Motorola Droid 4 Announced
Motorola and Verizon Wireless have just announced the newest version of their epic line of Droid phones: the Motorola Droid 4. The duo are claiming the device is the thinnest 4G LTE QWERTY Smartphone on the planet. If that’s a tongue twister you can’t tie your noodle around, let me put it in more basic terms: the Droid 4 is only half an inch thick and has a full 5-row slide-out keyboard and 4G connectivity. Pretty impressive.
Some quick Droid 4 Specs:
- 1.2GHz processor
- 1GB RAM
- Android 2.3.5 (Android 4.0 coming soon)
- 4.0-inch qHD display
- Scratch and scrape resistant glass, water-repellant nanocoating for splash resistance
- 8MP camera with 1080p video
- HDMI mirroring
- MotoCast
- 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot support (up to 8 devices)
- Water-repellent nanocoating for splash resistance
- 16 GB on-board memory
- MicroSD slot
There will be a line of accessories available for compatibility with the Droid 4 including a 10.1-inch lapdock, 14-inch lapdock with webcam, HD Dock, HD Station, and Vehicle Navigation Mount. Pricing and availability have not yet been announced, but are expected to come in the following weeks.
My opinion is torn with the Droid 4. I used to be a huge hardware keyboard proponent who couldn’t live without one. The Droid 4 performs what seems to be magic by cramming a full 5-row QWERTY Keyboard into a .5-inch thick frame with a solid set of alterior specs. But personally, with tremendous growth of touchscreen accuracy and performance, I’ve found my own interest in hardware keyboards to wane.
I still see the huge benefit of them for different use cases, but for the average consumer I think 4.0-inch+ touchscreens and greatly improved display input and technology have pushed hardware keyboards onto their last leg in terms of mainstream mobile adoption.
Do you agree? Disagree? Give us your thoughts on the Droid 4 below!