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Motorola's Droid 4 to arrive Friday on Verizon

New QWERTY slider boasts dual cameras, LTE, increased security... for $199. Available Friday.

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Eric Mack
2 min read
Are these the ones you're looking for? Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET

Whether or not these Droids are the ones you're looking for, Motorola continues to push them out. Today Verizon confirmed that the Droid 4 will be available this Friday, February 10, for $199 with a new two-year contract.

We first got our hands on this latest addition to the Droid franchise at CES last month and found it should be sure to please old-school Droid and slide-out keyboard fans.

The new Droid is a 4G LTE performer, powered by a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread to start--Verizon promises an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich is in the works. The 8 megapixel camera is capable of grabbing 1080p HD video and there's also a handy HDMI out. Alongside the 4 inch qHD display is a front-facing camera for Skype or other video chat platforms.

Verizon likes to say "the DROID 4 is the thinnest and most powerful 4G QWERTY smartphone measuring at less than half an inch thin." That's some serious spin, as the truth is this phone has a relatively thick profile, but such is the price slider fans must pay for the privilege to push actual keys. As we discovered at CES though, its QWERTY keyboard has a nice feel to it and the edge-lit keys are great for texting in the dark.

Verizon is also trying to spin another new angle for this latest Droid--that it's a worthy business class device. The carrier's press release touts the Droid 4's "Government-grade encryption (FIPS 140-2) for email, calendar and contacts."

Motorola also reprises the docking concept it first attempted in earnest with last year's Atrix 4G. The new phone can connect to a $299 Lapdock 500 that features a 14-inch display, full keyboard and built-in webcam. The Droid 4 will be the fifth compatible phone for the Lapdock 500, along with the Photon 4G, Droid Bionic, Droid Razr and Razr Maxx.

Coinciding with the Friday launch will also be a re-launch of Verizon's double data deal, getting you 4 GB for your $30 a month instead of the regular 2 GB. Even if you're not sure about the Droids, odds are that's the free extra data you've been looking for.