Motorola's top Droid hits the infoSync testing labs. Read the full Motorola Droid X review here.
Motorola Droid X Overview
Call it an iPhone killer—a device that makes the HTC EVO 4G shake in its boots. The Motorola Droid X is by far the most powerful Android phone we've tested to date, and our consensus is that it can't really get any better than this within the wide world of smartphones at the present moment. The Motorola Droid X for Verizon Wireless takes everything we loved about the original Droid and Droid 2, sheds the QWERTY keyboard, and pulls a Stretch Armstrong with the capacitive touch screen, giving gamers, movie junkies, and Internet addicts an expansive plain to swipe, tap, and pinch away on. Motorola also bulked up the camera, offering an 8-megapixel sensor with dual LED flash and 720p video. Does the image quality transcend the iPhone 4? You'll just have to read on to find out. But we will tell you that between the Droid X's premiere OMAP processor and rock solid Verizon coverage, this was one of the quickest phones we've ever tinkered with, and the best news is that the Android 2.2 upgrade will most likely blast it into warp speed.
Motorola Droid X Design
It's big and gawky. Don't expect the slim, refined chassis of a Samsung Captivate or beautiful architecture of an iPhone 4. The Motorola Droid X is tall and features a lip along its backside that leads to a protruding ledge where the 8-megapixel camera and dual LED flash dwell. On the plus side, the Droid X resides more along the rugged shores than most of the flimsy constructions we see in this genre of phone, like the Samsung Vibrant with its frail plastic back panel. The Droid X has a metal back hatch that contains the battery and 32GB capacity MicroSD card slot. The good news is that the Droid X comes with a 16GB Micro SD card and 8GB of internal memory. Unfortunately, the battery must be removed in order to access the MicroSD card.
The left side of the Droid X houses the USB terminal and HDMI port. That's right—you can connect the Droid X to an HDTV, just like you can with the HTC EVO 4G. An HDMI cable is, of course, not included. On top, Motorola placed the Power/Lock switch right smack dab in the middle with an accompanying 3.5mm audio jack right next door. We like the Power/Lock switch on top rather than on the side like the Samsung Captivate because it's not as easy to accidentally trip. The right side is home to the volume rocker, which is too small, and Camera Shutter button.
What's interesting about the Motorola Droid X's screen is that the same screen is used on the Motorola Droid 2. This was one of the few arenas we though Motorola could have pumped more power into the phone. We're not saying the 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen FWVGA resolution (854 by 480 pixels) screen is inadequate, but with the Galaxy S AMOLED technology and Apple's Retina display, the Motorola Droid X lags slightly behind. For a super duper entertainment device, we'd expect the best screen on the market, but the Motorola Droid X still provides one of the better displays out there.
We liked the tangible panel of buttons found at the base of the Droid X's screen: Menu, Home, Back, and Search. This also prevented inadvertent button pressing, and it was nice to see a phone that still used real buttons instead of relying completely on a screen. All in all, our experience with the Droid X was a very good one, speaking from an external perspective.
Motorola Droid X Interface and Navigation
But what about an internal perspective? The Motorola Droid X proceeded to shine in the inside as well, proving itself as one of the fastest smartphones we've ever used. That's due in part to the Motorola Droid X's 1GHz OMAP 3630 45nm processor, which is one of the quickest processors on the market. The other part was Verizon's killer coverage. We took a Samsung Captivate and loaded web pages with the Droid X side-by-side, and the speed difference was remarkable. This was carried out in multiple locations, with nearly the same results every time. For Graphics, the Motorola Droid X features a PowerVR SGX GPU, which we found to be more than adequate for gaming.
Although the Motorola Droid X runs Android 2.1, a 2.2 upgrade is waiting in the wings, and should be here within the coming weeks. For now, Android 2.1 is still a good OS, but 2.2 will allow Droid X users to play flash content like YouTube videos right from within the browser, supports voice dialing over Bluetooth, improved Exchange support, and the ability to store applications on the MicroSD card, to name a few. Speed is also a big upgrade, and Android 2.2 offers up to a 3x speed improvement using the V8 engine for Android regarding JavaScript-heavy web pages. Furthermore, native applications get a 2x-5x performance speedup, thanks to the new Dalvik JIT compiler. Lastly, Android 2.2 claims faster app switching and smoother performance on memory-constrained devices. We can vouch for all of this after reviewing the Android 2.2-clad Motorola Droid 2.
So aside from the pending 2.2 update, the Motorola Droid X employs Motoblur UI, which offers widgets and a nicely honed navigation experience. For instance, we could set our Airplane, Bluetooth, GPS, and WiFi settings individually with customizable buttons, setup our favorite contacts with quick tabs, showcase a live gallery of our most recent pictures taken, and customize numerous live feeds that included Facebook, Weather, Twitter, Calendar, Email, and News. We got 7 home screens, and since the Motorola Droid X was so fast, we were able to fly through each screen in a matter of milliseconds. All of our Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Google contacts could be merged together in our contacts list. As far as applications, we had the Android market at our disposal, High Quality YouTube access, Blockbuster, and Amazon MP3 to name a few preloaded. The Motorola Droid X is also DLNA equipped, allowing us to stream our content from the phone to a variety of devices like an HDTV or another phone.
Motorola Droid X Voice Quality/Battery Life
More accolades go to the Motorola Droid X when it came to talking. The phone has three microphones, which specialize in noise cancellation; leading to a great performance that matched the best smartphones we've seen this year. Stellar Verizon coverage helped too, and we never experienced dropped calls or static. Compared to the Sony Ericsson X10 we just reviewed, the Droid X trounced all over it when it came to coverage and voice quality.
Battery life, on the other hand, fell more in line with the Samsung Galaxy S phones. It wasn't great, but it was enough to last most of the day. While the Motorola Droid 2 exhibited the best battery performance of its ilk, that phone might be an avenue you'd want to take if you are heavy on the battery-sucking applications.
Motorola Droid X Still Image/Video Quality
Sadly, the Motorola Droid X did not have what it takes in the digital imaging department. With an 8-megapixel camera, we got a fairly sizable resolution for a smartphone, but not the quality to match. If you spend most of your time uploading your images to social networking sites, then the Motorola Droid X will be fine, thanks to its large resolution. However, the discerning photographer will not be pleased with the majority of images that are smeared with noise and lack sharpness. We also experienced discoloration in the form of blocky compression along contrasts and edges, so our experience was akin to the Motorola Droid 2's, aside from the fact that was had more resolution to play with.
The camera interface was also not as user-friendly as the Samsung Galaxy S phones because there were a lot of steps to take in order to jump in and out of your favorite shooting mode. Rather than give us a multi-paned icon table filled with shooting options, we had to scroll from left to right, and the interface was a bit sluggish. Simple things like Macro mode and Panorama took a while to select, and we found ourselves missing out on shots because of this. As far as the level of control the Droid X offered, that was one of its strengths, but the image quality just couldn't cut it.
Although we had 720p HD video, we weren't very impressed. At full resolution, motion was exhibited stepping along edges and there was an overall lack of detail present in all of our videos. The Motorola Droid X offered Slow Motion and Effects in Video mode, but the resolution was tiny and the quality tanked to early 90's webcam-grade proportions. Again, for YouTube, the Motorola Droid X videos are passable, but would not really impress a room full of guests when hooked up to an HDTV. The iPhone 4 still wins in the digital imaging category.
Motorola Droid X Final Answer
A phone that packs so much power is not hard to come by these days, but the Motorola Droid X offers more than the average bear. It's a lightning quick phone, thanks to one of the best processors on the market, offers great coverage, has a seemingly endless supply of applications, a giant 4.3-inch screen, and an upcoming Android 2.2 upgrade. Tack on DLNA connectivity, Exchange support, 24GB of storage capacity out of the box, and lots of Google love. We weren't crazy about the Motorola Droid X's image quality, location of the MicroSD card slot, and felt that Motorola could have done a little better with the screen. Also, we don't get a front facing camera like the iPhone 4 and HTC EVO 4G. But all in all, the Motorola Droid X is one of the best of the best, and is definitely worth taking a look at.
Price and Release Date
The Motorola Droid X for Verizon Wireless is available now for $300 with a new two-year contract. A $100 mail-in rebate will be given when signing up for a qualifying plan.
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