The hardware keyboard on the original Droid was a major selling point for many people. Unfortunately, the keyboard really under-delivered. Motorola made progress with the Droid 2, but typing speed still suffered a lot when you wanted needed to punctuate. Here’s an excerpt about the keyboard from our Droid 2 review published last September:
Typing alphabetical characters on the Droid 2’s keyboard is like cruising down the highway using punctuation is like sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The keyboard is speedy thanks to fairly good tactical feedback, but lack of auto-correction that is commonly found on modern OSKs means that you end up having to do more work than you really should. Things get messy when one key is bound with both a shift- and alt-modifier punctuation. Not to mentioned that in order to access the extended symbols list, you have to press alt, space, then tap your selection from the popup menu (taking your fingers from the keyboard slows down the process even more)
Things are looking up for the Droid 3’s keyboard. The keys closely resemble those on the N900 [keyboard section of our review] (which had great feedback and were very easy to type with), but unlike the N900, the Droid 3 has a dedicated number-row (5 rows total) which is very important for speed. By moving the numbers to their own keys, they can free up some of the punctuation congestion that was an issue on the Droid 2 and N900.
Of course, adding an additional row to the keyboard means that you’ll either need to make the device larger, or shrink the keys. In the photo we have, the number-row keys on the Droid 3 are half the height as the others.
Nokia decided to make nice large keys on the N900, and they felt excellent. Unfortunately, they could only fit three rows of keys on the device, and using symbols and punctuation really slowed things down.
Here’s to hoping that the Droid 3 keyboard will combine the strengths of the great key design on the N900 with the less congested punctuation typing that comes with a dedicated number row.
Motorola is stepping up it’s game with a powerful new Droid phone, the Droid Bionic. This is Motorola’s first 4G phone that will take advantage of Verizon’s LTE 4G service. This powerful new Droid sports a dual-core 1GHz CPU and Motorola claims that it’ll be able to record and edit 720p HD video directly on the phone. Looks like Motorola is also going to be providing some sort of integrated videoconferencing functionality to take advantage of the phone’s front and rear cameras, though there isn’t a lot of detail about this yet. I hope we don’t see proprietary videoconferencing solutions from several different OEMs… Google should really create a universal system for this, but they’ve yet to do so. The Droid Bionic has a “qHD” display (960×540) that levels the playing field with the iPhone 4’s “retina” display (960×640) [note that the resolution difference is due to Android’s 16:9 screen ratio, while Apple prefers 4:3].
We’ve got the full specs for the Droid Bionic straight from Motorola:
Android 2.2
4.3” capacitive touchscreen @ 960×540
nVidia Tegra 2 AP20H Dual-Core CPU @ 1GHz
512MB of RAM
14GB of integrated memory
MicroSD slot with support for additional 32GB of memory
4G / 3G – LTE band 13 / EVDO
WiFi b/g/n + Bluetooth 2.1
HDMI out (likely mini-HDMI, but it’s unclear)
8MP rear camera with dual LED flash and autofocus, 720p recording at 30 FPS
0.3MP fixed-focus front facing camera
Pricing and availability has yet to be announced, but we’ll let you know when we hear something (possibly at Verizon’s CES conference later today).
We’ve already given you a full Droid 2 review and seeing how the Droid 2 and Droid R2D2 are essentially the same phone, we won’t waste your time doing another. However, we did want to show off the phone’s unique styling and that’s where our handy Droid R2D2 gallery comes into play.
And while we’re here: I believe the Droid R2D2 has actually ever so slightly been tweaked from the Droid 2. There is a more noticeable ledge around the edge of the device which makes the hardware buttons much easier to find and press (something I complained about in my Droid 2 review).
As nearly every smartphone is expected to have a camera these days, there is an important lesson that people must heed. Cameras are more complex than a simple megapixel rating. It’s a common belief that when it comes to megapixels, bigger is better. But I’m here to tell you that you need to look deeper if you are basing your smartphone decision on which has the best camera. Megapixels have their use. A pixel dense picture is great if you want to crop it down and still retain good quality, but beyond that there is more to be considered.
Case-in-point, the Droid 2 [portal page] and the iPhone 4 [portal page]. Both phones have 5MP sensors. This means that they capture 5 million pixels in a given image. Both phones might capture the same number of pixels, but the quality and size of the sensor dictates how accurately each pixel is sampled and how much light it can capture. Another important factor is focus. Without a good focus algorithm (and no ability to manually focus), you’ll end up with a blurry shot no matter how many megapixels your camera can capture.
To demonstrate this, have a quick look at the two photos below. One is taken with the iPhone 4 and the other with the Droid 2. Both were taken under the same lighting conditions and were focused as accurately as possible (click for full size):
You may have to click for the full-sized images to see, but the image taken with the Droid 2 is blurry and has inaccurate colors.
This is a result of the Droid 2’s camera not being able to capture as much light as the iPhone 4, as well as the inability to focus as accurately. This is all despite the fact that both phones have the same megapixel rating.
But what can you do if you don’t have the phones to try before you buy? A bit of research may go a long way if a camera is important to you. I’d recommend checking Flickr’s camera page. Find your desired smartphone and then browse the photos to get an idea of the photos that the phone is capable of taking. And of course we’ll always do our best to give you camera comparisons and tips right here at Carrypad.
It seems like most of the tech world had come to an agreement that the Droid Pro would simply be the love child of the Droid 2 [product page] and Milestone 2, combining the US and EU bands to form an otherwise perfect replica that would function internationally as well as domestically (with business users in mind).
Instead, it looks like the Droid 2 had an affair with a BlackBerry, and the result is a Droid device which is squarely aimed at business folks (quad-band features included).
The Droid Pro uses a portrait form-factor and has a fixed QWERTY keyboard that is very reminiscent of some of the latest BlackBerrys. It runs Android 2.2 and is mostly on spec with the Droid 2. The only show stopper is the low-res 320×480 capacitive touchscreen.
If you’re a business user who needs world-phone calling, enterprise level security, and Exchange ActiveSync support (and doesn’t want a BlackBerry) the Droid Pro may be the best Android based business phone yet. It supports the following bands: [Voice] – CDMA 800/1900, GSM 850/900/1800/1900, W-CDMA 850/1900/2100. [Data] – EVDO Rev. A, GPRS/EDGE Class 12, HSDPA, HSUPA.
The Droid Pro is expected to be released on the Verizon network in the US sometime soon.
Here’s a quick hands-on with the Motorola Droid R2D2. The R2D2 edition is the same phone as the Droid 2 [product page][review] but it has interesting Star Wars branding and content included.
The phone is themed to look like the famous droid from the Star Wars saga and the phone features custom Star Wars themed unlock sliders, live wallpapers, a video, a widget, and an app. The box that it comes in is designed to look as though the phone has been encased in carbonite and the effect is rather convincing, though I think they could have bumped up the box presentation a bit, it’s just a regular old cardboard box with graphics on it (as you’d expect from any regular phone). Some of the stuff is really gimmicky, but I think a major Star Wars geeks might enjoy the phone, particularly for it’s looks. In fact, I know a friend who would absolutely love this thing! The phone launched yesterday in the US on Verizon.
Verizon has revamped its Droid line of Android Smartphones over the last few months. We already looked at the large Droid X [tracking page][review] and today we’re going to walk you through the latest of the three, the Droid 2.
Hardware
As usual, we’re going to start with a spec rundown and a hardware tour. Check out the Droid 2 tracking page for more detailed info and don’t forget about the Droid 2 gallery which includes shots that you won’t find in our review.
Specs
Android 2.2
TI OMAP 3 CPU @ 1GHz
512MB of RAM
8GB inbuilt storage (6.5GB user-accessible)
Included 8GB MicroSD card (slot accepts up to 32GB)
3.7 inch capacitive touchscreen @ 854×480
5MP camera (capable of up to 720×480 video recording)
The hardware keyboard on the original Droid was a major selling point for many people. Unfortunately, the keyboard really under-delivered. Motorola made progress with the Droid 2, but typing speed still suffered a lot when you wanted needed to punctuate. Here’s an excerpt about the keyboard from our Droid 2 review published last September:
Nokia decided to make nice large keys on the N900, and they felt excellent. Unfortunately, they could only fit three rows of keys on the device, and using symbols and punctuation really slowed things down.
