droidStory

Although both Motorola and Verizon claimed to have plenty of stock on hand, it does not come as a big surprise that the DroidX already sold-out online. Shipments are expected to resume by July 7/23, which is still ahead of the next shipments of the Droid Incredible . If you want to get your hands on the DroidX now, your best bet is to call your local Verizon store or Best Buy to pick one up.

FYI: The $100 mail-in rebate is waived and instantly credited for qualifying “new-every-two” customers and some other customer loyalty criteria. It’s always good to ask. I managed to skip the tedious mail-in rebate.

The DroidX went on sale today. The Verizon online store listing went live around 2AM EDT, and I woke up to an email from Verizon telling me that the DroidX was ready.
Unfortunately it seemed their website was not quite ready for the onslaught of interested buyers, showing some serious overload problems between 7-9AM.  I kept hitting refresh but no luck in getting through to the actual site.
Oh well, off I went to the nearest Verizon store.  It was now a little after 9AM and the store was already filled with over 30 people waiting in line. There was a sign-up kiosk, but only the names of the next 15 or so customers were displayed on the overhead screens. I had no idea how many others were in front of me or how many phones the store actually had on hand. The store manager refused to provide any insight into how many phones they had received and if waiting in line would get me a phone today. I suddenly felt more like being at the DMV than a retail store. Verizon can certainly learn a bit from Apple and how they handle their retail launch events. Still, their sales staff was friendly and worked very fast. An hour later my number was up and I got my DroidX- YES! The sales rep told me that only 18 phones were left. Not everyone left waiting was going to get one today. I wonder when they were told…

My first impression. This phone is awesome indeed. Its giant screen makes my Nexus One look puny next to it.

Setup was a breeze using AppBrain to get all my current apps loaded. But the most notable and very pleasant surprise so far is the battery life, which was a big concern given the fast CPU and large screen. I had charged both the N1 and the DroidX to 100%, and 8 hours later the Nexus One is down to 29%, while the DroidX still has 50% charge remaining. This is amazing, given that I mostly used the DroidX today.

More to follow…

The much anticipated DroidX will be hitting Verizon stores this Thursday, July 15th. Many East Coast stores open early at 8AM, and some reports seem to indicate limited supply. Are you planning on getting your DroidX this Thursday, or are you playing it safe and rather wait a few weeks to see what others think about this latest Droid?

Over the last couple of weeks there were a number of hints that Verizon is working on an extensive marketing campaign for the DroidX release similar to the launch of the original Droid.

Of course there was the cool first DroidX TV commercial, followed by a DroidX YouTube video and now a Twitter based DroidX Scavenger Hunt is beginning today.

During the Promotion Period, there will be a Scavenger Hunt, where 21 Certificates for a free Droid Phone will be hidden across the country. Clues as to where the 21 Droid Certificates (“Certificates”) will be hidden will be tweeted on a regular basis from @DroidLanding. To view the tweets, visit http://www.twitter.com/droidlanding. Dates and times of Certificate placement will vary, but the final clue of each GPS location for each Certificate will be tweeted at the time it is hidden.

In case the specs of the upcoming Motorola DroidX haven’t convinced you yet… Verizon just launched this YouTube video, telling you: “This phone is awesome.”

Verizon and Motorola, with help from Google and Adobe unveiled the new Motorola DroidX today.

The phone will go on sale on July 15th for $199, after $100 rebate with a 2 year contract. Anybody with a contract ending in 2010 can upgrade!

• $29.99/month smartphone unlimited data plan
• $20/month for tethering (WiFi & USB) for up-to 2GB of data, 5cents/MByte overage fee

Specs:

• 1GHz TI OMAP CPU
• 512MB RAM, 8GB internal flash memory
• 16GB SD card included, expandable to 32GB
• 8MP Camera, dual LED flash
• 4.3″ Display, 854 x 480, 400,000+ pixels
• 1570mAh battery
• HDMI out port
• 3 microphones (one noise-canceling)
• Ships with Android 2.1 including new version of MotoBlur
• Android 2.2 (Froyo) will be released this summer