Hands-on with the Motorola DROID 4 (Verizon) and its spiffy new keyboard

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Motorola DROID 4

Motorola DROID 4

Motorola DROID 4

Motorola DROID 4

Motorola DROID 4

Motorola DROID 4

Motorola and Verizon Wireless announced the DROID 4 yesterday, the latest member of the original DROID line. The DROID 4 stays true to its roots with a hardware QWERTY keyboard, but it is the first DROID to sport 4G LTE connectivity.

Hardware-wise, the DROID 4 is very similar to the DROID RAZR, just with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard grafted to it. The DROID 4's keyboard features five rows and new, edge-lit keys for easier typing in the dark. The display is the same size and resolution as the RAZR's, so we are looking at a 4.3-inch screen with qHD (540 x 960 pixel) resolution. Powering the DROID 4 is a 1.2GHz, dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM.

This new bigger DROID feels like a pretty substantial device. The display looks good, and the keyboard looks - and feels - even better. The edge-lit backlighting is very cool, and the spacing between the keys improves their feel, as well. I do have my concerns about crud/lint getting caught in those spaces when the phone spends time in a pocket, though.

Verizon will launch the DROID 4 in the coming weeks with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but it says the phone is upgradable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. A price has yet to be announced.