November 11th, 2009

Motorola Droid teardown

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 7:05 pm

Categories: Droid, Hardware, Motorola, Teardown

Tags: Motorola Inc., Keyboards, Telecom & Utilities, Hardware, Peripherals, Jason D. O'Grady

That heap of parts pictured above is not the Droid you are looking for – assuming that you want one that works, that is.

iFixit user Dr. Wreck ripped apart the Droid, and posted his teardown here.

The phone was quite a handful to take apart, having a multitude of hidden screws and latches. Interestingly enough, the sliding mechanism consisted of two rails that were imbedded (sp) within the screen portion of the device, providing a simple and effective method to slide out the keyboard. Sadly, no aliens or hidden messages to Princess Leia were found inside.

iFixit promptly awarded Dr. Wreck $300 for his efforts. Sadly, the Droid didn’t make it through the procedure.

Stay tuned to phonewreck.com for a full teardown analysis.

November 9th, 2009

Gallery: Droid vs. iPhone - battle of the screens

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 5:00 am

Categories: Display, Droid, Screen, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Screen, Pixel, Droid, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

Much has been made of the screen on the new Droid smartphone from Motorola and Verizon Wireless. The 854 x 480 pixel, 3.7-inch panel is 273% larger than the iPhone’s 320 x 480, 3.5-incher and is setting itself apart as one of Droid’s flagship features.

Droid’s screen features a whopping 410,000 pixels compared to the iPhone’s 150,000 - and more pixels means more screen real estate and more detail. The Droid’s larger, higher-resolution screen is better suited for viewing Web pages and separates itself from the iPhone in screen intensive tasks like photo, video and gaming.

I’ve posted a brief gallery comparing the two screens. Some highlights are after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

November 9th, 2009

Gallery: Droid vs. iPhone

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 4:00 am

Categories: Droid, Gallery, iPhone, iPhone 3GS

Tags: Apple iPhone, Keyboards, Smart Phones, Hardware, Peripherals, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

I’ve posted a gallery of the Droid smartphone by Motorola and Verizon Wireless. The first several photos are views of the handset by itself and the last provides a comparison to the iPhone. The hardware design of Droid is solid if a little bulky. It’s larger and heavier than the iPhone (6 oz. vs. 4.8 oz.) but that’s a side-effect of the slide out keyboard. The keyboard requires some effort to slide up and isn’t spring-assisted like some other devices like the Sidekick. The keyboard itself is disappointing and mushy as I said in my review, but there’s always the virtual keyboard which arrived in Android 1.5 (Cupcake).

Check out all the pictures here.