$199 Motorola Droid 2 Has Improved Keyboard, Android 2.2, Flash Pre-loaded, and an R2D2 Edition

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erizon and Motorola announced pricing and availability for the Droid 2 this morning, and the details are no surprise:

  • $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate
  • 1-GHz processor
  • Android 2.2 Froyo
  • Mobile hotspot capability (up to 5 connections)
  • 8GB of memory, plus a microSD card slot that supports up to 32GB cards

Motorola also promises a better keyboard with larger keys and "better tactility," which I hope is true since the original Droid's keyboard was the one blight on an otherwise excellent phone. Though I must say I don't hold out much hope if the pictures are anything to go by. Still, I'm willing to be impressed.

Other highlights include a 5MP camera (just the one) with "DVD quality video capture," exchange email support, plus a slew of pre-loaded apps, including Swype, Adobe Flash player 10.1, Skype, and Blockbuster On Demand.

And just to add to the excitement, Motorola announced that the fabled R2-D2 edition of the Droid 2 is real and coming in September. It'll only be available online, so you'll need to upgrade your Internet connection right now in order to grab one before every Star Wars collector on the planet overloads the server. The outside of the phone will be "designed to look like the trusty Droid from the film saga" and have exclusive Star Wars content onboard. No exact sale date yet, but we'll let you know once it's announced.

In the meantime, the Droid 2 will be available tomorrow online and Thursday in stores. We're looking forward to putting the phone through its paces and will have a full review up as soon as possible.