Really looking forward to trying out this phone. Actually hoping that we get it and the iPhone 4S at the same time so we can do a true side-by-side comparison.

Today, Motorola Mobility, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) and Verizon Wireless announced DROID RAZR™ by Motorola, the world’s thinnest 4G LTE smartphone. A true marvel of design, this smartphone packs strength and smarts into a stylish package offered exclusively from Verizon Wireless.

Measuring 7.1 mm thin, made with KEVLAR® fiber for strength and Corning® Gorilla® Glass for scratch resistance, the DROID RAZR is ready to face the elements.  Speed limits are just an illusion with a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and Verizon Wireless 4G LTE. DROID RAZR customers can expect to rip through the Web with speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G.

“DROID RAZR by Motorola combines style, performance and the power of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network into one innovative device,” said Marni Walden, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “These are two iconic brands that separately symbolize the best technology available today. The combination will provide an unsurpassed wireless experience for customers.”

“DROID RAZR by Motorola is a testament to the innovation and design possibilities that stem from a strong partnership between Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless,” said Sanjay Jha, Chairman and CEO, Motorola Mobility. “We set out to design the best smartphone on the planet and delivered DROID RAZR which is thinner, smarter, stronger than any device on the market.”

Not only does DROID RAZR by Motorola deliver heart-pounding speed, but it has a mind-bending 4.3-inch hyper-vibrant display with more colors than most LCD HDTVs. The Super AMOLED™ Advanced display with qHD resolution dishes out beautiful images and smooth action so on-the-go movies and TV shows aren’t a blur, whether customers stream from Netflix™ or rent from Android Market™. It’s the first smartphone capable of streaming movies and TV shows through Netflix with up to HD resolution.

DROID RAZR customers can take advantage of the Super AMOLED Advanced display and 4G LTE speeds to stream videos with NFL Mobile, only from Verizon. Fans can stay up to date on news, schedules and scores from their favorite teams on the go. NFL Mobile is included at no additional charge for 4G LTE customers for the remainder of the 2011 season.

If cutting-edge visuals are its beauty, apps on DROID RAZR are its brains.  Enter MotoCast™, the free Motorola app that lets you stream or download your music, pictures and more from your PC to your phone. The Smart Actions app helps automate everyday tasks and optimizes battery efficiency by letting customers create rules, such as automatically setting the phone to vibrate during work hours or dimming the display at a specific battery level. The revolutionary webtop application allows customers to combine the device with separately sold accessories, like the Lapdock™ 100 or HD Station, unleashing the power to edit documents and browse the Web with a full Firefox® browser on a larger screen – all while charging the device

Additional features:

• Powered by Android^™ 2.3.5, Gingerbread
• 1GB RAM  for a fast user interface and multi-tasking
• 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p HD video capture and image stabilization technology for crisp and clear videos
• Front-facing HD camera for video chat over 4G LTE, 3G or Wi-Fi
• 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot capable so customers can share 4G LTE speed with up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices
• Water repellent nanocoating protects the phone, and even the inside components, against everyday spills
• Remote wipe, pin lock and government-grade encryption for email, calendar and contacts as well as voice and video chat conferencing
• Use Quickoffice® to view, create and edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on your mobile device from anywhere at anytime
• Bluetooth 4.0 low energy
• 32 GB memory: 16 GB on board and 16 GB microSD^™ card pre-installed (actual formatted capacity is less)
• Powerful 1780 mAh battery

The DROID RAZR will be available in early November for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at: www.verizonwireless.com as well as at authorized retailers. Customers can visit www.droiddoes.com/droidrazr to pre-order DROID RAZR beginning on October 27. For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to  www.verizonwireless.com

A day before the iPhone 4 officially ships, representatives from Verizon, Google, Motorola and Adobe were on hand for a news conference to announce the release of Droid X with the tag line "Droid X: Droid Does neXt".  After the opening introductions, Eric Schmidt of Google walked in from the back as a surprise guest.  According to Schmidt, the “most powerful services are now mobile ones, not desktop ones.“  

For this latest in the growing market of Android phones, Verizon announced a deal with Blockbuster where users can both rent and buy movies.  Verizon’s VCast video will also be available as well as NFL Mobile App, Skype mobile and Back-up Assistant on the new Droid.  The first Apple tweak (besides the timing) came when discussing Flash on Droid X.

Next to speak was Sanjay Jha, Motorola CEO, who played a video and then shared some of the features of the Droid X including a 8MP camera, HD capture, HD playback via HDMI.  The Droid X will have a 1 GHz processor, 8 GB memory and a 16 GB card that is expandable to 40 GB total. The screen is 4.3” edge-to-edge with 854x480 resolution and 400,000+ pixels.  Here’s where the second Apple dig came as Jha stated that people care more about screen size than resolution.  As he said,  "We're going to deliver an unparalleled smartphone experience." 

The Droid X will also have what was described as true multi-touch keyboard that is pre-loaded with SWYPE.  For additional $20 a month, your Droid X can be a WiFi Hotspot and connect up to 5 other WiFi devices, including PCs.  It also has “high performance diversity antennas” because as Jha pointed out, "We realize that people still use phones as phones." The Droid X will also have three microphones for better sound clarity and support for Exchange and GMail Enterprise.  Battery life is similar to the original Droid even though it has the larger screen and there was talk of a bigger battery pack option.

Andy Rubin from Google was next.  As he put it, phones are a hits business. The Droid X is a hit thanks to Verizon, Motorola, and Google.  Every day, over 160,000 Google enabled devices sold.  That number was 100,000 just last month. The new Froyo Android OS (2.2) will be adding more cloud computing access and it is being open-sourced today.  The Droid X comes with Advanced Task Killer preinstalled and running. As Harry McCracken of Technologizer pointed out, that fact is "depressing, but realistic."

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was next and started by saying that “Flash is the "World's Most Pervasive Software."  In the third Apple swipe, he threw in that Farmville runs on Flash.  Adobe 10.1 is their best ever and moves the mobile version to all of the capabilities of the desktop version. While much was made about the X being able to run Flash, it won't at first.  Instead, it's "Flash Ready" since Android 2.2 is required for it to be able to run Flash.

Droid X will ship on July 15th.  The cost $199.99 after a $100 rebate. It’s $29.99 for the Smartphone service data plan with unlimited data and, as mentioned before, it’s $20 additional to add the Mobile HotSpot capability.  The biggest surprise was the announcement that anyone with a Verizon contract ending in 2010 is eligible to upgrade on July 15th.  The Droid X ships with Android 2.1 but will get 2.2 (Froyo) in late summer.  The original Droid will also get Froyo then.  There is no word on a pre-order date or even if there is going to be one.

We won’t know how the X will compare with the other phones in the Android family until we have one to test ourselves.  Hopefully, that will be soon and we’ll let you know all about it!