Verizon, Motorola Introduce Droid 2

On Tuesday, Verizon Wireless and Motorola today announced the long-awaited Droid 2, a new version of the company's popular Motorola Droid cell phone with a better keyboard, faster processor and updated software.

The best reason to upgrade from an original Droid will probably be the new keyboard, as the Droid's keyboard has been heavily criticized for being flat and unresponsive. The new phone "offers a redesigned symmetrical keyboard with raised keys for more responsive typing," according to a press release.

Motorola also bumped the processor from 600 MHz to 1 GHz, the same speed as the newer Droid X's processor, and increased the available RAM to 512 MB. That will make for a faster, smoother experience.

The phone comes with Android 2.2, the new version of Google's OS which will also be coming soon to the original Droid and to Droid X phones. Android 2.2 offers faster browser performance and support for Adobe Flash 10.1 in the browser. The phone also has a 5-megapixel camera with DVD-quality video capture, 8 GB of on-board memory and an included 8GB MicroSD card, and the ability to function as a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 5 devices. Motorola has a complete spec sheet on their Web site.

A limited-edition version of the phone, available in September, will be styled like R2-D2 from Star Wars. Seriously.

The Droid 2 will be available tomorrow, August 11, at www.verizonwireless.com for $199.99 with contract; all Verizon Wireless customers whose contracts are up this year are eligible. It will appear in Verizon stores on Thursday. The mobile hotspot service costs an extra $20/month. We'll have a full review soon.

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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