Remember the LG GW620, the QWERTY slider Android smartphone that rocked up with its own mini-site last week? The handset has now made its way to Canada for a debut as the Rogers Wireless LG Eve, promising a Social Network Services (SNS) Manager that pulls together Twitter, Facebook and Bebo updates, a 5-megapixel autofocus camera and – stealing a jump on the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 – automatic face recognition tying images into contacts entries.
One of the most common questions we’re being asked in the aftermath of our HTC HD2 unboxing is how its on-screen QWERTY keyboard compares to one of the other eye-catching smartphones of the quarter, the Nokia N900. We’ve staged a quick size and keyboard comparison, and you can find the gallery – and read our early opinions on both devices – after the cut.
We’ve been avidly playing with the Verizon DROID by Motorola since its launch on Wednesday, and while we think it’s still too early to give a definitive opinion on the Android smartphone either way, we wanted to share some highlights. The Motorola DROID could be one of the most important smartphones of 2009, so check out our early thoughts on battery life, the QWERTY keyboard, some camera disappointments and more, after the cut.
Motorola and Verizon Wireless have officially announced the Verizon DROID by Motorola, the first Android smartphone for the carrier and what’s promising to be one of the most interesting. The Verizon DROID has a 3.7-inch 854 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and EVDO Rev.A, and will arrive on shelves on November 6th priced at $199.99 with a new, two-year agreement and following a $100 mail-in rebate.
Update: Video overview of Verizon DROID by Motorola after the cut
Navigation firm Mio is planning to use Android for certain models in their next-gen PND line-up. The Mio MiBuddy range will offer both Android models – complete with GPS navigation, media playback and internet access – and versions using the existing Windows CE-based OS of Mio’s current PND range. While specific hardware details and model numbers are yet to be confirmed, Mio has revealed that the Android models will have WiFi and Bluetooth; future versions may add WiMAX.
By now we know that the Verizon Droid not only looks good, but has plenty of technical promise too, and BGR have followed up their preliminary hands-on with a more comprehensive preview of the Android smartphone. The Motorola Droid gets praised for its “sharp, vibrant, bright and really, really responsive” 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen, while the keyboard may lack travel and feature closely-packed buttons but it’s good enough for “efficient” typing and is better than the T-Mobile G1. Meanwhile the charging dock/multimedia station (which you can see in a video demo after the cut) automatically turns the Droid into a weather station.
Droid feedback, plus news on AT&T’s Droid and a whole Droid army after the cut
Either someone at Motorola suffers from premature posting, or they’re running a particularly arch teaser campaign; the product page for the Motorola Droid for Verizon has appeared and then been rapidly pulled, but not quickly enough to prevent its specs from going public. We now know for certain that the Verizon Droid has a 3.7-inch 16:9 aspect 480 x 854 touchscreen, 5-megapixel autofocus camera with 4x digital zoom and dual-LED flash, and a 1,400mAh battery which, Motorola claim, is good for up to a respectable 385 minutes of talktime and 270 hours standby.
It’s not the first time we’ve played with the Samsung Moment, but today we’ve had the chance to take Sprint’s newest smartphone away and unbox it. The Moment is the carrier’s second Android handset (after the non-QWERTY HTC Hero), packing a slide-out keyboard, 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen and both EVDO Rev.A and WiFi b/g. Check out our hands-on gallery, unboxing video and some first-impressions of the Samsung Moment after the cut.
Details on Verizon’s second Android smartphone, the Motorola Calgary, have emerged, courtesy of those sneaky buggers over at BGR. The entry-level counterpart to the Verizon Droid, the Calgary has a similar, blocky form-factor, a spring-assisted slide, full QWERTY keyboard and MOTOBLUR. There’s also a 3-megapixel camera, GPS and WiFi.
Android is slowly but surely appearing on a number of UMPCs and MIDs, but if you actually want to buy one – as opposed to just read about it – your options are still pretty limited. Over at jkOnTheRun our friend Kevin C. Tofel’s patience has expired and so he’s loaded Android 1.6 onto his Samsung Q1UP UMPC, courtesy of the Android-x86 project.
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