kind of user experience,” stated LG Electronics Mobile Communications President and CEO Dr. Skott Ahn in a press release. “Our objective is to provide a wide selection of smartphones to satisfy the diverse preferences of today’s consumers. This Android phone is just one of many smartphone models we plan to introduce worldwide in the years ahead.”
This past week Facebook and Pandora applications have appeared on Google Android. Both companies joined about 10,000 other Android applications. This will help Android-powered mobile phones effectively compete against the iPhone, Nokia, and BlackBerry phones.
The Google Android version of the Facebook application has a news feed, friend wall viewer, photo uploader, friend adding capabilities, and social network interaction features. The Android Facebook application allows users to add widgets to the home screen and add a phone dialer that calls friends who have phone numbers listed on Facebook. Facebook recently announced that they have about 65 million mobile users.
Pandora, the Internet radio station has also built a Google Android application. Pandora for Android has the ability to stream music based on genre or artists. The Pandora Google Android application can play in the background while opening other applications. Users can also put a thumbs up or thumbs down for songs. Pandora for Android is free and is only available in the U.S. right now.
