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]

The Dell Mini 3i is no stranger to spot shots.  We first saw the device appear without WiFi and 3G in China and recently we’ve seen the device pass by the FCC as it is slated for a launch in the US on At&t.  Today on a telecoms regulatory site in Brazil the Dell Mini 3iX was spotted complete with 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) and WiFi connectivity.  Even better news is the device packs tri-band 3G support for 850/1900/2100MHz so this could be the same device we see early next year.  Now the real question is whether or not the Dell 3iX can release in time to still be a top player in the Android market now that the Droid has set the bar and a Snapdragon chipset device will be in the US in no time.

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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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WiFi certification is just one step in the arduous process of device certification, but if the rumors are correct today we have a quite a treat for Samsung enthusiasts.  The Samsung i6500 Saturn, the 5th Samsung Android device, has just been spotted on the WiFi certification site.  The device is rumored to be running Android 1.5, feature a 3.2-inch touchscreen and powered by an 800MHz processor similar to the Galaxy Spica.  While the news is mostly speculation at this point, the Dutch website Tweakers is confident in their prediction so we’ll entertain the idea for the time being.

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Although the PR route is proper etiquette for uncovered details on devices it usually ends up leaving you asking the same questions as when you started when you are hunting for specifics like release dates.  Such is the case for T-mobile’s release of the new Android 2.0 OS, Eclair.  Our friends at TmoNews went on a bit of a treasure hunting expedition this weekend trying to pinpoint a release date for Android 2.0 updates for the T-mobile G1, myTouch 3G, Motorola CLIQ and this is what they found.

When asked if T-mobile Android handsets would get the Eclair update they were told that T-mobile is coordinating with Google to deliver the software and they will let them know when they have more details to share.  When asked if the CLIQ will get the 2.0 update they recommended it was better to contact Motorola since they have no announcements on software updates at this time.

The only good news that came from the probing with T-mobile PR is that since the G1 and myTouch 3G are Google Experience devices they will be getting Android 2.0 for sure.  myTouch 3G owners will receive their update OTA thanks to sufficient internal storage, but G1 owners might have to download the update off the computer depending on the file size.  Although you might have a memory card in your G1, a OTA software update could not be released for the G1 under the assumption that everyone with a G1 has a similar sized memory card.

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Talk about a way to ruin Halloween Droidfanatics, Peter Chou the president of HTC has confirmed today that there will be no Android version of the HTC HD2.  We have seen images of a rumored Android HTC HD2 set to launch on Verizon Wireless as the third device in their Droid series, but apparently the HD2 is not that device.  We will not completely dismiss this possibility just yet simply based on the prior track record of manufacturers confirming and denying devices, but we can’t say we aren’t a bit disappointed.   Hopefully this is just a PR spin tactic that will allow HTC to avoid confrontation with Microsoft and iron out their future with Google’s Android operating system.

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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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The WiFi Alliance website is second to the Bluetooth SIG website in tipping gadget geeks like myself on impending device launches.  This morning LeakDroid has noticed that a new Motorola handset has just received their WiFi certificate, but what could this device be?  Well for starters the product is listed as MB501 which suggests a higher-end device line than the product numbers of the Motorola CLIQ and DEXT (MB200/MB300).  The Motorola Droid (Sholes) and Droid Eris for Verizon Wireless are prepping to launch within the next week give or take a day so an October 27th WiFi certificate does not seem likely.  This leaves us with two other possibilities, the QWERTY Motorola Calgary or the dual-mode Motorola Zeppelin.  At this point it is far too early to tell, but if the device product number is used on the FCC database we will have device confirmation in no time so stay tuned.

Rumors are spreading amongst Navigation Service Provider like Tele Atlas who fear that Google is gearing up to release a free ad-support Navigation App that will deliver stand-alone quality GPS guidance.  Yes this means lane assist, voice-guided directions and all the bells and whistles you’ve grown to expect from your TomTom or Garmin navigation units.  With their own US maps and an updated version of Google Maps, Google could essentially eliminate all third parties and become a navigation powerhouse.  It looks like Android has just gained some leverage in the smartphone world if these rumors prove true.

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A new video has just been spotted over on YouTube claiming to be a brochure leak for the upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (Rachael). We had previously thought this device would be called the X3, but if this video proves true we can now call the device the X10.  In either case on November 3rd the device code named ‘Rachael’ will be unveiled to the world in a Sony Ericsson Press Event.  I guess now would be the appropriate time to start taking bets, is it going to be the X3 or the X10?

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