Motorola and Verizon Wireless are reportedly about to unveil a Droid challenger to the highly touted Apple iPhone 4S.
The two have invited the press to an event to be held Oct. 18.
Details about the event are not forthcoming, but Motorola has released a teaser video.
The clip throws out words like “faster,” “thinner,” “smarter” and “stronger,” kicks off with a bullet, and its imagery includes a bullet and a razor. This sparked speculation that Motorola might unveil a new smartphone Oct. 18 that will be called “Droid Razr” — a possible throwback to the original Motorla Razr.
“It’s our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation,” Motorola Mobility spokesperson Kira Lee Golin told TechNewsWorld.
What’s In a Name?
Other names like “Droid Spyder” and “Droid HD” are being bruited about for the expected Motorola handset — or handsets.
“I’ve heard some talk, but nothing clear,” Michael Morgan, a senior analyst at ABI Research, told TechNewsWorld. “I can guess as much as the next person.”
Whether or not the name “Razr” will be used for any device announced Oct. 18 is in doubt “because Droid is a sub-brand of Verizon Wireless, not of Motorola,” Morgan pointed out.
“Razr” is the name of its best-selling line, first released in 2004. Devices in that family are clamshell feature phones, and it’s difficult to picture smartphones with the larger screens that are now in vogue fitting in with a clamshell design.
Possible Specs for The New Droids
The new Motorola device will be thinner and faster than the iPhone 4S and have 1 GB of RAM — twice as much as the iPhone 4 and 4S — as well as a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch display and the thinnest profile of any 4G LTE smartphone to date, according to information obtained by Boy Genius Report.
It will reportedly have a Kevlar case, a Gorilla Glass display, and a splash-resistant coating.
Those specs echo what’s listed in a report on the This Is My Next blog.
The latter also claims the upcoming Droid is apparently similar internally to the Droid Bionic and will come with an 8MP camera with 1080p HD video recording capability, an HD front-facing camera, Motorola’s Webtop user interface and several docks.
Webtop gives Motorola smartphone user a more desktop-like experience when the phone is placed into a special dock, which is connected with a monitor and keyboard. The first Motorola smartphone to use this feature is the Motorola Atrix.
However, none of the features could be confirmed.
“I’ve got nothing on this one,” Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld.
“It’s all speculation and none of it seems founded right now,” Llamas added.
Being First With Ice Cream Sandwich?
There’s also talk that the new Droid devices will run Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of Android, which will run equally well on smartphones and tablets and other, unspecified devices, Google has said.
If that’s true, Motorola and Verizon may have pipped Samsung by one day — the Korean giant is reportedly going to unveil devices running Ice Cream Sandwich in Hong Kong Oct. 19. Google originally planned to debut ICS with Samsung last week, but those plans were delayed.
The Oct. 19 event could usher in the Nexus Prime smartphone running the next version of Android.
However, it’s uncertain whether or not the new Motorola Droid or Droids will indeed run the latest version of the Android OS.
“Yes, Google’s getting ready to release Ice Cream Sandwich to the world, but it’s hard to say whether or not it’ll be on the new Motorola Droids,” ABI’s Morgan remarked.
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