Update: We've added the official PR after the break. Looks like this one won't be making an appearance istores until July 14th or so.
posted Jul 5th 2011 2:00PM
Hey, look at that. It's the Verizon Droid 3 specs -- and lined up next to the Droid 2 and Droid X2 for good measure. Let's just give 'em the full rundown.
The Droid 3 looks like it'll launch with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The screen resolution has already been all but confirmed at qHD resolution (that's 540x960), and it's repeated here as well, with a 4-inch diagonal screen size.
The Droid 3's looking at that dual-core TI OMAP 4430 1GHz processor, and is a world phone as well, meaning you can use it on GSM networks overseas.
It's got dual cameras, of course, with the rear shooter (really, the only one we care about) running 8 megapixels, capable of recording 1080p video. And it's got an LED flash, of course.
Memory's a mixed bag, it appears. The Droid 3 will have 16GB of internal storage, which is mighty generous. But in return for that generosity, someone's skimped on the microSD card, leaving it out completely.
Working our way down the list: Other items of note are the slide-out five-row keyboard, which will be supplemented by Swype. Adobe Flash and DLNA support are there as well, as is the usual VCAST service, and Blockbuster video (downloadable over Wifi only).
So that's it. All in all, nothing we weren't expecting, especially since the Milestone 3 (aka the non-U.S. verison) is already out there. Along with some hardware refinements, not a very big departure from the Droid 2, at least as the overall look and feel go. But why mess with a good thing, right?
Full breakdown is after the break.
Thanks, anon!
http://www.androidcentral.com/droid-3-specs-revealed-show-4-inch-gingerbread-world-phone
T-Mobile claims the largest "4G" network in the country. Verizon's launching its "4G" LTE network later this year. And Sprint loves talking about "4G" WiMax. Thing is, none of these networks are actually 4G. Not by a long shot.
There's like a bajillion massive, international organizations that jockey for position to dictate a lot of what technology standards look like. When it comes to 3G/4G, there are a few major groups at play:
• The International Telecommunication Union is a United Nations agency that, among other things, sets international standards for telecommunications. This group ultimately decides if a wireless technology is 3G or 4G or, like, 9000G. To be considered 4G, a network technology has to meet a set of specs known as IMT-Advanced.
• 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) is a group of telecom standards bodies that originally got together to develop the technical specs for a 3G network. This group developed the standard for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications), which GSM carriers use for 3G data transmission. They're also the cats behind LTE, the next-gen wireless network that GSM carriers like AT&T will migrate to. (I highly recommend reading our CDMA vs. GSM primer now if you haven't, BTW.)
• If you've ever bought a router, you're probably familiar with the number 802.11. What that weird string of digits refers to is IEEE 802.11, the set of standards for wireless local area networking, and the working group that defines them. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers does a lot of things, and one of them is set technical standards. What's relevant here is that a subset of these governing geeks, the IEEE 802.16 working group, standardizes Wireless Metropolitan Area networks—what you know better as WiMax.
Right now, every major carrier in the US is touting a "4G" network that's either available or being rolled out. Sprint is pushing WiMax. AT&T and Verizon are pushing LTE (Long-Term Evolution). T-Mobile is pushing HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Evolved). They're all faster than the "3G" speeds than we're used to, with WiMax and HSPA+ delivering consistent, real-world speeds of anywhere from 3Mbps-12Mbps today. But a rep for the ITU told me flatly, "The fact is that there are no IMT-Advanced—or 4G—systems available or deployed at this stage." Calling their newer, faster networks "4G" is "completely marketing" by the carriers, says Gartner analyst Phil Hartman.
The ITU has actually just decided which technologies are officially designated as IMT-Advanced—"true 4G technologies" in its eyes—after looking at six candidates. The winners:LTE-Advanced (LTE Release 10)and WirelessMAN-Advanced (aka 802.16m aka WiMax Release 2). In other words, the next versions of today's LTE and WiMax. Despite sharing the names, and being developed by the same groups as their predecessors, the for-serious 4G networks will be "pretty different" at a technical level, says Hartman.
If you think top speeds of 300Mbps for LTE and 72Mbps for WiMax are impressive, true 4G makes them look downright pokey. Today's 4G is "not anywhere near what the 4G experience will be in 10-15 years," says Hartman. You're talking about speeds of "up to a gigabit a second" in a wireless LAN, and 100Mbps for fully mobile applications. In other words, true 4G is a massive leap, not a dainty skip forward. There's also little things, like full capability for voice in LTE-Advanced, which there's no standard for in the current LTE spec.
The goal of true 4G is to create a superfast, incredibly interoperable, basically ubiquitous global networks. What we've got now and in the very near future is pretty good, and definitely better than what we've had. But they're no 4G.
It's the latest, maybe greatest, Android phone. Google calls it a "superphone" that's an "exemplar" of what you can do with Android. It was designed by Google and HTC, who designed the G1 and the Ion.
At Google's new web store, where you can shop for Android phones and do live demos of them over the internets to see if you like it. You need a regular Google account and a Google Checkout one to actually buy the phone.
You can buy it today on T-Mobile for $180 with a 2-year contract. Or you can buy it unlocked, without any service, for $530. Shipping's free.
The standard plan T-Mobile is offering for $80 a month includes 500 voice minutes, unlimited messaging (SMS and MMS) and unlimited internet.
Oh, and you can get it custom engraved.
Verizon's getting it in 2010, though we don't know for how much yet. (Probably $200.)
The web store is launching today in the US, and will be shipping to test markets: UK, Singapore and Hong Kong. The Nexus One is just the first phone Google's selling with this new model, with more phones, operators and countries coming in the future.
Yes, but you won't get 3G, because it only supports the bands for T-Mobile's 3G in the US: UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900) and GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz).
A really fast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, with a 3.7-inch, 480x800 AMOLED screen. The camera's 5 megapixels with an LED flash—it also shoots MPEG-4 video with one-click YouTube upload, which should be quick over its wireless N Wi-Fi. The trackball's got a multicolor LED for different notifications, and of course it's got a compass, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, two mics for "active noise suppression," light and proximity sensors, and an accelerometer onboard. It's got a 1400mAH battery, from which they promise 5 hours of 3G browsing and 7 hours of 3G talk time. Oh, it's skinnier than a #2 pencil.
And did we mention Android 2.1?
It's basically a much sexier, more polished Android 2.0, which is on the Droid. We've got a visual guide to Android 2.1, but some highlights: You have things like five screens for homescreen panels and Live Wallpapers, which are basically backgrounds you can interact with. There's a revamped 3D photogallery, which pulls visual tricks like having photos zoom out when you tap an album, and load on a 3D plane when you move the phone around. And, galleries are now background-synced to Picasa.
Voice is even huger: Every text field is voice enabled, so you basically never have to type anything. Voice might turn out to be the biggest thing in Android 2.1, actually. Well, besides the fact you'll soon be able to install apps to the SD card, at last freeing Android of the internal ROM app limit.
There's also a new 3D framework that lets it do those fancy things like those interactive backgrounds, a new whizbang 3D photogallery app, and a refreshed, zoomier app launcher. And, we'd guess, better graphics in games. Explains a lot of the zippier, lag-free performance we noticed in our hands on, too.
No.
Like this: "If you want Android phones, this is the one to get."
