Verizon Wireless will begin upgrading its first Motorola Droid to the new OS by July 13, said the Brighthand blog, which noted “unofficial but stable versions of this ROM have already appeared on the Web.” Droidforums.net said the Motorola Droid X will receive Android 2.2 over the air in August. Android 2.2 features significant speed improvements over Android 2.1, as well as new enterprise capabilities for Microsoft Exchange and Gmail, WiFi hotspot enablement and tethering, and a cloud-to-device messaging API.

Brighthand cited an unconfirmed report from Verizon Wireless that the company will begin upgrading its first Motorola Droid to the new OS by July 13. The blog said “unofficial but stable versions of this ROM have already appeared on the Web.”

Meanwhile, Droidforums.net said the Motorola Droid X, slated for a July 15 launch for $199 with a $100 rebate, will receive Android 2.2 over the air in August.

Source: eweek

Android · Droid · Handhelds · Motorola Droid · Smartphone · VerizonWireless

The regular price for the very popular Motorola Droid is $200 with a two-year service contract, but new Verizon Wireless customers can get this high-end Android OS smartphone for 90% off.
The Droid has been on the market for six months now, so it’s not surprising that bargains are becoming available.

For example, Amazon.com is offering this model for $130 with a renewed 2-year contract, $70 below the regular price.

Source: Brighthand

Android · Droid · Handhelds · Motorola · Motorola Droid · Smartphone · VerizonWireless

Phone Arena played with the third Android phone for Verizon Wireless, the Saygus Vphone, at the MWC. The device is still more on the unofficial side, so whether or not it will launch at some point remains a mystery.

The Saygus Vphone is an Android 1.6-running side-slider with a four-row QWERTY keyboard, 5MP camera and powerful hardware, including an 800MHz Marvell processor and 256MB RAM. The screen is a capacitive one, measuring at 3.5” with WVGA resolution.

It’s also significantly thicker than its Android opponents, but sports a very nice sliding mechanism. It might launch in May, if it launches at all.

Android · Handhelds · Mobile World Congress · QWERTY · Random-access memory · Saygus VPhone · VerizonWireless · Wireless

Saygus told Phone Scoop that its V1 Android handset — to be branded as the VPhone — will be Verizon Wireless’ first Open Development Initiative handset. The V1 boasts some impressive specs, and is just “days” away from certification on Verizon’s network. The stand-out feature of the VPhone is going to be a video sharing service that will allow two people to share a live, two-way video feed. It will also be able to act as a Wi-Fi router, similar to the Novatel MiFi. According to the Saygus web site, the VPhone has a 3.5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel, high resolution capacitive touch display. It is powered by a 624MHz processor, has a 5 megapixel main camera and a VGA camera that faces users. It supports EVDO Rev. A, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, accelerometer, digital compass and microSD cards up to 32GB. The device is a sideways slider that has a full QWERTY keyboard. Saygus said that because the VPhone is an ODI device, it won’t be beholden to some of the restrictions placed on Verizon’s regular handsets and it will support applications such as VoIP via the 3G network. Saygus believes the device will be available late 2009 or early 2010 through most of Verizon’s sales channels. The VPhone was recently approved by the FCC.

Bluetooth · Data Communications · Evolution-Data Optimized · MicroSD · Novatel Wireless · VerizonWireless · Wi-Fi · Wireless