Verizon is confirming the upcoming release of the Motorola Droid X with a promotional website for the device. The Droid X features a 854 x 480 4.3″ display, HDMI output, and 720p capture. Expect the official launch to be next week, June 23rd.
The Motorola BACKFLIP is now available on TELUS for $99.99 on a 3 year. It’s a mid-range Android phone (480×320 display, 528Mhz processor, 3.1″ display, etc) which has Motorola MOTOBLUR social networking software.
It has an interesting design where the screen is on the front and a QWERTY keyboard is on the back. You can flip it open half way so it’s like a photo frame or all the way so it’s like a phone with a keyboard.
Motorola just released their Android 2.1 update for Milestone users on TELUS. Here’s what’s new:
Animated Wallpapers: This additional wallpaper option enables you to select from a number of wallpapers that can move on your home screen<s>. A selection of animated wallpapers are bundled with the software update – further wallpapers are available on the Android Market.
Multiple home screens The number of home screens you can have now also just got bigger – you can choose to have 3, 5, 7, or even 9 home screens – plenty of space for all your widgets and icons.
Facebook App and Widget A free Facebook App and Widget is included in this update. The Application enables contact importation including Names, Profile Pics and Status into your phones’ contacts. The Widget can be placed on one of your home screens to stream live updates from your Facebook account.
Google Maps Updates** Personalized suggestions: Google Maps on your Android device suggests (auto-completes) locations based on your personal search history on maps.google.com.
Sync with desktop: synchronizes starred items between Google Maps on your Android device and maps.google.com. Sync and personalized features require a user to be logged in to myGoogle account while on maps.google.com
Multi touch is now also enabled within Google Maps.
Other Enhancements Help : A new Help Center app is included that provides mobile access to your user guide, video tours of key features, tips and tricks, and FAQs to help you get the most from your device.
Bluetooth support: support for headset multi function for initiating voice calls and other voice recognition commands ( French & English)
You can download it over the air (settings -> system updates) note that it didn’t work for me, or you can go download it here (that’s what I did) provided you have Windows.
I was at a Motorola MOTOBLUR event earlier today. I got to check out the Android 1.5 powered BACKFLIP, DEXT and QUENCH. The BACKFLIP will be on TELUS, DEXT on Bell and QUENCH on Rogers. I also got a demo of the MOTOBLUR Social networking software.
Here’s a tour of the BACKFLIP:
Motorola MOTOBLUR demo:
Hands on with all 3 devices and comparisons with some competitors:
Both the BACKFLIP and DEXT are similar software wise. Hardware wise both have QWERTY keyboards though their physical design is quite different. The QUENCH lacks a physical keyboard but gets a few extra software features; a special on screen keyboard, multi touch support and a nifty music app. Check out the last video to see those features in action. All run Android 1.5. Motorola is saying that they’re evaluating whether they’ll offer an upgrade in the future so that’s a no for now. While the Quench has the most features software wise I thought the BACKFLIP had the most interesting design. All will be available later this year.
The BACKFLIP comes with Motorola’s Android customization called MOTOBLUR.
It’s got Android 1.5, a 5 MP camera with LED flash, QWERTY keyboard, 480×320 touch screen plus Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, AIM, Live Messenger, Yahoo Instant messenger support. The keyboard is located on the back of the device and the screen flips around. You can also leave the keyboard facing down and only partially flip the screen so you can use it like a picture frame.
The Motorola Brute i680 is now available on TELUS Mike. It’s a ruggedized phone with rubberized grips, Push to talk, a 2 megapixel camera, GPS and stereo bluetooth.
More details to follow but the Milestone is basically the Motorola Droid but for GSM/HSPA networks.
It’s an Android 2.0 powered phone with a 800×480 display, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, removable memory and a 5 megapixel camera with flash all in a form factor slightly bigger than an iPhone. Yum!
It should be coming to TELUS (and possibly other compatible carriers) in early 2010.
I played with one the other day and couldn’t stop drooling
As we told you last week, Koodo Mobile will be releasing three new CDMA devices in the coming weeks. Looks like the LG Masterpiece and Motorola VE440 will launch on October 26th, according to our Koodo insider. Both devices were shipped out to retail locations Monday, October 19th-so they should arrive in time for the 26th launch date.
As stated in the previous post, each devices will set you back $125 or $0 with a 125 Tab. More information and specs will be published once the devices are officially launched.