By When Eric Schmidt held up the Verizon HTC Hero at this morning’s big VZW/GOOG press conference we were unable to determine exactly what phone Lowell McAdam was holding. Not any more – it is definitely the Motorola Sholes/Tao/Droid:
If you couldn’t tell, the picture was taken by the Associated Press and was sent in by our tipster (Thanks DigitalBusker)! Shall we get a super zoom on the Sholes just for fun?
The world is about to be MOTO PWND by a Big Red Machine. The CLIQ is cool and all, and don’t get me wrong I love the HTC Hero and would still PERSONALLY consider the G1 my favorite phone on the market, but the Sholes/Tao/Droid is going to be huge for Motorola, Verizon and Droid-loving customers.
This is the only time I’ve ever felt compelled to say I really want an STD.
UPDATE: And the best picture by far, tipped off by Crypto in the comments:
Looks curvier than the leaked pictures. Was it because people found the “brick” aspect ugly? Is Motorola purposefully leaking stuff to get some kind of feedback?
Also: holy watermarks Batman!
YES! That’s the kind of picture I have been looking for. I just hope its released late October and not December!
I wonder if people were teased about the iPhone as much as we’re being teased about the Moto Droid..
I want one! I want one! I want one!
I’ve been keeping track of the sholes and the updates on it since earlier this year (my current contract ended in May!) and I’m so tired of waiting. Hurry up Verizon! I want one!!! And I HATE motorala, but for this phone, I’m willing to give it another try!
Awesome, I will be in the store to get one on release day. Buh-Bye ATT!!
Hello MOTO – again!
This will be my first Android phone, and first off-contract phone (assuming it’s not completely ridiculously priced). Have my google voice account setup and will switch over to it when this phone is out. Should be cool.
anyone else think that the Moto Sholes/Tao/Droid’s screen looks washed out compared to the Hero?
BTW, they should throw everyone a curveball and release it as the Moto Clap. See how many people get it. lol
er…took me a few seconds to figure out what you meant by an “STD”.
It isn’t washed out, it just has a very aggressive backlight, that I would assume is just turned all the way up.
anything above 3.5″ will instantly gain my interest, not to forget the keyboard
Oh man I really, really can’t wait for this. I am so glad I saved my upgrade!
There is a clearer sharper picture here:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/10/10-06-09sholesenhanced.jpg
Finally, I knew that one picture wasn’t the only one taken!
It even has the ZVW logo on the bottom of the phone. Hopefully there will be some indepth reviews shortly with the phone already being in testing!
Hmmmm…I was expecting the STD to look more like the Hero UI…..that’s what I thought Android was….not a windows 3.1 knock off. That UI looks god awful. /sad panda
what are the specs of the sholes/droid? What kind of processor? With the word on the street being that the HTC Dragon will be 1ghz.. i find it hard for me to get excited about anything else that is out there.
yea i agree with jrun they really could of put a 1Ghz snapdragon in here this would of really took the Iphone of its so called thrown. The new 3GS does pack a 833Mhz processor, and the Droid packs 600Mhz Should I wait for palm pre or Snapdragon Device with Android?
@will
I have this strange feeling that they will have a downloadable desktop UI option for the Sholes.
Here is my reasoning: Moto went through all the dev work to make the Blur so they have it available anytime. But they chose not to include it… why? Obviously they want a Google branded phone but that means no custom UI with integrated social platforms? Unless one of two things happens:
Android 2.0 includes Wave with support for integrated social platforms.
Or Moto delivers a UI experience as a download, thus not invalidating the Google experience.
@ Will.
Thats because the Hero UI is the Sense UI made by HTC for all their Android phones.
The STD will have the full google experience i.e. plain android UI i.e G1
I am sure people will mod this to run sense, which I hope happens so I can do that as well.
@cocoa
Makes sense, thank you very much for that. I certainly hope that’s the case. If this phone has all the horsepower they claim, they better put it to use with a slick front end. =)
Okay, I know we’re all talking about the Sholes (my top phone to get) but lets look at the HTC model for a sec. My guess is this one is the HTC Passion, or Desire, or Predator. What is the chance that this phone is getting a different name from the Sprint Hero b/c there is an actual spec bump? (Come on HTC, is 600MHz REALLY too much to ask for?)
@Will and cocoa
It looks to me like the STD has the app window pulled up…?
Just sayin’.
@StephenSaurusRex,
I read somewhere else that this looks like the already announced Tattoo!
@Will/Cocoa, like SThomas said, the App window is just pulled up. Maybe trying to hint at one of the big selling points; the app store.
If you notice the circle at the top with the down facing arrow; normally that tab is at the bottom of an android screen with the arrow facing up and the rest of the interface in plain view. You can then drag that tab up and it wheels out the installed apps on the phone.
Im not feeling the sholes…I know it allegedly has some good hardware but if I had to get a google experience phone, it would be a mytouch. Its a personal preference of course. Now that HTC doodad sitting next to it is something worth talking about!
What time were these photos taken? Both phones are showing a different time. Seems sort of odd. I wonder if they are working models?
@Crypto
Wow. While it does actually look a bit like the Tattoo I would be appalled if they had a press conference to announce that piece of crap.
.
No, I think you guys should check out these 2 links.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/06/verizon-plans-to-support-google-voice-will-launch-two-game-cha/
.
http://www.droiddog.com/android-blog/2009/10/vzw-and-google-working-together-2-androids-on-verizon-this-year/
.
Both Engadget & Droid Dog latched onto the phrase “Game-Changing” that was being thrown around by the 2 CEOs. “Game Changing” seemed to be specifically aimed NOT at the Sholes, but at the Other phone. Droid Dog went as far as to suggest that since Eric Schmidt was holding an HTC phone, that it may actually be the HTC “Dragon” phone that the XDA guys had nicknamed (which may actually turn out to be the Passion, Desire or Predator). What do you guys think? Super far fetched? Maybe, but I would imagine that CEOs would know that virtually everything they say is read into by this point, so that they speak as carefully as possible.
Ok, I’m not sure i could bring myself to believe it either. These are huge leaps in logic, but I am Android Crazy enough to HOPE that the given the above statements, the HTC Desire IS a Snapdragon phone w/ Sense UI. If so, SOLD!
to all you people hating on the S/T/D:
thats not the UI on the screen.it’s just the app window!
do you really think that they would allow any glimpse of the UI before this phone is even officially announced? h*** no.
so lets all just relax and enjoy the fact that we finally have a concrete look at what this phone is going to be like (thank God its not just an amazingly speced brick.)
so Verizon, thanks for the glimpse.
and Moto, you wasted an hour of my life with that Motodev KeyNote crap this morning in not announcing the S/T/D.
but disregarding the last note, i cant wait to get the sholes the minute it comes out!
hurry up Moto/Big Red! dont make me wait any longer!
@Will
That isn’t a shot of the “UI”.. It looks like they purposely covered the main home screen by sliding up the apps tab.
is there a chance that the htc has oled, and the std has lcd? thus explaining the brightness difference?
On the close-up picture check out the top right hand corner…is it just me or does that look like a front facing camera?
I think its only the Speaker, No Front Camera
@tke789
i do not believe that is a front-facing camera unfortunately =^(
it seems to me that it is a LED similar to the one found on the CLIQ that flashes (dimly) to let you know you have a new message and whatnot
@tke789
It’s a possiblity. Or it could simply be a sensor for light levels for the keyboard and screen, or it could be a LED indicator like on Blackberries.
IMO it looks too small to be a camera.
that is definitely a prox. sensor. way to small to be a camera.
Both nice phones. I’m a huge Android Fanboy and waiting for VZ to release one. but they need to make the themes customizable with all versions of Android like Blacberrys. I’m glad to see Motorola back in the game, I still love my Moto E815!
sorry off-topic question:
does anybody have any idea on the cheapest verizon plan w/messaging that you can get with these androids?
is it
A)Nationwide Connect ($70)
or
B)PDA/Smartphone Nationwide Email/Messaging ($100)
i really need to know!
appreciate any possible help, thanks!
I have been waiting for this day to come. I am not a big fan of the Moto, but I am willing to give it a try since I can finally get an android phone on the Verizon network.
Hurry up, Verizon! Tao nao!
i hate tmobile!! why does everyone get the hero but us?! we had android first!!!!!!
Well, It look as if Moto’s still coughing up blood! I can only hope that they do a GSM version for Europe! C’mon Moto, do it!
http://howardforums.com/showpost.php?p=13083463&postcount=1820
phone is comming on or before Oct 30th, i guarantee it. This guy is very credible (Bill23)
This does look like HTC Hero if you see the bottom of the phone: http://www.htc.com/www/product/hero/overview.html
Will definitly be buying this phone as soon as it enters the market. My contract just expired and this is just what I’ve been waiting for from verizon. Not crazy about the fact that it’s coming from motorola, but heck, for something so wicked awesome, I’ll give it a shot. I mean what’s the worst that could happen?
Looks really ugly. Not gonna lie.