Star Wars Fans Get the Ultimate Phone

For $200 (or considerably lower) you can buy the Motorola Droid 2. And for $249 you can buy the Motorola Droid R2-D2.

In one of the all-time great examples of taking a pun to its logical conclusion, Verizon is releasing a special Star Wars-themed edition of its next major smartphone release. The theming covers both hardware and software.

From a hardware perspective, the back of the handset includes etches related to the R2-D2 character, while the phone ships in a carbonite-style case (think Han Solo between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi if you don’t immediately get the reference.) There’s also a custom-made dock, though beyond being white and plastic-looking, the connection isn’t so clear there.

From a software perspective, there’s a barrage of Star Wars material, ranging from ringtones and wallpapers, to a special start-up sequence. There’s also a special app that turns the phone into binoculars. Sadly this isn’t literally the case, but rather the phone offers a special 360 degree view of the Battle of Hoth.

There’ll be an unspecified “limited number” of the R2-D2 handsets available at launch this Thursday.