Motorola - 65/79 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Sep

Verizon Device Roadmap Leaked: An LTE Tablet, And Global Radios Aplenty

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Devices By Manufacturer, HTC, LG, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

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.

Androids aren't the only things on show, but forgive us for omitting those not relevant to the droid-heads (check BerryPolice.com, great site).

Motorola's got the lion's share of the devices. Starting with the Venus, a portrait QWERTY phone to be released this month that Engadget thinks may be similar to the Charm. It isn't mentioned whether or not the phone is a slider, but we do know that there is one out there somewhere.

Sep

FCC Approves Motorola's New i866 Android Handset... Without A Touchscreen

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Motorola, News

Motorola may have brought us the original Droid - one of the most game-changing Android devices ever - but with phones like the Backflip, the Cliq XT, and the Charm, it looks like they want to back down into the days of the Razr once more.

According to a recent FCC filing, Motorola will soon introduce a device with the model number i866, which will feature:

a dual keypad design with a numeric keypad on the front as well as a full QWERTY keyboard when slid open
iDEN technology, meaning PTT support (Push To Talk)
Android (we've confirmed it by looking at what you can see in the 2nd screenshot from the filing)

What it won't feature: a touchscreen.

Sep

Motorola Begonia, The Successor To The Cliq, Rumored To Launch On November 1, Feature WiFi Calling

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in CLIQ / DEXT (Morrison), Eclair 2.1, Motorola, T-Mobile

Those rumors about T-Mobile bringing WiFi calling capabilities to future Android devices are looking less like rumors and more like reality every day now; according to Engadget, a future Motorola Android device codenamed the "Begonia" will feature that capability as well as:

Android 2.2 FroYo (with MotoBlur)
an "interesting" keyboard design
3G hotspot capabilities
a November 1 release date

Engadget's tipster also noted that the Begonia will succeed the original Motorola Cliq, which was already long in the tooth at the beginning of this year and which won't be seeing an update to Android 2.1 until Q4. Not the most exciting upcoming Android phone on T-Mobile, but hey, at least the Charm won't feel lonely!

Sep

Millennial Media: Android Still Growing Like Gangbusters: Increased Market Share 7% Month-Over-Month, Now Accounts for 26% Of Smartphones

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Devices By Manufacturer, Motorola, News

Millennial Media, one of the largest mobile advertisers in the US, has released their August MobileMix. Based on their ad impressions, they estimate that Android now commands 26% of the Smartphone market - up 7% month-over-month. If accurate, that puts Android 7% ahead of RIM - but still 22% short of iOS.

Other tidbits: smartphone impressions gained 3% in the last month, up to 51%. The original Motorola Droid surprisingly still holds 9.44% of the market as the second most popular phone (obviously, the iPhone is first); based largely on the success of the Droid, Motorola is now the third largest device manufacturer.

Sep

Motorola Defy Can Take Anything You Throw At It (Or Throw It In)

Posted by Brad Ganley in DEFY (Jordan), Motorola, News

Last Updated: November 22nd, 2010

A video has come to our attention the shows just how harshly you can treat the Motola Defy. It can take all the Hulk-smashings that inevitably result from using Motoblur for more than 10 minutes - in addition to being flushed down a toilet when you're done.

The video is about 3 minutes long, but all the action happens in the first 45 seconds.

The phone gets unapologetically dropped from shoulder-height then thrown into a glass of water, followed by a long length of having Motoblur. Those are the three worst things you can do to a phone, and the Defy takes it all in stride.

Sep

Droid 2 R2-D2 Edition Breaks Free Of The Tractor Beam September 30 For $249, Pre-Loaded With Star Wars Themed Goodies. Do You Think It Will Be A Flop? [Poll]

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Droid 2, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

Not many phones come at the on-contract price of $249, save for the Epic 4G, and now, the latest addition to the Droid family - the R2-D2 edition of the Droid 2. At $249 it's not exactly cheap, but then again, that buys you not just the Star Wars-themed phone itself, but also:

a box designed to look like carbonite
a special Star Wars dock
the interactive live wallpapers we caught sight of earlier
a bunch of custom sounds, photos, and widgets
a "binoculars" app (your guess is as good as mine as to what that's for)
an Empire Strikes Back app that will be available from the Android Market for $2.99 for this device and all other Android phones on Verizon running Android 2.1 and above

Of course, the software side of this phone should be ported over to other Android devices soon enough - look no further than the clever ~~hackers~~ developers over at xda-developers for proof of that - but who could say no to an R2-D2-themed phone?

Sep

[How-To] Get FM Radio Working On Your Rooted Droid 2

Posted by Brad Ganley in Droid 2, News

This article deals with rooting. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, hit up our primer here: Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting

There was initially some doubt as to whether or not the Motorola Droid 2 actually contained the proper hardware for FM radio. We can safely lay that discussion to rest because, as of today, the developers at XDA have gotten a fully working port of the FM radio app from the Droid X onto the Droid 2. While it takes a good amount of knowledge to get this done, it doesn't take very long. In reference to how well it works, you are going to have to decide that for yourself.

Sep

Original Motorola Milestone Comes To Alltel - 10 Months Too Late, $200 Too Much

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Alltel, Milestone, Motorola, News

Considering the fact that the original Motorola Milestone was launched almost a year ago alongside the original Droid, it may seem a bit ridiculous that the device has just now landed in Alltel's measly lineup of Android phones (the only other option is the HTC Hero). Again, that's the original Milestone, not its recently announced successor, which closely mimics the Droid 2, nor a version that, if nothing else, includes a processor upgrade or at least a camera upgrade of some sort, but the original, unmodified, device.

Even more unbelievably, Alltel is somehow expecting customers to cough up $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate and on a new two-year contract, with the off-contract price remaining a steep $499.

Sep

Battery Lives Of 8 Flagship Android Phones Tested And Compared - LCD Wins, AMOLED Loses, Droid X Takes Home The Crown

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Captivate, Devices By Manufacturer, Droid 2, Droid X (Shadow), Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Incredible, News, Streak, Vibrant

Here’s something to get your teeth into. Over at LaptopMag, a whole host of Androids have been put through their paces in a grueling battery life endurance test. The goal was to keep the phones’ screens on while doing a moderate amount of processing, namely cyclically browsing a collection of web pages. Despite the supposed power savings afforded by AMOLED screens, the phones employing that screen technology fell quite a ways behind in comparison to the traditional LCD phones.

Why is that? AMOLED is supposed to only use up power on non-black pixels, right? Well, as LaptopMag points out, the majority of webpages are actually dark text on a light background, a scenario in which AMOLED actually uses more power than an equivalent backlit LCD.

Sep

Motorola Flipout Unofficially Official For AT&T, Now Available Exclusively On eBay

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Eclair 2.1, Flipout / Twist, Motorola

Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

A version of the Motorola Flipout designed just for AT&T? Not possible, they say.

Ah, but what's this? According to a recent auction on eBay hosted by seller hotjdragon, who, mind you, has a satisfaction rating of 99.9%, this square little device is indeed real and is indeed selling for the off contract price of $388.88. Of course, it's always possible that AT&T will jack up this price in order to lock customers into a two-year service agreement, but, at least for now, here is what $388.88 gets you:

a "brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item [Motorola Flipout] in its original packaging" along with a GSM radio designed for AT&T, although, of course, it is sold off contract
specs like :
- a 700MHz OMAP3410 processor
- a 2.8-inch QVGA (320x240) display, similar to that of the Charm
- a 3MP camera
- 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM
- WiFi 802.11 b/g
- Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
- a 1170 mAh battery
- a 2MB MicroSD card out of the box that can be swapped up to any other capacity microSD up to 32GB
- a swiveling form factor
- assisted GPS and eCompass for location services
- a 3.5mm headset jack
MotoBlur on top of Android 2.1 Eclair
packaging that looks something like this: