Motorola Droid 2 Could Launch Sooner than Expected

Information slipping out of Verizon Wireless indicates that the hotly-anticipated Motorola Droid 2 could be on the market more than a week earlier than had been previously thought.

Verizon hasn't yet officially announced the Droid 2, but information on it has been leaking out for months. It is, obviously, going to be an updated version of the original Droid. This model is supposedly going to offer a faster processor and a redesigned keyboard.

Earlier reports had said this smartphone is going to be released on August 23, but a new report indicates that the launch day is going to be August 12.

And the OS Version Is...
An open question about the Droid 2 is whether it will be introduced with Google's Android OS 2.1 with an upgrade to version 2.2 coming later, or if this model is going to debut with version 2.2.

Images of this smartphone with Android OS 2.2 already installed on it have appeared on the Web, apparently showing that the device will launch with the newest version of Google's operating system.

Preview of the Motorola Droid 2
In many ways, the successor to the best-selling Android OS-based model isn't changing -- like the original, it will be a slider with a 3.7-inch WVGA display and a landscape-oriented keyboard. The locations of almost all the buttons and ports remains the same.

However, the Droid 2 will replace the D-pad on the sliding keyboard with a set of directional keys, giving room to make all the keys larger (see a comparison). They are also being made convex, rather than flat like the keys on their predecessor. This modification has likely been made in response to wide-spread criticism of the current Droid's keyboard.

The shape of the entire device is being changed a bit, with the hard corners being smoothed. In addition, the screen is being more centered over the keyboard, getting rid of most of the "chin" on the original Droid's right side.

The original Droid comes with a 16 GB microSD memory card, while its successor will reportedly have 8 GB of internal storage and an 8 GB memory card.

The Droid 2 will almost certainly include many of the features of the original, such as a GPS receiver, 3G (EV-DO Rev. A), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

There is no word yet on what this model will sell for, but Verizon is charging $200 with a two-year contract for the other high-end Droid devices.

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