First Details on the BlackBerry Dakota

BlackBerry phones were some of the very first smartphones to hit the market and they took off like a bat out of hell. However, since then the BlackBerry craze has lessened with more and more people gravitating towards Apple's iPhone or similar devices like the Droid X from Motorola or the Fascinate from Samsung. But just because BlackBerry has been knocked down does not mean that it is down for the count. The newest device being hinted at by BlackBerry could be just what the company needs to get back in the game.

I'm talking, of course, about the BlackBerry Dakota, first pictures of which have recently been released for viewing by the public. The Dakota is being touted as the master of the BlackBerry family, the one that will reign supreme over all the rest. It's true that the internet is buzzing over the first pic of the Dakota and with good reason, I might add.

While details on the device are very scarce, we do have a picture and a rough spec sheet displaying everything this device will have to offer including the original Bold styling, NFC, magnetometer, HD video recording and 3G mobile hotspot. The full spec sheet is as follows:

• 3G mobile hotspot
• 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording, flash and image stabilization
• MicroUSB port
• Proximity sensor
• NFC
• Tri-band UMTS
• Magnetometer
• 4GB of built-in storage, 768MB of RAM
• Accelerometer
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Launches with BlackBerry OS 6.1
• WiFi b/g/n on 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies
• 10.5mm thick
• 2.8-inch VGA 640 x 480 capacitive screen

Sounds pretty good if you ask me. However, is it the touch and type BlacBerry fans have been waiting for? Does it have enough to draw customers away from the Droid X or the iPhone? We can only speculate at this point until we have more details. Keep checking back to see when we have more information including an official release date as well as an official price.

Source: BGR

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Motorola Droid X Finally Available

Finally after all the talk and the hype, the Motorola Droid X is available from Verizon. The X is considered by many to be the best phone currently offered through Verizon. It has a lightening fast processor, Wi-Fi hotspot mode, great reception and noise cancellation, and Bluetooth voice dialing.

The Droid X is going for $199.99 with a two year Verizon contract and a $100 mail-in rebate. Any current Verizon customer who's contract is up in 2010 is also eligible for the $199.99 price after rebate.

The Droid X is set to be one of the best smartphones of the summer. Now if Droid just doesn’t fit your needs or you just want to check out some of the other great smartphones available, the HTC EVO 4G or a variety of different Android phones are great choices as well.

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The Motorola Droid X from Verizon

Verizon’s newest smartphone, the Motorola Droid X, can be described simply as fantastic. It is one of few phones to run Adobe Flash and has everything anyone could possibly need or want from their phone.

In terms of surface space, the Droid X is the largest phone that is currently available in the United States. It measures 5 x 2.6 x 0.4 (HWD). It’s 4.3-inch screen features 854 x 480 resolution. Below the screen are four hardware buttons.

Obviously, like most smartphones available these days, the Droid X features a touch keyboard. I personally find that touch keyboards are very difficult to get used to, but with as big as the Droid X’s screen is, this is one of the easiest touch keyboards to utilize. Your typing experience is enhanced by the Swype text-entry mode that allows you to quickly write words without even picking up your finger.

Call quality on the Droid X is excellent. Motorola designed the Droid X with three different microphones, two of which are utilized for noise cancellation. Reception is also great.

When it comes to downloading data, the Droid X uses Verizon’s EV-DO Rev A network. This means that you should be very satisfied with the downloading speed. It does cost an extra $20 a month to make your phone a Wi-Fi hotspot, but that’s expected with phones like the X.

The battery on the Droid X is pretty good. In preliminary testing, the battery has shown to have about 8 hours of continuous talk time. Due to the large screen, the X does use up a lot of battery life. It will most likely need to be charged every night, but with all of the features that the X has the battery life isn’t really a deal breaker in my opinion. There will be a 1930 mAh extended battery that will be offered as an add on accessory for an extended battery life.

The X runs on the Android 2.1 OS with Motorola’s MotoBlur extensions. There is a single interface that allows users to sign into many different accounts including: Google, Facebook, Yahoo! Mail, Microsoft Exchange, Twitter, Myspace, and various mail and photo sharing services. Blur’s inbox treats any Facebook or Myspace messages and Twitter DMs simply as regular emails. The Droid X’s 1-GHz TI OMAP 3630 processor makes the smartphone incredibly fast. It beats out every other Android phone available in performance ratings.

The Droid X works great for music purposes. It plays AAC, MP3, WMA, and WAV music files. It has 8GB of built-in memory and comes standard with a 16GB microSD card. This allows for plenty of room for media storage. There is also an FM radio. The X features an 8-megapixel camera with built-in flash. It takes really great pictures. The Droid captures 720p video at 24 frames per second. Its also fantastic for watching videos.

Overall, the Droid X is a wonderful smartphone with every feature you could ever want. The phone isn’t exactly for everyone due to the fact that it is very large, but when considering performance, the X is great. It will go on sale July 15th for $199.99 with a two year contract and $100 mail-in rebate.

Click here to check out one of the Droid X's predecessors, the HTC Droid Eris.

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Looking for help with travel and technology? Then call a Tech Travel Agent at 800-736-8772. Or see this link for a Laptop Rental on your next trip.