Motorola Droid 2 To Be Replaced With Droid 2 World Edition?

Rumors are doing the rounds that Verizon is mulling over a proposal to discontinue its sale of the new Motorola Droid 2 that was released just last month and instead replace it with the upcoming Droid 2 World Edition in its stores. Logistically, it is a sane move considering the cost involved in managing additional models. But it is also likely that Verizon continues to sell the older Droid 2 lest it will rub the early adopters the wrong way.

Details about the upcoming Motorola Droid 2 World edition have not been comprehensive though we do know that this is a world-ready phone with both CDMA and GSM capabilities. In addition to the blue/black units, the handset is also likely to be sold in white. Rumors also point out that Droid 2 World Edition is the same as Droid Pro which is another handset that has made some noise in the past.

Despite all this, do note that this is all in the rumor mills and may turn out to be a false alarm.

Motorola Droid Tablet Launch Only Next Year

Earlier this month, there were rumors that the new Motorola Droid Android tablet computer – codenamed StingRay – could be launching as early as October of this year. The speculations came about following leaked screenshots from a Verizon inventory system that contained references to the new Droid tablet. However, it now looks like that rumor was false. In a recent chat, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha has indicated that a Droid tablet may not make it at least until next year till the company was done perfecting all the features. Jha said,

“I will only develop a tablet if it is sufficiently compelling. Hopefully, that is early next year.”

What Jha could be referring to is the fact that the current version of Android OS does not seem to be customized for tablets. Google director of mobile products, Hugo Barra had exclaimed this recently and it is possible that Motorola is waiting for Android 3.0 aka Gingerbread to release before making the new Droid Tablet available in the hands of the public.

Is Android 2.2 For Motorola Droid X Finally Releasing?

It has taken a long time coming. But Android 2.2 aka FroYo for Motorola Droid X may finally be coming soon. Several Droid X users appear to have received a text message pointing them to a page on the official DroidDoes.com website that reads,

“Great news! Verizon Wireless has released the new Android™ 2.2 software update for DROID X by Motorola. The new Android 2.2 software update – also known as “Froyo” – includes many new features for your phone and tons of shortcuts.”

Funnily, this is despite Android 2.2 not being released to any Droid X owner as of now. Considering that Verizon has not pulled this page back so far and that this page was actually created four days back is an indication that the Android 2.2 update for Droid X is not too far away.

T-Mobile Motorola Charm Price Slashed – New Discounted Pricing Launched

If you haven’t got a Motorola Charm already, here is your chance to do so. T-Mobile has just announced a discounted pricing for the Android smartphone that brings the inexpensive $75 phone down to an even attractive price of $49.99. This comes with a two year contract with T-Mobile as expected and is already at the new price on stores in the US.

Motorola Charm is pretty much a value-for-money handset and comes with a 2.8-inches TFT touchscreen display along with a 3-megapixel camera, 2GB microSD card and Bluetooth & GPS connectivity.

Motorola Charm launched late last month after a month of delay due to battery issues. While we do not have any official numbers on how the device has fared so far in the market, you can assume that T-Mobile may not have sold as many units as they would have liked and consequently you see this drop in prices less than a month after launch.

Rumors Of Motorola Droid Tablet October Launch Surface Again

Now that the rumor mills have successfully taken us through to the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, it is now time for the next tablet rumors to begin. Motorola Droid tablet, that has often been known with the codename Stingray or by the model number MZ600 is once again making news. This time, random photos of Verizon back-end systems stocking up inventory information about this new device are doing the rounds.

Of course, this does not exactly reveal anything that we do not know already. Nevertheless, given that back-end systems are getting ready for the tablet, speculations about the Motorola Droid tablet to launch next month are getting stronger. As you may have already heard, the new Motorola Droid Tablet is rumored to come with a 10-inch display, a NVIDIA Tegra-2 chip and MIGHT run on Google’s upcoming Gingerbread Android 3.0 operating system.

Creating Full Nandroid Backup For Motorola Droid X

If you have a rooted Motorola Droid X, you are most likely to be interested in installing custom ROMs, themes, etc. However, since the procedure itself is quite fickle, it is a good idea to take a backup of Nandroid before you proceed. A Nandroid backup is primarily a giant snapshot of your Android phone that needs to be created on your SD card every time you switch ROMs or change themes.

Of course, before you proceed, you will need to root your Droid X. It goes without saying that rooting your handset is pretty risky and you can void your warranty or brick your phone or both. So proceed at your own peril.

Once you have rooted your phone, you need to perform a bootstrap recovery. We have already seen the bootstrap recovery process for Motorola Droid 2 and the procedure for Droid X is no different.

Basically, you download the bootstrap recovery software from hacker Koushik Datta to your rooted Droid X and once done, launch the application. You will be asked to initiate bootstrap recovery that you can choose by tapping “Bootstrap Recovery“. The process will begin.

Once this is complete, you will see a “Success” message. Tap on ‘OK‘ and follow it up with “Reboot Recovery“. The Droid 2 will reboot in the Clockwork mode. Using the Volume buttons, navigate to the “Backup and restore” option and hit the Camera button to select the option. If you are asked to select “Reboot” do so with the camera button. The process completes with a “Reboot System now” message. Tapping the camera button completes the process.

[via Droid Life]

Custom ROM For Motorola Droid 2 Now Available For Download

If you have a rooted Motorola Droid 2, now is the time to go ahead and install custom ROMs. Matt4542, the developer who was responsible for the EPIC ROM for the original Motorola Droid has released an updated custom ROM for the new Motorola Droid 2. The stock Blur theme still exists; however, the script includes a lot of new scripts and is deodexed (allows theme customizations,etc.) and optimized.

For those who are yet to root their Droid 2, you can check out our earlier article on how to root your D2. Also, don’t forget to check out the new bootstrap recovery method. BUT, please do remember that rooting your handset is extremely risky and you stand to lose your warranty besides bricking your phone. So, please proceed at your own discretion.

Don’t forget to write down your experience though.

Motorola Milestone 2 Features Revealed

Motorola will soon be unveiling its new Milestone 2. They even had a demo video ready but before you realized it, the video was pulled. But some good folks have managed to get hold of the stocks and have republished the video. So from the demo, here is what we know.

Firstly, this is a MOTOBLUR device. That could in itself come as a deal breaker to many. Nevertheless, let’s move on – there is a 1GHz processor and a 40GB storage space. There is a camera with dual-LED flash but there is no mention about the sensor resolution. Also, you have HD video recording, 3G mobile hotspot, Flash 10.1 support and a Droid 2 keyboard. Multitasking is possible too and you may run up to 7 apps simultaneously.

This is definitely not enough information to make a decision. But you do get the idea, right? Check out the video for more.

Samsung Fascinate Vs. Motorola Droid 2 – Features Comparison

Rumors are doing the rounds that Samsung Fascinate (from the Galaxy S series) could be launching on Verizon by next week – September 8 to be precise. So, if you are a Verizon customer looking for a nice Android phone, which one should you go for – Droid 2 or Fascinate? After all, these are two hot Android devices in recent times. Here’s a features comparison

Display

Droid 2 features a 3.7″ display with 854×480 pixels. On the other hand, Fascinate carries a 4″ display with 800×480 pixels. Speaking in terms of ppi (pixels-per-inch), Droid 2 is just marginally better than Fascinate.

Winner: Droid 2

Hardware

Both devices come with a 1GHz processor. However, while the Droid 2 carries a 8GB ROM with a 512MB RAM, Samsung Fascinate only comes with a 512MB ROM and 336MB RAM. Not too bad, yet on a relative scale, Droid 2 scores. Besides this, there is not much to pick between the two.  Both devices carry a 5-megapixel camera with flash (Dual-LED on Droid 2) and support for up to 32GB storage. Of course, Fascinate comes with an additional 2GB storage memory, but that I think is not too significant for Fascinate to out-score Droid 2. So, considering the memory specs alone, Droid 2 is slightly ahead.

Winner : Droid 2

Software

Again, nothing much to pick between the two. Droid 2 does have Flash pre-installed, but Fascinate is expected to get the feature by the end of the year – around the same time when it is expected to get an OS upgrade to Android 2.2 (Droid 2 already runs Android 2.2). Other functionalities include video capture (HD on Fascinate, DVD-quality on Droid 2), maps, natively installed applications and 3G hotspot capability. Neither device carries a HDMI Tv output.

Winner : None

Here’s a quick summary of all features. Overall, I would pick Motorola Droid 2 over Fascinate. How about you?

This is a guest post by Vineet Singh, a Mechanical engineering student at Mumbai University

Motorola Droid 2 Root Tutorial Now Available

So just two weeks after it was released in the market, the new Motorola Droid 2 Android phone has been rooted. And the credit, not too surprisingly, goes out to the folks at XDA Developers. The root basically involves installing the ADB files and Motorola drivers for Windows and then using the command prompt to hit out several commands that will eventually root the system. Of course, you can find the entire tutorial at XDA’s here.

Now, if you are newbie and are very determined to root, we would advise you to wait. According to the developers, the rooting procedure used for Droid 2 is not too different from the procedure used for Droid X. This means, a one-click easy rooting app for Droid 2 should become available pretty soon.

Either way, rooting your phone can be extremely risky and you may even end up bricking your phone. So proceed at your own peril!