The Motorola Droid Won’t Be The Only Android 2.0 Handset

If you’ve been following news and announcements surrounding the Android operating system, you may have picked up on the fact that Google hasn’t announced Android 2.0 or the SDK. An official announcement hasn’t stopped Verizon from talking about this new OS, however. In fact, Verizon has said the upcoming Motorola Droid will run Android version 2.0. Word on the street says this much-hyped new Android phone will officially be announced tomorrow, October 28.

Two other recently released Android smartphones, the Samsung Moment and the Motorola CLIQ still run older versions of Android. Motorola has customized the interface on the CLIQ, but it’s still not Android 2.0. Looking at it another way, Verizon and Motorola are talking about Android 2.0 but Sprint and Samsung are still stuck at version 1.5.

The differences in version availability led Sascha Segan over at Gearlog to wonder if Motorola was getting preferential access to version 2.0. Thankfully, Segan was able to confirm that other manufacturers also have access to Android 2.0. Most notably, HTC confirmed they’ve had Android 2.0 in-house for a while now and are working on developing future devices that will run on this platform.

We’ve seen preferential treatment in the wireless industry and plenty of exclusive deals in the past, so why is the fact that multiple manufacturers are working on Android 2.0 devices important? This information is significant because Android has positioned itself as an open OS. In order for it to maintain this status, Google must not play favorites, and we’re glad to hear this doesn’t appear to be the case.