Earlier today in San Francisco, Motorola announced the successor to the mega popular Droid smartphone. What was originally rumored to be the unveiling of the Droid 2, was actually the launch of Droid X. The phone will be available July 15 exclusively from Verizon Wireless for $199.99 after $100 mail-in rebate with new two-year contract.

Hit the jump for detailed information and more images.

Capture Memories

* Take home videos in 720p high definition quality and match the video with an optimized three microphone solution for directional audio capture and noise cancelation

* Snap away with the fully-loaded 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus and dual LED flash

Share the Experience

* Push your content directly to a HDTV, game console or PC using optional HDMI cable or wireless Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) connections

* Create your own WiFi with the Personal Mobile 3G HotSpot and connect up to five devices

* Share it all at lightning-fast speeds with the 1 GHz processor

Enjoy it all

* Watch movies and play games on a 4.3” widescreen display

* Sync and stream your feeds from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to one screen through an optional widget

* Enjoy clear and reliable calls with one of the best smartphone call qualities around made possible by dual diversity bands and a smartly placed microphone for clear audio

* Stay connected with preloaded apps such as Swype, Skype mobile, and stay entertained with preloaded apps and games such as, EA Need for Speed and a full suite of Google Mobile Services.

*Droid X comes standard with 8 GB of onboard memory and a pre-installed 16 GB memory card. It can be expanded to up to 40 GB with the addition of a 32 GB memory card to house favorite videos, images, games and apps.

*Talk time is 480 minutes and standby up to 220 hours.

Droid X users will receive the Android 2.2 OS update and Adobe Flash Player via an over-the-air upgrade late summer.

The phone looks incredible especially for the introductory price but we wish that a keyboard was included. That option is what helped Motorola muscle in on some of the iPhone’s market share with the original.

What do you think of the Droid X?

Earlier this week RIM teased their new 6.0 operating system at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium. Co-chief executive officer Mike Lazaridis says that they are working to update the user interface and fix the stuff that blackberry users have a problem with. Is it too little too late? What do you think?

Today, Microsoft announced that KIN, a new Windows Phone will be available in the US this May. KIN is the first Windows mobile phone in the market to feature Zune as the integrated entertainment experience, including music, video, FM radio, podcast playback and the ability to stream and download music with a Zune Pass subscription.

The Zune PC software will also be the media synchronization software for KIN, giving you the ability to load all your favorite music, pictures, podcasts and videos, including movie rentals and select titles from Zune Marketplace which can be purchased once and played on via Xbox Live, PC, Zune or KIN.

This is a great step forward in what we’re hoping will be an eventual Zune phone release sometime in the future.

As the arms race for smartphones enters its second decade each newly introduced device ups the ante on both style and functionality. Include HTC amongst the brands going for the gusto in a crowded marketplace. Unveiled earlier this week at a top-notch venue in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village is the highly impressive HD2 (available from T-Mobile).

Hit the jump for rest of preview

Speaking of which, the HD2 has a very clean look with a very crisp high-res 4.3-inch screen. It’s thin but still has enough weight to feel substantial (important for people like me who likes to know where their phone is at all times) and its features include the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, GPS functionality, Opera web browser, a pre-installed 16 GB microSD card, and an advanced 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash for capturing images in low-lit areas. But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The HD2 also comes with built in apps like a Barnes and Noble e-reader, Blockbuster Video on-demand, a music player (FM, MP3, etc included), easy email access to such accounts as Gmail and Microsoft Exchange, instant messaging access to such names as Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk and built in Wi-Fi. Simply put it’s a damn nice phone, and though there’s no physical keyboard, there are enough buttons to keep it respectable for those who demand a tactile option when pressing buttons.

Also of note, in previous HTC models the touch screen has been almost too responsive. As the owner of a Touch Pro I can attest to the annoyance of trying to scroll through the phone and zipping right by whatever I was looking for. The HD2 touch screen is far more accurate and allows the user the control the phone in a much more efficient way. Though only an initial look, I found the phone to be highly cerebral and a realistic comp for any of the market leaders in the smartphone category. It will be out this spring and I expect it to do well. HTC has done their homework. –K. Salaam

Earlier this week Motorola announced the March release of the Devour. The Devour will be the first device on the Verizon network to use Motorola’s Android powered content delivery service, Motoblur.

Hopefully this will get the last of you Sidekick owners to finally graduate to a grown up phone.

Check out the key features below:

* Touch-sensitive navigation pad

* 3.1” capacitive touch screen

* Pre-loaded applications such as Gmail, Google Talk™, YouTube™, Google Search™ and Google Maps™ with Google Maps Navigation.

* Android Market™ gives users access to more than 20,000 applications.

* Happenings Widget – MOTOBLUR automatically pushes status updates, wall posts and photo updates from popular social networking sites to the Happenings Widget on the home screen. Customers can flick through the latest updates and fire back responses using the slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.

* Universal Inbox – MOTOBLUR gathers texts, social network messages and e-mails into one home screen widget for quick response.

* Back-Up and Security – Contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages are backed up automatically on the secure MOTOBLUR portal. The portal also allows customers to use the phone’s fully integrated aGPS to help locate the phone if misplaced. Remote wipe easily clears information from a lost device.

* 8 GB microSD™ card pre-installed

* Bluetooth® profiles supported: A2DP, HID, HSP, HFP, AVRCP and GAP

Hit the jump for more images.