R2-D2 Droid 2 edition to arrive in September

Tucked neatly at the end of last week's Verizon Wireless announcement for the Droid 2 was a short paragraph promising a "Star Wars"-inspired R2-D2 version of the hot new smartphone. Without giving many special details, interested buyers were told to look for it online in September. Well, that's just not good enough to Android and "Star Wars" fanboys. We had to know what a phone with "hardware designed to look like the trusty Droid" actually looks like. And thanks to the power of the Internet, we do now.

Over the weekend, one of Verizon's official twitter accounts posted the picture you see to the right. As you can clearly see, the phone bears more than a passing resemblance to our favorite little Astromech. The entire back of the phone looks exactly like R2-D2 with a white base for the design. Inside, the handset will mirror the standard Droid 2 with its 1GHz processor, Android 2.2, 3.7-inch display, and more. Look for the Artoo edition on September 30 through Verizon's online channels.

For added fun, the carrier has also opened up a mini Web site dedicated to the handset. Point your browser to droiddoes.com/r2d2 to sign up to receive updates and ultimately download images, wallpapers, and apps as they become available. Verizon has also resurrected its DroidLanding twitter account to help interested parties keep up with R2-D2. Perhaps we'll see R2 units scattered across the United States ahead of the official release?