Motorola Droid Pro Announced: Relief Comes to Crackberries

Someone needs to start a support group for crackberry abusers. I’ve already created a 3-step plan to sobriety.

Step 1. Get them a real smartphone.

Step 2. Weekly support group meetings, “Hi, my name is Carl (hi Carl!) and I haven’t used an outdated smartphone OS in 2 weeks.”

Step 3. Put pictures of support group members at all cellphone outlets with instructions to not allow them to touch the BlackBerrys on sale, thus preventing a relapse.

Having owned a BlackBerry myself, every time I see one in action I have nightmares about the unbelievable amount of lag, terribly web browsing, and a fidgety back cover (cheap hardware). To top off my experience, the apps were not only low in number, but could even arguably be considered subpar. The keyboard, email, and BlackBerry Messenger were the only bright spots in what was a reasonably poor experience with the Tour 9630.

Supposedly, RIM has made leaps since my time with the Verizon Tour, but other than the recently announced tablet, the specs and features of BlackBerry devices simply can’t matchup with their iOS, Android, and soon Windows Phone 7 counterparts.

But now, Motorola has announced this week the highly anticipated Droid Pro, and they’re setting their sights on crackberries just like Carl who want the ‘functionality’ of a BlackBerry, but the specs of a modern smartphone.

Motorola delivered, and the Droid Pro looks like a winner. We’re looking at a 1 GHz processor, 3.1-inch touchscreen display, 2 GB internal memory, 2 GB micro-SD card included, 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash, 3G mobile hotspot capabilities, DLNA support, VPN support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Android 2.2.

Motorola’s also making it painfully obvious to RIM that the Droid Pro is taking aim at its base of enterprise users. The Pro packs business-oriented features like Support for both Exchange e-mail and Gmail, a unified inbox, corporate directory lookup, and advanced security features (including AuthenTec IPSec multi-headed VPN integration, remote wipe of device and SD card, and complex password support). It also carries 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities.

The Droid Pro might just be heaven for the long-time addicted BlackBerry user looking for a powerful alternative. With Android 2.2 on board and some impressive enterprise features, the Pro should immediately begin to compete with business users who’ve grown accustomed to their BlackBerry’s.

Beginning the first week of November, it looks as though step 1 of my plan to sobriety will get a whole lot easier.

For more info. on Motorola’s Droid Pro, take a look at Engadget’s hands on/first look

via venturebeatboygeniusreport