Verizon Motorola Droid 4 Announced: QWERTY Keyboard, 4G LTE Speeds

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LAS VEGAS - Just when it seemed like QWERTY keyboards were becoming a thing of the past, Verizon Wireless announced it would carry the Motorola DROID 4, the " thinnest and most powerful 4G LTE QWERTY smartphone," according to the carrier. 

The DROID 4, which is just 0.5 inches thick, packs a five-row backlit QWERTY keyboard, a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard memory, and support for up to 32GB more via a microSD card slot.  The device will run Android 2.3.5, but Verizon says it will upgrade the device to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich--just not when.

Riding Verizon's 4G LTE network--which was having a bit of trouble last month-- the DROID 4 should see download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps within Verizon's coverage area. Business-ready features include government-grade encryption (FIPS 140-2) for email, calendar and contacts; and Citrix Receiver for Android (available in webtop) for desktop virtualization and access. 

Pricing has yet to be determined, but Verizon says the phone will be available for sale in the coming weeks.

Michael A. Prospero
Laptop Reviews Editor

Michael was the Reviews Editor at Laptop Mag. During his tenure at Laptop Mag, Michael reviewed some of the best laptops at the time, including notebooks from brands like Acer, Apple, Dell, Lenovo, and Asus. He wrote in-depth, hands-on guides about laptops that defined the world of tech, but he also stepped outside of the laptop world to talk about phones and wearables. He is now the U.S. Editor-in-Chief at our sister site Tom's Guide, where he oversees all evergreen content and the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site..