Verizon to launch Motorola DROID 4 on Friday; Bogo promotion to start on Motorola DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX

As expected, Verizon is launching the Motorola DROID 4 on Friday for $199.99 with a signed two-year pact. What was not expected are the promotions that Big Red is debuting on Friday. For example, if you like the Motorola DROID RAZR or its big batteried (did we just invent a new word?) brother the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX, you can buy one of either model and get a second unit for free

But wait, there's more" as they say in those annoying television commercials. Big Red is offering up double the data with 4GB of 4G LTE service going for $30 per month with any smartphone purchase. And if you finally are ready to trade in that LG Voyager or LG Dare that you have been sporting since the Bush administration was in power, Verizon is giving away $30 gift cards in its stores for those willing to part with their old featurephone and move on up to a smart one. Finally, you can take $100 off the price of a 4G tablet with the purchase of a smartphone and a signed 2-year pact.

It sounds like Big Red customers have plenty to think about in the next few days, especially those with an upgrade burning a hole in their pocket.

NEW Verizon Launches Motorola's Droid Phone:

Motorola loses 27 cents per share in Q4, sold 5.3 million smartphones

Motorola Mobility has just reported Q4 numbers and there might be a shortage of red ink at office supply stores. In the three month period, Motorola lost $80 million or 27 cents a share after making $80 million in last year's quarter. Revenue was $3.4 billion. In the quarter, Motorola sold 10.5 million mobile devices, nearly half of which were smartphones. 200,000 tablets were sold in the period ending in December. For the full year, Google's marriage partner reported that it sold 42.4 million mobile devices including 18.7 million smartphones and 1 million tablets.

Motorola's new flagship, the DROID RAZR MAXX

Motorola's new flagship, the DROID RAZR MAXX
For 2011, Motorola Mobility had $13.1 billion in revenue, up 14% from 2010. For the year, the company spilled $289 million worth of red ink, a substanbtial increase from last year's $86 million loss. And for 2011, the mobile devices division of Motorola Mobility claimed some highlights such as the launch of the Motorola DROID RAZR and the introduction of the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX. The latter, which launched today, offers up to an amazing 21 hours of talk time thanks to the 3300mAh battery. The device remains thin at less than 9mm. The company also announced the Motorola DROID 4, the thinnest and most powerful LTE enabled phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard.

During the fourth quarter, Motorola also announced two new tablets, the Motorola DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and the Motorola DROID XYBOARD 8.2. Two new "life-proof" handsets were unveiled, the Motorola DEFY Mini and the Motorola MOTOLUXE. The fourth quarter also saw Motorola ship the first combination MP3 player and fitness tracker, the MOTOACTV. Lastly, two flagship smartphones were shipped to China, the TD-SCDMA Motorola MT917 and the dual-core, dual-mode, dual-standby Motorola XT928.

U.K.'s Clove taking pre-orders for white Motorola RAZR coming next month

We recently told you that the Motorola DROID RAZR is being introduced in some new colors like purple and white to go along with the original black model. So it would only make sense that if the DROID RAZR would be getting some new options in terms of color, the Motorola RAZR would too. After all, the two devices are practically the same except that the latter is the GSM variant of the phone and can be found overseas.

Beginning today, a version of the Motorola RAZR in white can be pre-ordered from U.K. retailer Clove for 430.80GBP after VAT. That works out to approximately $663.82USD. Clove is throwing in a free set of Motorola MOTOROKR EQ3 wired compact folding speakers, with a value of 20GBP, with every Motorola RAZR order.

In case the specs have slipped your mind, the Motorola RAZR offers a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED advanced qHD display with a TI OMAP 4430 dual-core 1.2GHz processor under the hood. and 1GB of RAM is aboard. Android 2.3.5 is installed. The 8MP camera on back captures video at 1080p (30 fps) while the 1.3MP front-facing shooter takes self portraits and allows you to video chat. Just 7.1mm thin, the Motorola RAZR uses a 1780mAh battery. Of course, there is no LTE radio on this model and the back shows off that sexy Kevlar material. The unit has been treated with a coating that makes it resistant to light contact with water.

Motorola MOTOLUXE

With the Motorola MOTOLUXE, Motorola have attempted to bring a big screen Android smartphone to a more affordable market segment.. but they have had to make a few compromises along the way.

It's a bit of a slabby phone, although it is available in both white and black colours. The large 4" 480 x 854 pixel display dominates the front of the handset, and on the back is an 8 megapixel camera and flash on a fairly conventional case design.

The surprise with the MOTOLUXE is the processor - a single core 800 MHz CPU that is only roughly half the speed of the one found in the RAZR. Although there is a decent 512MB of RAM included in the MOTOLUXE, we suspect that certain applications will struggle on a processor of this type, which is a shame because the large screen will tempt users to drive the handset quite hard.

All the usual Android features are here plus something called MotoSwitch for managing and prioritising contacts. So, you get 3.5G and WiFi connectivity, GPS, Bluetooth and a multimedia player. The MOTOLUXE also has an FM radio, 3.5mm audio socket, front-facing video calling camera and a novel illuminated lanyard slot that indicates when you have a message.

We don't know how much internal flash storage the MOTOLUXE has or if it takes a microSD card, as these details were not supplied by Motorola at the time of going to press. The handset weighs 124 grams and measures 118 x 61 x 9.9mm. The battery is a 1400 mAh cell quoted as giving up to 4.5 hours talktime on 3G and 16 days standby time.

The MOTOLUXE does have some nice features, but don't expect it to be as capable as the RAZR or ATRIX 2. On the other hand, it should be a lot cheaper to buy than those high-end devices, and it may well find a good market niche.

The Motorola MOTOLUXE is already available in China as the Motorola XT615, it should be available in Europe, South America and some other regions from February onwards, although no guidance was given on price.

Motorola MOTOLUXE at a glance
Available:	Q1 2012
Network:	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 + UMTS 900 / 2100 or 850 / 1900 or 850 / 2100
Data:	GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSPA + WiFi
Screen:	4" 480 x 854 pixels
Camera:	8 megapixels (main) 0.3 megapixels (sub)
Size:	Medium-large tablet smartphone 118 x 61 x 10mm / 124 grams
Bluetooth:	Yes
Memory card:	Not specified at time of going to press
Infra-red:	No
Polyphonic:	Yes
Java:	Optional
GPS:	Yes
OS:	Android 2.3.7
Battery life:	4.5 hours talk / 16 days standby (3G)