Verizon Promises Motorola Droid Bionic Launching Next Week

Verizon has officially confirmed what was previously only a rumor: the Motorola Droid Bionic is going to start reaching consumers on Thursday. This Android phone will offer an array of cutting-edge features, from 4G LTE to an 8MP camera.

The carrier decided to be a bit subtle about this announcement. It has uploaded a "teaser" commercial for the Droid Bionic onto its YouTube channel, and though this does not actually show the smartphone, it does give the name and a launch date: September 8.

The device itself doesn't appear in the ad because Verizon hasn't yet revealed what this smartphone is going to look like since Motorola redesigned it last spring. That hasn't stopped an image or two of it leaking out, however.

The YouTube ad also contains a 2D barcode that links to an "augmented reality" scavenger hunt. This will begin at midnight Eastern Time tonight, and requires the free "Droid Bionic ARena" app that's in the Android Market.

Motorola Droid Bionic Details
This high-end smartphone will include a 4.3-inch screen with a qHD (960 x 540) resolution. It is expected to run Android OS 2.3 (Gingerbread) on a NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip with two 1GHz cores

The Droid Bionic will also have an HDMI video-out port as well as front- and rear-facing cameras, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD memory card slot, and many other features.

Information that has leaked out of Verizon indicates that this cutting-edge device is going to be priced at $300. That will make it one of a small number of phones that have debuted recently above $200.