When the Motorola Droid 4 was announced yesterday at CES, I complimented the ability to pack a 5-Row QWERTY keyboard into a .5-inch thick device, but also commented on my rapidly deteriorating interest in phones with hardware keyboards. After playing with the Droid 4, my interest was regained.
Annnnd go:
As you can see the 5-row QWERTY means a dedicated number row, but my favorite part of the keyboard is the texture. The keys are soft and forgiving, adding a comfortable touch and confirmation when you’ve actually pressed a key. I find most large screen touchscreens to provide perfectly adequate input, but for E-Mails, longer texts, and document composing/editing, being able to see your text and edit and type simultaneously is a big plus. In fact, I’d probably get a lot more work done on the road with the Droid 4… hmmmm.
The Droid 4 is powered by a 1.2GHz processor with 1GB of RAM running Android 2.3.5 and with 4G LTE connectivity. They promise Android 4.0 will be coming soon and we’ve got our fingers crossed.
The D4 comes with a 4-inch qHD screen with scratch resistance, scrape resistance, and water repellant coating. It’ s got an 8MP camera with LED flash and a front-facing camera as well. I took a couple pictures and wasn’t too impressed with the quality, albeit I was in a weirdly lighted area with lots of movement, so the jury is out on the camera. Other multimedia features include HDMI, MotoCast, and 16GB onboard plus MicroSD slot to store all your media.
Stylistically, the Droid 4 shares many of the hard edges of the Droid RAZR, as do much of the “Droid” line in general. So for the Droid fans out there who challenged my recent distaste for hardware keyboards: (1) have your laughs at my expense, and (2) is this the Droid you’re looking for?