Every quarter the NDP Group releases a top 10 list of mobile phones purchased by US consumers.  What makes Q4 2009 so special is that all 10 top-selling phones packed a touchscreen, a QWERTY keyboard or both – can someone call Nokia and tell them standard key pads are dead?  Topping the list again this quarter was the BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models), followed by the LG enV3, Apple iPhone 3GS, Apple iPhone 3G, Motorola Droid, LG enV Touch, BlackBerry Tour, Samsung Intensity, Samsung Solstice and Samsung Impression.  As my relationship continues to go strong with my Motorola Droid it’s news like this that makes me excited for the Q2 2010 results.  As Turtle from Entourage said it best, “We got a monster Vince”.

[Via Cellular News]

The massive marketing blitz by Verizon Wireless over the past couple weeks has finally paid off for Motorola and the wireless carrier.  Early reports indicate that over 100,000 Motorola Droids were sold over the opening weekend.  Despite the higher upfront cost of $299 before $100 mail-in rebate, the Droid was able to sell a large volume of units amid rumors that Apple would be releasing a low-cost 8GB iPhone 3GS for $99.  One thing is for certain at this point, Motorola and Verizon have put together an excellent device thanks to Google’s Android OS and it should not be long before we reach the 1 million unit mark.  Viva la droid my friends, Android is here to stay.

[Via Bloomberg]

Our buddies over at Technobuffalo have just released a series of Motorola Droid videos pitting the device against other high-end smartphone and comparing their core functions.  In this video Jon compares compares the iPhone 3GS web browsing and typing speeds to the Droid with surprising results.  It is safe to say there might be a new smartphone champion in the room for the time being.  At least until the next generation iPhone and Snapdragon-powered Android devices are released next year, right?

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What started as code name Morrison quickly became the Motorola Sholes and now we know the device as the CDMA Droid or GSM Milestone.  To say that Motorola’s fastest Android device was having personality crisis is the understatement of the holiday season.  Just last week we saw the Sholes pass by the FCC with 3G North American bands ready for a GSM launch on At&t in the US or Rogers in Canada.  Today we have even more exciting news for those magenta fans of T-mobile USA.  In the Carrier Settings page on Motorola’s website we can clearly see a Sholes UMTS T-mobile USA carrier settings option as well as the Sholes Tablet for T-mobile USA.  While it is too early to tell if this is a type and actually was intended for a T-mobile UK launch of the Motorola Milestone, the device remains a definite possibility.

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Verizon Wireless will launch the Motorola Droid this Friday November 6th, but European users hoping to get their Motorola Android fix also have plenty to be happy about.  The eagle-eyed fellas over at BGR have spotted a landing page on O2′s website for the Motorola Milestone, the GSM variant of the Motorola Droid, complete with a photo that confirms the device.  According to a German Blog which originally leaked the news of the device, the Motorola Milestone and will cost 481 euros.  With the Motorola DEXT and now the Milestone hitting Europe you have to wonder when our friends to the east will start seeing some Motorola Android love.  As of now Motorola has not announced that either device will be coming to Asia despite billions of potential sales.

You can see the Motorola Milestone on O2 Germany’s website here.

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Contrary to popular belief the iPhone 3GS might be at risk of losing its crown as the web browsing champion of mobile devices.  In a video posted by Engadget today, the Droid and 3GS were put side-by-side to compare browsers in a short but informative video.  The iPhone 3GS was able to render Engadget’s website faster but when it came to sheer scrolling speed, an area where most devices have failed before specifically Android-based devices, the Droid took the cake.  While this is not indicative of all browsing situations, especially real-world situations where At&t service suffers, it does demonstrate that Android 2.0 is a huge improvement for Google and all their devices that will see the Eclair update.  Let’s just hope we can get HTC to figure things out with the Sense UI so we have Android 2.0 running on our HTC Hero sooner rather than later.

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At the Verizon Wireless Communications Store in SoHo NYC, Verizon Wireless has been showing off the Motorola Droid to get an idea of the normal consumer’s first impressions.  As expect they all loved the Droid and felt that the device was sturdy, fast and fully customizable when compared to that ‘other’ phone on the market.  It is too early to tell if the Droid will be the home run Verizon was hoping for, but one thing is certain: Motorola is back in game.

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Verizon failed to mention the Droid Eris (HTC Eris) at their press event yesterday where the Motorola Droid took center stage.  This has not stopped the latest flurry of Internet rumors from pinpointing a price point for the Eris, $99 on 2-year service agreement after applicable mail-in rebates.  This would make the Droid Eris the cheapest Android-based handset available in the US.  At this point we are fairly confident that the Droid Eris will run either Android 1.5 or 1.6 since the first device with Android 2.0 will be the Moto Droid and it will feature the 528MHz processor we’ve seen in all other Android devices up until this point (Moment and Droid excluded).  If the November 6th release date is accurate it will be very interesting how they market the Eris.  Maybe they’ll just sell the Eris to anyone coming in for the Droid and realizing they didn’t want to spend $299.99 plus tax upfront, we’ll see soon.

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First thing in the morning on November 6 most of us will be at the Verizon Wireless store with our $199.99 in hand ready to sign away our lives for the next 2 years for a chance to experience the Motorola Droid.  Before you pony up that cash we wanted to clear the airwaves and end the debates about what may or may not be packed inside this feature rich device by giving you the full spec rundown.

The Motorola Droid features a slide-out keyboard which we’ve seen in both videos and pictures and runs the unreleased Android 2.0 Operating System.  For those of you planning to develop applications for Android 2.0, the Droid has a level 5 API and features the following input types: Capacitive touch screen, directional pad, home/menu/back/search touch-sensitive buttons, physical keyboard and virtual keyboard (on screen).

The capacitive touch screen runs at WVGA resolution (480 x 854 pixels) with up to 16 million colors and a pixel density of 240 dpi.  To power such a beautiful display is the TI OMAP3430 processor which can run at up to 600 MHz.  Multi-taskers will be happy to note that 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM is included, with 256MB available for user storage.  When you fill up your 256MB of memory (which we would imagine you will, quickly) the Droid accepts up to 32GB microSDHC Class 6 FAT32 formatted cards.

When it comes to the sensors behind the Droid there is a 3-axis accelerometer which allows for four-way screen rotation, a magnetometer, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor.  Like CDMA devices before it, the Droid is dual-band CDMA with support for 800/1900MHz and EVDO Rev A.  WiFi includes b/g support 802.11i (WPA2), WEP, and WPA.  Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR takes care of all your headsets and wireless speakers and a USB 2.0 connection lets you sync with your desktop.

Music lovers can sleep well knowing the Droid packs the soon-to-be standardized 3.5mm headphone jack while those looking to replace their GPS units will be happy that both A-GPS and a Standalone GPS with internal antenna are in tote.  If you do manage to get lost even with both Standalone and A-GPS, you can rely on the E-compass to navigate your way through the woods.

Business users concerned about corporate email have also been covered thanks to Exchange ActiveSync 2003/2007 native support in Android 2.0.  Standard IMAP4 and POP3 account support is also included for those not looking to wear a suit everyday.

Now let’s move onto the Media portion of the Droid and in our opinion the true measure of this impressive device.  A 5-megapixel camera (2592 x 1936 pixels) with autofocus, color effects, dual led flash, geotagging, image stabilization, picture quality, scenes, white balance, 4x digital zoom has you covered.  Images will be saved as JPEG with EXIF 2.2 as the native capture format while videos will be H.264 and record at 720 x 480 pixels (D1) @ 24fps and playback at 720 x 480 pixels @ 30fps.  If you are looking to stream media from the Droid your core audio playback format is WMA, while you have the ability to playback AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, H.263, H.264 and MPEG-4.

That pretty much wraps up everything you could possibly want to know about the Motorola Droid when it comes to features.  We hope that you now know exactly what you are getting yourself into next Friday and hopefully you are totally geeked like us.  Feel free to add your questions to the comments section below.

If you can’t wait for the Motorola Droid to release next Friday like us, you will love the video above.  In this hands-on demo released by Verizon Wireless this morning you get over 5 minutes of 100% Droid goodness.  If you still have more questions about the Droid feel free to drop your questions in the comments section below and we will respond or contact the proper Media Contacts on your behalf to get your questions answered.  Viva la Droid.

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