Motorola Droid X full Review
The Motorola Droid X for Verizon is the latest in the Droid series and definitely the best yet. It has a 4.3″ screen that’s the largest available now and even if they get larger you probably can’t get anything bigger in your pocket. It’s resolution is 854 x 480, so even though it shares the same screen size as the Evo 4G the Droid X has a slightly larger screen. The perfect 16:9 ration also makes for great movie viewing in HD. Here’s a quick list of the hardware specs:
As you can see this thing is a beast, and the 1GHz OMAP3630 processor is blazingly fast. Playing games, running apps and surfing the web on this thing is faster than anything before it, and is very enjoyable on the large screen. The screen is the same standard LCD as the original Droid, but with more pixels of course and remains one of the best and brightest available.
On the sides of the X you have the volume up/down rocker, microUSB, micro HDMI and bright red camera button.
If you thought the screen on the Evo 4G was big, you haven’t seen anything yet. Here’s a shot of the two:
It’s actually hard to hold this thing in one hand and touch the whole screen with your thumb. If you have small hands, or are a girl, you probably don’t want the Droid X. If you have large hands and want the fastest phone ever made with the largest screen, then you have to get the Droid X.
Gaming is excellent on the X with the 3-axis accelerometers and large screen. It comes preloaded wiht a Need for Speed trial but you can get many more from the Android Market built in.
The X runs Android 2.1 with a Motoblur skin that has social networking integrated into it as well. Once you sign into your facebook account it integrates your friends into your contact list including profile pic and numbers. This is pretty useful but can also be disabled if you want a nice clean contact list of only numbers that you actually need.
Android 2.1 includes 7 home screens that can be customized with widgets or apps, and the 2.2 update will add more functionality including full support for flash 10.1 which will be nice. In combination with the HDMI out this should allow for fullscreen streaming from HULU and the like.
One disappointing thing is the included Blockbuster app. It allows you to download movies to the phone (only over wifi) and then doesn’t let you watch them on a larger tv through the HDMI out. It’s basically a waste of space. The other included apps are nice though, such as Google maps with turn by turn navigation and the likes. The turn-by-turn also works very well and my GPS got a lock in less than 30 seconds every time. It works great with the optional car dock, which I’ll have a review up for also.
Call quality was great and I still haven’t lost 3G coverage (though I haven’t travelled with it very far). The great sound quality is due to the 3 microphones on the phone, one on the front and 2 on the back to aid in noise cancellation as well as directional audio when filming video.
The 8MP camera is great and the dual LED flash is very bright, almost comparable to a standard flash when less than 10 feet. After a picture is taken there is a built-in mini photoshop program that allows you to edit the photo’s contrast, color saturation, etc and add effects like black and white or color filters. The camera uses a manual shutter (one of the only that does) which allows for very fast picture taking and great quality.
Here’s a sample photo taken with the camera at 6MP with all settings on automatic.
After you’ve used it for a couple of days you’ll never go back to normal typing. There’s also a microphone key on the keyboard which lets you just speak the words to input, a great feature to use while driving.
A 16GB microSD card is preinstalled in the phone when you get it, but can be upgraded to 32Gb. Internal storage is 8GB.
The battery life for the DroidX is what you would expect for something with a 4.3″ screen and 1GHz processor, not great. With heavy use you won’t see much over 4.5 hours, but with light use you’ll make it a full day with no problem.
Basically the DroidX is the biggest, fastest and best phone you can get (in my opinion). A smaller phone might suit your needs better, such as the Droid Incredible, but for me the X is the only way to go. It’s available exclusively from Verizon for $199 with a 2 year agreement.
- Processor: TI OMAP3630 1GHz
- Screen: 4.3″ capacitive multitouch LCD display 854×480 resolution
- 8 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash
- weight: 155g
- 802.11 b/g/n wifi + bluetooth 2.1+EDR
- microUSB 2.0 + microHDMI
- GPS/A-GPS
- accelerometer, compass, proximity/light sensor
- microSD slot (up to 32GB) 16GB included
- 8GB internal memory
- OS: Android 2.1 (will be upgraded to 2.2)
As you can see this thing is a beast, and the 1GHz OMAP3630 processor is blazingly fast. Playing games, running apps and surfing the web on this thing is faster than anything before it, and is very enjoyable on the large screen. The screen is the same standard LCD as the original Droid, but with more pixels of course and remains one of the best and brightest available.On the sides of the X you have the volume up/down rocker, microUSB, micro HDMI and bright red camera button.
If you thought the screen on the Evo 4G was big, you haven’t seen anything yet. Here’s a shot of the two:
It’s actually hard to hold this thing in one hand and touch the whole screen with your thumb. If you have small hands, or are a girl, you probably don’t want the Droid X. If you have large hands and want the fastest phone ever made with the largest screen, then you have to get the Droid X.
Gaming is excellent on the X with the 3-axis accelerometers and large screen. It comes preloaded wiht a Need for Speed trial but you can get many more from the Android Market built in.
The X runs Android 2.1 with a Motoblur skin that has social networking integrated into it as well. Once you sign into your facebook account it integrates your friends into your contact list including profile pic and numbers. This is pretty useful but can also be disabled if you want a nice clean contact list of only numbers that you actually need.
Android 2.1 includes 7 home screens that can be customized with widgets or apps, and the 2.2 update will add more functionality including full support for flash 10.1 which will be nice. In combination with the HDMI out this should allow for fullscreen streaming from HULU and the like.
One disappointing thing is the included Blockbuster app. It allows you to download movies to the phone (only over wifi) and then doesn’t let you watch them on a larger tv through the HDMI out. It’s basically a waste of space. The other included apps are nice though, such as Google maps with turn by turn navigation and the likes. The turn-by-turn also works very well and my GPS got a lock in less than 30 seconds every time. It works great with the optional car dock, which I’ll have a review up for also.
Call quality was great and I still haven’t lost 3G coverage (though I haven’t travelled with it very far). The great sound quality is due to the 3 microphones on the phone, one on the front and 2 on the back to aid in noise cancellation as well as directional audio when filming video.The 8MP camera is great and the dual LED flash is very bright, almost comparable to a standard flash when less than 10 feet. After a picture is taken there is a built-in mini photoshop program that allows you to edit the photo’s contrast, color saturation, etc and add effects like black and white or color filters. The camera uses a manual shutter (one of the only that does) which allows for very fast picture taking and great quality.
Here’s a sample photo taken with the camera at 6MP with all settings on automatic.
click for larger
As you can see the image is very sharp and I would say it’s one of the best smartphone cameras that I’ve used.
The software keyboard is massive and features multitouch which allows for very fast typing, but if you want the fastest way to type you’ll want to use Swype which is also included. Here’s a little video of typing with swype:After you’ve used it for a couple of days you’ll never go back to normal typing. There’s also a microphone key on the keyboard which lets you just speak the words to input, a great feature to use while driving.
A 16GB microSD card is preinstalled in the phone when you get it, but can be upgraded to 32Gb. Internal storage is 8GB.
The battery life for the DroidX is what you would expect for something with a 4.3″ screen and 1GHz processor, not great. With heavy use you won’t see much over 4.5 hours, but with light use you’ll make it a full day with no problem.
Basically the DroidX is the biggest, fastest and best phone you can get (in my opinion). A smaller phone might suit your needs better, such as the Droid Incredible, but for me the X is the only way to go. It’s available exclusively from Verizon for $199 with a 2 year agreement.
Apple iPhone 4
The new 4th generation iPhone from Apple is another breakthrough in mobile technology. It features the same A4 processor as the iPad, and with the improved power management can handle up to 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 7 hours 3G talk time, 40 hours of music playing, or 300 hours standby time. The design has been updated as well to a more industrial look, while also making it thinner and smaller than the current model.
iphone4
Apple has also included 802.11n wifi, assisted GPS, bluetooth, 32GB flash storage, accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, and the list goes on. As Jobs mentioned in his announcement the six-axis gyroscope should be useful for game developers to use in ushering in new types of mobile games for the iPhone.
A much needed improvement is the camera, which has been upgraded to 5MP with an LED flash that can also be used as a flashlight while filming videos. While 5MP isn’t as much resolution as the new HTC phones have, it also includes a backside-illumination sensor which results in much better photos, especially in low-light conditions.
camera
The camera is also capable of recording HD 720p video at 30 frames per second and comes with built in movie editing software for editing and uploading directly to the internet, though most users will probably want to buy the $4.99 iMovie app which features much more robust editing features than the built-in software.
iphone4
Apple has also included 802.11n wifi, assisted GPS, bluetooth, 32GB flash storage, accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, and the list goes on. As Jobs mentioned in his announcement the six-axis gyroscope should be useful for game developers to use in ushering in new types of mobile games for the iPhone.
A much needed improvement is the camera, which has been upgraded to 5MP with an LED flash that can also be used as a flashlight while filming videos. While 5MP isn’t as much resolution as the new HTC phones have, it also includes a backside-illumination sensor which results in much better photos, especially in low-light conditions.camera
The camera is also capable of recording HD 720p video at 30 frames per second and comes with built in movie editing software for editing and uploading directly to the internet, though most users will probably want to buy the $4.99 iMovie app which features much more robust editing features than the built-in software.
Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone
The new Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone features dual core Tegra 2 processors running at 1GHz, and is billed as the world’s fastest smartphone. It also comes with 1GB of RAM, and has a 960 x 540 HD 4″ screen.
You can watch movies on a full size tv with the HDMI out cable, and HD is no problem at all for the Tegra 2 graphics processor. The phone will run Android (2.3?) and have a monstrous 1930mAh hour battery that should keep the phone powered for well over a day with heavy use.
Another interesting feature is that the phone comes preloaded with something called Citrix Receiver. This allows the phone to function as a complete desktop replacement when paired with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Here’s a video from Citrix of the setup running.
Here’s a second video from Citrix showing the phone paired with a bluetooth keyboard and the phone itself acting as a trackpad; very cool.
You can watch movies on a full size tv with the HDMI out cable, and HD is no problem at all for the Tegra 2 graphics processor. The phone will run Android (2.3?) and have a monstrous 1930mAh hour battery that should keep the phone powered for well over a day with heavy use.
Another interesting feature is that the phone comes preloaded with something called Citrix Receiver. This allows the phone to function as a complete desktop replacement when paired with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Here’s a video from Citrix of the setup running.
Here’s a second video from Citrix showing the phone paired with a bluetooth keyboard and the phone itself acting as a trackpad; very cool.
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