Here's the new Android flagship, poised to compete with the iPhone.

techcrunch

The specs are still a rumour but the ads are here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPYM-XTqcec

Apparently it's going to be a Verizon exclusive in the US and should launch in November.

Have at it

Some amount of specs have been rumored/known for a while. Here's PDAdB's entry.

four row keyboard that has a dedicated number row!!

and a dpad!!

and, I think I heard, TI OMAP 3430 CPU (a bit of a step up from the CPUs in other Android phones).

Could be interesting/promising.

Well, I think I've decided. It'll either be this phone (droid) or the sony Xperia X3/X10 for me!

I was on the fence and considering an N900 for many months, but when I actually sat down and considered my usage habits and wants, a well-spec'd android handset is a better fit for me.

Google has been on a rampage with their mobile OS development and with no signs of slowing down! I really appreciate the good mixture of open/closed software, and I'd feel confident in its direction. Plus, google has shown great innovation, which is exciting, as I'm sure it'll mean big things moving forward into the future.

Sure I wouldn't have command line access out of the box, but an SSH client is enough for me. Besides, my days of tinkering are quickly coming to a close. I prefer the balance of the android environment to the mostly-open/mostly-close mantras.

Of course I'll do a thorough hands-on!

}:^)~

"We at Google thank you very much for your free choise!

Having worked at Doubleclick (Google's ad serving engine) I understand better than most the dis-intermediation that Google feeds off of. Google views it's users as grist for its mill. Free in Google speak equates to a customer who has a lifetime value of between $1,600,000 to $8,000,000 - that is what you are worth to Google. In no way will Google allow anyone to poach that golden egg.

Just as the "last mile" was always the challenge in the communication world. The disconnected user was Google's Achilles' heel - in the late 90's they realized that the mobile web would harm the golden egg - thus their benevolence bestowed on the peasants... Android, all in the name of gathering and profiling the user in increasingly intrusive ways.

But the apps are FREE! They help me with my life, now they are with me ALL the time, how can this be bad? Is your Android phone giving you $100,000 worth of value per year? It is to Google.

Google have even changed Andriods strategy based on the dumbing down of the smartphone - the iPhone. The single tasking feature phone introduced by Apple was a game changer. BUT NOT IN A POSITIVE FASHION. One of the least sophisticated mobile countries in the world - the United States of America - who's vast population is so technically backwards and incapable of managing a modern smartphone was ripe for a consumer device that was sufficiently simple to use. Using the super model axiom Apple developed a product that was beautiful, yet not intellectually challenging - and just like a super model it can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

All of Apples devices have only one purpose - defeat the evil Microsoft empire and sell more Mac's. Hence the absolute need to introduce iTunes into your ilife to use the iPhone. Much is written about the iPhone wonderful eco-system. The pundits forget that true smart phones don't need an eco system, they survive and thrive stand alone, connected to the rest of the world via wifi, G3, G4, GX... they provide the user with a converged experience without an umbilical cord.

The iPhone showed Google two things: 1) It had lost control of this entire segment of the population to the "notion of less". Less sophistication, less usability, less freedom (ironic for the company who's iconic moment was the "1984" commercial). 2) Americans are stupid enough to actually pay for applications that should be standard kit on an advanced smartphone. (As an aside I realize that over the entire span of my use of Nokia smartphones I have only bought 3 apps - Wayfinder for my 9300, Profimail for my E71 {pre Nokia Messaging} and Gravity on the N97. Every thing else has been provided by Nokia at no cost as part of my handset purchase.)

So Google has moved to less free apps, simplier UI, more intrusion into the "open source" code based in it's lessons from Apple. The loss of huge swathes of America to the iPhone and the inability to get traction has turned google into a peditor on the ODM scene. Motorola, Dell, HTC, etc... who no longer have the deep pockets of Apple, Nokia, Microsoft to develop and refine mobile OS's are selling their hardware souls to Google in an attempt to stay relavent as handset makers. All these ODM's will learn, as did IBM, Compaq, HP that people use software not hardware and by turning over the reigns of the user experience to Google they will become increasingly irrelevent.

The mobile as a concept was about freedom and the old cliche is that freedom is not free. Of all the mobile platforms Googles is the worst since they lie about the price that you pay for it's use. Apple at least is open about its blatant consumerist bias and control freak nature. Nokia has shown itself to be the most benevolent - Symbian to open source, Maemo, Betalabs all in the name of a better handset experience."

//Google employee

c0rt3x

Blimey, you have just opened my eyes to something that I thought was just a function of keeping control of the customer value chain through vertical integration.

Mike C

@c0rt3x...nice post. More and more, I'm glad I'm getting away from the Android OS. And hardware...I still don't see any Android hardware coming that makes me think twice.

The Droid is really disappointing, not that I'd EVER go to Veri$on for any reason anyway. No killer CPU, only about 250MB unused onboard storage - the same problems that have plagued Android phones from the start. At least they put some RAM in the thing.

And why did they make it so butt-ugly? Top half doesn't fit the bottom half - what's up with that? The Droid makes my kinda goofy G1 look graceful.

But that's just me I guess. Hope a Droid serves you well, Capt'n.

I like how Sholes originally was rumored to have 32gb built in, then 16gb and now as Droid, it just has a class 2 16gb card in the micro sd slot and no built in memory.

Still, it is waaaay better than my G1, just wish the control pad was on the left (weird location as it is).

The complete chipset is real close to the N900's, so for an Android device, I would take ugly for the extra power and screen

N900 to me is a better device for many reasons, but there are many pi$$ed off Tmo fans in the US. They got the Cliq over this?

So much for first adopters of the OS (Tmo). All the risk with little reward

Thanks Crashdamage...

I'm still an open source advocate and an avid supporter of maemo. Sadly that currently only means contributions of ideas, though I plan to contribute to oss in the future (though perhaps not maemo specifically).

A phone is just a hunk of metal and plastic, and the software, a string of 1's and 0's. It is only the connections that we make that really matter in the end. I really love you guys and I am glad to be a part of this community regardless of my choice in handset.

{:^)~

the droid hardware looks like some kind of prototype to me. If the cliq would get android 2 it would probably be the better seller in the us at least despite its inferior hardware to the droid.