Motorola A955 Droid 2 teased, definitely different from the Xtreme

Telling the blurry spy shots apart and keeping the codenames straight as we lead up to this Android duo from Motorola for Verizon next month has been next to impossible, but we think we're getting the hang of it here. What you're looking at above is apparently the A955 Droid 2, a phone whose keyboard we saw a little while back. That's opposed to the Xtreme -- which may or may not also be known as the Shadow -- that's been leaked a handful of times in the past couple weeks and clearly looks different than the A955 from the front. If anything, the Droid 2 looks like a streamlined, possibly chromed version of the original Droid, which would make a lot of sense seeing how it's being called... well, the Droid 2. Verizon, would you please step in here, make some announcements, and clear up all this confusion?

[JXCGunrunna Posted Jun 9th 2010 7:50AM]

@MrHashbrown

Actually, HTC had 480 x 800 in a few of their winmo phones

[jhunter9918 Posted Jun 8th 2010 10:24PM]

Pre-orders for the iPhone 4 are a week away and the Evo 4G is already sold out. Dont you think it is a good time Verizon to lure people looking for a new phone/provider with some solid info of what to expect instead of letting blurry camera shots a gym employees give us a glimpse of the future?

By the time you give us some concrete info, many people will be locked into two year contracts. By chance if you have some serious hardware to tout, everyone will say they wish they new earlier.

So

A) Tell us about your android phone line up including the Droid 2 / Shadow / Xtreme / Pro etc and especially the HTC Scorpion - i want a few specs and approx release dates

B) Fire the monkeys running your marketing dept, especially the ones who come up with the phone naming scheme - I mean really, you went from the Droid Shadow and changed it to the Droid Xtreme - what is this - 1998?

[Shooter McGavin Posted Jun 9th 2010 7:14AM]

@jhunter9918

Well, they still have until the 24th before the iPhone 4 is available, so they could reveal the Xtreme and/or Droid 2 the day before.

[LANjackal Posted Jun 8th 2010 10:24PM]

I got the DROID the first day it dropped. I've yet to see anything hit the market with anywhere near the same featureset (QWERTY + high res screen + stock Android 2.1+). If the DROID 2 builds on that with a faster CPU that's at least on par with the Incredible, I'll be upgrading for sure.

Not so hot about the chrome finish though ...

[einhanderkiller Posted Jun 8th 2010 10:25PM]

@paulodourado
The Nokia N8 has a larger sensor than most phone cameras, so its 12MP pictures come out pretty amazing.

[daniel142005 Posted Jun 8th 2010 10:25PM]

@yankdez I'm all for an Android based iPhone, but I doubt it.

[swevrywhere Posted Jun 8th 2010 10:32PM]

Can't tell, does the Xtreme/Shadow look like it has a keyboard?

[rodys7 Posted Jun 8th 2010 10:33PM]

NO MATTER WHAT ANYONES SAIDS,,, I LOVE MY DROID!.... i read and laugh at all the thrashing going on.... :)

[LargeFormat Posted Jun 8th 2010 10:50PM]

@daniel142005 Oh god. No need to downgrade the OS when you get the best out there right out of the box. That's kind of like buying a Mac to exclusively run Windows, makes no sense.

[Octotron Posted Jun 8th 2010 11:00PM]

@LargeFormat In now way would you be "downgrading the OS" by running Android. Put away the fanboi juice and come back to reality.

[VZW611 Posted Jun 8th 2010 11:07PM]

@yankdez

That is the one with the 1.5GhZ Processor. It also does HD Video and has a front facing Camera of 2-3 Megapixel I heard.

[spdivr1122 Posted Jun 8th 2010 11:19PM]

i cant wait til there are videos of this in use. too bad i cant upgrade to it :(

[kwhart11 Posted Jun 8th 2010 11:26PM]

I'm gonna rock this bad boy on the first day.

My guess
No chin
3.7" (which is perfectly fine for me)
better qwerty
1ghz snapdragon
8 gb storage
Froyo
AWESOME COMMERCIALS!!!!!!

[iDeNoh Posted Jun 8th 2010 11:43PM]

@kwhart11 they won't use snapdragon, motorola uses arm cpu's as of late, maybe some dual core arm9 axxion?

[kwhart11 Posted Jun 8th 2010 11:46PM]

@iDeNoh

Oh my bad but it will probably try to be around the same speed as the snapdragon

[JXCGunrunna Posted Jun 9th 2010 1:17AM]

@kwhart11

A few things here guys.

1. It has a chin

2. ARM designs the cores in these phones for everything from the iPhone (1-4), All HTC phones from the Touch and G1 to the EVO Nexus Desire and Incredible, Samsung phones like the Galaxy S and Motos phones like the Droid and Xtreme.

3. Moto's high end phones like the Droid, Motoroli, Xtreme and Droid 2 have all been and probably will all be using T.I.'s OMAP System on a Chip (SoC). Their lower end ones(Backflip, Cliq, XT) have been using Qualcomm's SoC.

4. HTC has been using Qualcomm for just about everything from their low end smartphones to their Desire/Incredible/Evo/Nexus one high end phones.
Everything mentioned above uses ARM CPUs with the stuff around it(GPU, IPS other small parts) being made by T.I., Qualcomm, or Samsung(like the Galaxy S and iPhone 4).

5. Arm 9 CPUs are old. The ARM Cortex A9 would be what you are referring to and as much as we would all love to see that(other than the iphone fanboys since the A4 chip doesnt stand a chance), we wont see a SoC with one of those until later in the year. Qualcomm is making one with the snapdragon name on it and T.I. is putting it into their OMAP 4 systems. The A9 is dual core up to 1.5 ghz which as we have seen with the current Snapdragon SoC's, Qualcomm will push them that fast whereas T.I. will probably leave them at 1ghz and get similar performance because the whole OMAP4 chip will have a more powerful GPU. Kinda like how the Droid is faster than the EVO per clock.

I realize this is a lot of info but as this stuff becomes more common in the market place, it always helps to know your stuff.

[Shooter McGavin Posted Jun 9th 2010 7:20AM]

@JXCGunrunna

The Droid is the fastest phone currently available when overclocked to 1 GHz +.

[JXCGunrunna Posted Jun 9th 2010 7:54AM]

@Shooter McGavin

I know. I love mine. http://picasaweb.google.com/MFUntch2/MotoDroid#5480633964195182082

[agar65 Posted Jun 9th 2010 12:05AM]

Incredible>EVO>iPhone4

[edub186 Posted Jun 9th 2010 12:22AM]

I'm with Sprint and have the HTC EVO 4G and love it. It's nice to see another device that can be equal to or greater then it. This phone looks very polished and sleek. I hope Motorola has success with this one because they were my first company I brought an smartphone from ( Moto Q!!! ). Nice work big M!!!

[ebgolfin Posted Jun 9th 2010 12:34AM]

@paulodourado

Haha yes. 12MP must be better than 8MP, which has to be better than 5MP. I can't believe there are tools out there that believe this.

By that reasoning, smart phones at the end of the year will have better cameras than my Canon 30D. What a joke.

[Elwood731 Posted Jun 9th 2010 12:43AM]

Verizon has just about convinced me to quit AT&T and my iPhone for something like this. Well, mostly because of AT&T. I actually really like the iPhone.

http://www.professorhobo.com/2010/01/29/pb-and-j

[AbsoluteDesignz Posted Jun 9th 2010 12:53AM]

Bring on the android army. I wish Google would market Android the OS so the common man knows about it as opposed to thinking every android is a Droid. Lol.

[Makali Posted Jun 9th 2010 1:15AM]

So iPhone 4 is now junk status lol

[LloydChiro Posted Jun 9th 2010 1:43AM]

Cataract vision display. All of the pixels blend together.

[Good Times Posted Jun 9th 2010 2:13AM]

What no gyroscope? I'll pass lol. Zing!!!

[pika2000 Posted Jun 9th 2010 2:25AM]

2.2?

[vickypollard Posted Jun 9th 2010 3:28AM]

Dark buttons at the bottom.. Customized Android or perhaps Gingerbread?

[caccaciccare Posted Jun 9th 2010 3:57AM]

No more Motorola for me

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 9th 2010 4:13AM]

Verizon official comment:

"nope"

[sroach23 Posted Jun 9th 2010 7:46AM]

@daniel142005 why would you want downgraded hardware for froyo?

[aratto Posted Jun 9th 2010 8:56AM]

Hey leakers,

Two things. One, if you're going to leak a picture of a phone, don't smear vaseline on the lens before you take the picture. That doesn't make for good pictures! Two, take more than one picture. You've got the phone in your possession. I'm sure you can figure out a way to take more than one picture and make one of them not look like you're taking a picture of a yeti through thick brush.

Thanks!

[tricheboars Posted Jun 9th 2010 1:43PM]

@aratto

but without the Vaseline how else are they going to get the camera in and out of their asses?

[derrickONLINE Posted Jun 9th 2010 10:28AM]

I really hope the Droid 2 has more than just a modified keyboard. I need a larger screen, and better camera for starters. I need a reason to upgrade to the new Droid, otherwise the Shadow is looking like a nice upgrade from my current Droid. I just can't get with the on screen only keyboard.

[zole2112 Posted Jun 9th 2010 11:14AM]

@yankdez Are you insinuating the Motorola copied the iPhone? Bahahahhahahaha

[FORDY Posted Jun 9th 2010 12:45PM]

@yankdez You know what?

It's not.

Go get an eye test, fool.

[big nazty Posted Jun 9th 2010 2:34PM]

just cause the iphone doesnt have a keyboard or a dpad doesnt mean you dont need one..... you obviously dont know what its for so please be quiet.

[Johnny Rockets Posted Jun 9th 2010 8:04PM]

Is that... no Motoblur?

Wooooooooooooooo!!!

[fiduce Posted Jun 9th 2010 8:24PM]

I like the way Motorola has managed to bring out a slider that is 13mm thick (like the EVO). The Droid's design was good. If they want to improve it, they could start by looking at the quality of the touch-screen input (the resolution is already ok) and at a longer lasting battery. Use Froyo to improve the speed. You don't have to improve the basic processing power (give it a better autonomy ... with an OC capability for those who need it). No front facing camera (we're talking about a kind-of pro phone) ... The keyboard layout could be better ... and the thinest/non-sliding part of the Droid could be (as thick as the rest) at the top edge (use its thickness to embed a better camera). And an FM radio ...

[fiduce Posted Jun 9th 2010 8:58PM]

By "better keyboard layout" I mean : since your keyboard has aligned keys (unlike most laptop keyboards), why do you put the numbers in the first line ? (give them a numpad configuration).
Also give me the two missing keys ! (bottom line)