Motorola takes gloves off with new ‘No Jacket Required’ ad

Today’s New York Times has a gem of an ad from Motorola (MOT) touting its Droid X’s antennas vs. a certain someone else’s.

“At Motorola, we believe a customer shouldn’t have to dress up their phone for it to work properly. That’s why the DROID X comes with a dual antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like to make crystal clear calls without a bulky phone jacket. For us it’s just one of those things that comes as a given when you’ve been making mobile phones for over 30 years.”

Last week, Apple (AAPL) continued its Antennagate promotions by uploading a video of the Droid X being held in a death grip fashion dropping bars — like all phones do.

Apple failed to show the Droid X being touched by flesh and dropping bars/calls, however.  The fix for that weak spot on the exposed iPhone 4 antenna is a ‘bumper’, now supplied by Apple for free.

Motorola seems to want to point out that its Droid X doesn’t need that bumper to keep its signal.

During a FORTUNE Brainstorm Tech interview with Stephanie Mehta, Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha said that in comparison to Apple, “I think Android is innovating at a faster pace.”  Following the panel, Jha shared more of his thoughts on Apple when he took part in an online Q&A with participants who watched Fortune Brainstorm Tech virtually.  One asked:

Q: How do you feel about Apple posting video showing its own “death grip” testing of Motorola’s new Droid X Smartphone?  It this a fair business practice?  Any intention to respond—if so, how?

Jha answered: “You know, I heard (probably apocryphal) that the most popular voice message on iPhone4 was, “Sorry I can’t answer your call, because I am holding my phone!”. I don’t think this is an issue with Droid X.”

Full ad, below: