Droid X: The newest Verizon Android phone is a shot across Apple's bow

Droid X, the newest unit in Verizon's top-selling Droid line, will likely be unveiled on June 23. Early reports put the high-powered Motorola Droid X as a worthy competitor to the Apple iPhone 4.

Droid X, Verizon's answer to the Apple iPhone 4, is expected to be announced next week in New York City. An early review suggests that the Droid X is a powerhouse.

Newscom

June 17, 2010

Let the next-gen smartphone wars begin. Days after Apple took the wraps off the iPhone 4, Verizon began advertising for the Droid X, the latest installment in Motorola's top-selling Droid line. Details are still fuzzy on the Droid X hardware, but early reports say the phone is a "snappy," sleek performer, and a worthy challenger to the iPhone 4 and HTC EVO 4G.

Earlier today, Verizon launched a spot for the Droid X, under a simple headline: "The next generation of does." The headline is a nod to the original Droid, which was marketed as a "bare-knuckled bucket of does," and touted by Verizon as the phone that knock the mighty iPhone off its perch. But the market has changed in recent months: The HTC EVO 4G and Apple iPhone 4 are in many ways better machines than the original Droid.

So it's not exactly a huge surprise that Motorola is readying a next-gen Droid – one that can compete with similar units from Apple and HTC.

Anticipation is high. In a short review posted on the Engadget site a couple of days ago, Joanna Stern praised the hardware on the Droid X – including the 8-megapixel camera – and the operating system, which Stern says is Android 2.1, possibly coupled with a new Motoblur skin. The blogosphere has lit up today with gossip about the Droid's screen, rumored to be among the sharpest on the smartphone market.