By A quick story about how we were even able to come about this event. Phandroid – being the undecided crew that we normally prove ourselves to be – didn’t know if we were even going to attend CTIA Enterprise and Apps in San Francisco. As you already know by now, we decided to. The problem with that is we had no idea what to expect when we flew out here and we were unaware of any of the events going on around us outside of what CTIA officially listed. Luckily, our good friend Taylor from Android & Me gave us quite the helping hand and helped us gain access to a private Motorola event on such short notice. Major kudos to him for that.
Anywho, there was a Motorola event. You know that part. What you didn’t know was that the Motorola Droid Pro was going to be announced tonight. We’ve all heard of it before, but we’d never seen it. It wasn’t confirmed. And we weren’t even 100% on what to expect with the device once Verizon and Motorola were finally ready to reveal it to everyone.
When Motorola’s co-CEO Sanjay Jha first excitedly announced the Motorola Droid Pro, one thing jumped into our mental lobe: this is for the Blackberry folks. The form factor identifies perfectly with the crowd this is aimed at, they’ve packed it with enough security features for anyone’s workplace to approve of it. What’s more is that it becomes the phone that most Blackberry users have become accustomed to over the years: a world phone.
We only elected to spend a few short moments with the phone as we’ll have plenty of time to get our hands on it over the next few days, but the impression we walked away with was nothing but positive. Everything a Blackberry user could want out of a phone – aside from the insanely popular (but we still don’t see why) Blackberry Messenger – was present. The form factor was that traditional candy bar we’ve all come to know and love with a fully-exposed QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard itself performed wonderfully in my few seconds of typing on it. Track and feel was great – even if the keys weren’t offset – and each key really made a point to say “hey, don’t skip over me! You know you want to press me!”
Above that was a 3.1 HVGA touchscreen ready for all of the touching it can handle. I know what you’re thinking: “Seriously, Motorola? No high resolution screen?” Stop right there, because you have to think about who they’re aiming for with this phone. Blackberry users haven’t really needed the greatest specs that can be packed into such a small package. Think about all of the low resolution screens, the lack of memory (but that’s not a problem with 8GB of internal storage and 2GB of ROM.), and the slow processors (also not a problem here.) that Blackberry users have coped with over the years.
I would even dare to say that the low resolution of the Motorola Droid Pro is more of a plus than a negative as it really allows that 1GHz processor inside to do more work with less strain on its back. It doesn’t need to draw as many pixels so you’re getting an even smoother experience than what you would get on the Droid 2 or the Droid X. I was blown away when I picked this phone up as I thought back to the times I had with my brother’s Motorola Droid 2. That was a time where I thought “are you sure this isn’t just running at 800MHz? 600MHz?” But that was with MOTOBLUR, so I won’t knock Texas Instruments for that. And now I see where TI’s processor can truly shine.
The form factor and the specs are only part of a very big equation, though. The business users that this is blatantly aimed at have been looking for the final nail they need to forever close the coffin on their aging Blackberries. That nail is security. With the Droid Pro, gone are the days where your place of work is forced to deny you use of your favorite Android phone because it lacks VPN and other security features required by enterprise groups. Motorola’s made sure that no business user will be left in the dark if they buy this phone as it makes up for what Android currently lacks in the security department (something we hope will be fixed in forthcoming iterations of Android.)
Another thing business users love and need is the ability to travel beyond our country’s borders to use the phone. Sure, this isn’t a problem for users who own phones on GSM networks, but those who are forced to stick with Verizon (which many are through corporate discounts and other restrictions) will enjoy the ability to skip the country without having to worry about losing their ability to place calls, send text messages, or consume bits and bytes of data. This is something that became quite the trend late in Verizon’s Blackberry fetish and we’re glad to see it resurfacing here with Motorola and Android.
Again, we didn’t spend too much time with the device as we had to skidaddle to another event going down tonight, but we saw enough to get excited and can’t wait to get more hands-on time with it tomorrow when CTIA’s main show floor opens up. We’ll have some tasty video for you to chow down on as soon as we can get them rendered and uploaded. Until then, look forward to more from us coming form CTIA over the next few days, and look forward to the Motorola Droid Pro coming to Verizon Wireless this November.
Fuck the driod pro, Here Is what WE CARE ABOUT:
Were the fuck is Project emerald from tmobile. That new plasticly MyTouch blows! Fuck you Phandroid and fuck your source who said there would be a “dual release” of two phones. Where is it?!?!?! And where the fuck is the htc Glacier? The Glacier’s cpu PWNED the shit out of every phone, And PWNED most phones gpus. The new mytouch’s 1ghz processor is NOT the glacier
^^ this is great to bitch and moan to phandroid because after all they do make all of these phones, but its ok you are on tmobile and we all know you need to vent its just funny you cry when they report a story
fuck you keller youre a bully the phandroid people are nice
Way to be an inarticulate jackass.
After my experience with the Droid X I will never buy another Motorola product ever again
jeez dude cool your jets. rumors are rumors. many are just made up garbage to generate hits.
as for this phone… just making it harder for designers/devs to make apps (games) that work on all devices (i.e. screen sizes).
Chris- Damn right I’m on t-mobile. The carrier with the shittiest variety of phones. And no, I never said they made phones, did I? I’m pissed at their shitty sources and false information.
Bobbert- Suck my Dee….. ICK
@Keller
If you didn’t notice this was a Moto/Verizon thing, so your mad at T-Mo because?
Yea, wrong place and timing buddy.
UniquNate- notice I started with “Fuck the driod pro, Here Is what WE CARE ABOUT”. So yes, I pretty sure I noticed.
So much for Blackberry!
and with this I will finally finish the android trifecta of having my brother(Droid), father(Evo next month) AND mother switched to android phones. She will finally get her blackberry style keyboard(with latest android) and I will finally appease my android overlord.
I really don’t see why anyone would rather have an exposed keyboard as opposed to a slider, especially when it’s touchscreen. But hey, different strokes for different folks.
Also curious about what it has in terms of enterprise that Android 2.2 does not.
Boo business and boring! I want a fun smartphone for screwing around on the internet and testing the latest tweaks and hacks. I thought the Droid Pro was supposed to be the 2ghz processor Godmode phone they promised by the end of the year, not some piece of crap for boring old people in suits to dick around with while they wait for their viagra to kick in.
wow. the droid pro isn’t even a slider phone. no 1.3ghz cpu, cramp keyboard, small 3.1″ screen. bummer. all the rumors were so totally wrong. this shouldn’t even take the name droid cuz it isn’t it’s a new phone. they’re trying too hard to compete with blackberry. ugly phone.
Does it have an accelerometer ( landscape screen view ). None of the released pics or data show this.
Thx
I really don’t understand why bbm even exists
it’s called a f$#ckin’ text message
ever heard of it?
it includes ever single feature that bbm does
except you can use it with every single phone that’s ever been made
instead of just blackberries
then again, if these people are buying blackberry’s, they’re probably not the smartest bunch..
or maybe they just really love outdated hardware and an archaic OS
What a letdown. I thought the droid pro would be the king of android phones. Oh man was i wrong!
@Keller,
This is going a bit off the topic, but HTC Emerald IS the MyTouch HD. If you are looking for the dual-core variation, as you said, it should be HTC Glacier. There is even a site that tracks the rumor for this phone:
http://htcemerald.com
I think everyone was expecting HTC Emerald to be the dual-core phone but that was not the case so now they are focused on tracking Glacier. lol.
As for the Droid Pro… Well, I know I’m not buying this phone. Resolution is too low, the size is too big, and keyboards are not necessary when we have keyboard like Swype and BlindType. :)
@ Keller you’re a faggot with shitty credit, get back to your magenta tampon
I’m actually glad the Droid Pro wasn’t a super cool device completely negating all the awesome of the Droid X/2. I hope they don’t replace them till their deadline of 3/11 with LTE phones (as that’s when I’ll upgrade). Verizon better fucking keep unlimited LTE plans in some form or I’ll kill some bitches. Not to mention Motorola throwing out a Droid X2 (squared) with another 4.3incher, fuckin’ love the size.
Add rim to the short sale list.
Keller you’re a fucking dipshit. Go fuck yourself in hell.
As for the feature that especially girls seem to love with Blackberry Messenger that regular text does not provide. I have asked many what the big deal is… drumroll… people like to know that the person looked at the message they sent them and also see when they are typing back to them. I find it creepy and don’t want someone to know if I have read their email or text message if/untill I am ready to send a reply!
Has everyone on this thread been born in the gutter, do we all feel all nice and grown up by typing ‘fuck’ oooo we are all so clever arnt we…. total brainless idiots, i just hope that phandroid readers make up more than just these picnic crumbs.
Ok everyone, how about we use our words. As much as Keller is an ignorant (most likely) functioning idiot, dropping f bombs left right and center does nothing to show you are any better. Now, back to the article…
This is all sorts of good. Blackberry users sick of the trash hardware can finally get a better device, more users = more profits for all involved, which in turn = bigger & better devices. Works for me!
Don’t feed that Troll, Mates..!
Although this would not be my choice of device, I believe Motorola hit a home run with this. I believe they will attract many Blackberry users as well as the rest of the crowd who prefers a non-slider physical keyboard candybar style. I would personally prefer a higher resolution screen but really think the choice on the lower res will help with performance and battery life that the end user of that chooses this device would prefer. Kudos Motorola!
Good job at the Motorola clutch redesign.
Finally the phone ive waiting for. I’m a former Palm Treo lover but have since fell in love with the android platform but still can’t get a handle on the touchscreen keyboard!
Thank you Motorola & thank you Phandroid for the story
Samuel and Quentyn:
To answer your question about why bbm is so popular, at least amongst my friends and family, is that it is free to bbm anyone anywhere in the world. That includes sending pics, sound clips, and videos, all at no cost. I’m an android addict myself but that’s what i’ve noticed from my surroundings
For those posting about the project emerald phone I think you can forget seeing it in 2010. My guess is this was a htc phone and its probably still sitting there on hold but hold is not due to any issue with HTC or T-Mobile but with Qualcomm and their delay of the dual core processor this phone is supposed to carry. Until Qualcomm decides their product is ready HTC won’t be able to put it in their phone and I don’t expect to see that in 2010 as previously targetted.
Not really for me, but I’m not much of a businessman. It looks pretty, pretty good for Blackberry users looking to jump-ship.
I’m a former BBerry user, and the appeal of the BB messenger is that you don’t have to pay $10 a month for unlimited texts. You’re also not limited to 160 characters. Google Talk is a substitute, but you’ve got to convert the non-tech savvy.
First Samsung copies the iphone, now motorola is copying the blackberry. Whats next? Is HTC gonna copy the Palm Pre?
Android phones shouldnt be clones! Id say they should push the envelope once again when it comes to innovation. The Droid won our hearts last year. But this year the only device that truly impressed us was the EVO. I have yet to see another android phone this year that has that “wow” factor.
@BOBO but what if you want to text message someone not on a Blackberry? Instantly, that negates anything special. Unless your entire circle of contacts use nothing but Blackberries.
That was the case – everyone I knew had a VZW BBerry. So you could get the cheapest minute plan, cheapest text plan, and talk mobile-to-mobile free and use BBM and not worry about overages.
Also, if someone didn’t have a BBerry, they got an email.
@Keller… Your dumb… thats all…
Silence you fools, if you’ve never used a bb, then stfu.
BB is years ahead of everyone on the following:
Email: bb email blows the ifag and androids out of the water. It’s not about push anymore, everyone figured that out a year ago. It’s features, search, customization and interface. Ask ne1 thats used all three.
BBM: bbm is about you and all your faggot buddies collaborating, not about txt messaging. You get all your gay friends to join your bbm group and ur all of a sudden chatting and everyone sees what everyone is writing. Do you tards finally understand???
Hardware & Battery Life: RIM makes solid hardware that is designed for real life, not some shiny all glass shit like apple or made in china look htc crap. BB is also superior technology from cell radio to battery life, these are things that the ios and droid crowd don’t know shit about yet.
Tie these features together with the polished and tweaked over 10 years bb os and u have the best user experience in existence.
With that said, this new droid pro is the first real hit bb has had in the 4 years since the ifag emerged. Moto is the only android H/W manufacturer with any real experience making cell phones – everyone else made tv’s or dishwashers before.
@Uly: Are you talking appearance or features? Appearance ways, the Nexus One is a beautiful phone, and the G2 is similar. The Lenova LePhone is really unique as well. In reality though, there’s only so much you can do with a hand held device. I don’t see the phone above as copying, but targeting a specific group of people instead. Business smarts, nothing less.
–
Features: that’s a totally different thing that is constantly changing (good for us).
I’m seriously LMFAO right now at that one. Are you trying to be sarcastic?
If BB OS was so f’ing wonderful, why do you have to search through five menus to change call volume? Why do you get the “white screen of death” once per day? Why is the new Torch such a Piece of Sh!t? Why do no developers want to develop applications for BB OS? Why is RIM(job) dropping whole percentage market share every time a new study is release? Why do you troll these comments?
These are good questions to find answers to before you start making any more inflammatory remarks like that.
Also you write “It’s not about push anymore, everyone figured that out a year ago. It’s features, search, customization and interface. Ask ne1 thats used all three.” I’m pretty sure gmail is the king of all three.
@Aeires
Well as for the galaxy. It was a straight up copy. The hardware and the software. Touchwiz has several similarities with ios. From the app drawer to the messaging layout. The droid pro will have similar features to the blackberry, not only does it look like it but its a dual band phone. I mean if the blackberry didnt exist there would be no droid pro. Your right the nexus wAs a beauiful phone, so was the x10 and lenovo. But here in america we rarely get spoiled with brautiful devices. We usually get the plane jane black tablet
Beautiful*
i’m curious about the battery life on the droid pro. i’m both a blackberry and android user and the main feature that stands out on blackberries that no one ever talks about is the incredible battery life. on my bold 9700 i can go 3 days straight of moderate usage on a single charge; and when you’re traveling that’s a big deal.
The real question is: do blackberry users really care about the form factor or are they more interested in the services and just accept the form factor because it has a real keyboard?
My wife has the N1 on T-mobile and it is amazing no problems at all from a service point of view, now the selection of phones is terrible, but then again for her needs she would never need anything more than the N1, but a front facing camera would be coo so I could see the kid while working…..
Android now accounts for 32% of all smartphones in the US while iPhone accounts for 25% and Droid started it all. Now this?? Wow. When I read this article it solidified why they call this a business Smartphone: http://www.examiner.com/android-in-new-york/what-makes-the-motorola-droid-pro-a-business-smartphone
I think this will be a great move for the Android revolution. Android was never meant to be only on the high end devices. It was meant to be on a variety of devices. Kudos to Motorola for making a serious competitor for BlackBerry devices.
As a former BlackBerry owner, I must say that the BB messenger was simple, fast, and it transmitted messages with (I think) 256 bit encryption. This is why it appeals to businesses that must have high level privacy/security (Such as banks, and governemnt institutions). Oh, and via BB messenger you could also send short voice messages.
What app is that messaging app and widget?
Just ordered mine. I’ve been a BlackBerry user for 6 years, and honestly was holding out for either BB6 or iPhone on Verizon. Well, my Storm2 crapped out and this was the closest I could get to my needs (Exchange calendar, VPN, WebKit browser), so despite my admittedly anti-Google bias, I am trying a Droid Pro.
Hopefully my misgivings will be proven wrong. I really want to like this phone as I’m stuck with it for at least a year.