On the first day of iPhone 4 Verizon sales to the general public, we thought it would be interesting to survey what other smartphones are coming to the Verizon network in the next few months, including Droid-branded, Android, 4G LTE and BlackBerry smartphones.
Leaked photos are circulating that suggest the next Droid Android smartphones in the line of Droid-branded handsets. The names given to the new super-smartphones include the Droid X2, Droid Incredible 2 and Samsung Stealth.
How can we be sure that new Droid smartphones will be coming soon? The price of the Droid X has been dropping via online retailers as wells as the Droid Incredible for quite some time, and the average life cycle of a smartphone is less than a year. The time between the Droid and Droid 2 release was November 2009 to August 2010, which puts smartphone gestation and birth at nine months. The Droid Incredible was released in late April last year.
There is a new look for the Droid Incredible due to be phased out at the end of March, which some are calling the Droid Incredible 2 with black and sliver trim on the back. The Droid Incredible 2 code named Vevo, is expected to have Global 3G connectivity. The Droid Incredible 2 was shown in leaked Verizon screenshots to be released in the first quarter of this year.
Update 02/15/11 11:06 am The new Droid Incredible S announced at Mobile World Congress, could be the forerunner of specs for the Droid Incredible 2 including a larger 4-inch screen, two cameras and DLNA connectivity.
The new Droid that some are calling the Droid 3 supposedly has a 4" touchscreen with resolution of 960 x 540 pixels. It is similar to the Droid Bionic, and has no release date, but late summer would be a good estimate.
Without
the Droid moniker, Samsung will also be adding Android handsets to the
Verizon lineup, with a second quarter release of the Samsung Stealth, a 4G LTE Android smartphone.
Some
bloggers suggest that new Droid family members will be announced at
Mobile World Congress and released in the following three months. The Droid Bionic is expected to be released in the second quarter of this year and is packed with 4G LTE and high-end features that include a dual-core processor.
It is not clear when the Android HTC ThunderBolt will be released because there was word that it was delayed. The HTC ThunderBolt, however, has passed the FCC processs.
The Droid X2 is expected to have a second quarter launch date and ship with Android 2.2 and a dual core processor.
Also to be seen on the Verizon horizon is the BlackBerry Storm 3 with a 1.2GHz processor, which is expected to be launched in September. The LG Revolution with VoLTE may not be released until next year.
There are many high-end smartphones in the Verizon lineup in the next few months. Consumer Reports has contacted Verizon to ask what will happen when the iPhone 5 comes out. The best way to figure out what model will be your next smartphone is to ask why you need it and what you want to be able to do with your new smartphone.
The release dates of when smartphones are available is hard to visualize except when you see them on a calendar. That is why Wireless and Mobile News launched the WMN calendar on Facebook with release dates and industry events.