Google And Motorola Challenge iPhone 4 With Droid X

Motorola, Google and Adobe have launched a multimedia smartphone, the Droid X, which will be available first on the US Verizon network.

Available in the US on 15 July, the Droid X will be cheaper than the iPhone 4 at $199 (£133) with a $100 (£67) mail-in rebate. It will feature a 1GHz TI OMAP processor and running Google’s Android 2.1 operating system, with over-the-air upgrades to Android 2.2 and Adobe Flash 10.1 later this summer. The smartphone features a 4.3-inch screen with WVGA 854-by-480 resolution to let users capture high-definition videos at 720p for playback on HDTV.

Waves of Android phones

In contrast to Apple’s tightly managed product cycles, Android phones seem to be emerging in waves – Motorola executives are already talking about a 2GHz Android phone, to be launched by the end of the year.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt (left) joined executives from Adobe and Motorola at a launch in New York, where John Stratton, vice president and CMO of US operator Verizon was specially keen on the screen: “When you have a screen and form factor like this—very, very thin, very lightweight—it certainly screams video,” Stratton said. “We’ve taken some special time to bring more video content and video applications to the device.”

The black device, which weights 5.47 ounces and measures 5 inches long, 2.6 inches wide and one-quarter inch thick, offers an 8-megapixel camera capable of 1/1,000-second shutter speed. The camera is endowed with auto-focus, touch to focus, panoramic capture and dual LED flash for crisp photo production.

Droid X owners will be able to share the video they shoot with friends with an optional HDMI cable or HDTVs, game consoles or PCs that support the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) technology.

The smartphone, unveiled the day before Apple’s similarly multimedia-intensive iPhone 4 launched to the public, comes with 8GB of on-board memory and a preinstalled 16GB memory card. However, it can be expanded to up to 40GB with the addition of a 32GB memory card.

“There are many, many applications where this is perfect,” said Schmidt. “This is not a toy, this is not just an app engine. This is a very, very powerful new kind of an operating system.”

He said to make this effective, users need applications and services for multimedia from companies such as Adobe, whose Flash technology has come under fire by Apple and others who believe it is too slow and balky.

The Droid X, which leverages pinch-to-zoom technologies seen in phones like the HTC Droid Incredible and HTC Sprint Evo before it, also doubles as a Wi-Fi hot spot, allowing users to power up to five Wi-Fi-capable devices. In the US, this costs an additional $20 per month on top of the $29.99 unlimited smartphone plan.

The Droid X also sports several preloaded applications, including a Swype gesture application for using gestures to create and send e-mail messages at up to 50 words per minute, Skype for Mobile, NFL Mobile and a Blockbuster mobile application.

This app will let movie lovers download, rent or buy thousands of videos and TV shows.

Users can actually download movies and TV content from Blockbuster On Demand through V CAST Video via a link icon on the home screen.

The Google mobile apps are obviously a standard for this device and include Google’ search and search by voice, Google Maps with Street View, Google Latitude, a YouTube widget, and Gmail Google Calendar. Users will be able to browse the Android Market and its 65,000 applications.

Business users get Exchange

Importantly, Droid X users will receive Android 2.2—the Froyo build Google unveiled at Google I/O last month—and Adobe Flash Player 10.1 via an over-the-air update in late summer.  When this upgrade becomes available, business users will be able to access both Microsoft Exchange and Gmail for business. Remote password control and wipe via Exchange server will be available in Android 2.2.

The previous Motorola Droid has been available in the UK under the name Milestone, but has been eclipsed by the Nexus One and its updated version, the HTC Desire.