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Rumors come and go everyday in the tech world, and some just don't make any sense. This one falls directly into that category, as the word on the street is that Motorola will not be releasing the Droid/Milestone 3 in the UK. There is no reason or justification as to why Moto may have made this decision, but (of course) there is speculation. UK tech blog Clove thinks that it could be because of the lackluster sales of the Milestone 2, or perhaps there just isn't much of a market for slide-out QWERTY devices, citing the demise of the HTC Desire Z in the UK as reasoning.
If you were a billion dollar company that had a smartphone design laying around that didn't do so well, what would you do with it? Motorola's going with "rebrand it and release it on a different network" with the "new" XPRT that's set to hit Sprint in June. The global-ready XPRT is basically a rebranded DROID Pro, as it has near identical specs:
It looks like an update for the Blackberry-style DROID Pro has just hit the Verizon update network, which will bring the current software version up to 3.8.7. It's not as exciting as a Gingerbread update would be, but it does bring some welcome bug fixes and UI enhancements.
And with that, we solidly conclude that Android truly has visited 99% of the mobile form factors out there. That's right, people, the Motorola Droid Pro has arrived in the Android Police offices, and after spending the last week or so with it, I can tell you - with a straight face, nonetheless - that RIM's got serious competition here. The handset isn't exactly all that and a piece of cake, but it's definitely up there, at least for enterprise customers. Read on for the full, unbiased Android Police review to find out what makes it so special.
Wow... that's the only word I have to describe what Amazon Wireless pulled this morning. Amazon and Wirefly oftentimes offer killer deals compared to the carriers (like yesterday's $50 Droid Pro Wirefly deal), but this one is just ridiculous. All of the Droid phones, including the newly released Droid Pro, are exactly 1 penny over at Amazon Wireless for new Verizon customers:
The Motorola Droid Pro, Android's first real answer to Blackberry candybar style phones with a full QWERTY keyboard, is now available across the web and in VZW's retail stores.
So... what can I say? It's the Droid Pro, Android's answer to the Blackberry, the Blackberry running Android - in short, the phone that's supposed to kill off RIM once and for all. But is it? Our review unit just arrived in the mail today, and while I'm not ready to do a full review just yet, I am ready to give you my initial impressions as well as an overview of what's in the box. Ready? Read on!
We've seen a leaked Verizon image showing the Droid Pro, Motorola's first serious answer Blackberry-style Android device, at the $180 price point before, but we never quite got the date. Today, Verizon went public with dates: we now know the device will go on presale tomorrow and finally be in your hands on November 18th. Price-wise, the Big Red officially confirmed the $180 price point, as expected, albeit after a $100 rebate. Not too bad for a business oriented device that can utilize voice and data in over 200 countries.
Having one device leaked is so last fiscal year, man. Verizon is hip to the new trend of leaking out details of all of your devices and giving people a heads-up to not buy phones that are out right now since they're just gonna get replaced anyway.
A little over a week ago, we discovered the Droid Pro, Droid 2 World Edition, and a Motorola tablet (codenamed "Stingray") sitting around in Verizon's internal systems. Since then, there has been endless speculation about whether the Droid 2 World Edition and the Droid Pro are one device. Although there was never enough evidence to support that claim, there was plenty of evidence mounted against it (for example, why would there be two model numbers in Verizon's internal system that had the description of "Droid or D2"?)
A Motorola device with the model number XT610 should also be seeing an October release date, along with an affordable price tag and a 4.3 inch display (although the other specs, such as the camera and the processor, are said to be downgraded from Motorola's other 4.3 inch beast, the Droid X).The fun doesn't stop there: a device with the model number A957 is slated for a mid-to-late October release, which PhoneArena believes is the previously rumored Droid Pro. Finally, a successor to Palm Pre, the Pre 2, should be launching in October as well. Even though it will almost certainly run WebOS rather Android, I'm looking forward to checking it out, if only to compare it to its Android-based competitors.
The custom used to be to release two, maybe three, at most four, new flagship smartphones every summer. Now, it appears that the custom is to release as many as possible, as soon as possible. And this latest batch of leaks indicates that Verizon and Motorola have no plans to change that anytime soon.
There have been plenty of rumors lately about the iPhone launching on Verizon within the next several months. Looking at Verizon’s incredibly successful history with Android and the Droid brand, it seems unlikely; and in case you thought that Verizon might be giving up on Android, think again. A Verizon roadmap leaked by Boy Genius Report shows that the Big Red has plenty of new Android goodies in store for us over the course of the next year.