Is a Verizon Droid 2 on the way?

A Motorola-built, Verizon-powered Droid 2 has reportedly been spotted in the wild. According to one blog, Verizon could release the Droid 2 as soon as this year.

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One blog has reported that Verizon could release a Motorola Droid 2 as soon as July. But would a Droid 2 – even a supercharged Droid 2 – be able to take the shine off the iPhone 4?

If you were reading this blog late last year, then you know we made a massive fuss over the Droid, a next-gen smartphone built by Motorola and powered by Verizon. The Droid burst onto the scene with a major marketing push from Verizon, and landed some decent reviews, but the Droid lost its share of the limelight (the arrival of a brand-new iPhone 4 certainly isn't making things easier for Verizon).

Now comes news – or at least speculation – that Motorola is planning to release a Droid sequel, which could address some of the keyboard quirks on the first iteration. According to the folks at Droid Life, the Droid 2 is likely to use the same 3.7-inch display as the first Droid. But the copper square touchpad is gone, some of the sharp edges of the first Droid have been rounded, and the keys – which seemed unresponsive to some users – look softer.

Meanwhile, the Droid Life team says the Droid 2 will get a range of internal updates, including Android 2.1, Wi-Fi tethering, a preinstalled 8GB SD card, and a new version of the Motoblur software. Solid upgrades. Of course, as the folks at Wired have noted, it's unlikely that even a serious re-vamp would put the Droid 2 in striking range of more recent entrants to the smartphone party, including the iPhone 4 or the HTC EVO.

"The Droid 2 won’t entirely catch up to these devices," Wired argues. "The refreshed version [of the Droid] is still likely to have a 5-megapixel camera and no video-chat capability. But as incremental as the upgrades seem, it’s good to see Motorola not let the device languish after its launch." Agreed.

Expected launch date is this summer.

Want to learn more about the Motorola Droid? Check out our Droid review round-up from last year.

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