Moto Droid X reaching Verizon July 15 for 200 US

Verizon today officially took the wraps from the Motorola Droid X, its new flagship Android phone and its best hope of combatting the iPhone 4. It claims a larger 4.3-inch, 854x480 touchscreen and a 1GHz processor fast enough to support an eight-megapixel camera with 720p video recording and HDMI out. Like the Evo 4G, it will have its own Wi-Fi hotspot feature to share the 3G connection with as many as five other devices by itself.

In a seeming one-up of Apple, it will have three microphones, one of which is for noise canceling. Only 8GB of storage is built into the phone itself, but Motorola will pack in a 16GB card rather than the originally anticipated 8GB. A 1,500mAh battery should give it a longer lifespan than the Evo 4G despite the similar screen area.

In software, the Droid X will have a rare tie-in with Blockbuster to offer movie purchases or rentals directly from the phone. NFL Mobile on Android will give it live sports video, and it will even share content over the local network through DLNA sharing. Skype is onboard, and it will use Swype to speed up typing with the on-screen keyboard. Using Android 2.1 gives it support for pro users with Exchange and Gmail Enterprise; it won't, however, ship with Flash 10.1 out of the box and is only receiving Android 2.2 by the end of the summer.

Motorola brings the phone to Verizon on July 15, when it will cost $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate. The hotspot feature won't be free and will cost $20 for 2GB of data on top of the minimum $70 smartphone plan.

The Droid X's timing effectively pits it against Apple's new models but doesn't give it a uniform edge. It lacks a front-facing camera and is technically using a lower resolution screen, although the larger surface creates more usable area for the interface. Apple's device should also last longer on battery and will have more built-in storage depending on the model.

By Electronista Staff