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Gadgets Images of Droid 2 Smartphone Leaked
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - June 11, 2010 9:10 AM
Print 25 comment(s) - last by Aloonatic.. on Jun 16 at 6:55 AM

Motorola Droid 2 Keyboard  (Source: Droif Life)

Motorola Droid 2 Battery Door  (Source: Droid Life)
Droid 2 looks a lot like the original

The Motorola Droid was unveiled officially in October of 2009 and Motorola has recently stated that the device is still selling well (partly due to Verizon's vigorous two-for-one promotion). This week, photos of what is reportedly the Motorola Droid 2 have surfaced. The Droid 2 looks almost the same as the original handset with a notable exception being that the D-pad from the original is missing from the keyboard of the Droid 2. The only other visual difference is a slight change to the design of the battery cover reports Droid-Life.

The big changes are all on the inside. The Droid 2 is pegged to run Android 2.1 and sports a 3.7-inch screen; the processor is a 750MHz OMAP unit, and the new Droid will support Wi-Fi tethering. Internal storage is 8GB and the handset will ship with an 8GB SD card installed. The smartphone will also sport a new version of Motoblur.

Interestingly, the Droid 2 has no forward facing camera for video conferencing like the iPhone 4 and other devices on the market. Motorola has stated previously that it will be offering several handsets supporting video conferencing this year and apparently, the Droid 2 isn’t one of them. The device also lacks HDMI out.

Droid-Life is also reporting that a training session on the Droid 2 will be held for Verizon employees on June 22 so the device may be coming sooner than expected.

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RE: Front facing camera
By corduroygt on 6/11/2010 10:29:55 AM , Rating: 2
Video calling is popular in Japan, where the networks have been supporting it for years. Not so much in the US because we only have a little more than twice Japan's population but It's a lot harder to add network support to a country who only has 2.5x the population of japan but 25 times the surface area. Same reason we don't have bullet trains as well.


RE: Front facing camera
By Mike2038 on 6/11/2010 10:31:57 AM , Rating: 2
What are the service costs in Japan like? Here is the US a typical phone/data plan is about $100.00 a month.


RE: Front facing camera
By hughlle on 6/11/2010 11:25:47 AM , Rating: 2
holy cow. mine is the equivelent of $50 for an 18 month unlimited plan, and i figure that to be fairly expensive!


RE: Front facing camera
By Pjotr on 6/11/2010 7:09:39 PM , Rating: 2
Sweden, 9 million people size of California and having 4 major operators and many rent-a-network smaller ones, with a typical subscription, if you signup 24 months for lower rates:

Monthly fee: $5
Calling: $0.03 per minute to all domestic phones and mobile operators
SMS text: $0.03
MMS (picture/sound etc): $0.12
Video calling: $0.60 per minute office hours, $0.30-$0.60 other times
Data packages:
200 MB/month 2 Mbit/s $4 per month
1 GB/month 6 Mbit/s $8.50 per month
5 GB/month 10 Mbit/s $15 per month
(All allow buying another size set at monthly fee, otherwise speed is limited to 64 kbit/s when you hit roof)

http://www.tele2.se/abonnemang-snackis.html?ipid=d...


RE: Front facing camera
By Aloonatic on 6/16/2010 6:55:07 AM , Rating: 2
From memory (but it was a while ago when this was new, on my k800i I think it was, so forgive me) I think that video calls didn't count as data coms in the UK, but were taken out of your minutes allowance at double the rate of normal calls (2 minutes for 1), in the same way as MMS messages used up 2 of your inclusive text messages, to 1 for "normal" SMS.

The whole thing is a total waste of time IMHO anyway. It means that you have to have the speaker-phone, so everyone can hear, on or a headset if you want any privacy and then hold the thing in front of you. Hardly ideal for walking around with, or using in most public places, as you shout at it as you are not sure how clearly you are getting through to the other end, looking like a right t1t.

So basically, you might use it in your office or at home, when you'd be much better off using skype or some IM software, essentially for free.

It hasn't taken off here in the UK or Europe (I think) and I don't think that it will in the US either.


RE: Front facing camera
By Drag0nFire on 6/11/2010 11:22:02 AM , Rating: 2
It's probably also a critical mass issue here. Even if I got a phone that supported video calling, most of the people I call won't have it, so what's the point? I do actually give Apple the credit here. They were one of the first big manufacturers to put webcams on all their laptops (now a standard industry feature) and now they're the first to put it on a phone...


RE: Front facing camera
By Strunf on 6/11/2010 11:35:12 AM , Rating: 2
Nokia has a front camera on some of their mobiles for years now...


RE: Front facing camera
By XtremeM3 on 6/11/2010 12:52:50 PM , Rating: 2
I had a Sony Ericsson 4 years ago that had a front facing camera(as well as one on the back) and was capable of video calls...this is not new


RE: Front facing camera
By Bateluer on 6/11/2010 1:23:55 PM , Rating: 2
Uh, Apple wasn't the first to mount a front facing camera on a phone. I don't know specific models, but the Evo 4G has a front facing phone and beat the iPhone 4 to market by a good month.

Still, pointless feature. Not everyone has a high end phone that'll have such a feature. And not everyone is going to have access to a wifi network to use it, if you're on AT&T. Might be awkward making video calls on a public wifi.


RE: Front facing camera
By Hare on 6/13/2010 10:44:21 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Not everyone has a high end phone that'll have such a feature.


Actually quite the opposite. Many <100$ phones in Europe (no contract) have cameras and video call capabilities (to whatever phone the other person may have over 3G). It's really common but for some reason in the US people think this is something new. And by the way, Apples solution is only iphone to iphone over wifi.

Ps. I'm using skype video calls on my N900 :P


RE: Front facing camera
By Zingam on 6/11/2010 3:02:37 PM , Rating: 1
For years now all my mobiles feature a back and a front camera :D With some software I can use them both as a web camera too... Amazing... and you call that new?
Yeah, iPhone is nice but it is nothing that you can't get by other brands... except maybe for the iTunes shit.


RE: Front facing camera
By wolrah on 6/11/2010 3:32:06 PM , Rating: 2
Been beaten a few times so far, but my two year old Sony K850i has a front camera. My four year old LG CU500 had a rotating camera that worked both ways, though it had no support for video calls (a firmware update on the same hardware badged CU500v did though).


RE: Front facing camera
By Pjotr on 6/11/2010 7:11:31 PM , Rating: 2
A clear majority of phones sold in Sweden have 2 cameras. Phones having 2 have been on sale for at least 5 years.


RE: Front facing camera
By KentState on 6/11/2010 9:37:48 PM , Rating: 2
Either you are being sarcastic, or Apple really suckered you into their hype machine.


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