It’s official! Motorola confirmed the Verizon DROID Pro today in a pre-CTIA press event. Harkening back to earlier days, the DROID PRO has a front-facing QWERTY keyboard that is reminiscent of the Windows Mobile-powered Motorola Q with a hint of the BlackBerry Bold. Looking beyond its strikingly handsome appearance, this hot, new Android handset includes the following specs:
- CDMA 800/1900 EVDO-Rev.A
- GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 850/1900/2100, HSDPA 10.2 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
- 1GHz processor
- 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and dual-LED flash
- 3.1-inch touchscreen display with 320 x 480 resolution
- 8GB internal memory, 8GB microSD (expandable up to 32GB)
- 512MB RAM and 2GB ROM
- DLNA
- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
- aGPS and GPS
- Google applications including Google Maps with Navigation, Latitude, Street View and eCompass
- Android 2.2 with support for Adobe Flash 10.1
- Dimensions of 60 x 119 x 11.7mm
- 1420 mAh standard battery and a 1860 mAh extended battery
The DROID PRO is a global handset and will support voice calling and data in over 200 countries worldwide. Targeting the business-minded customer (cough, cough, BlackBerry users looking to defect), Verizon’s latest Android offering also includes enterprise-level features including Exchange-based remote device management, complex password support, data encryption (available in 2011), remote handset and SD card wipe, and on-device document editing courtesy of the Quick Office Mobile Suite.
The DROID PRO will be an excellent addition to Verizon Wireless’ already robust Android handset lineup. It will fit in nicely in between the Motorola DROID X and the DROID 2 and will offer some extra enterprise features the other two handsets lack. The DROID PRO also distinguishes itself with a portrait QWERTY keyboard that may entice some potential DROID 2 customers to reconsider their handset choice.
With its unique form factor, it will be interesting to see how Motorola manages that delicate balance of usable touchscreen and QWERTY keyboard. With all that hardware packed into a non-sliding form factor, it would be very easy to make the handset too long to use comfortably. I will give Motorola the benefit of the doubt as the American manufacturer has designed some rock solid Android handsets in the past year. Let’s see if they can continue this trend with the DROID PRO.
For those interested in purchasing this Android handset, the DROID PRO is expected to land with Verizon Wireless in the first week of November. Unfortunately, pricing was not immediately available. If you want to see more of this exciting new handset, check back with us later as we are live at CTIA and will have hands-on preview with our first impressions of this interesting Android handset.