The Droid 2 Becomes Official... Finally

 

The Droid is arguably the phone that put Android on the map, and the sequel to the best-selling Android phone is here, as the Droid 2. The Droid 2 is going to come shipped with Android 2.2, the first device to do so. Aside from Froyo, the Droid 2 has a 3.7" WVGA capacitive touchscreen, 8GB of internal storage, (with support of up to 32Gb on a MicroSD card) a 1GHz TI OMAP processor and 512MB of RAM. There is a also a 3G hotspot option, but like other Verizon phones, you will have to pay $20 a month for this privilege. The Droid 2 also comes pre-installed with Swype, one of the best ways for text-imput on Android Devices.

The Droid 2 is going to be available on presale tomorrow August 11th for $199.99, with a R2-D2 Star Wars special edition coming next month.

Press Release:

See What DROID™ Does Next: DROID 2 by Motorola Pre-Sale Starts August 11 at verizonwireless.com 

Built on Android 2.2 with Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1, DROID 2 Comes Equipped with More Power, More Speed and an Improved QWERTY Keyboard 

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation's largest and most reliable wireless 3G network, and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), a pioneer in the mobile industry, today announced that DROID™ 2 by Motorola will be available for pre-sale on August 11. Hitting all the right keys, DROID 2 is a feature-packed device that helps manage work and social life with an enhanced QWERTY keyboard, ultra high-speed Web browsing, 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities, full push corporate e-mail, intuitive social messaging and Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 for access to the full web – all built on Android 2.2. 

"When we announced DROID X last month, we reaffirmed our commitment to continue to bring unique Android experiences to the Verizon Wireless network," said Jeffrey Dietel, vice president – wireless device, marketing and development for Verizon Wireless. "The DROID by Motorola was our first Android device, so it is important for us to include the successor to that phone in our portfolio. DROID 2 is not only a continuation of our commitment to Android but offers customers the features and form-factor they crave on the Verizon Wireless network." 

"With the new DROID 2, we've taken a big leap forward from the original DROID," said Bill Ogle, chief marketing officer of Motorola Mobile Devices and Home Business. "We listened to consumers and are providing an even more robust experience built on Android 2.2 that includes a new keyboard, increased processing power, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities to send, access and share information even quicker than before." 

DROID 2's super-slim design helps customers e-mail, text and tweet with ease. DROID 2 offers a redesigned symmetrical keyboard with raised keys for more responsive typing to push out notes and status updates. Speech-to-text input and the virtual multi-touch keyboard allow for quick messaging; or customers can also use Swype for even easier text input. In addition, full push corporate e-mail delivers enhanced features such as remote wipe and password enforcement so that information remains secure. 

DROID 2 packs power and speed. Customers can enjoy the freedom of wireless with the 3G Mobile HotSpot and the ability to connect up to five compatible Wi-Fi® devices, and watch content on the full multi-touch 3.7-inch brilliant display, or share content captured on the 5-megapixel camera with enhanced functionality and DVD-quality video capture with DLNA connectivity to share on compatible devices. 

Customers can also download favorite apps from Android Market™, which has more than 70,000 applications, and store them on 8 GB of preloaded on-board memory and the 8 GB microSD™ card, which can be upgraded to a 32 GB SD card for a total cargo capacity of 40 GB. Popular apps available on DROID 2 include NFL Mobile (downloadable), Skype mobile™ and BLOCKBUSTER On Demand® presented by V CAST Video. Customers can even manage their wireless accounts or their contacts from their phones with My Verizon and with Backup Assistant(SM). 

"It's great to see amazing new smartphones like the DROID 2 come pre-installed with Flash Player 10.1," said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Creative and Interactive Solution Business Unit at Adobe. "With the completely redesigned and hardware accelerated Flash Player 10.1, DROID 2 users will be able to experience the full Web on the go." 

Adobe Flash Player 10.1 lets mobile users experience millions of websites the way they were meant to be seen – with rich Internet applications (RIAs), content inside the browser, including games, animations, data presentations and visualizations, e-commerce, music, video, audio and more. 

R2-D2 DROID 2 

In honor of the iconic Astromech Droid from the Star Wars™ Saga, Verizon Wireless will offer a limited-edition R2-D2 version of the DROID 2, available only online in September. The special version of the phone will feature exclusive Star Wars content and external hardware designed to look like the trusty Droid from the film saga. Visitors to the upcoming Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, Fla., can see a preview of the limited edition phone and sign up to receive alerts when the phone is ready for sale. 

Pricing and Availability 

DROID 2 by Motorola will be available at www.verizonwireless.com on August 11, and it will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning August 12 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. In addition to subscribing to a Nationwide Talk plan or a Nationwide Talk & Text plan, customers will also need to subscribe to an Email and Web for Smartphone plan. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access. Email and Web for Smartphone plans start at $29.99 for unlimited monthly access. 

Customers can add the optional 3G Mobile HotSpot service to their DROID 2 smartphones for $20 per month. The 3G Mobile HotSpot allows customers to turn their phones into a wireless modem for up to five compatible Wi-Fi® devices. In addition, current Verizon Wireless customers who have contracts ending by December 31, 2010, can upgrade to any smartphone, including DROID 2, without penalty. 

Source DroidDoes

The Droid is Getting Froyo As Well!

Over the past couple of days, it has been upgrade crazy. Firstly, Sprint announced that the EVO 4G was going to receive Android 2.2 on Tuesday, then earlier today, HTC announced that European Desire's would get Froyoas well. And now Verizon has just said the the original Droid is going to get the update next week! 

With this many phones receiving the latest version of Android, it can only be a matter of time before everyone else jumps on this bandwagon. 

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Source Android Central

HTC Desire Getting Froyo this Weekend!

Yesterday, HTC announced that the HTC EVO 4G was going to get Froyo on Tuesday. And now they are  continuing with the Froyo roll out, with the HTC Desire coming this weekend! As long as your Dsyncesire is european (most of them are) and not carrier locked, you should see the notification to update this weekend. The update also brings a couple of new features to the Desire. 720p video mode, iTunes sync for  your music and the newest version of HTC Sense. There is also the App Share widget coming to the Desire and the smart Caller ID feature. features they first debuted on the HTC Wildfire. However, carrier locked Desire's won't be getting the update until " several weeks' time."

Press Release

The Android 2.2 (FroYo) update for HTC Desire will start rolling out across Europe this weekend. As well as including the complete set of Android 2.2 features, the update will contain a few special additions of our own through the latest iteration of HTC Sense. The update will provide 720p video capture, HTC's App Share widget, as well as our enhanced HTC Caller ID, and improved multi-language keyboard. Also, through the update, HTC Sync will allow HTC Desire users to sync their music with iTunes.

HTC Desire users will be notified that the over-the-air update is available to download when their phone automatically checks for software updates. The update won't delete any of the phone's content. However, due to the size of the update, we would advise using a WiFi connection to download it wherever possible to avoid additional data charges.

This update will initially roll out to unlocked HTC Desire handsets. Operator specific versions of the update are undergoing testing and we expect to make them available in several weeks' time.

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Source

HTC EVO to Get Froyo on Tuesday!

 

Yes it is official! Sprint has just announced that the HTC EVO 4G is going to get the latest version of Android, 2.2 Froyo on August 3rd. Sprint is the first carrier to offer the Froyo update and the EVO is the second phone to receive Froyo 2.2. Sprint says the OTA update will roll out in stages and will be done by "mid August, but they will be providing a manual download link for impatient people. 

Press Release

Sprint is the first wireless carrier to bring Android 2.2 to customers using the award-winning HTC EVO™ 4G beginning Tuesday, Aug. 3

Android 2.2 offers HTC EVO 4G feature enhancements including Bluetooth® voice dialing, built-in Flash, the ability to store apps to the memory card and much, much more

The award-winning HTC EVO 4G just got that much better. We are excited to announce that beginning the week of Aug. 1; Sprint will begin rolling out the Android 2.2 upgrade to its HTC EVO 4G customers.

Sprint will be the first wireless carrier to bring1 the latest version of Android to its customers. The Android 2.2 software release provides a significant number of feature enhancements, including:
• Voice Dialing Over Bluetooth.
• Application Storage on External Memory, giving users more storage room for all their apps.
• Camera 4-way rotation allows the camera icons to rotate with the camera.
• Improved Browser Performance including a faster JavaScript engine and Flash 10x Support improving the user’s ability to view videos and available content associated with web pages.

“Sprint is thrilled with our customers’ response to HTC EVO 4G and the innovative and exciting experience it offers,” said Fared Adib, vice president – Product Development for Sprint. “It is exciting for us to lead the industry in bringing the Android 2.2 update to these customers and improve on the amazing experience they receive with America’s first 4G capable phone.”

Easy Downloading
Sprint will begin sending update notifications to users in waves beginning Tuesday, Aug. 3 and the upgrade should be available for all HTC EVO 4G users by the middle of August.

The notification will let the users know that the update is available and it will provide the simple two-step over-the-air download process.

1. Users will receive a notification that Android 2.2 is available for download.
2. Once the user has downloaded the update, they will be prompted to install the update. The user will be notified that their device will be disabled during the installation process. The phone will be ready to use once the process completes.

For those who just can’t wait to get Android 2.2, there will be an easy user initiated option to download the upgrade. Customers can access the software update through their HTC EVO 4G under the Settings Menu System Updates HTC Software Update. This will initiate the three-step process also.

With this update, we should start seeing Froyo roll out across all of HTC android phones in the next couple of weeks.

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Source Sprint | Android Central 

Chinese HTC Phones Will Ship With Froyo

 

HTC has just announced that all of its Android phones that will be sold in China, are going to coming with Android 2.2, otherwise known as Froyo. What’s more, HTC Sense will be updated for Froyo, which starts all the rumours that all current HTC phones will receive the Froyo update very soon.

HTC has said that the 2.2 update for its phones already out there will be coming “very soon,” so hopefully, we should see the update coming over the next couple of weeks.

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Source HTC China

HTC Switching to Super LCD on Nexus One and HTC Desire From AMOLED

 

HTC has just confirmed that they are making the move from AMOLED screens on the HTC Desire and Nexus One to a new type of screen technology called Super LCD which is made by Sony. Samsung, the makers of the AMOLED screens, have been having difficulty manufacturing the screens, so HTC are dropping AMOLED because of the shortages. HTC’s CEO Peter Chou has explained that the experience on the SLCD screens is “comparable” to AMOLED screens, yet offers better battery life.

Press Release:

HTC Introduces SLCD Display Technology To Its Portfolio

New Displays to be integrated into HTC Desire and Nexus One

Taoyuan, TAIWAN – July 26, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced Super LCD display (SLCD) technology into a variety of HTC phones including the HTC Desire and global Nexus One later this summer. The SLCD display offers an exceptional natural balanced colour, clear contrast, broad viewing angles and improved power efficiency.

“HTC is experiencing high-demand for many of our phones, specifically our phones with 3.7 inch displays. The new SLCD display technology enables us to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high-demand,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “The SLCD displays provide consumers with a comparable visual experience to HTC’s current 3.7 inch displays with some additional benefits including battery performance.”

SLCD is the latest generation of LCD technology that offers improved performance from earlier LCD panels including approximately five times better power management. SLCDs also offer an enhanced viewing experience with wider viewing angles that are enabled by Sony’s new VSPEC III™ technology.

About HTC

HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

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Source Engadget

You Can No Longer Buy a Nexus One :(

 

A couple of days ago, Google announced that they had just received the last shipment of Nexus One's. But today, Google has just sold out of Nexus One's on it's online store. The Nexus One was the official Google developer phone and was wildly known as one of the best handsets out there, even though it did not catch on outside of the geek community.

However, as we said a couple of days ago, the Nexus One will still be available through Vodafone in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and here in the UK with a contract of course. So you can get the Nexus One if you really want it from Vodafone, but you better hurry, as they will stop selling them when they run out of stock.

There is only one thing to say. Nexus One, we will miss you.

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Source Google