Behold! The … business side of fun? As Vince says, there are few exceptions to the idea that an Android phone has to be a candybar with a big touchscreen and either a flip-out keyboard or none at all – Droid Pro is a misfit! Droid Pro appears to take more of a BlackBerry approach with a keyboard set below the screen portrait style, how close can Android get without directly competing? Or is this direct competition? This is a Droid phone with a small 3.1-inches of screen, another 1/3rds worth of the phone taken up by keyboard, and keys that look like they and the BlackBerry Torch had the same baby mamma.
Vince goes on to note the only missing key to be a trackpad in the center, lists the 3.5mm headphone jack at the top next to the power button, volume rocker and microUSB charge/sync on the left, and on the right a user-assignable multifunction key (for calendar, camera, media player, or any other app.) On the back there’s a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash, with a smooth plastic case (Vince notes that we’d rather see more metal here especially for a business related device and I’d definitely agree.)
The phone is 119 x 61 x 11.7 mm in scale, 134g in weight, has CDMA/EVDO Rev.A connectivity in North America, quadband GSM/EDGE and triband UMTS/WCDMA abroad, and WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, with GPS, a digital compass, proximity and light sensors. Inside is a 1GHz TI OMAP processor (same as DROID 2,) there’s 2GB of onboard storage and a microSD card slot (with a 2GB card preloaded by Verizon.)
Software includes Android 2.2 Froyo, but has a MOTOBLUR-inspired user interface. Apps include everything you’d expect plus some resizable homescreen widgets. In the web browser there’s Flash 10.1 support which you can turn off/on for speedier/slower experiences, but the small screen size negates any big fun you’d expect to have.
Photography is an overall good experience, with the camera, although not the tip-top of the market with 5 megapixels, performing well. The video doesn’t appear to work quite as well. Battery life is average (aka you’ll want to plug it in every day), not quite beating BlackBerry’s battery time.
In the Wrap-Up, Vince notes that the keyboard is one of the best on an Android device today, that the RIM/BlackBerry copycat design has more benefits than it does drawbacks, and that this device is meant for those who email more than web browse. Droid Pro doesn’t quite allow you the highly-business oriented experience that a nice BlackBerry give you, but it seems to be simply because BB’s been in that game realm longer. BUT, Vince does end up placing Droid Pro over BlackBerry Torch for overall experience, noting that the Pro is more compact, offers many more third-party apps, and the OS “feels more intuitive than BlackBerry 6.” Check out the full review over at SlashGear.
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