Today in New York, Verizon Wireless and Motorola unveiled the latest Droid-branded smartphone, called Droid X. With a 4.3-inch high-resolution screen, it's one of the largest phones on the market.
The large screen is intended to encourage users to take advantage of Verizon's V Cast video-on-demand service, which now offers movies and TV shows under the Blockbuster brand.
The anticipated phone, which has an 8-megapixel camera and HD video recording, will sell at Verizon Wireless stores and online beginning July 15. It will cost $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, provided the buyer agrees to a 2-year service agreement. (Buyers will have to pay $299.99 up front, then wait to be mailed the debit card containing their $100 rebate.)
Like other Droid phones, the Droid X runs Google's Android operating system, which means that it is compatible with 65,000 Android apps. While Apple's App Store currently reports over 225,000 apps, the healthy size of the Android app collection is one of the factors that makes Android phones in general, and Droid X in particular, a credible competitor to the iPhone.
In order to turn up the competitive heat, Verizon promises that the Droid X will receive both the Android 2.2 update — with new features including over-the-air syncing of music and other content, a new browser and better enterprise support — as well as Flash Player 10.1. Apple has lately been adamant about not supporting Flash in its iPhone and iPad devices, but some websites, most notably the Hulu streaming-TV site, currently requires Flash when viewed through a web browser.
Other Droid X features include an an HDMI jack for plugging the phone into your TV and a feature called DLNA which will enable it to download and stream personal video content from computers and other devices in the home.
Though one of the largest, the Droid X isn't the only phone of this size. Sprint's Evo, by HTC, also has a 4.3-inch screen.