The Motorola Droid (
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
/
UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. UMTS uses Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technolog ...
version branded as Motorola Milestone) is a
smartphone
A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...
designed by
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...
, which runs on
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
's
Android
Android most commonly refers to:
*Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google
* Android TV, a operating system developed ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
. It was released in late 2009 and was an important "comeback" product for Motorola.
Features of the phone include
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...
networking, a 5-
megapixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
low light capable
digital camera
A digital camera, also called a digicam, is a camera that captures photographs in Digital data storage, digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film or film stock. Dig ...
, a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, interchangeable battery, 3.7-inch
854×480 touchscreen
A touchscreen (or touch screen) is a type of electronic visual display, display that can detect touch input from a user. It consists of both an input device (a touch panel) and an output device (a visual display). The touch panel is typically l ...
display. It also includes
microSDHC
Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary hardware, proprietary, non-volatile memory, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of port ...
support with bundled 16 GB card,
free
turn-by-turn navigation
Turn-by-turn navigation is a feature of some satellite navigation devices where directions for a selected route are continually presented to the user in the form of spoken or visual instructions. The system keeps the user up-to-date about the bes ...
from
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...
,
sliding
Sliding may refer to:
*Sliding (dance), also floating or gliding, a group of footwork-oriented dance techniques
*Slide (baseball), an attempt by a baseball runner to avoid getting tagged out
*Sliding (motion)
See also
*Slide (disambiguation)
Sl ...
QWERTY
QWERTY ( ) is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets. The name comes from the order of the first six Computer keyboard keys#Types, keys on the top letter row of the keyboard: . The QWERTY design is based on a layout included in the Sh ...
keyboard, and Texas Instruments
OMAP
OMAP (Open Multimedia Applications Platform) is a family of image processor, image/video processors that was developed by Texas Instruments. They are proprietary system on chips (SoCs) for portable and mobile multimedia application software, ap ...
3430 processor.
The Motorola Droid runs Android version
2.2 (Froyo).
The phone does not, however, run the re-branded
Motoblur
Motoblur (often stylized as MOTOBLUR) is a discontinued Android user interface and push-based service focused on social networking, developed by Motorola. It first appeared on the Motorola Cliq/Motorola Dext in 2009 and last shipped on 2011 ...
interface for Android, instead providing the
Google Experience skin and application stack.
With a major marketing push by Motorola and carrier
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...
during and after its November 2009 release, the Droid became popular and had strong sales in the United States. It is credited for having popularized Android in the mass market. The Motorola Droid won
''Time'' magazine's 2009 Product of the Year award.
It was succeeded by the
Droid 2/Milestone 2 in 2010.
Name and model
The Droid had been publicized under the codenames ''Sholes'' and ''Tao''
and the model number A855.
In
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
and
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, the model number is A853 (Milestone), and in Mexico, the model number is A854 (Motoroi).
Due to the ambiguity with newer phones with similar names, it is also commonly known as the DROID 1. The brand name
Droid is a trademark of
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...
licensed to
Verizon Wireless
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...
.
Launch
The Droid has a
hearing aid compatibility (HAC) rating of M3/T3.
The phone was the first to ship with free
Google Maps Navigation
Google Maps Navigation is a mobile application developed by Google for the Android (operating system), Android and iOS operating systems that later integrated into the Google Maps (app), Google Maps mobile app. The application uses an Internet con ...
(beta) installed.
United States
Verizon explicitly promoted the Droid as an
Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
iPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
alternative. Launched on October 17, 2009, TV spots and an associated website made "entertainingly combative" claims
listing features then lacking on the iPhone, e.g. "iDon't multitask" and "'iDon't have a real keyboard", only mentioning the name of the Droid in the final frame, reading "Droid Does".
At the official launch event on October 28, 2009, Verizon's Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton described the campaign as a spoof of Apple's iPhone ads, intended to "wake up the market."
The marketing for the American launch included "Droid Does
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...
."
This was a program (billed as an "interactive experience") in which Verizon connected the Nasdaq and Reuters electronic billboards in Times Square to its systems such that people were able to control the electronic displays by using voice commands (illustrating the voice search function that is a primary Android feature). Control of the billboards was available in Times Square or via the "Droid Does" website.
The November 6, 2009, release date of the Droid came just under a month after Verizon and Google announced that they had entered into an agreement
to jointly develop wireless devices based on the Android mobile platform. Verizon said at the time that it planned to have two Android-based handsets on the market by year-end with more to come in 2010. The other handset is the
HTC Droid Eris, a modification to the
HTC Hero
HTC Hero (marketed as T-Mobile G2 Touch by T-Mobile International AG, T-Mobile in the UK, Austria, Germany, Croatia, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Hungary; and as Era G2 Touch in Poland) is the third phone manufactured by HTC running the Android ...
, seen in shots of Google CEO
Eric Schmidt
Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and former computer engineer who was the chief executive officer of Google from 2001 to 2011 and the company's chairman, executive chairman from 2011 to 2015. He also was the ...
holding one in a Verizon/Google press conference.
American exclusive software for the Droid includes Google Maps Navigation, an Amazon MP3 Store applet, and Verizon Wireless Visual Voice Mail management.
Analytics firm
Flurry estimated that 250,000 Motorola Droid phones were sold in the United States during the phone's first week in stores. Flurry also estimated that 1.05 million Motorola Droids were sold in first 74 days of the launch. This number is greater than that of the original iPhone which sold one million units through day 74.
Software
This section applies to the Verizon-branded Motorola device in the US. Droid versions in foreign markets (Milestone) may be crippled or have some features disabled due to restrictions enforced by retailer agreements, carrier agreements, manufacturer agreements, or local laws and should be addressed in the appropriate section above.
The Linux kernel used in the 2.0.1 OTA release is 2.6.29, Android build.
Android 2.1 update
On February 8, 2010, Motorola announced via Facebook that the Droid update would begin rolling out later that same week.
Details were later released via Motorola's official forums.
However, the details about the update were later retracted, and unclear information from Motorola and Verizon Wireless caused confusion among many, and technology news websites speculated the update would happen even later in 2010.
As an attempt to clear confusion, Motorola released a chart of dates stating when each of their Android devices would be updated to Android 2.1, but this only added to the issues because they said the update would happen "soon", rather than offering a concrete time frame.
However, on March 17, 2010, Verizon Wireless announced that they would issue the Android 2.1 "ESE53" update over-the-air, beginning March 18 to a small test group, and more users would see the update later, into the following week. But screenshots from Verizon Wireless documents showed that a last minute software bug was found, and the update was delayed once again, with no new roll out date determined.
The new news from Verizon Wireless provided official information about the update and what it entailed, including "Pinch-to-zoom...available when using the browser, Gallery, and Google Maps", a weather and news app/widget including "information you want from the Web...weekly and hourly weather forecasts based on your location, and news headlines", voice-to-text wherever there are text boxes, "New Gallery application with 3D layout", and Live Wallpapers "offer
ngricher animated, interactive backgrounds on the home screen", as well as other, more minor upgrades. However, the update did not include the addition of two more home screens currently available on the
Nexus One
The Nexus One (codenamed HTC Passion) is an Android smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC as Google's first Nexus smartphone. The Nexus became available on January 5, 2010, and features the ability to transcribe voice to text, an add ...
, another Android 2.1 device.
The 2.1 update rollout began on March 30, 2010.
Android 2.2 update
After some apparent discussion by Motorola over whether they would provide an Android 2.2 Froyo upgrade for the Droid and Milestone, it was confirmed that the Droid would get the upgrade, and a staggered rollout began. This rollout began on August 3, 2010, and updates the phone to Android 2.2 build number FRG01B. Another update for the Droid began on August 24, 2010, and it included some minor bug fixes. This update's build number is FRG22D.
A third update was released on December 6, 2010, with a version number of 2.2.1 and a build of FRG83D. A fourth update was released on March 9, 2011, with a version number of 2.2.2 and a build of FRG83G.
The Motorola support page reported the Milestone version would get an update to Android 2.2 in the first quarter of 2011, and on March 15 an update was made available.
Root access and unsupported Android releases
The Motorola Droid was successfully "
rooted" (manipulated to provide
superuser
In computing, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system (OS), the actual name of this account might be root, administrator, admin or supervisor. In some cases, the actual name of the ...
access) on December 8, 2009. This allowed removing sponsored or pay-to-use applets (Amazon, Verizon Visual Voice Mail, etc.), installing and launching custom software, and root access on the phone using a
terminal emulator
A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term ''terminal'' covers all remote term ...
.
On June 5, 2010, a leaked Android 2.2 ROM was given to the public for those with superuser access. It includes a new home launcher, Flash 10.1 support, new homescreen widgets, an updated Market, a JIT compiler for a faster system, as well as new aesthetic changes.
As of July 13, 2011, the Droid is able to be updated to the Android 2.3.4 ROM, but with many small updates and edits to the base code in order to properly run.
On July 26, 2011, an Android 2.3.5 ROM was made available for the DROID that, like the Android 2.3.4 ROM, has been modified to improve performance on the smart phone.
Work is currently underway at
xda-developers
Valnet, Inc. is a Canadian media company established in August 2012 by Hassan and Sam Youssef in Montreal, Quebec. It operates primarily in the entertainment media industry, where it has sought to acquire producers of content in this space. In ...
to bring Android 4.0,
Ice Cream Sandwich
An ice cream sandwich is a frozen dessert consisting of ice cream between two biscuits, wafers, soft cookies, or other baked goods. The ingredients are different around the world, with Ireland using wafers and the United States commonly using c ...
, to the Motorola Droid/Milestone,
although
CyanogenMod
CyanogenMod ( ; CM) is a discontinued open-source operating system for mobile devices, based on the Android mobile platform. Developed between 2009 and 2016, it was free and open-source software based on the official releases of Android by Goog ...
has stated it will drop support for the Droid/Milestone in ICS-based CyanogenMod 9.
As of July 17, 2012, the Droid is able to be updated to the Android 4.0.4 ROM. Similar to previous
Gingerbread
Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger root, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly ...
ROMs, this ROM has been tweaked to properly run.
As of August 27, 2012, the Droid is able to be updated to the Android 4.1.1 Rom. This rom is currently being worked on and tweaked to properly run.
Motorola Milestone
The quad-band
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
/
UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. UMTS uses Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technolog ...
version of the Droid is the Motorola A853 (Milestone). While the phone's internal hardware (besides cellular) is the same, differences include out-of-the-box
multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CE ...
support enabled, a trial version of Motorola's MOTONAV service (instead of Droid's US-only Google Maps Navigation) and an 8 GB microSDHC card, instead of the Droid's 16 GB microSDHC card.
Geographic launch information
The launch countries for the Motorola Milestone included Germany, Italy and Argentina on November 9, 2009.
Other European countries soon followed.
Joining this trend, a new, North American, version of the Motorola Milestone was released in Canada in February 2010. This new version supports 3G bands II and V instead of bands I and VIII so it is compatible with Rogers, Bell, and Telus in Canada, and with AT&T and T-Mobile (2G Only) in the US. At this time, Motorola Milestone is only available from Telus. The Milestone is also available in the U.S. from several regional GSM carriers, like
Cincinnati Bell
Cincinnati Bell, Inc., doing business as Altafiber, is a regional telecommunications service provider based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It provides landline telephone, fiber-optic Internet, and IPTV services through its subsidiaries Alt ...
.
United Kingdom
The phone was launched in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
on Thursday December 10, 2009, as the ''Motorola Milestone''. The exclusive sales outlet for the phone, ''eXpansys'', reported that all stocks of the phone had completely sold out within 3 hours of its debut. The sell-out was considered a major victory for Motorola, which has had little success with its prior
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDA). Designed to be the portable equivalent of the Windows desktop OS in the emerging Mobile device, mobile/port ...
-based phones, and had been counting on Android-based phones for future growth.
Middle East
The phone was launched in the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
in 2010, however it included a serious limitation as Google prohibited access to its Android Market application for most of Middle Eastern countries. No reasonable alternative was provided by Google.
Asia, India
The Milestone was launched in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
on December 21, 2009, as the sixth Android device in the region for
HKD 4,680 with an 8 GB
microSDHC
Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary hardware, proprietary, non-volatile memory, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of port ...
card included. This version is in English but supports Chinese hand writing that originated from the
Motorola MING and
pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
input method. While MOTONAV is included, it does not work and is not officially supported. The phone can be updated to Android 2.1 since Q1 2010, the update features a Chinese user interface and more Chinese input methods such as
Changjie. The Milestone launched in India on 30 March 2010, priced at 32,000
INR, approximately US$680.
Locked bootloader
Unlike the DROID, the Milestone has a
bootloader
A bootloader, also spelled as boot loader or called bootstrap loader, is a computer program that is responsible for booting a computer and booting an operating system. If it also provides an interactive menu with multiple boot choices then it's o ...
that only allows signed
firmware
In computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...
to load. This creates difficulties for users who wish to boot custom ROM images not signed by Motorola that have become popular in the Droid modding community. This has caused discontent in the Droid community in markets foreign to the US, with numerous petitions being created. Whether the disabling of custom boot loaders is due to retailer, carrier, manufacturer, or legal restrictions is unknown.
Early in 2011 the community around Milestone ROM-Development and the Polish National
BOINC
The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC, pronounced rhymes with "oink") is an open-source middleware system for volunteer computing (a type of distributed computing). Developed originally to support SETI@home, it became the ...
Team initiated AndrOINC to decipher the RSA 1024-bit signature and make customizing possible. The project has been down since April 2011 because the German police confiscated the server on suspicion it was involved with an illegal P2P service.
In June 2011, Motorola committed to delivering an unlockable and relockable bootloader solution for phones receiving updates later that year. This will likely not include the Milestone as Motorola has not indicated it will update the Milestone past Android 2.2/Froyo.
Root access
Despite the locked bootloader, the Motorola Milestone has been successfully rooted. Several step-by-step guides are available on the web.
Software releases
2.0.1 update
Two months after Motorola Droid received the update, the 2.0.1 update was released to fix a bug with the camera autofocus.
2.1 update
The Motorola Milestone update rolled out in the beginning of May 2010, five months after the introduction of Android 2.1. After the update several problems were discovered,
but since then firmware 2.1 update 1 has been released, which fixes some of the issues. Although Motorola claimed, that they have fixed the random MP3 player start problems, they still occur. These problems affect only some users.
2.2 update
The official Android 2.2 Froyo update was released on March 16, 2011, for UK users with a slow rollout to the rest of Europe. As of March 20, the update was still being rolled out was not available in all countries. Community created ROMs of Android 2.2 (Froyo), Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) have existed for some time, typically based on kernels from leaked updates.
The continued postponing of Milestone updates has become known under the term "Motofail" in
Central and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
.
* See
Android operating system
Android is an operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen-based mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android has historically been developed by ...
for later software releases.
Motorola Motoroi
In July 2010, Motorola launched the phone for Mexico as the Motorola A854 (MOTOROI) and became exclusive to
CDMA
Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...
network carrier
Iusacell
AT&T Mexico, S.A.U. (formerly known as Iusacell and Nextel Mexico), also known as AT&T Mexico Wireless and AT&T Mexico Mobility, is a Mexican mobile telephone operator and subsidiary of AT&T. AT&T Mexico is headquartered in Mexico City. Its mobil ...
. Its history is similar to the Motorola Droid and Motorola Milestone.
See also
*
Verizon Droid family
References
External links
*
Droid from Verizon Wireless
{{Linux devices
Mobile phones with an integrated hardware keyboard
Android (operating system) devices
Droid
Verizon Wireless
Mobile phones introduced in 2009
Discontinued flagship smartphones
Slider phones
Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery