Today, Verizon and Motorola announced the newest device powered by Android, the DROID X. The keyboard-less smartphone will be available beginning July 15 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year contract.
Features of the new phone include a 4.3″ screen, 1.0 Ghz OMAP processor, Wi-Fi hotspot capability, HDMI output, 8-megapixel camera with 720p video recording, Vcast streaming video, and 8 GB of flash memory included onboard, with an additional 16GB on a MicroSD card. It’s similar to Sprint’s Evo 4G – without the “4G”.
It requires a $29/month (unlimited) data plan. Customers can add the optional 3G Mobile Hotspot service to their DROID X for $20 per month.
It is the first mobile device to be released with full support for Adobe Flash. Although the Droid X will ship with Android 2.1 at launch, Verizon and Motorola plan to deploy version 2.2—codenamed Froyo—in an over-the-air update later this summer.
Verizon’s original Droid handset is thought to be the best-selling Android-based smartphone, says Arstechnica. The popularity of Sprint’s Evo 4G suggests that Verizon will likely see similar success with the Droid X. Meanwhile company is also expected to launch the Droid 2 (a successor to the original Droid), with a sliding keyboard, in August.
Google was at Verizon’s launch, in the form of Andy Rubin, Google’s Android boss. Every day 160,000 Android-powered devices are activated, according to Rubin.
To celebrate, Google today is open-sourcing the new 2.2 version of Android, which indicates the Open Handset Alliance’s is satisfied that it’s ready for deployment across a number of phones from different manufacturers and carriers.
