Official Droid 2.1 update details released. To exclude new homescreen/launcher and live wallpapers.

Droid users: If you were hoping to get a nice replica of the Nexus One’s 2.1 flavor of Android, sit down and get ready for some slightly disappointing news. The launcher on the Moto DROID official 2.1 OS uses the same pull-tab launcher, not the new 3D cube style of the Nexus One. Furthermore, the live wallpapers that are gimmicky yet cool are also MIA.

It’s not all bad however. For instance, multi-touch is now supported in the browser (finally) and the News/Weather Genie widget also comes along for the ride. The rest of the performance tweaks and other doo-dads appear to be included as well. The full rundown is as follows:

• Version number to be 2.1 version 1

• Google Goggles now pre-installed

• Mutli-touch browser (no flash)

• Same homescreen — no rotating 3D effect

• No active wallpapers

• News & Weather widget included

• Performance tweaks and other under the hood tweaks are bound to be there as well

I have to ask though — for all of the DROID tinkerers (read: those who run custom ROMs), who’s even really interested in 2.1 anymore? I mean, with the help of Sholes.info and AllDroig, I’ve been rocking every piece of 2.1 on 2.0.1 for the last month and a half while being faster and less bug ridden to boot.

As for not including the new homescreen/launcher and live wallpapers, is it some artificial limitation by Google to differentiate the two phones or more because of hardware performance? I can’t imagine it has too much to do with the hardware as again, I’ve been running a live wallpaper on my DROID for a solid three weeks without any hiccup — ditto for the 3D launcher.

As far as current 2.1 custom ROMs for the DROID, the only issues that have remained are a glitch in the 3D cube launcher in landscape mode and the Nexus One live wallpaper not working. Other than that it’s just peachy. Once the official Droid 2.1 update gets into the hands of devs however, expect those last remaining issues (and omissions) to be cleared up in no time flat.

The timeline for the 2.1 DROID release is for now obscured in a shroud of unknown. As long as internal testing on VZW goes well, “within a month” doesn’t sound too far off does it? Oh well, at least we’re getting something, right?

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Author: Mike Norris

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Gadget lover, smartphone collector, and beer connoisseur. I've been writing about gadgets for three years now and loving every minute of it. Outside of the digital landscape, I enjoy being active outdoors. I'm always up for a good conversation, so feel free to drop me a line!