Motorola’s Droid 3 has been specc’d and benchmarked well before its June 17 China debut. Three weeks later, Verizon Wireless brings the latest and greatest Droid smartphone to America. A quick reminder: The Droid 3 runs the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread version, has a four-inch qHD display at 960-by-540 pixel resolution, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, an eight-megapixel camera with 1080p video capture and a speedy dual-core 1GHz OMAP processor from Texas Instruments. Key thing: It’s available both with the usual two-year wireless contract for $200 and without a contract for $460, direct from Verizon Wireless here. And don’t forget that Verizon no longer offers unlimited data plans. Full release below.
Android Central has received an exclusive screenshot that points to an August 4th launch date for the Droid Bionic. The Droid Bionic was announced at CES last January, and has seen hardware reconstruction since then. Motorola calls the changes ‘expanded features, functionality and an improved form factor’, but we don’t have any details past that. The screenshot above also points to a July 14th release date for the Droid 3.
The Bionic has already received FCC approval, so it’s just a matter of time before we see this phone hitting the LTE waves. Of course this date could always change. If you haven’t seen this phone yet, check out the press image after the break.
Android Central has gotten their hands on a table showing the Droid 3, Droid 2, and Droid X2 side-by-side. The Droid 2 and Droid X2 are already out on Verizon, but the image above sheds light on what the Droid 3 will be. There isn’t a release date quite yet; we know it’s coming to Verizon at the very least.
The Droid 3 will be sporting Honeycomb, a 4-inch touchscreen, 1GHz dual-core processor, 8MP rear-facing camera, and front facing-camera. The image above also reveals this will be a world phone. We’ll keep you updated about when this phone will drop. Expand Expanding Close
It is no secret that Sprint is formally opposing AT&T’s proposed acquisition of Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $39 billion. Sprint argued the transaction would legalize duopoly in America and asked the government to intervene. The transaction is currently pending federal review by the FCC and Department of Justice, which could take at least a year.
This morning, Bloombergcast more light on Sprint’s plans to block the deal, which include “nukes” mapped out in red, blue and green ink on a huge whiteboard in the company’s “White Room”. Sprint’s boss Dan Hesse’s used the nuclear tactics analogy in his one-on-one with Bloomberg’s Greg Bensinger, telling the journo that his company has put considerable resources to block this deal:
Clearly, purely, we want to win and block the merger. This one poses real risks.
Hesse is also adamant to spur the public debate around the issues of the merger and lobby Congress to scrutinize the transaction. He enlisted “lobbyists, consulting groups, two former US House Judiciary Committee counsels and lawyers at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP”. Sprint even “tapped its own engineers to show AT&T how to get more capacity from its wireless network so it wouldn’t need to buy T-Mobile”, the report notes. Then, there’s money. Sprint, the nation’s #3 carrier, has been losing some of its 50 million subscribers to AT&T and Verizon – which both carry the iPhone – in 14 of the last 15 quarters. Their debt-to-capital ratio is 57 percent versus 41 percent for Verizon and 37 percent for AT&T.
Pocketnow has published exclusive pictures of what they say is a Samsung QWERTY slider on its way to Verizon Wireless. As you’ll notice, the device is very similar to the Epic 4G on Sprint. It is not clear yet as to whether this device will have 4G capabilities like the Epic 4G, but we are hopeful. More importantly, we’re wondering if Verizon is going to saddle this thing with Bing like it has its other Samsung (save the Droid Charge) and LG Android devices. If so…pass!
The device has the model number SCH-i405, following Samsung Continuum’s of SCH-i400, reportsAndroidSpin. The device has already earned Bluetooth and Wi-Fi certifications, but has not made its way past the FCC. There isn’t any other information as to what’s actually inside the device. For those of you who can’t wait to get your slide on, this device should be hitting stores in a month or two. Expand Expanding Close
Is Motorola pulling a “Samsung” and going back to the drawing board with their XOOM, prettying and slimming it to match Apple’s iPad 2? The Verizon ad (screenshot above, video below) seems to suggest just that. Hopefully that channel inventory is ready to move because who is going to buy a XOOM now that a thinner version is coming down the pike?
Thant didn’t take long. Verizon just announced that it too will have a thin Galaxy Tab 10.1. But this one will still be as thin and carry LTE 4G hardware.
