By For those that aren’t particularly satisfied (for whatever reason) with what the Motorola Droid X will be offering sometime soon, then you might want to take a look at the successor to Verizon’s most successful Android phone to date: the Motorola Droid 2.
According to impressions by a Gizmodo reader who originally tipped them with the pictures, it’s quite a step up from the original Droid, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t completely sway you from the phone you have now. Confirmed by a Motorola rep at a tech show at NASA’s labs, it will have a 1GHz processor, come with vanilla Android 2.2 (the shots show NinjaBlur with Android 2.1, but apparently it’s only a placeholder) and 8GB of internal storage (accompanied by a pre-packaged 8GB microSD card.
What he liked most about the device, seemingly, was the keyboard. As we all know, Motorola’s ditched that real-estate-hogging d-pad to make room for bigger and spacier keys. If impressions are anything to go by, then you’ll have a very comfortable typing experience on this thing.
Shoot over to Gizmodo for the full impressions once you’re done drooling. Don’t worry, we’ll clean it up for you.
I’m mostly interested in what digitizer is in this phone ?
Am I the only one who thinks the Droid 2 should have been called the Droid 2.0? Yeah, I know it’s a minor cosmetic thing (if even that), but somehow the whole ambiance of the Droid’s marketing lends the former name more credibility than the latter, methinks.
I acually got really used to the original motodroid keyboard…. this one looks a lot better.
Don’t really care as long as I have a keyboard.
Now one question that has been slung around since the beginning. Why in hell does everyone keep changing the outside button layout? Someones got to push a standard! I can see myself constantly hitting home when I wanna go to the menu… I know I know it will just be anouther thing I got to get used to but its even a pain for me to go back to any of my android phones just to play around.
Well anyway amazing looking device… I think we will all be happy with this one.
Now I wounder if I can use my gamegripper with it…..
Swype has made physical keyboards redundant. Droid 2 looks bulky and clunky.
I like the keyboard, but I don’t know.. the Droid X is pulling me in right now.
Looks too much like the Droid 1. They should have used more creativity. These minor cosmetic changes are not worth the upgrade.
It makes sense for the Droid 2 to be similar in appearance to the original Droid. If it was going to be a very different looking device, it wouldn’t make sense to refer to it as the successor to the Droid. If rumors of the 1Ghz omap processor and 512MB of ram are correct, this Droid 2 will be virtually twice as powerful as the Droid, which makes it a very nice upgrade.
I wouldn’t call a 1Ghz new OMAP processor and a nice keyboard cosmetic…
Oh: Thank god it’s vanilla Droid.
for someone who passed on the original droid becuase of the atrocious keyboard the changes are def. worth it imo! i can agree if you already have a droid you might as well keep it but for someone like me they fixed all the issue i had with the original and now they will have a buyer on release day
I know a lot of ppl who complained about the keyboard flat and horriable but I used to droids both flatt and the more u use the keyboard the keys bubble up
Vanilla Froyo–best news I’ve heard all day. Now I just want someone to confirm it has 720p video recording and decent optics in the camera.
does this thing have a front facing camera? and more importantly has android figured a way to solve those “download only photos from your emails to the sd card” issues..not all of us wanna be limited to downloading just photos to our sd card without having to access our email of a web page.
“Looks too much like Droid 1”
Well let’s see…which phone is the most popular Android handset to date, out selling all other models? Oh, that’s right…Droid 1. They adjusted the things that most people complained about. Why should they do more than that?
While Swype is great, and it certainly cut down on the use of my physical keyboard I still won’t buy a phone without one. Terminal emulator, games, and complex passwords will prevent me from giving up that jewel.
Why would they no make the Droid 2 look and feel exactly like the Droid 1, only better. The Droid is a very elegant device, with a distinctive style. The best thing about that phone is he look and feel. I love it. It isn’t like any other phone out there and the marketing that went along with it was brilliant. Why would they not want to extend that marketig campaign and vibe.
@Zer0
Terrible logic, anyone who argues that the Droid sold so much because of it’s looks is an absolute fool.
Droid 1.0 user here (I like the 2.0 suggestion)
Why is it I never see anyone mentioning the Text-to-Speech features of 2.1+. I love Swype but I do a lot of T2S and use the softkeys for corrections. I’ve been using Swype for since December and it was great – got sucky – and now gone back to great… but T2S is not an option with it, either.
If I have a lengthy message I use the hard keyboard; which I wish there was a suggestion/spell check for.
As long at Moto keeps the awesome speaker/speakerphone, good call quality and adds a better keyboard, faster processor I’d be happy.
I use my Droid for a lot of business use & personally. I would absolutely love a video out. HDMI would be great – but I have videos, tv commercials, etc that I would love to show to clients without taking a laptop, thumbdrive or anything extra – when it’s just already there on my Droid. Hook it to a display and on my way.
“…come with vanilla Android 2.2”
Nice.
No Motoblur! YAY! Vanilla Android 2.2 alone greatly increases it’s appeal.
@exxxie
doesn’t look bulky to me, atleast not because of the keyboard.
from what i’ve seen this is a somewhat large phone, but no thicker than any touch-only phones this size.
it looks like an HTC-desire sized phone, with a full qwerty smashed into the same size shell.(well, actually slightly smaller because it’s screen seems to use a higher % of the surface)
the 1ghz only makes me want it more, sounds like in every way it will beat pretty much any android phone out already.
Vanilla will mean no Blur, not a completey unlocked off-the-shelf Android build, you all realize, don’t you?
That works for me.
I dont get why people complain about the way the Droid looks. Put an Otterbox case on it and it looks great. It is about the same dimensions as an iPhone. Its not THAT big.
@G8D
My argument isn’t weak, it is very factual. I didn’t say it sold so much because of its looks, but rather in disregard to it. While some may consider it ugly, and others consider it beautiful these observations are merely subjective. The fact remains that it has sold better than any other Android device. The ad campaign even said as much, “Droid isn’t here to win any beauty competitions”.
@Ross
While vanilla may only mean it lacks Blur, look at the track record for updates to hit Blur, or Sense powered phones.
Is the bootloader unlocked like the droid 1.0?
If so this can be a Droid and Nexus competitor, if not it’s just another also ran.
Steve, the OMAP in the Droid 2 already kills anything the Snapdragon in the Nexus 1, you wont need to over clock this beast…
But what about the Camera?!
No vanilla stock android! Its the same ninja blur crap that the x has. Decent phone. Prefer the looks of the orginal. Not digging the chrome and blue. Droid x i is! Swype over physical keyboards anyday
If its not going to have blur then why does the menu soft key like the one on the cliq?
OMAP > qualcom
it absolutely has ninjablur on it. or motoblur 1.5
whoever said it doesn’t is lying to you. that is all.
I’m having quite a bit of trouble deciding between this, the X and the Incredible. I was leaning towards the X this week, but the physical keyboard revision on the 2.0 definitely has me intrigued. If this actually comes with vanilla 2.2 and the X has Blur, Droid 2.0 gets my vote.
I love this move by Motorola.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Droid was the phone which put Android on the map (much more popular than the classic G1 was). They improve the keyboard by raising the keys, up the specs and keep vanilla Android. Love it.
God damnit… stock 2.2 and a nice looking keyboard. I couldn’t have waited a few more months to jump on the Android train. Hardware keyboard is pretty much the one thing I wish my Incredible had.
Swype is fine if your a 14 year old girl that TyPez Lyke THis to heR Friendzzz. But if you actually do business on your phone there is no replacement for a hardware keyboard. Once again this phone will be a winner for the simple fact that it has a decent keyboard. I’ve said it once and i’ll say it again , Touch Screens suck.
well theyre saying ninjablur is a placeholder for 2.2 but if it is then why are the four key rowns on the screen from blur also? i think this is in fact coming with ninjablur 2.1 and soon will be updated to 2.2 (yea right)
@moises – Uh… becuase it is actually using NinjaBlur at this point in time and will be released vanilla.
It’s like an advertisement for Windows 7 on a pc running XP. Of course any screenshots of the display will be XP.
My $0.02…
Physical keyboards are the only way to type. I have an original droid and I try to use the on screen keyboard and its impossible. Plus, physical keyboards are great for gaming.
does anyone have any details as to the release date of the Droid 2? And is the responsiveness of the touch screen supposed to be as good or better than the current droid incredible?
I’ll stick with my HTC Incredible. It’s a better phone in my opinion. I’m very, very happy with it.
nobody mentioned the sacrfice of not seeing the webpage or text if your only using an on screen keyboard you give that up. with a physical keyboard you and see both the text an d or webpage at the asme time your typing which is why i will never give up the physical keyboard
@UnUnlimited Clearly you have never used Swype (or you are just retarded). The dictionary is very good and near eliminates slang unless you add it yourself. And it is much faster than a tiny physical keyboard (nothing is faster than a computer keyboard but with phones it is a whole different story).
To say you can’t do business with Swype is pretty ridiculous.
Touch Screens and Swype suck , maybe when the technology actually works in 5-10 years it will catch on.
Here’s a list of why touch screens suck.
********* 1 and most important reason **********
Too glitchy , if your driving and hit a bump you hit things you don’t want. Buttons are fixed , you always know where they are even if you can’t glance down at the screen, You can’t safely text and drive with a touchscreen , too much attention has to be fixed on the road. Find someone with a blackberry even , they can type messages while not even looking at the phone.
– They suck in cold weather /rough working conditions – you can’t dial them with gloves on , you need to hold still and use your finger alot slower then you would with an actual keyboard. You have to stop what your doing , make sure your holding still and then proceed. You have no idea how stupid you look when your walking down a busy sidewalk and you all of the sudden stop and start swyping. If your a professional business person you’d get laughed at.
– They’re a bad fad , you basically need to concentrate all your attention on your screen to type a message or dial. If your in and out of cars , catching flights , moving around alot , etc . You want a phone that there is actual buttons . You don’t see the US Army using touch screen walkie talkies do you ???
I’ve had 2 iphones ( best touchscreen out there ) prior to the Droid 2 and it’s not even in the same ballpark for a phone.
Someone (who doesn’t like touchscreens) and is a “businessman” needs to learn how to spell before complaining about keyboards!
@ 43. Why Touch Screens Suck 101…
Voice To Text works great even when I’m flying my Apache.
Voice to text sucks too and you know it …
@46. Why Touch Screens Suck 101
Let’s see you build a device better than Motorola. Or anyone.
1st off, You shouldn’t be texting while driving ANYWAYS.
Pull Over & STOP your vehicle to text if you really want to be safe & ensure a proper & flawless txt.
That’s ONE of the reasons Voice To Text was created…To keep you safer.
Some people are going to text while driving…
why not make a way to text & keep your eyes on the road?
Nothing is perfect in the tech world…but typing even with voice to text is better than waiting for lag on a blackberry keyboard.(the O.S.)
Voice To Text actually works quite well. For those experienced with it, its actually pretty darn cool.
I don’t have time for blackberry O.S. lag, or even tiny little blackberry buttons.
But hey, there’s always the cute little wallpapers & sounds on the iphone to enjoy.
I hope you have a good spot in line for the iphone 4.
Maybe the soup can with line tied to another can might work better for some others. I heard that gets great reception…Even UNDER BRIDGES!
DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!
BACK 2 TOPIC
I prefer the new layout of the physical keyboard on the Droid 2. Layout & spacing seems much better.
Looking forward to an OFFICIAL Event like the one held for the Droid X in NYC.