Motorola Droid A855 (aka Tao/Sholes/Shules/Flash) Pre-Release Thread

[Quickster357]

From reading the FCC reports it doesn't have a standard GPS chip in it? Only aGPS? If so, that's kinda sad. I will also definitely get a screen protector and either another battery or extended battery since I will probably need it to get through a whole day of messing with it. :P

[Quickster357]

Is that picture of the phone that will be released in the US?

picture of the Sholes/"Tao"

I still want to know what that blank button does on the keyboard. Hopefully it's a customizable button.

[Aixelsyd]

From reading the FCC reports it doesn't have a standard GPS chip in it? Only aGPS? If so, that's kinda sad. I will also definitely get a screen protector and either another battery or extended battery since I will probably need it to get through a whole day of messing with it. :P

I'll try to find out for sure but I'm almost positive it is standalone ( ie unlocked ) GPS. Someone who has one is using google latitude with it so others can see there location so I would think it is in fact unlocked and not just aGPS. If VZW is unlocking GPS on most of there other smartphones I find it highly unlikely this device would not be able to have it unlocked.

[Sailorcancer]

What about "Lal", which was Data's daughter and means "Beloved" in Hindi.

Didn't Lal end up not working right and had to be put down?

[MYhofoUSERNAME]

i hope they dont change it from this too much if this is really what it looks like...



looks pretty sexy to me. im excited, it seems like every day something new pops up about the new devices for vzw..

[xbernaut]

it doesnt look like that^ that was a early render of it. so that is not what it looks like after it was put into effect.

[rstat1]

it doesnt look like that^ that was a early render of it. so that is not what it looks like after it was put into effect.

Is that anywhere close to what actually looks like?

[FAUguy]

it doesnt look like that^ that was a early render of it. so that is not what it looks like after it was put into effect.

Are these any closer?
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Moto...le-a_6254.html

[xbernaut]

kinda.but the keyboard and the bottom part dont look like that.at least mine doesnt.
i dont know where they got that old ugly pic but even the other leaked photos looked better.
poor job

[jamis_quest2007]

picture of the Sholes/"Tao"

I still want to know what that blank button does on the keyboard. Hopefully it's a customizable button.

if you are talking about the larger one at the bottom i think its like a joystick pad for navigation or thats what i thought it was anyway.

[shdowman]

if you are talking about the larger one at the bottom i think its like a joystick pad for navigation or thats what i thought it was anyway.

He's referring to the "blank" keyboard button on the bottom left

[wnrussell]

Are these any closer?
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Moto...le-a_6254.html

Looks about the same as I posted here in early August: http://www.howardforums.com/showpost...&postcount=158

Oh, the D-Pad is now neither black or red

[jhalf]

Looks about the same as I posted here in early August: http://www.howardforums.com/showpost...&postcount=158

Oh, the D-Pad is now neither black or red

That's neither fair nor cool!!

[teddyearp]

Aw geez, this thread is really blowin' up I tell ya. So what about that 'blank' key on the keyboard, bottom left? Also, I doubt that it only uses aGPS, as all the early specs said it would have standalone GPS, if not, that is a definate deal-breaker for me. After all, since it will be Android, the only 'free' GPS program(s) that I am used to that would work on it would be Google Maps, since Bing and amAze are pretty much both WM apps. But Google Navigator should work?

Finally, as to the color, I wish it to be all black on the outside, don't care about what colors are visible when ya slide out the keyboard, I just know that an all black phone is sexy . . . . hehe. . . .

[kbman]

I just need to clarify something about aGPS vs. standalone GPS.

I don't want to sidetrack this thread with a technical discussion, so I'll keep it short and sweet.

Assisted GPS is a good thing and is what makes it work quickly and efficiently enough to be useful for LBS applications. The Tao will certainly support standalone mode because the chipset it has is designed to support it. There is no reason to believe VZW will limit this capability at all, as has been the case for all newly released smartphones.

What remains to be seen is how well the assisted GPS is implemented on both the software/driver level and the OS level. The HTC proprietary Quick GPS application on the Ozone and other models is a perfect example of an excellent implementation that works like greased lightning because of the integration of the assisted GPS by the application that downloads the ephemeris data for a week at a time and feeds that data seamlessly to the hardware and gives a huge boost in performance for all GPS/LBS applications available on the phone. This solution is so far superior to Motorola's implementation on the Napoleon as well as the Q9c on Sprint it's ridiculous. The chipset on the Tao(7600) is the next generation after the Napoleon (6800) and should be much better performing on a hardware level.

We can only wait to see it in action and take a look at the NVM and the OS with root access to find out. I just wanted to clarify the false dichotomy being discussed between aGPS and GPS.

You may now return to foaming at the mouth in anticipation!