Motorola Droid 4 – could qwerty RAZR hybrid fill a gap in the market?
By Jon on November 24th, 2011
The Motorola Droid 4 could be the biggest niche phone yet. It’s a powerful, stylish handset with a slide-out qwerty keyboard. It could be launched this year in the US, but is there a place for it over here in the UK?
It doesn’t matter how big you make smartphone touchscreens, they’ll never be an adequate replacement for a good physical qwerty keyboard for some people. Even though we love tough-only phones, we readily accept that they can’t beat the likes of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 for sheer typing excellence.
Droid Milestone
The trouble is, Android qwerty phones tend to be a little underpowered and unattractive compared to their touchy feely brothers. Phones like the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro and the Nokia E7 were fine, but hardly cutting edge. That’s why the Motorola Droid 4 is such an exciting prospect.
Continuing the proud tradition of the Droid line (known as Milestone over in the UK), the Droid 4 will come with top-of-the-line specs, complemented by that trusty slide-out qwerty.
It’ll have a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 4-inch Super qHD AMOLED Advanced display (producing a probable 275 ppi) and an 8-megapixel camera capable of 1080p video. If that’s not enough, it’ll also boast the Motorola RAZR‘s good looks – if not it’s impossibly skinny waistline.
YOU SHOULD READ — Motorola Droid 4 – 5 things you need to know
Out for Christmas
Now fresh reports from Droid-life suggest that we might see the Motorola Droid 4 before the end of the year. In fact, it could be a matter of weeks away, with the December 8 launch put forward by a leaked US operator device listing.
The report suggests that the Motorola Droid 4 will launch alongside that paragon of touch-only phones, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Providing a stylish and capable qwerty alternative would make a certain kind of sense.
Whether this happens or not, we’re keen to find out if Motorola has any plans to launch the Motorola Milestone 4 (as it would no doubt be called) on these shores. We’re not too well served for high-end qwerty phones in this country, so this exciting new Motorola device would certainly fill a gap in the market for those who like buttons.
