Here's a crazy theory. What if there was no silent fix pushed out, but rather the autofocus code was broken because specific states of the clock was interfering with the operation of the autofocus code? So when a certain time/date passed, the issue no longer exists and the code became functional by itself. Sounds crazy I know, but not without precedent (something like this happened to first generation Zunes). Maybe someone can try setting the date to an earlier one and see if the autofocus magically breaks again.

You mean an even more awkward, whiter version?

Multi-Touch is more than pinch-zoom. Pinch-zoom is arguably one of the more pointless uses of multi-touch. Multi-touch is most useful for rapid typing on virtual keyboards, when fingers tend to press down on more than one key at a time. Supposedly the DROID supports other multi-touch features like that, but some reviewers are saying that it's not actually working. Perhaps that feature is broken for now but it's clear that some form of multi-touch is intended to be supported by the DROID, just not pinch-zoom.

Google Maps with Navigation is US-only for now, and probably for a while. I suspect this has something to do with geographic data sources. Google recently ended its contract with TeleAtlas (now a subsidiary of TomTom, hmmm...) to provide US geo data, and is using its own data for the US. It's still using TeleAtlas for the rest of the world though. Perhaps Maps with Navigation relies on some features of Google's own data that TeleAtlas' set doesn't provide, or perhaps Google doesn't want to use a competitor's data source for its navigation service.

I think we can all agree on Motorola's current situation. The problem is with forecasting. I think more than likely Droid will be profitable. The hardware costs of the Droid should be very similar to that of the iPhone 3G S, as the mostly components of both are comparable, except for the LCD screen. Both phones also retail for about the same price, with or without contract. So the difference in profitability between the two largely not due to manufacturing costs, but rather their revenue sharing model with their carriers, and Apple probably has a more advantageous agreement with AT&T than Motorola does with Verizon. On the other hand, software development and licensing costs for Apple is probably much higher than for Motorola. Motorola incurs minimal software development costs because they don't make the phone OS in-house, and they don't pay licensing for the core OS, only for some apps on top of the OS. So I don't think it's very clear at all that the profitability of this phone is so much worse than for the iPhone. And it's also not true that Motorola's phone strategy is to bank on one or two handsets. They are going with a more traditional full range product line, but with each model in line with modern phone standards, and focusing on one or two platforms around which to build their phone's software rather than developing inefficiently around multiple platforms.

No, you are the one talking out of your ass. Motorola isn't looking to just spin off its dead phone business to save money. If you actually read anything about Motorola's efforts to reinvigorate their phone business by shutting down unprofitable product lines and creating new ones that can make money, you would realize that they are actually spending a significant amount of effort to make their phone business profitable again. There is no indication that the phone business is considered by Motorola to be a cancer that they must rid themselves off. They see it as a part of their company that must be rescued from the mismanagement it suffered for many years. And it's so much more than just a couple of handsets. If you read anything said by the company's executives you'd realize it's an entirely new strategy with big changes in their product line and dozens of new smartphones arriving on the market within a couple of years. Ultimately they may still spin off the phone business, but not because the phone business is dead. That doesn't even make any business sense, if the business is truly dead you kill it. No, they may spin it off because it will operate more efficiently on its own. Rather than operating as a conglomerate, Motorola can become two more efficient businesses each with a specific focus.

I find it strange that TomTom is tanking harder than Garmin. Garmin stands to lose the most from this, because they are just a navigation device and service provider. TomTom, on the other hand, is both a device and service provider, as well as a geographic information systems provider (they own TeleAtlas now, which supplies the map data to Google Maps). So, even if Google Maps Navigation completely dominates the navigation device and services market, TomTom can still do business as the data provider for Google Maps, while Garmin will have nothing left.

"Apparently Verizon's trying to unify the hardware UI of its Droid lineup, which is why the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Eris, and the Passion share a set of buttons along the bottom edge of the screen"

Not true. The Menu key on this rumored HTC Passion and on the Motorola Droid is one horizontal line with some shorter horizontal lines below. On the HTC Droid Eris it is labeled "MENU". Also, the Back key on the Motorola Droid is an arrow turning 180 degrees, while on the HTC Passion and HTC Droid Eris the arrow is turning less than 90 degrees. There is no indication that Verizon is trying to unify the hardware buttons of its Android phones. If anything, it seems like makers of Android phones are gradually settling on a unified set of labels for their buttons. Look at the Sprint HTC Hero. It has the same button labeling as the HTC Droid Eris, and except for the menu button, the same as this supposed HTC Passion.

"and some people are also claiming that the white notification bar is further sign of similarity"

You are kidding me, right? The Android notification bar IS white. What this indicates is a perhaps a lack of HTC Sense, but even that is uncertain as HTC Sense can plausibly be customized to have a white notification bar.

Google Experience does not equal stock Android.

Sprint HTC Hero is a Google experience phone and it has Sense UI.

The problem is that pressure-sensitive touchscreens such as digitizer tablets or resistive touchscreens do not easily support multitouch, while capacitive touchscreens which readily supports multitouch are not pressure sensitive. Thus, the combination of multitouch and pressure sensitivity requires expensive technology to produce, and thus are not found on many consumer electronics devices. They are limited to graphics tablets as far as I know thus far.