Motorola Droid2 leaks: Nexus Two in tow?

The Motorola Droid’s (or Milestone as we know it) days as the number one Android phone were short lived with the touchscreen/QWERTY device quickly surpassed by the Google Nexus One in the states and the HTC Desire here in Blighty. But, if newly leaked rendered images are to be believed, Motorola aren’t taking this lying down and are (if the rumours are true) busy working on a Droid successor and could even be making Google’s next phone, the Nexus Two!

Going under the intriguing codename ‘Shadow’, the rumoured phone sports the same form factor as the current Droid/ Milestone; large touchscreen display, slide out QWERTY keyboard and slim design. The Shadow is said to up the screen dimensions to a whopping 4.3″ (the Milestone featured a 3.7″ display), boast an 8.0 Megapixel camera with HD video capture (most likely 720p) and an HDMI port. Other rumoured specs include the latest version of Android (most likely 2.2 or Froyo), a 720MHz processor and 512MB of RAM.

So, that’s the Motorola Droid2 covered, but what about the Nexus Two? Well, rumour has it Motorola will be making a QWERTY-less version of the Shadow for Google to release as the Nexus Two. If true, this would mean a phone of HTC HD2 proportions running Google’s Android OS, something Android fans have been crying out for ever since the HD2 was released. No word on official announcements or launch dates for either of these devices yet so keep ‘em peeled on the Blog for more info as and when we get it.

Motorola Shadow: Sequel to which? Nexus or Droid?

We’ve been yearning to learn more and more about the Motorola Shadow, and even with the upcoming Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Android smartphone’s leak from the WiFi Alliance, we just can’t get enough! Hearing anything about this device is music to my ears. That is, until a rumor surfaces saying that the Shadow isn’t the new Nexus Two, but the Droid Two instead – as possibly a Verizon (NYSE: VZ)-only handset. While this isn’t necessarily bad news, I just don’t want to switch to Verizon for this thing.

If the Motorola Shadow is in fact the Droid 2, I’d be a little annoyed that one of the best phones to become available again is going to Verizon. I’m not willing to switch to Verizon. Been there, done that. I love T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), they are too good to leave, especially when it comes to customer service and pricing. Coverage? Not so much, but in this day and age, who uses their phone as a phone anymore? Also, If the Shadow goes to Verizon, it could leave original Droid owners a little miffed.

The Motorola Droid was released in November of 2009. While it’s technically not too soon for a Droid sequel, the introduction of a much better device with a full QWERTY keyboard will cause many Droid owners to be pretty annoyed with Verizon. The HTC Droid Incredible just launched as the latest Verizon Android device to one-up the Motorola Droid, and another Droid follow-up might be more than some Droid users out there can stand to bear. That’s how technology goes though, it’s getting faster and faster. Where ever the Motorola Shadow goes, all we can do is wait and see where it lands. Still, I have a feeling that Google (NSDQ: GOOG) will offer it in their online store. But I would not be surprised if it was also made available to the corresponding carrier.

There’s also a rumor that the Shadow will come in two different variations, one with a full slide out keyboard, and one without. That makes sense, but which is which? A lot of these rumors are getting confusing, and I’d rather just wait and see whether or not this is a Droid or a Nexus device. It could be both, but I just hope that there will be a GSM version in the mix somewhere.

Rumors aside, the Motorola Shadow is coming. Whether it will be the Nexus Two, or the Droid Two, it will be a great phone. I have my bets on an announcement at the Google I/O this month, so we may not have much longer to wait.

Motorola Profit Strong, But Apple’s Shadow Looms Large

Motorola may have posted an unexpected profit in the first quarter of this year, but Apple has dethroned them as the largest U.S. maker of cell phones.

Forbes is reporting on the latest cell phone industry news out of the U.S., which shows that iPhone maker Apple Inc. is now poised as the largest domestic maker of cell phones, having sold 8.8 million devices in the first quarter of this year. Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola dropped to the number two spot with 8.5 million -- which doesn’t sound so bad, until you realize the company currently offers 117 different models of cell phones versus Apple’s two iPhone models, according to Motorola’s own U.S. website.

It wasn’t all that long ago -- four years to be exact -- that Motorola was the undisputed king of the U.S. cell phone industry, having sold 46.1 million handsets in the first quarter of that year, largely led by the wildly popular Razr.

The news isn’t all bad for Motorola this year, however: Wall Street wasn’t really expecting the company to post a profit in the first quarter, but they did indeed, with profit of $69 million on total revenue of $5.04 billion. In the same quarter a year ago, Motorola lost $231 million, so in that light, it’s a major improvement indeed.

Motorola’s comeback strategy has largely been focused on smartphones such as the Android-powered Droid and overall, Motorola sold 2.3 million such devices in the first three months of this year, compared with their own expectations of less than two million.