It's rather astounding to believe we've come this far without Verizon or Motorola so much as recognizing the
Droid 2's existence, but with leaks like this on a weekly basis who needs traditional marketing? Astute reader Greg from North Carolina tells us his local Best Buy has those
leaked dummy units out on shelves, and lo and behold, there's a set of price tags right next to them.
As originally rumored, the phone will launch at $199 with carrier subsidy and $599 should you choose to cart it home without a plan in tow. Still no solid confirmation of that
August 12 release date, but at this rate we expect the handset may sell out before Verizon's PR team breathes a word. Spot the full image after the break.
Update: On a related note, the original Droid is now "out of stock" on Verizon's website.
Update 2: Oh what the hell, dropped in an official "coming soon" Droid 2 advertising supplement making its way into newspapers.
[Thanks, Greg and Jeremy C.]
posted August 8th 2010 9:45PM
Need more GSM Androids...
@Almo
$199? What a surprise! It's funny how us nerds get excited about stuff like this. hwell, maybe I'm just speaking for myself.
@Almo
+1 to more GSM Android phones......
BTW: $599? damn..
@Almo Good bye stock Android phones. Hello slowly updated, obtrusive skins. Hopefully gingerbread will rid us of these skins.
@benthe1
No, I agree, I have the Droid X and don't plan on changing to this phone, but it's always nice to see the android community growing! Or maybe its because I work at Best Buy and see this as a profit.. hmm lol.
wtf is up with the nija blur again! How about some stock 2.2?
@bob1000 Amen, brother. Amen.
@Almo
Verizon has recognized the Droid 2's existence with newspaper ads. I saw one this morning.
@Wjackson25
In the next couple of months, a lot of people won't even know what stock Android is, it will almost be something of myth and legend with more and more people coming to Android, with people like you and me trying to show people the truth. Stock Android is god, never forget that people, all shall know the truth!!
All these variations of Android are FALSE!! Don't believe the lie! Long live Stock Android!!
@DgDeBx
Yeah, but it was listed as "coming soon," not "coming Aug 12"
@Almo Even though the camera has been downgraded from X's 8MP to 5MP on the Droid 2, I hope they upped the quality and sensor size. Otherwise it wouldnt make any sense.
@statickeith
599 is rather steep
@spartandre217
yeah thats more than the incredible and I think more than the X
@wack
But the thing is, there's better hardware available for cheaper.
I hate CDMA anyway, so it's not an option for me :-)
@benthe1
I just don't understand why you're excited about the Droid remake. $199? Really? I could get the "same" phone with lesser specs for under half that.
Hey, Verizon! Where is Sammy Fascinate? Show me Fascinate not another Droid!
@Plazmic Flame Yeah.. $599 without a contract.. but who REALLY buys phones out right these days? I mean, don't get me wrong... $599 seems high, but not too many people are buying these superphones these days without either switching carriers to get the subsidized pricing, or they're eligible for upgrades to renew their contracts and get the subsidized pricing.
I see your point, but it not any more unreasonable than the pricing of other phones "outright" pricing.
@Wjackson25
Agreed. I'd be much more interested in this if it was stock Android
@Almo
Dear Moto:
Please provide users with a preloaded bootloader that will allow us to install Stock Android 2.2 OR your crappy Blur UI.
I don't care if you put it on there, just give us the option to NOT have it as well. *since you wont let us root them either*
@Plazmic Flame
Just imagine getting in a fight with someone who owns a HTC Hero while you argue that your phone (say the Nexus One) has stock Android firmware.
@killstr3ak The $599 price "might" make sense if Verizon were to offer discounted plans for people that bought their phones outright. We all know that the majority of people upgrade or switch carriers for the subsidy, as you said. So the monthly rate includes that phone subsidy and then some. All carriers should have two tiers of plans, like T-mobile... one for people who want the phone subsidy but are ok with paying more per month... and those that want to buy the phone outright and pay less per month and save money. Frankly, you'd have to be an idiot to buy any phone outright with Verizon, Sprint, or ATT.
@killstr3ak
I do actually, always by my phones unlocked.
Personally I'd prefer if they gave individuals discounted plans for doing so as well especially when they're out of contract. As it stands now, only T-mobile does that which is rather unfortunate.
For example, if I wanted an Iphone now, I wouldn't be able to buy it outright without signing a new contract and changing my plan. Mind you, I already have unlimited data and texts etc and have no intention of giving that up. Especially when I get it all for $50 a month. I don't see why I should be mandated to change that.
Thats another issue that I have with carriers here (in addition to the CDMA, differing 3G bands and lack of unlocked devices)
@Almo No GSM, no CDMA, cellular providers of the world, start the global LTE rollout!
@DBG
Verizon's still likely to be a bunch of dicks and lock their phones down
I saw the ad in the newpaper today.. they mocked up the UI to look horrible on the droid 2 screen rather then use a real screenshot of android.
@Almo Cany anybody confirm that MotoBlur is 100% disableable in the 2 or the X? I love my Droid but will not touch anything with MotoBlur or SenseUI.
@Almo
I think they will release this and the X in GSM version.
For all of you complaining about Blur and claiming to "must have" stock Android, have you guys even used it? Seriously, don't whine and complain when you probably haven't even given it the time of day. I just got my Droid X and it's not that much different from stock in a usability way. If you don't like it, disable the Widgets. There. Done. Get over it.
It's times like this that I'm glad companies don't listen to users.
@kwonyu80
Agreed! I've been asking Verizon reps when they expect to have this in the store for a run through and they just look at me and ask what phone is that.
Too bad it has Blur.
@Cheetoh
Is it blur, or the "modified" blur that we see on the Droid X?
@Cheetohthe good thing about android is that you can customize it anyway you like with root. Change ui, theme, and straight down to the icons so it really doesn't matter which phone you choose or which UI it has.
@Cheetoh
Ninajblur
@cdf74dc9 Right, but doesn't the eFuse screw all of that up, bricking it if you root it? Assuming that since the X has eFuse, the Droid 2 will.
But if the R2-D2 edition is real... I'm switching to Verizon.
@Spaceshipped I'm just generalizing Blur editions.
@Cheetoh Before you post about eFuse again please go do your research.
@4u2nv
He may be wrong about the bricking part, but he is right that users are prevented from doing things like installing custom ROMs because of how Motorola has locked down the Droid X. It is probably safe to assume the same was done with the Droid 2.
@Steve B You don't need ROMs to customize the user interface though. You just need an app like Launcher Pro
@redpanda But it seems you need to root it to get more intricate differences, you need to root it, so you can do things like removing NinjaBlur.
@Cheetoh
eFuse does NOT brick the phone. eFuse is used to prevent custom ROMs from being installed. If you try to install a custom ROM, the phone will be put into recovery mode and will go back to normal once you reinstall the "approved" software.
You can root the Droid X but people haven't figured out how to install custom ROMs yet.
@einhanderkiller Thank you for giving an answer.
@Cheetoh
You have to try really try hard to brick the phone. It's on of the misconception about rooting. Android has build-in recovery to prevent stuff like that happening.
@4u2nv you can sugar coat it all you want the fact is there is a thing called an efuse in the droid x and more than likely in the droid 2 (and probably every motorola phone here on out) that prevents the user from flashing and running any other rom than what they provide and if they do it will put the phone in a mode that only motorola can save by flashing their rom back on. What research are you talking about? The fact is that the motorola milestone has just a locked bootloader and it still hasn't been cracked how will this phone or any other with efuse ever going to get past that? I agree that the media blew the whole efuse thing out of proportion but still motorola is locking down there phones and until some dev finds a way around it then there is no "research" to be done. Flashing means nothing to.most people but for people that buy android for the openess this phone and every phone with this tech is going to.have a huge drawback. Maybe im missing something but from what i have read there is no way around this you either by a phone that has a locked bootloader or you don't.
@angermeans
"The fact is that the motorola milestone has just a locked bootloader and it still hasn't been cracked how will this phone or any other with efuse ever going to get past that?"
The original Droid has an eFuse, and it didn't seem to cause too big a problem.
@Cheetoh
For all of you complaining about Blur and claiming to "must have" stock Android, have you guys even used it? Seriously, don't whine and complain when you probably haven't even given it the time of day. I just got my Droid X and it's not that much different from stock in a usability way. If you don't like it, disable the Widgets. There. Done. Get over it.
It's times like this that I'm glad companies don't listen to users.
The empire strikes back!!!! Hey it was the best of the series, this should bold well for the droid 2.
May the motorolaforce be with you always. (also this could be the one where we find out that Steve Jobs is actually the father of the droid NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
hehe
@hubble
Wow. And I thought I was a nerd.
@benthe1
Sounds like someone turned to the darkside :-(
The darkside of awesomeness!!! This phone should do very well. The main complaint of the original was the keyboard, this one seems solid.
@hubble bode
@hubble What the Maul?