You could argue that Motorola still has some work to do to emerge the hole it dug itself while pushing back major version updates for its early Android devices time and time again, but it’s definitely improving — and it looks like a Blur-ified build of Gingerbread for the Droid X is already starting to leak. As you might recall, Moto’s 4.3-inch beast launched on Eclair before getting Froyo a few months later, so the fact that the company is seemingly preparing its second big update already is notable to say the least; it looks to be basically the same thing they’ve already shown on the Atrix, which is definitely a marked improvement from the Blur of old. No word on how the source got these shots, but we can only hope it means the over-the-air update isn’t too far off.
The Android landscape’s certainly getting crowded, isn’t it? We can still vividly remember the days when the T-Mobile G1 was the only game in town, and now here we are — just two years later — flush with options covering virtually every market segment from the ultra-high end to the ultra-low and everything in between. One niche market that’s usually underserved, though, is the beat-the-crap-out-of-your-phone market. You know who you are: you work hard, you play hard, or you’ve just got an incurable case of butterfingers — but whatever the case, you need a phone that you aren’t breaking, bricking, melting, freezing, or otherwise destroying every few weeks.
It’s not that rugged phones haven’t existed, of course. Far from it: Nextel and Motorola practically invented (and thrived off of) the concept, and options like AT&T’s Samsung Rugby and Verizon’s Casio G’zOne series have been available for some time. By and large, though, it’s been a field devoid of smartphones — and these days, that’s just not going to cut it. The kinds of people that need a phone that can take a few knocks don’t necessarily want to buy them at the expense of power or capability anymore. On that note, Motorola’s new Android-powered Defy for T-Mobile USA (and other carriers abroad) is one of the few to take a shot at elegantly combining environmental resistance with a no-compromise smartphone experience, featuring Blur atop Android 2.1 with a 5 megapixel autofocus cam, LED flash, 800MHz TI OMAP3610 core, and a 3.7-inch 854 x 480 display. In other words, on paper, it’s no slouch — but can it hang? Let’s find out.
Looking for a new Android form factor on AT&T and don’t mind a bit of BLUR? Motorola’s got you covered, with the mid-range Bravo, low-end Flipside and budget Flipout you see immediately above. We spotted the trio of Android 2.1 devices at CTIA 2010 and had to give them a try, and though none really impressed they’ve got some interesting designs. You won’t hear us clapping for the $129 Bravo, as it’s basically a pared-down Defy — the same 3.7-inch WVGA slatephone, but with a fixed-focus three megapixel camera and without the ruggedized outsides.
Meanwhile, surfers, skaters and virtual keyboard haters could possibly enjoy the $80 Flipout and $100 Flipside. The former’s got the same sort of irresistible, pocketable style that made Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance SP an instant hit half a decade back, arguably even more so than its inspiration, though as you’d imagine the 2.8-inch QVGA screen and other Charm features leave much to be desired. It’s a painfully slow, low-res experience for those used to serious smartphones. Though the Flipside throws in a decent landscape keyboard and an HVGA screen, they don’t help much when it’s got the exact same silicon and yet another iffy three megapixel shooter inside. Still, the wonderful thing about the internet is that you can look before you buy, so feast your eyes in galleries below and videos after the break!
Whoa — we knew Motorola likes to get funky with the form factors, but the new Droid Pro on Verizon might be the strangest (and best) yet: it’s a portrait device (the rumored Venus) with a BlackBerry-esque keyboard below the screen. It’s not the Droid 2 World Edition we were expecting, but damn — we’re in love. We don’t know much specs-wise apart from Android 2.2 with Blur and global roaming support in more than 220 countries, but we’re digging for as much as we can, so stay tuned.
Update: Motorola’s Sanjay Jha just formally announced the Droid Pro on stage, following the typical sizzle reel of the company’s business partners praising the company’s business leanings. It’s going to have a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, 3.1-inch display, 1GHz processor — and a dual-mode CDMA/GSM chip for worldwide roaming. It’ll be available in the first week of November. Follow the break for the press release.
Boy, Motorola must’ve been real busy lately. Sharing the Verizon limelight with the Droid Pro today is this new entry-level Citrus candybar, which is actually the WX445 we saw exclusively back in July. Sadly, said handset will still be shipped with a slightly disappointing Android 2.1 OS and Blur skin, but hey, we did say it’s entry level, right? The good folks over at xda-developers will probably Froyo-lize the phone in no time, anyway. Not much else is known right now, but bear with us while we look out for more deets.
Update: Okay, the press release is out — check it after the break. The Citrus is hitting this quarter for an unannounced price (a low one, we’d presume), and one of its claims to fame is the fact that it’s fashioned of 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and is both PVC and BFR free. Better yet, the phone’s also given the CarbonFree certification by Carbonfund.org for its carbon-neutral status. Good on ya, Motorola.
Remember that Defy that Motorola outed at the front end of this month? Turns out the Europeans won’t be the only ones seeing it this Christmas, as Moto has just revealed that it’ll be hitting US airwaves exclusively on T-Mobile “in time for the holidays.” You already know the details — a 3.7-inch WVGA scratch-resistant touchpanel, plenty of rigidity, Android 2.1, the ability to withstand dust and water, a five megapixel camera (with flash and auto focus), DLNA support and the outfit’s own Blur interface (despite Jha’s claims that it would fade from view) — but it looks as if you’ll have to wait a tick to find out anything about pricing. How long? Tune into today’s farewell season premiere of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to find out. Yeah… strange. But true!
In another case of Canadians getting things ahead of their southerly neighbors, the Motorola Flipout has made its journey across the Atlantic and settled on Rogers as its first North American carrier. 3-year contractual commitments will be greeted with a lowly C$30 charge for the phone, or if you can’t bear the thought of being locked in for so long, you can buy the flipping thing outright for C$375. As a quick reminder, the Flipout runs on Google’s Android 2.1 OS, but embellishes things a little with a freshened up variety of the Motoblur UI. If that, together with the “hip to be square” form factor, sounds like your slice of pie, we suggest you head on over to the source link and put those Canadian Dollars to good use.
Confirming our FCC-inspired conjecture, here we have a gallery of pictures giving us a detailed look at Motorola’s latest (though probably not greatest) Android handset. Just as we posited, this QWERTY slider is bound for AT&T’s airwaves and it comes with a Motoblur 2 skin, as seen most recently on the Droid X. We keep telling these manufacturers that bone stock Android and a rapid upgrade cycle would be preferable but they don’t listen. You’ll have to make do with Android 2.1 when the Sage launches, which can’t be too far off from now given that our tipster has had his test unit for a good month already.
Sure, we’d heard tell of a Motorola Sage and briefly posited that the 850 / 1900MHz Android device could be AT&T’s followup to the Backflip, but bless our bluetooth and count our digital compasses if this isn’t it. Ubergizmo obtained this shot of a Motorola device that’s a dead ringer for the aforementioned horizontal clamshell, complete with the huge trackpad (mounted on the front this time) and 3.1-inch screen. Mr. Blurrycam reportedly says it will sport Android 2.1 and a hardware keyboard as well, though from this angle there’s no telling where Motorola might have stuck the QWERTY in, on or around the silver-trimmed shell. Portrait slider, anyone? [Thanks, Calob]
Trying to snap a shot of your cherry red Mazda, but can’t keep your hands still? You’ll find all the tech you need to smooth things out in an iPhone 4 or (MotionPlus-equipped) Nintendo Wiimote. Experimenting with 6DOF inertial measurement sensor packages, scientists at Microsoft Research have developed a software algorithm that literally records your exposure-destroying shake via accelerometer and gyroscope, then magically removes the blur by canceling it out. While the technique still isn’t perfect — spot ghostly line above some of those background cars — the Microsoft researchers compared their results to other in-progress algorithms, and we think you’ll agree this new solution presents the best results by far. It’s a shame Microsoft doesn’t say when we’ll see the tech in a spiffy DSLR attachment, or better yet a cameraphone. See before and after animated GIFs after the break, and find high-res comparison images and much more at our source link.
Sure, we’d heard tell of a Motorola Sage and 
