Been a while since we saw a big roadmapped leaked out from Verizon, but today, our friends over at Phandroid appear to have the latest which details more phones than I think any of us can even comprehend at this point. Over the next 2 months, we are expecting to see at least 7 above average Android handsets (some DROID, some not) that will easily keep Verizon on top of the game throughout the rest of the year and this is only one half of it.
So here we go! (more…)
The big controversy surrounding the HTC Thunderbolt last weekend had to do with its locked down bootloader and signed recovery, which temporarily scared the hell out of anyone who just bought it. Luckily for all of us, the crew at AndIRC quickly jumped on it and cracked it wide open before Verizon had a record number of opening day returns on their hands.
The really scary thing here though, is not that it was the Thunderbolt that was locked, but that it was HTC doing the dirty work. Previously, HTC had been known as a “dev” friendly phone manufacturer, so when we saw a bunch of signed pieces on this new 4G LTE phone, we all freaked. But what if they weren’t stopping there?
The crew over at Android Police took a look at an RUU from the Incredible S and discovered that it could also be just as locked down.
Well, after seeing their report, our thoughts immediately jumped over to the DROID Incredible 2, which could be here any day and will actually affect many of you. We opened up the system image that was leaked out a couple of weeks ago and found what appears to be the exact same news that AP ran into with the IncS. Now, we have no way of proving if it’s officially locked just by looking at a system image, but seeing the words “signed” all over the place sure isn’t leading us to believe it won’t be.
Who’s to blame in all of this? We’ve been hearing for months now that carriers are starting to place more and more stress on manufacturers to find ways to keep users like you and I out. So with HTC seemingly jumping on board with the likes of Motorola, our days of a truly open handset could be numbered. Maybe our friendly neighborhood Panda will find us a Nexus S 4G LTE to grab a hold of?
Our buddy @IRONMatt14 has been digging through the Incredible 2 system dump that’s in the wild and stumbled upon its boot animation which all but confirms every major spec on the device. Now, I know that we sort of already have the specs since this device is essentially just the Incredible S that’s available in Europe, but it’s nice to see them on display through the real device. We also get another confirmation that the phone will be “global”, which is news we broke back in January.
So what do we have? (more…)
Notice anything odd about the screenshot above? Anything missing? Where did our friend the DROID Incredible sneak off to. We know he’s still hovering around Verizon’s main site with the discounted price of $99, but why has he been removed from DroidDoes.com? Normally we would just think that VZW was performing some sort of maintenance to the site, except that all of the Incredible-specific sub-pages also appear to be dead (like this one).
This is going to be the biggest stretching idea on the planet and I’m admitting that up front, but could this possibly have something to do with the Incredible 2? We know that the Incredible S is already on sale, way ahead of an initially scheduled launch over in Europe and is basically the same device, so what if the Inc2 is also ready? The phone is definitely in the hands of testers as images of the phone came out over the weekend looking as polished as ever. Again, I know this is a stretch, but we did hear back in January that it could be available in March. Any chance in hell that Verizon releases the Inc2 anywhere near the Thunderbolt?
Update: We are hearing that it could be gone for good. Device may have landed on the EOL (End of Life) list. If that’s truly the case, then R.I.P. DI. It will be tough for anyone to match your awesomeness.
Cheers Matt!
A device that we are fully expecting to launch with the DROID tag attached to it decided to make an unofficial public appearance yesterday. The Incredible 2, which is essentially the Incredible S that debuted last month at MWC, is looking like a clear winner for those of you not expecting to see LTE service any time soon. It has a 4″ Super LCD screen, front facing camera, 8MP rear camera, 1GHz processor, 768MB of RAM, and that sexy contoured back that we loved on the original. My only complaints about the first Incredible were the small screen and lack of front camera…looks like they solved that. (more…)
We were hoping that right after HTC’s event at MWC late last night, Verizon would have dropped some Thunderbolt news on us, but instead we were left with a device called the Incredible S that may be the Incredible 2. The name “Incredible” and the contoured back obviously lead us to believe that this could be one of our next DROID family members, but the fact that it was only announced for Europe and Asia at this time has us holding back a little. The specs do match up to what we’ve been told previously with the 4″ screen, single-core 1GHz processor, and same 8MP camera, so it’s got to be our guy, right?
The device will run 2.2 when it launches, but HTC is assuring everyone that it will see Gingerbread immediately after. From the picture, you can see that it also appears to be running the new HTC Sense 2.1 which has some really nice improvements even over the 2.0 that will come on the TBolt. It has a front facing camera, 768MB of RAM and is definitely just a 3G device.
Note: Let’s hope I’m wrong on this, but I have this really bad feeling that all non-4G LTE phones on Verizon will be stripped of their front-facing cameras. Hopefully this one sticks in the U.S. version, but the DROID X2 not having one is a bad sign. And if I am wrong, then what the hell is Moto thinking by leaving one out?
Phone overview and specs.
Thoughts?
A bunch of information from our friends at Phandroid popped up late last night having to do with the DROID lineup of 2011 and it all helps confirm the stuff we told you about back in January. We first reported news that Incredible 2, DROID X2 and DROID 3 were all in the works, but we followed that up just a day later with news that the Inc2 would be a global device. We also received word that the DX2 could end up with a Tegra 2 in it and that one of the new DROIDs might be our next stock Google device. You’ve got to admit that seeing all of this information again is exciting to say the least.
Here are some extra tidbits that came out of this new report:
So not a ton of new stuff, but again, nice to see a confirmation on our earlier report. I will say that it would surprise me if Stealth ends up being the final name for the Samsung device. As far as I know, that has been the code name for quite some time and am expecting a last minute surprise with that device.
And just to recap the stuff we’ve heard:
As soon as we have more, we’ll be sure to let you know!
We first reported the news that Verizon had plans for follow-up devices to its entire DROID lineup which would include the Incredible 2, DROID X2, and DROID 3. The news was exactly what we needed to hear after seeing only 1 DROID-branded phone at CES, but it also means it’s time we ask users for their opinions on the 2011 versions of our favorite family. The picture above could possibly be the Incredible 2 and looks amazing, but there is also that new DX2 on the way which could come equipped with a dual-core processor and qHD screen. And of course, we also can’t forget about the OG’s 3rd brother, the DROID 3 which is a complete surprise at this point. So tell us, which of these devices has you most excited? Or are you just waiting for 4G LTE?
We know it’s early for a poll like this, but we also know that you have strong opinions on your current devices that could reflect on future purchases.
[poll id=”55″]
