Two big Android events today.


9AM PT Motorola/Verizon event in NYC

Verizon and Motorola get together to announce the Droid Razr Android phone. A 4.3 inch QHD slim kevlar backed phone. Maybe news on the Xoom 2 as well?

Android Central is now live blogging from NYC.
http://www.androidcentral.com/perpetual-liveblog

* Motoactv
A small iPod Nano like device that plays music, counts calories and measures heart rate (heart rate monitor requires optional headset).
Run Androids, 600MHz processor, GPS, bluetooth, fm tuner, audio coach.
$250 8GB, $300 16GB
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/motorola-announces-motoactv-the-ultimate-fitness-device/

* Droid RAZR
4.3 inch 960x540 Super AMOLED
Dual 1.2GHz processor
1GB of RAM
microSD with 16GB card
Gorilla Glass, Kevlar back
First phone with Netflix HD video
7.1mm thin
1800mAh battery
Laptop dock (like the Atrix)
4G LTE
$300 on contract
Oct 27th pre-orders
November launch (no specific date)
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/motorola-droid-razr-unveiled/

* MotoCast
"Personal cloud"
Sync your phone with your PC wirelessly.


7PM PT Google/Samsung event in Hong Kong

Google finally unveils it's latest version of Android, code named Ice Cream Sandwich. The key feature combining the tablet and phone operating systems together. Samsung will present the latest Nexus phone expected to be a 4.7 inch 1280x720 phone with curved display.

Live Streaming from http://youtube.com/android
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/galaxy-nexus-ice-cream-sandwich-roundup-specs-details-and-ins/

* Galaxy Nexus
Android 4.0
4G LTE and HSPA+
1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 with SGX540
4.65" 1280x720 Super AMOLED
Contour display
8.94mm thick (HSPA+ version)
4.29mm thin bezel
Soft texture grip back
Notification LED
Barometer
Zero Shutter Lag, Low light camera
NFC
"Pogo pin" drop dock
November launch.


* Android Ice Cream Sandwich
"Roboto" user interface overhaul
- Magazine Layout
- Bold & Typographic
- Animated & Delightful
On screen virtual buttons
Widgets added into Apps Drawer, resizable.
Folders, drag drop apps onto each other.
Recent Apps icon
Screenshot built in (Power + Vol Down)
Notifications viewable from Lock Screen.
Improved voice to text.
Face Unlock, facial recognition to unlock the phone.

Browser
- Up to 16 tabs. Tabs preview, flick to side to close tabs.
- "Request Desktop Site" feature for full website.
- Syncs with Chrome
- Save pages for offline viewing
- Private browsing

Gmail
- 2 line previews
- Action bar at bottom for commonly used features.
- Swipe left and right to navigate between emails.
- Offline search

Calendar
- Left-right swipe navigation
- Pinch to zoom in for more details

Data Usage chart
- User definable warnings, can enable data cap.
- Can see break down of which apps are using data in foreground and background.
- Can disable background data for certain apps.

Camera
- Accessible from lock screen.
- Immediately share pictures with apps.
- Facial detection
- Photo editing (through Gallery app)
- Panorama capturing
- With Google+ photos instantly saved to cloud

Video Recording
- 1080p recording
- Time lapse

Gallery
- Magazine style layout (Roboto UI)
- Photo editing

People App (Contacts)
- Left-right swiping
- Can view people's social network updates
- Add people to home screen, can have icon direct dial.
- Voicemails accessible directly from call log.
- Quick Response. Can reject calls with a preformated text message.

Android Beam
- Touch phones (back to back) to share content from one phone to the next.
- Web pages, maps, people cards, YouTube videos, Apps.


Android 4.0 SDK available now for developers.

I am legitimately excited. I have been holding on to my broken Droid for months waiting for the Nexus Prime to be released lol.

 

-----signature-----

Also today is the Motorola announcement in NYC at 9AM PT today. This is likely for the Droid Razr, a 4.3 inch Android phone. Not sure if it'll be Android ICS though (big disappointment if not).

http://androidcommunity.com/motorola-droid-razr-image-revealed-from-teaser-site-20111017/

out of all the stock interfaces, I gotta say I like the Motoblur the most.

 

-----signature-----

I absolutely abhor Blur. Or whatever the hell they are calling it this week. Screen transitions are slow and jumpy compared to Touchwiz and the integrated apps are ugly.

ooh, a droid razr sounds interesting. any links to pics/other info?

 

-----signature-----

They haven't gotten to that yet, but here is a leaked image.

http://www.techspot.com/news/45893-motorola-droid-razr-specs-trickle-out-atrix-2-launched.html


Edit: Now it's officially announced.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/motorola-droid-razr-unveiled/

Motorola is demonstrating their new MotoCast service, calling it a "personal cloud". Though it's just basically a wireless syncing service between your phone, tablet, and PC (your PC acts as the cloud). One thing you probably don't want to happen during your "cloud" demonstration video is for your cloud to fall out of the sky. Their demo PC went offline and they had to go to a backup.

Clouds are great. But my phone better have a micro SD slot as my backup.

Getting a bit worried neither of the phones announced today will have this.

MotoBlur works fine on my Droid X.

The X2 and Droid 3 are even better.

 

-----signature-----

That Motoactv looks neat, but $250 just seems too expensive.

RAZR looks pretty cool, glad to see Motorola is able to use a Super AMOLED display (looks like Samsung is keeping Super AMOLED Plus for themselves). And whew, there is a micro SD slot and it appears they even include a 16GB micro SD card.

Sadly the press release says it'll be running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread. Announcing a Gingerbread phone the same day Ice Cream Sandwich is announced is sad.