US carrier Verizon has announced that the Motorola Droid, the world’s first mobile phone to feature Android 2.0 software, will go on sale 6th November. Hit the jump for the full skinny on the most advanced Android phone yet!

The Motorola Droid has been on our radar for some time, but a launch on 6th November (next Friday) is perhaps a little sooner than anyone had expected. The smartphone – Motorola’s first Android handset, and the first phone to ship with Android 2.0 pre-installed – is a powerful gizmo with a huge 3.7-inch 480 x 854 capacitive touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and dual LED flash, 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS.

The Motorola Droid also boasts 16GB of built-in storage, which can be expanded to 32GB with a microSD card. And if you don’t fancy using the touchscreen to type emails and texts, a full QWERTY keyboard can be slid out.

So it’s impressive on the hardware front, but the Motorola Droid is no slouch when it comes to software either. Obviously there’s Android 2.0 which, as we’ve learnt today, adds a heap of brilliant new features to Google’s operating system, but you also get a host of Google apps, including new free turn-by-turn satnav called Google Maps Navigation. Then there’s Gmail Sync and Exchange support too. The Motorola Droid is clearly shaping up to be a truly top tier mobile phone.

Verizon will launch the Motorola Droid exclusively (at least in the US), and is charging $199.99 (£120) for the mobile phone, on condition the user signs up for a two-year contract. We’ll bring you more on the UK launch as we get it.

As for Android 2.0, the news that the Motorola Droid is coming next week suggests it won’t be too long before Google releases its updated software for other Android mobile phones, such as the HTC Tattoo. We’ll keep you up to date.

Via: MobileBurn