Motorola’s not messing around with its debut of two Android smartphones expected to launch this fall. The phones, one codenamed Morrison and the second Sholes, pack some serious specifications, according to reports at the site Android and Me. If these specs are the real deal, Apple’s iPhone may have some serious competition.
We have been hearing about Motorola’s plans to launch two Android phones this year for a while now. First, pictures of the Motorola Morrison showed up on speciality blogs and shortly after, a sleeker-looking Motorola Sholes teased our imagination. Here’s what to expect from Motorola’s first two Google Android phones:
Motorola Morrison Specs
Expected on T-Mobile’s network, the Motorola Morrison is rumored for an October 21 release. We haven’t yet heard of a price for Morrison, but in comparison to myTouch 3G, T-Mobile’s latest Android offering (in stores now), the Morrison packs in a better camera (5 megapixels) and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.
The guys over at Android and Me claim to have the full specifications of the Morrison from one of their trusted tipsters as following:
CPU: Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz
Memory: 256MB RAM
Flash Rom: 512 MB
Memory Card Type: microSDHC, Class 6, 32 GB supported (max)
Display: 320×480 (HVGA)
Accelerometer: 3-axis, Four-way screen rotation
Magnetometer; Proximity Sensor; Ambient Light Sensor
Voice Bands: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, W-CDMA 900/(1700 or 1900)/2100
Wireless: 802.11 b/g, WEP, WPA, 802.11i (WPA2)
Bluetooth Version: 2.0 + EDR
Bluetooth Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, GAP, HFP 1.5, HSP, SDAP, SPP
USB: USB 2.0 High Speed, Micro USB connector
Headset Jack: 3.5mm, Stereo out, Mic
Camera Resolution: 5 megapixels
Image Capture Resolution (max): 2560×1920
Camera Features: Autofocus, White Balance, Geotagging, Color Effects
Camera Digital Zoom (max): 5.4x
Video Recording Resolution: 320×240 (QVGA)
Video Recording Frame Rate: 25 fps
Location Services: Standalone GPS w/ internal antenna, Assisted GPS, E-Compass
Motorola Sholes Specs
The Motorola Sholes is said to come on Verizon’s network and is deemed as the flagship Google Android device this year. The Sholes will also be Verizon’s first Google Android phone. One of Sholes’ main strengths will be its 3.7-inch screen, which would be larger than the iPhone‘s or HTC’s Android offerings.
The Motorola Sholes is rumored to ship with Eclair (probably Android 2.0), featuring many user interface enhancements and a focus on gaming and multimedia. The expected retail price for the Motorola Sholes (with a Verizon contract) is $199 and speculation puts a launch date for the device sometime in November.
Again, the Android and Me guys leaked some specifications of the Motorola Sholes, as following:
CPU: OMAP3430 – 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 + PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + 430MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP (Image Signal Processor)
Dimensions: 60.00 x 115.80 x 13.70 mm
Weight: 169 g
Battery: Li-ion 1400 mAh.
Standby 450 hours, talk time 420 minutes
3.7-inch touch-sensitive display with a resolution of 854×480 pixels, 16 million color depth. Physical screen size is 45.72 mm by 81.34 mm.
512MB/256MB ROM/RAM
microSD / microSDHC expansion slot
Camera: 5.0 megapixel with autofocus and video recorder
Connectivity: USB2.0, 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Wi-Fi
Supported audio formats: AMR-NB/WB, MP3, PCM / WAV, AAC, AAC +, eAAC +, WMA
Supported video formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, WMV
GPS navigation
For more touchscreen smartphone goodness, you might want to check this summer’s Smartphone Palooza: 10 Hot Touchscreens Compared.