Motorola A855 Sholes/Tao/Droid Pre-Release Thread 2 (Off topic Posts=BAN No Warnings)

[ChocoTaco369]

Updated October 18, 2009 by FAUguy

Verizon's marketing of the Motorola Droid has begun.
You can view their teaser site here and follow on Twitter.
People say the cryptic countdown clock ends on Midnight October 30 (or 31)

There was also a TV Commercial that aired this weekend, which can be viewed on YouTube. It says November at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPYM-XTqcec


--------------------------------

Since the new Motorola Sholes/Tao/Droid/Whatever (I’ll refer to the phone as the S/T/D from here on out) Pre-Release thread is getting far too long – so long that it’s almost impossible for a newcomer to gather any relevant information out of it – I’ve taken others’ suggestions and tried my best to consolidate the most pertinent information into a new thread. Hopefully, if the mods find my work acceptable, they’ll close that thread and start anew here with all the new information in the first post. Since this just may be the longest thread in HoFo history…lol…here goes nothing!

First off, this phone is slated to become Verizon’s first Android phone. It will be a ‘Google Experience’ device. What does that mean? That means Verizon signed a contract with Google that they cannot screw with the phone – they can’t remove stock apps and they can’t clutter the phone up with their junk proprietary software. That means we should be getting a completely functional phone – open Bluetooth, app store, all Google applications INCLUDING GOOGLE VOICE (as the word on the street says GV will be on there), unlocked and fully functional GPS…this will all be there by contract requirement – VERIZON IS NOT GOING TO DUMB DOWN THIS PHONE. IT WILL NOT BE CRIPPLED. VERIZON DOES NOT CRIPPLE SMARTPHONES AND EVEN IF THEY DID, THEY WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO BECAUSE OF GOOGLE’S CONTRACT!!

There. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s move onto the technical specs

Form Factor:

This device will be a QWERTY slider. The dimensions are RUMORED to be as follows:

• Dimensions 115.80 x 60.00 x 13.70 mm
• Weight 169 g

Now, just what does that mean? Well, the original RAZR was 14mm in diameter. So, not only is this phone rumored to be the slimmest QWERTY slider on the market, it’s even slimmer than the original RAZR V3/V3c/V3i/Ect. 169 g translates to 5.96 oz. As a point of reference, the iPhone 3Gs is 116 x 62 x 12.3 mm and 4.76 oz (139g). This means that this Motorola QWERTY slider will be barely thicker than a keyboardless iPhone. Why the extra weight? Well, ladies and gentlemen, this phone will be made out of METAL, not cheap plastic like most other phones. It is also rumored to have a GLASS screen as that is Motorola’s calling card, and yes, ladies and gentlemen, it WILL be a CAPACITIVE screen with MULTI-TOUCH, and rumor is, it’s extremely accurate.

Now that we have the form factor covered, let’s get into the –


Operating System

Yes, ladies and gents, we already know this will be VZW’s first Android device, but exactly what version is it going to run? This has been confirmed by an extremely reliable source – in my opinion, the best source out there on HoFo from what I’ve seen – it WILL run version 2.0 Eclair. Some of you may say, “That’s impossible! Eclair isn’t ready and won’t be available until Q2 2010 from recent reports!”

Well, that’s probably true – for a wide, public release. However, this is a huge release for both Verizon, Google and Motorola. This is VZW’s first Android device, Google’s first shot at a multimedia phone (let’s face it, Android 1.x is pretty boring and the phones are pretty uninspired hardware-wise) to compete with the iPhone and the phone that may make or break Motorola’s existence as a mobile phone manufacturer. This is a HUGE release all around. What does this mean? This means that this phone WILL have Eclair 2.0 and will likely be the ONLY Android handset for the next 4-7 months running it before it is fully released to the public. There will be no Eclair available to anyone except those with this phone. That’s the most likely scenario here.


Powerplant

But what good is all this if the phone is a slouch? Slow interface? Choppy gameplay? Not another 528MHz processor, say it isn’t so! Well, this is the RUMORED engine powering this phone:

• OMAP3430 – 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 + PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + 430MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP (Image Signal Processor)

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Aww man, 600MHz? That’s only 72MHz faster than that stupid 528MHz chip killing the Android device market now! Why can’t they release something with Snapdragon? Blah blah blah Snapdragon. Snapdragon, Snapdragon, Snapdragon!”

Well, this isn’t some processor with integrated graphics. What this phone is running is a separate CPU AND GPU. Think of it like a motherboard with onboard memory vs. a processor/graphics card combination. The processor/graphics card combination almost always blows away the processor with integrated graphics unless you’re buying the worst crap on the market. There is a real possibility that this combination will outpower Snapdragon for graphical applications. It has been stated that this device will be more powerful than the PSP, and if this phone can outperform a real-world gaming device, those goofy little games that you find in the app stores should be no problem at all for the phone, let alone having enough power to power the OS. I believe that this phone will be lightning fast. I just hope the RUMORED 1390mAh battery will be enough to power this baby all day and night


Release Date

But when is this bad boy coming to market? The truth is, no one knows. It hasn’t even been announced by Verizon or Google. There are two rumored release dates: October 30th and December 1st. I personally believe December 1st is highly unlikely. Why? Because the previously aforementioned developer whose word-of-mouth is gold as far as I’m concerned told us so. I’m personally leaning toward October 30th, but only time will tell. All I know for sure is asking over and over when the release date will be will solve nothing

The October 30th release date comes from this calendar:





AndroidandMe article claiming all sorts of information about the S/T/D (I personally take it with a grain of salt as it claims a December 1st release date which I DO NOT believe due to our resident developer with a spotless record):

[ChocoTaco369]

List of Rumored Specifications

• OMAP3430 – 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 + PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + 430MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP (Image Signal Processor)
• Dimensions 60.00 x 115.80 x 13.70 mm
• Weight 169 g
• Battery Li-ion 1400 mAh.
• Standby 450 hours, talk time 420 minutes
• 3.7-inch touch-sensitive display with a resolution of 854×480 pixels, 16 million color depth. Physical screen size is 45.72 mm by 81.34 mm.
• 512MB/256MB ROM/RAM
• microSD / microSDHC expansion slot
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with autofocus and video recorder
• Connectivity: USB2.0, 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Wi-Fi
• Supported audio formats: AMR-NB/WB, MP3, PCM / WAV, AAC, AAC +, eAAC +, WMA
• Supported video formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, WMV
• GPS navigation
• Package Contents: Phone Motorola Sholes, battery, charger, USB cable, 8GB MicroSD memory card and other literature.

Again, none of these specs are confirmed. In fact, the 1400 mAh battery spec is likely wrong as we’ve been told it is actually 1390 mAh. This device has also been rumored to come with 16GB internal storage, though that is also unconfirmed. The 5.0MP autofocus camera is said to be very good.


And finally, the juiciest part:


Pictures

Original S/T/D RENDER from Russia:



This picture depicts an OLD PROTOTYPE of this phone. This is not what the phone currently looks like at all, but was one of the first (if not THE first) actual device pictures leaked:



These pictures are the first device-on pictures leaked. These pictures are NOT RUNNING ECLAIR 2.0! This is just Android 1.5/1.6. This is not what the final software will look like. It is also important to note that this is also an older prototype and is not what the phone looks like exactly as of now, though it is closer than the one posted above:









These next pictures are the S/T/D pictures taken from the Verizon/Google conference a few days ago. As of now, these pictures depict the S/T/D’s most recent hardware known – that does NOT mean this is the final hardware, it’s just more recent than what I’ve posted thus far.

The thickness (or THINNESS ) of the S/T/D pictured on the right (the device on the left is rumored to be a version of the HTC Hero coming to VZW in November or December):



S/T/D on right, Hero on left:


Closeup of the S/T/D (again, this is NOT running Eclair 2.0 but instead 1.5/1.6):


Rumored Battery Cover:



And finally, the OLD Pre-Release thread as a reference if anyone wants to dig through it and hunt for anything I've missed:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...page=152&pp=15


FINAL NOTE: The software of this phone is changing DAILY as it is updated and bugs are fixed. Even if you could get a picture of the software today, it would be different in some way tomorrow.


Alright, boys and girls, that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Besides, I’ve been doing this for an hour and I’m tired I hope you all find this ‘consolidation’ (and I put that in quotes because it’s still pretty darn long, sorry) to be satisfactory. If anyone has any other information I forgot, let me know and I’ll edit my post. You should probably PM me the info so this thread doesn’t get polluted with crap to avoid what happened to the last thread. Also, if any of my information is wrong, feel free to PM me on that, too. I’ll try to keep this information updated as time goes on.

[Tmacfan4321]

Nice write-up. Time to close the other thread!

[gardobus]

You appear to have done a great job combining most the information. Thanks!

[Esquire0399]

Awesome job. It looks like you got everything.

[skatingrocker17]

I'm happy someone finally did this. It's nice to see all the information in front of me in one place. Thanks.

[kbman]

Very nice indeed, thanks!

Well worth the effort and gives us a great opportunity to keep things under control this time around.

Special thanks need to be given to bill23 and Winston25 for their excellent insider information and feedback, as well as wnrussell for providing the pics.

Edit to avoid another post: A list of links to other technical and important pre release media would be a good addition.

[ChocoTaco369]

Very nice indeed, thanks!

Well worth the effort and gives us a great opportunity to keep things under control this time around.

KB, coming from you, that's an honor

Thanks to everyone thus far for the thank-you's, but at this time I'm going to have to ask you not to thank me. I want to keep this thread as free of unnecessary posts as possible, and your thanks, while greatly appreciated, is unnecessary for this thread. Although I'd be more than happy to entertain PM's

Edit to avoid another post: A list of links to other technical and important pre release media would be a good addition.

If you can think of anything, PM me. Everything I did here, I did off the top of my head.

Special thanks need to be given to bill23 and Winston25 for their excellent insider information and feedback, as well as wnrussell for providing the pics.

Indeed. Words do not describe how helpful they've been and how grateful we all should be

[Jodiuh]

Fantastic job and yes, I think maybe closing the other thread would give us a more relevant thread since it'll give new members a reference for their repeat questions.

I especially love the part comparing the device to a Razr V3C as we all know what that feels like. (hint: full of awesome stuff)

[ultratech]

They need to release the $#% phone already. Driving me crazy

[zettler1]

You said, "I’ll refer to the phone as the S/T/D from here on out"

I hope that it is not the end all as in our business (Public Health) that means Sexually Transmitted Disease!!!!!

In any case, an excellent job of consolidating!!!

[Esquire0399]

You said, "I’ll refer to the phone as the S/T/D from here on out"

I hope that it is not the end all as in our business (Public Health) that means Sexually Transmitted Disease!!!!!

In any case, an excellent job of consolidating!!!

Haha, obviously you missed the first thread. STD has become our own little pet name for whatever this thing ends up being called.

[dvdfan2k]

Nice write-up ChacoTaco.

Looking forward to this device, hopefully sooner than later.

[Sailorcancer]

Nice sum up!

[woshi]

the screenshots above are identical to units currently running eclair.

also, the battery is li-poly rated 1390 mAh/1420 mAh (min/typ).


EDIT: forgot to mention, onboard internal storage is 200 mb; 16gb storage is onboard microSDHC

[RonDutt]

200mb? Seems silly to have a non-8 multiple storage type (not to mention not really possible). 256MB sure (TINY compared to other Android devices though). 16GB onboard microSDHC is also silly, seeing as how Android apps can only be installed to onboard memory, not microSDHC. The early reports/leaks spoke of up to 32GB of storage, if this holds true, that would mean two microSDHC slots (or an internal non-useraccessible slot and a external one). My guess is, 512MB onboard primary storage, 16GB secondary onboard storage (slower storage than the 512MB ROM as it would be cheaper), and a microSDHC slot for user expansion. Eclair does NOT look like that, there has been some overhaul in the UI department, not major (at least not from what I saw) but the screenshots are running 1.6, not 2.0.

[Jodiuh]

After using a touch for nearly 3 weeks, I simply cannot understand why these devices have anything less than 2GB for app space. Some touch games are over 100MB. These kinds of games aren't going to happen for Android unless we get some beefy app storage.

[viper1549]

very nice job on the new thread, now lets see if we can get 1,000 hits b4 release.. lol jk

[happyburger]

While I agree that more memory is always better, wouldn't the Droid have enough internal memory for awesome games and apps, at least as good as what we see on the PSP or DS-lite, with 200 MB available? If not, why would a phone require so much more than for those game devices?

The Droid screen has three times the pixels a PSP has and four times as many as a DS-lite. But I read that a PSP has only 36 MB of main memory and to pull in additional data has to pull from a physical disk during a game, right? A DS-lite (not DSi) has even less. And some of those games are amazing. If the Droid has 200 MB available and can pull from the SDHC as needed , shouldn't that be plenty for great games and other apps?

On another subject, I'm wondering how open the device will really be. I know Android is open, but if someone not working for Motorola wants to develop an application for the phone, will it be possible to find out hardware information like how to access the GPS and camera data?

[sbcale]

Great job ChacoTaco!! Very impressive, thank you!

[Jodiuh]

That's just it, currently Android apps do not pull from the SD card IIRC. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIK it involves rooting the OS and that might take awhile on this new chip setup. The best solution IMO would be to require a 2GB minimum app space on all Android 2.0 devices.

[xbernaut]

200mb? Seems silly to have a non-8 multiple storage type (not to mention not really possible). 256MB sure (TINY compared to other Android devices though). 16GB onboard microSDHC is also silly, seeing as how Android apps can only be installed to onboard memory, not microSDHC. The early reports/leaks spoke of up to 32GB of storage, if this holds true, that would mean two microSDHC slots (or an internal non-useraccessible slot and a external one). My guess is, 512MB onboard primary storage, 16GB secondary onboard storage (slower storage than the 512MB ROM as it would be cheaper), and a microSDHC slot for user expansion. Eclair does NOT look like that, there has been some overhaul in the UI department, not major (at least not from what I saw) but the screenshots are running 1.6, not 2.0.

i will say your wrong about the screens shots being 1.6. this is coming from the guy who wishes he could post proof but would get fired.i cant tell you why you see what you do but i promise you it is 2.0.
maybe i can get a person who doesnt care about getting in trouble post a screen shot of the running s/w in the phone settings menu."maybe"

[sbcale]

i will say your wrong about the screens shots being 1.6. this is coming from the guy who wishes he could post proof but would get fired.i cant tell you why you see what you do but i promise you it is 2.0.
maybe i can get a person who doesnt care about getting in trouble post a screen shot of the running s/w in the phone settings menu."maybe"

Thanks for all the great info bill! Does that mean 2.0 is not much different GUI wise than 1.6? People seem to believe/hope that 2.0 will bring some graphical enhancements.

[jtc082488]

Bill, can you confirm woshi's comments about the 200mb?

[kbman]

I think that is one of the unanswerables...as he said, if he could he would but he can't, so he won't.

[EyeZer0]

Well this is google we're talking about. The best we are going to hope for is themes and the most wishful I am is dynamic themes(like they have with iGoogle). In any case their design asethetic is Spartan at the least but fast and efficient.

In response to the guy saying that 256 or 200 MB is enough for this phone, you got to remember the PSP and DS play games and only games one at a time. The DS was designed to insert carts and the PSP was designed to play UMD disks. Even with the PSP GO and the introduction of downloadable games they are allowed to pull games and run games off of Memory Stick Pro's which can easily be in the Gigabyte ranges. The PSP and DS are both single taskers. The most multitasking I can think of is the PSP's new pause game feature. This is also the reason the Iphone does pretty well with games is because it only runs one application at a time and the only multitasking it does is music and interruption for phone service.

[ChocoTaco369]

the screenshots above are identical to units currently running eclair.

also, the battery is li-poly rated 1390 mAh/1420 mAh (min/typ).


EDIT: forgot to mention, onboard internal storage is 200 mb; 16gb storage is onboard microSDHC

By that, do you mean that the devices in those pictures in my post ARE running Eclair, or the hardware is exactly the same as the ones currently running Eclair but the ones the CEO's are holding is just 1.6? I'm under the impression that that is 1.6 they are running and Eclair will look different than Google 1.x.

200mb? Seems silly to have a non-8 multiple storage type (not to mention not really possible). 256MB sure (TINY compared to other Android devices though). 16GB onboard microSDHC is also silly, seeing as how Android apps can only be installed to onboard memory, not microSDHC. The early reports/leaks spoke of up to 32GB of storage, if this holds true, that would mean two microSDHC slots (or an internal non-useraccessible slot and a external one). My guess is, 512MB onboard primary storage, 16GB secondary onboard storage (slower storage than the 512MB ROM as it would be cheaper), and a microSDHC slot for user expansion. Eclair does NOT look like that, there has been some overhaul in the UI department, not major (at least not from what I saw) but the screenshots are running 1.6, not 2.0.

I tend to agree with you. Are you saying this with factual information? I'm asking woshi because I know he has inside info all the time.

i will say your wrong about the screens shots being 1.6. this is coming from the guy who wishes he could post proof but would get fired.i cant tell you why you see what you do but i promise you it is 2.0.
maybe i can get a person who doesnt care about getting in trouble post a screen shot of the running s/w in the phone settings menu."maybe"

Haha, so that IS Eclair 2.0 that the CEO's are holding?? Because if it is, it looks the same as 1.6 I just think Android 1.x is a very boring-looking UI...

[DrSanjayJha]

It is 2.0, I ALSO work for Moto. I've been lurking here for some time now.

[ChocoTaco369]

Yes, I'm sure the co-CEO of Motorola is spending his time lurking in a HoFo thread regarding a mobile device his company makes. Surely he needs the inside info as he's in the dark

Here's the hoping the device the CEO is holding in his hands is running 1.6 If not, I'm gonna have to pray someone roots this baby ASAP to clean up that UI.

[gags1892]

I still don't understand how NO verizon employees are aware of this? They looked at me like I had 4 heads yesterday when I mentioned the terms "Android" and "You guys" (Verizon) in the same sentence.