Motorola introduced two new Android-running smartphones for the Verizon Wireless network Oct. 5. The Droid Pro, the first Android phone specifically for business users, will arrive in the coming weeks, while the Citrus, an entry-level consumer handset, will arrive later in the quarter.
Motorola introduced the phones at the CTIA Wireless trade show in San Francisco, the same day that AT&T announced it will soon be offering three new Motorola handsets, the Flipout, the Bravo and the Flipside, which run Android 2.1 and the latest version of Motorola's user interface, Motoblur.
Motorola's big Android push comes as its executives prepare to separate its handset business from the rest of the company, a move first announced in 2008. At the CTIA event, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said the spinoff was "looking good for the first quarter, the early part of the first quarter," Bloomberg reported in Business Week Oct. 6. Jha added that the growing popularity of Android handsets was creating an innovation race.
"It's a good thing for consumers and for carriers," Jha said, according to Bloomberg.
If most Android handsets are designed to compete with the Apple iPhone, the Droid Pro is a more direct threat to Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones. The Motorola device features a 3.1-inch multitouch display, a four-row QWERTY keypad, a full HTML browser with Adobe Flash Player 10.1, the Android 2.2 operating system, a 1GHz processor and 4GB of memory.
A global phone, it offers data coverage in more than 200 countries, and in addition to 3G offers WiFi-enabled DNLA (Digital Living Network Alliance) connectivity. With the enterprise in mind, it features support for Gmail and Exchange e-mail, comes preloaded with the Quickoffice Mobile Suite, and allows the user to view, edit and share Microsoft documents. Security features include AuthenTec IPSec multiheaded VPN integration with remote-wipe capabilities and complex password support. Encryption for SD cards will be available in 2011.
The Droid Pro also contains a 5-megapixel camera, and can act as a Verizon 3G Mobile Hotspot for up to five other WiFi-enabled devices.
"The Droid Pro is an advanced business-ready solution that provides users with the full smartphone experience, redefined by delivering the power of a Droid," Jha said in a statement. "The Droid Pro consolidates users' work and personal needs. This is just another reason the Droid Pro is setting a new standard for [the] enterprise, allowing users to enjoy all the benefits of a smartphone with full push delivery of corporate e-mail and corporate-level security."
The consumer-geared Citrus runs Android 2.1 and relies on an on-screen QWERTY keypad. However, the full-capacitive touch screen offers flick, swipe and pinch-to-zoom navigation, and on the back of the phone is a touch panel, called BackTrack, that offers the alternate option of navigating without obstructing the display?which seems ideal for showing off photos.
Citrus' seven home screen panels can be customized with applications and widgets, and the device comes preloaded with Microsoft's Bing Search and Bing Maps, in addition to Google services such as Google Talk and Gmail. To boot, it's made of 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and arrives in 80-percent post-consumer recycled packaging.
Motorola also introduced the Android-running Spice smartphone, announced without a carrier partner. Another lower-cost, entry-level handset, it features a touch screen with multitouch support, BackTrack on the flip side and Motorola's Flashback application, which lets users view and manage all their content from a single application.
Motorola did not give prices for the phones, saying such details would arrive closer to the handsets' launch dates.
By Adam C. Smith and Beth Reinhard, Times/Herald Staff Writers In Print: Thursday, October 7, 2010
Republican Marco Rubio, independent Gov. Charlie Crist and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek had a friendly greeting before the start of their debate. Things got less jovial from there.
ORLANDO — Marco Rubio got the frontrunner treatment in a combative U.S. Senate debate Wednesday night, with both his rivals attacking him as a right-wing extremist out of step with Florida voters.
"It's abundantly clear that there's an extreme right faction in the Republican Party," said independent candidate Charlie Crist, who defected from the GOP five months ago. "I'm the only candidate that can both win in November and crash that tea party in Washington."
"You want to take us back to Dick Cheney days," added the Democratic nominee, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, describing Rubio as a "radical'' who won't stand up for middle-class Floridians.
Rubio, the former state House speaker from Miami, held his own and cast the race as a choice between two status quo candidates or a Republican who will stand up to President Barack Obama's agenda.
"If you like Obamacare, if you like the stimulus plan, you can vote for Charlie Crist or Kendrick Meek. I'm probably not your candidate," Rubio said.
Rubio is comfortably leading Crist in recent polls, and his basic goal over the next four weeks is to run out the clock and avoid significant mistakes. He didn't make any in the first prime-time televised debate in the race, but he also took some sharp jabs over his own record as a fiscal conservative and on divisive issues such as abortion and Social Security.
Crist charged at Rubio throughout the debate, but didn't come across as angry. Meek cast himself as the scrappy defender of working people.
The candidates sat side-by-side around a triangular table, but their close proximity did nothing to deter them from taking tough shots at each other throughout the lively hourlong debate.
Gov. Crist wants voters to see the race as a two-man contest between him and Rubio, and he was particularly aggressive. He said Rubio wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade and stood by an ad by his campaign warning seniors that Rubio wants to raise the retirement age for Social Security.
"You haven't been drinking the Kool-Aid, my friend, you've been drinking too much tea," Crist said, referring to Rubio's support from the conservative tea party movement.
Rubio noted that his proposal would not apply to anyone over 55 and that his 80-year-old mother relies on Social Security.
"For you to suggest that I would somehow advocate ideas that would harm her is outrageous and a blatant lie," Rubio snapped.
"The facts are the facts and facts are stubborn things," Crist retorted.
Meek, who trails well behind both Rubio and Crist in recent polls, noted that both candidates had advocated for private savings accounts in the past.
Rubio scoffed that neither of his opponents had a real proposal for keeping Social Security solvent.
"How about standing up for the middle class," Meek retorted.
"That's not a plan," Rubio said.
It was the second debate between the Senate candidates, and it was moderated by Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos, Brendan McLaughlin from WFTS-Ch. 28 in Tampa and Craig Patrick of WFTV. The debate was televised on ABC affiliates.
Just hours before the debate, Rubio announced he had set a new fundraising record in Florida by collecting more than $5 million in the past three months. That leaves him with $5.5 million for the homestretch. Rubio's jaw-dropping haul will go a long way toward eroding the fundraising advantage that Crist has long enjoyed.
He and Meek have not yet released their latest contribution totals. But in a sign that the Rubio camp may see the race tightening, Rubio began airing his first ad of the race attacking Crist. The spot follows three consecutive negative commercials by Crist. In the ad, Rubio speaks directly to the camera about his rival, calling him a fraud and a flip-flopper.
Crist is relying heavily on winning significant Democratic support, but every televised debate raises the profile of Meek. The governor dropped out of the Republican Party after falling well behind Rubio in the primary and is now walking a tricky line to win support from both parties.
''If you want someone on the far right you've got Marco Rubio, someone on the far left there's Kendrick Meek," Crist said.
Crist accused Rubio, the former House speaker, of putting "pork'' in the budget and steering money to Florida International University, which gave Rubio a no-bid job after he left office, and Jackson Memorial Hospital, which gave him a consulting contract.
"I had to cut 500 million out of the pork you sent me," Crist said.
Rubio countered that he proposed smaller budgets than the governor did and repeatedly accused Crist of distortions and lies.
"Unbelievable," Crist scoffed at one point.
Meek, trying to fend off Crist's courtship of Democrats, is one of the few major Democratic candidates in the country eagerly touting his support for President Obama's agenda, and actually looked pleased when Rubio accused him of being a Nancy Pelosi liberal.
Rubio declined to say he would support more funding for high speed rail in Florida: "Nothing is more important then dealing with this long-term debt issue. That's a priority over virtually everything our country faces.''
That prompted Meek to accuse Rubio of being willing to let Floridians "sit in traffic for the next 20 years."
As for Crist, Meek said he "stands on a wet paper box … because you don't know where he is."
The candidates are slated to face off four more times before the Nov. 2 election, though absentee ballots are already available. Early voting begins Oct. 18.
Beth Reinhard can be reached at breinhard@herald.com. Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com.
[Last modified: Oct 06, 2010 11:15 PM]
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