Verizon, Motorola Introduces The Droid 2. 08/11/2010

On Tuesday, Verizon Wireless and Motorola today announced the long-awaited Droid 2, a new version of the company’s popularMotorola Droid cell phone with a better keyboard, fasterprocessor and updated software.

The best reason to upgrade from an original Droid will probably be the new keyboard, as the Droid’s keyboard has been heavily criticized for being flat and unresponsive. The new phone “offers a redesigned symmetrical keyboard with raised keys for more responsive typing,” according to a press release.

Motorola also bumped the processor from 600 MHz to 1 GHz, the same speed as the newerDroid X‘s processor, and increased the available RAM to 512 MB. That will make for a faster, smoother experience.

The phone comes with Android 2.2, the new version of Google’s OS which will also be coming soon to the original Droid and to Droid X phones. Android 2.2 offers faster browser performance and support for Adobe Flash 10.1 in the browser. The phone also has a 5-megapixel camera with DVD-quality video capture, 8 GB of on-board memory and an included 8GB MicroSD card, and the ability to function as a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 5 devices. Motorola has a complete spec sheet on their Web site.

A limited-edition version of the phone, available in September, will be styled like R2-D2 from StarWars. Seriously.

The Droid 2 will be available tomorrow, August 11, at http://www.verizonwireless.com for $199.99 with contract; all Verizon Wireless customers whose contracts are up this year are eligible. It will appear in Verizon stores on Thursday. The mobile hotspot service costs an extra $20/month.

Written By: Sascha Segan