[Merged] Motorola Droid X

[wirelessmacuser]

Okay, now I'm jealous - you got more phones than I have! On the Droid X, I'm not dissing the phone - just felt the colors on the display weren't as vibrant as on the Galaxy S. Better is subjective. It's all in what meets your needs.

You have an advantage over me in that you can put the phones side by side. I was not able to do that as the Verizon store wouldn't lend me a phone to walk over to the T Mobile store. Imagine that.

I am on the fence with phones right now. Been having a lot of issues with AT&T on poor signal. If I had the option, I would carry all 3 phones and keep the one that dropped the least amount of calls.

One thing to keep in mind, is Motorola's default brightness setting is at about 60% of full brightness, whereas Samsung's default setting is 80%. When both are set equally there's very little difference. Also the Super Amoled is very close to the quality of the iPhone 4. *It's quite surprising. The difference between the Galaxy & the Droid X is also very little. All three displays are excellent.*

As far as phone reception on AT&T, I maintain two active lines. One for my iPhone and one for another smartphone like my current BlackBerry 9700. This BlackBerry performs far better as a phone than my iPhone 4. And yet that's not unusual. I've had every model of iPhone since the beginning,*what I've found is, in general Apple iPhones have always performed poorly as a phone. Using another brand on AT&T results in excellent call quality and connectivity. Where I live it's been just as good as my Verizon service over the last five years.*

 

[PlatinuM195]

This is directed at some previous comments who said android (on a decent phone) wasn't noticeably laggier than iOS on the iPhone.

I made this video showing the Nexus One vs iPhone 4 (this isn't my video either, it's taken from 2 simple video reviews).

Also, if you do a simple search on youtube, something like 'HTC Desire vs iPhone' or 'Nexus One vs iPhone' and simply view the top video, you get something like this.

I'm not saying I don't like the Android platform, in fact if there was less of a fragmentation problem and less of this lag (yes I get very annoyed by input lag, general UI lag) then I'd probably jump on Android. However according to videos it can't be denied that there is some jerkiness in the interface, even in simple web browsing, multitouch zooming and just swiping between home screens even.

 

[Wicked1]

Open Handset Alliance:

Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile.

VS

Apple.

Android marketshare growing, apple (and everyone else) losing marketshare.

Figure it out.

One thing to consider Apple is sold only at AT&T here in the USA and look at how much market share one product has, BB and Android based phones are sold on every carrier with multiple models, so when you look at the whole picture Apple is kicking A$$ and taking names. Also look at all the ppl drooling over the fact that they want the iPhone on all the other carriers, if that happens, you can say goodbye to the BB and Android market share, it will be not worth even calculating the numbers but I do not personally see that happening anytime soon.

 

[maflynn]

Pentile actually makes things look softer, which is the opposite of "horrible aliasing." But keep acting like you know everything.

So have you even looked at a phone that used AMOLED displays - well, actually I can tell you haven't since you posted that.

My Nexus which used pentile matrix and AMOLED actually had better looking text then the iPhone 3Gs. It was bested by the IP4, but not by much. The text was very crisp and easy to read.

 

[Compile 'em all]

So have you even looked at a phone that used AMOLED displays - well, actually I can tell you haven't since you posted that.

My Nexus which used pentile matrix and AMOLED actually had better looking text then the iPhone 3Gs. It was bested by the IP4, but not by much. The text was very crisp and easy to read.

Really? Have you ever used that phone outside? You know, where the sun is?

 

[maflynn]

Really? Have you ever used that phone outside? You know, where the sun is?

Yes of course and it performed poorly but what phone doesn't. I was able to use it, but clearly it was inferior to LCDs.

Either way I was refuting the other posters point that AMOLED displays are horribly anti-aliased and have issues displaying text.

 

[Vihzel]

These are the homescreens that I have currently set up on my Droid X with LauncherPro app:

Homescreens from Left -> Right:

Far left screen notes: Moto status update widget, Droid folders, foreign language study widgets
Left screen notes: Weather Channel widget, Reuters Top News widget, Google Search widget, apps
Main screen notes: A time, date, and weather widget called Beautiful Widgets Home, calendar widget
Right screen notes: Pandora widget, picture frame widget w/ direct link to photos, music player widget, apps
Far right screen notes: Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, and Vibrate/Silence toggle widgets, Task widget, and apps

Lockscreen & App Drawer:

What I absolutely love about Android: Customization.

I can add a huge selection of widgets to my home screen so I don't have to go into the app... choices, choices, choices.
I can change the looks and sizes of many of my widgets to what I want them to look like.
I can do a 5x5 icon/widget set up instead of a 4x4 setup on my homescreens.
I can decide if I'd like a 3D App Drawer or a 2D App Drawer.
I can decide if I'd just like 1 homescreen or 7 homescreens.
I can customize the look of every single piece of app icon on the screen, including the ones on the dock.
I can rename any one of my apps on the screen to what I prefer.
I can easily make my layout like the Apple's iOS4 by having rows of icons and folders... if I really wanted to make it look like it.
I can change the number of docks I want from 1 to 3, so either I can have 5, 10, or 15 dock apps at the simple swipe of a finger from any homescreen.
I can have my homescreens in landscape mode.
I can select what I want my home key to do.
I can choose my dock background.
I can hide my icon labels.
I can long press my home key to have a quick pop up of my latest used apps to quickly switch back and forth (like the iOS 4 does).
I can change my static wallpaper into a wide variety of live, interactive wallpapers.
I can add widgets directly to my lockscreen.
I can do all of this and keep my warranty.
I can decide to go back to the manufacturer's UI.

Most important:
I can truly make my phone look like no other and suited for my own tastes and design philosophies.

What I absolutely love about this unrooted UI: Silky smooth transitions and speed.

 

[Pravda]

Yeah.

The only thing i'm envious of the droid users is the widgets and notifications,
but i'm a very patient man.

 

[wreckshop]

So have you even looked at a phone that used AMOLED displays - well, actually I can tell you haven't since you posted that.

Lol I know what an AMOLED screen looks like since I own an N1.

My Nexus which used pentile matrix and AMOLED actually had better looking text then the iPhone 3Gs. It was bested by the IP4, but not by much. The text was very crisp and easy to read.

Well of course the text looks better on an N1, the resolution is much higher. Compared to a droid, the text on an N1 is fuzzy. I personally don't care. But thats what happens with pentile matrix.

 

[Vihzel]

Yeah.

The only thing i'm envious of the droid users is the widgets and notifications,
but i'm a very patient man.

All in due time Apple will allow them. "When?" is the question.

What I love about Apple's iOS4 UI is just the simplicity of it and ease of use. It's very straightforward. If I was a new smartphone user, it would make me feel comfortable and at ease.

What I don't like about it is "What you see is what you get. No exceptions... well, now you can have a wallpaper after 3 years!" I'm discovering new widgets, new UI customization capabilities, new ways to implement things (as in like updates for widgets that brings new features as one example). It keeps me interested. What I've observed from Apple iOS4 users is... "Where did you get that wallpaper?"

 

[dark5]

Lol I know what an AMOLED screen looks like since I own an N1.



Well of course the text looks better on an N1, the resolution is much higher. Compared to a droid, the text on an N1 is fuzzy. I personally don't care. But thats what happens with pentile matrix.

I assume his post was directed at me. In any case, I'll direct both of you to this post.

So basically my post about terrible aliasing still stands. Or would you prefer i say terribly lazy aliasing? I'm not particularly partial to either one.

 

[Phokus]

These are the homescreens that I have currently set up on my Droid X with LauncherPro app:

Homescreens from Left -> Right:

Far left screen notes: Moto status update widget, Droid folders, foreign language study widgets
Left screen notes: Weather Channel widget, Reuters Top News widget, Google Search widget, apps
Main screen notes: A time, date, and weather widget called Beautiful Widgets Home, calendar widget
Right screen notes: Pandora widget, picture frame widget w/ direct link to photos, music player widget, apps
Far right screen notes: Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, and Vibrate/Silence toggle widgets, Task widget, and apps

Lockscreen & App Drawer:

What I absolutely love about Android: Customization.

I can add a huge selection of widgets to my home screen so I don't have to go into the app... choices, choices, choices.
I can change the looks and sizes of many of my widgets to what I want them to look like.
I can do a 5x5 icon/widget set up instead of a 4x4 setup on my homescreens.
I can decide if I'd like a 3D App Drawer or a 2D App Drawer.
I can decide if I'd just like 1 homescreen or 7 homescreens.
I can customize the look of every single piece of app icon on the screen, including the ones on the dock.
I can rename any one of my apps on the screen to what I prefer.
I can easily make my layout like the Apple's iOS4 by having rows of icons and folders... if I really wanted to make it look like it.
I can change the number of docks I want from 1 to 3, so either I can have 5, 10, or 15 dock apps at the simple swipe of a finger from any homescreen.
I can have my homescreens in landscape mode.
I can select what I want my home key to do.
I can choose my dock background.
I can hide my icon labels.
I can long press my home key to have a quick pop up of my latest used apps to quickly switch back and forth (like the iOS 4 does).
I can change my static wallpaper into a wide variety of live, interactive wallpapers.
I can add widgets directly to my lockscreen.
I can do all of this and keep my warranty.
I can decide to go back to the manufacturer's UI.

Most important:
I can truly make my phone look like no other and suited for my own tastes and design philosophies.

What I absolutely love about this unrooted UI: Silky smooth transitions and speed.

Nice layout man. That's the difference between android and iOS... android is for grownups. I mean, yeah, it's great that the iphone is easy enough for senior citizens to use, but uh, for people who aren't dinosaurs, you can turn your android phone into a real workhorse.

 

[Vihzel]

Nice layout man. That's the difference between android and iOS... android is for grownups. I mean, yeah, it's great that the iphone is easy enough for senior citizens to use, but uh, for people who aren't dinosaurs, you can turn your android phone into a real workhorse.

Thank you very much! I really do hope that in time, sooner than later, Apple will allow massive customization of their mobile OS platform. I, even though I am an Android user, really do love the look of the iPhone 4. I would change one thing on it though in terms of design; I would like the screen to be bigger. Ever since going to a 4.3" screen on the X, the 3.5" screen just looks a bit tiny. I have an iPod Touch so I can directly compare, hehe.

If Apple had the customization ability of the Android platform and if the iPhone 4 had perhaps a 4" screen size, it would be a serious contender for my interests in a phone. After being spoiled by what the Android UI can look like and what it can provide, I can never see myself going to Apple's platform and have a phone that essentially looks like millions upon millions of other people's phones. As some people would say... "Dare to be different." ...and I don't mean that as in go buy a WinMo or Palm device. lol I mean as in UI design.

By the way...in bold... lol

 

[Olivia23]

I just wanted to say I had the Drioid for about 6 months and did not like it. Sure widgets are nice, but guess what, it drains the battery and as for all that stuff you can do with adding more screens etc. it slows down scrolling through the screens.

With iPhone I don't have problems with screen lag. Smooth scrolling all the way through my many screens, and if I decide it's too many screens, I can put my apps into folders to tidy it up. No screen lag or crashing from the apps I've installed.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

Nice layout man. That's the difference between android and iOS... android is for grownups. I mean, yeah, it's great that the iphone is easy enough for senior citizens to use, but uh, for people who aren't dinosaurs, you can turn your android phone into a real workhorse.

Your "theory" doesn't seem to explain why I (a tech savvy <23 year old) couldn't wait to get rid of my Android phone (N1). This iPhone, for me, is 1000x better than all the sh***y Android phones I've used put together.

 

[quotison]

Nice layout man. That's the difference between android and iOS... android is for grownups. I mean, yeah, it's great that the iphone is easy enough for senior citizens to use, but uh, for people who aren't dinosaurs, you can turn your android phone into a real workhorse.

Just because something can be customized, doesn't mean that's something that actually increases the capabilities of the phone. Some of what was listed in the post you quoted were 3D app drawers, live wallpapers, 5x5 icons instead of 4x4,etc. If you like that and that makes the phone more enjoyable to use, great, but that's not terribly important to "grownup" getting real work done.

What's more important for many is that the default settings are really good, because a lot of people don't have time for limitless customization. Reviews I've read of the Droid X are often critical of Motorola's default interface. And that's a big problem for people that don't have the time or desire to undo all that.

This isn't to say that iOS wouldn't be improved by some more customization features - for example, I'd think a customized lock screen would be an improvement. But Android users often try to advance the idea that more customization is a universal good, unless you're a senior citizen/a dinosaur/an idiot, and that just isn't true.

 

[Vihzel]

I just wanted to say I had the Drioid for about 6 months and did not like it. Sure widgets are nice, but guess what, it drains the battery and as for all that stuff you can do with adding more screens etc. it slows down scrolling through the screens.

With iPhone I don't have problems with screen lag. Smooth scrolling all the way through my many screens, and if I decide it's too many screens, I can put my apps into folders to tidy it up. No screen lag or crashing from the apps I've installed.

Keep in mind... the 1Ghz Snapdragon, Hummingbird, and OMAP's are much faster than the processor in the Droid. It's hard to compare current Androids with the past Android because there has been many improvements since 11/09. Even though I have those many widgets on my homescreens, my battery is still spectacular. I've had it unplugged for the past 7 hours and am at 82% with the Display taking up 55% of it and with Wifi on.

Also keep in mind... FROYO. That will change everything in terms of performance. This with 2.1 is already buttery smooth. I can't wait to see what 2.2 does to it.

I have had up to 7 screens on my X and experience no lag whatsoever... same goes with the 3D App Drawer. Again... the 1Ghz processors are a huge improvement over the 550Mhz processor in the original Droid, especially with the Droid X since it has such great battery life management. I will be purchasing also the 1930mAh extended battery in August that will add 1mm in thickness and keep it as my main and have my 1530mAh as a backup for long days.

 

[Bonds79]

These are the homescreens that I have currently set up on my Droid X with LauncherPro app:

Homescreens from Left -> Right:

Far left screen notes: Moto status update widget, Droid folders, foreign language study widgets
Left screen notes: Weather Channel widget, Reuters Top News widget, Google Search widget, apps
Main screen notes: A time, date, and weather widget called Beautiful Widgets Home, calendar widget
Right screen notes: Pandora widget, picture frame widget w/ direct link to photos, music player widget, apps
Far right screen notes: Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, and Vibrate/Silence toggle widgets, Task widget, and apps

Lockscreen & App Drawer:

What I absolutely love about Android: Customization.

I can add a huge selection of widgets to my home screen so I don't have to go into the app... choices, choices, choices.
I can change the looks and sizes of many of my widgets to what I want them to look like.
I can do a 5x5 icon/widget set up instead of a 4x4 setup on my homescreens.
I can decide if I'd like a 3D App Drawer or a 2D App Drawer.
I can decide if I'd just like 1 homescreen or 7 homescreens.
I can customize the look of every single piece of app icon on the screen, including the ones on the dock.
I can rename any one of my apps on the screen to what I prefer.
I can easily make my layout like the Apple's iOS4 by having rows of icons and folders... if I really wanted to make it look like it.
I can change the number of docks I want from 1 to 3, so either I can have 5, 10, or 15 dock apps at the simple swipe of a finger from any homescreen.
I can have my homescreens in landscape mode.
I can select what I want my home key to do.
I can choose my dock background.
I can hide my icon labels.
I can long press my home key to have a quick pop up of my latest used apps to quickly switch back and forth (like the iOS 4 does).
I can change my static wallpaper into a wide variety of live, interactive wallpapers.
I can add widgets directly to my lockscreen.
I can do all of this and keep my warranty.
I can decide to go back to the manufacturer's UI.

Most important:
I can truly make my phone look like no other and suited for my own tastes and design philosophies.

What I absolutely love about this unrooted UI: Silky smooth transitions and speed.

How did the add the 3d app screen on droid x and how do you go down to just 1 homescreen wallpaper?

 

[Bonds79]

These are the homescreens that I have currently set up on my Droid X with LauncherPro app:

Homescreens from Left -> Right:

Far left screen notes: Moto status update widget, Droid folders, foreign language study widgets
Left screen notes: Weather Channel widget, Reuters Top News widget, Google Search widget, apps
Main screen notes: A time, date, and weather widget called Beautiful Widgets Home, calendar widget
Right screen notes: Pandora widget, picture frame widget w/ direct link to photos, music player widget, apps
Far right screen notes: Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, and Vibrate/Silence toggle widgets, Task widget, and apps

Lockscreen & App Drawer:

What I absolutely love about Android: Customization.

I can add a huge selection of widgets to my home screen so I don't have to go into the app... choices, choices, choices.
I can change the looks and sizes of many of my widgets to what I want them to look like.
I can do a 5x5 icon/widget set up instead of a 4x4 setup on my homescreens.
I can decide if I'd like a 3D App Drawer or a 2D App Drawer.
I can decide if I'd just like 1 homescreen or 7 homescreens.
I can customize the look of every single piece of app icon on the screen, including the ones on the dock.
I can rename any one of my apps on the screen to what I prefer.
I can easily make my layout like the Apple's iOS4 by having rows of icons and folders... if I really wanted to make it look like it.
I can change the number of docks I want from 1 to 3, so either I can have 5, 10, or 15 dock apps at the simple swipe of a finger from any homescreen.
I can have my homescreens in landscape mode.
I can select what I want my home key to do.
I can choose my dock background.
I can hide my icon labels.
I can long press my home key to have a quick pop up of my latest used apps to quickly switch back and forth (like the iOS 4 does).
I can change my static wallpaper into a wide variety of live, interactive wallpapers.
I can add widgets directly to my lockscreen.
I can do all of this and keep my warranty.
I can decide to go back to the manufacturer's UI.

Most important:
I can truly make my phone look like no other and suited for my own tastes and design philosophies.

What I absolutely love about this unrooted UI: Silky smooth transitions and speed.

How did the add the 3d app screen on droid x and how do you go down to just 1 homescreen instead of 7 ? i hate that the wallpaper spans 7 screens

 

[Vihzel]

This isn't to say that iOS wouldn't be improved by some more customization features - for example, I'd think a customized lock screen would be an improvement. But Android users often try to advance the idea that more customization is a universal good, unless you're a senior citizen/a dinosaur/an idiot, and that just isn't true.

Again, my problem with Apple is that they don't give you the choice to be able to highly customize it. You can have folders, apps, and wallpapers. What else is there to customize in the UI appearance? What Android users are saying is that the choice of more customization is a good thing. If people are completely satisfied by what Apple has to offer them, that's great. If people want more customization than what Apple has to offer them... there's no choice. You must follow Apple or void your warranty. HTC's Sense UI interface is very, very well done if you want to go just by manufacturer. Motorola's UI on the Droid X... not so much. I wouldn't have bought the X if I was forced to be under Motorola's guidelines. It's nice to know that there are such options as Helix Launcher, ADW Launcher, Launcher Pro, and so forth from the Market (with Launcher Pro being my favorite).

Again... it's choice.

 

[kenypowa]

This is directed at some previous comments who said android (on a decent phone) wasn't noticeably laggier than iOS on the iPhone.

I made this video showing the Nexus One vs iPhone 4 (this isn't my video either, it's taken from 2 simple video reviews).

Also, if you do a simple search on youtube, something like 'HTC Desire vs iPhone' or 'Nexus One vs iPhone' and simply view the top video, you get something like this.

I'm not saying I don't like the Android platform, in fact if there was less of a fragmentation problem and less of this lag (yes I get very annoyed by input lag, general UI lag) then I'd probably jump on Android. However according to videos it can't be denied that there is some jerkiness in the interface, even in simple web browsing, multitouch zooming and just swiping between home screens even.

There is some jerkiness in 2.1. Now that Froyo is out. Try it again and it's much smoother and faster. In fact, if you have custom mod such as Cyanogen, the phone is faster than iPhone 4.

 

[Vihzel]

How did the add the 3d app screen on droid x and how do you go down to just 1 homescreen instead of 7 ? i hate that the wallpaper spans 7 screens

Again... it's the Launcher Pro app. It's essentially a UI option in the Marketplace that will completely change the look of your phone's UI appearance. There's nothing difficult about it. Steps: Search "LauncherPro", download and install (automatic), launch app, and there you go. Now all of my customizations are available to you. All of the phone's functions like settings still all work. What's simply different is the UI.

In the Preferences section of the UI (which you can find just by pressing the Menu button), you can change if you want to have a 3D app drawer or a 2D app drawer. There is also another option for you to choose how many home screens you would like.... 1, 3, 5, or 7. I prefer 5 because it's very hard for me to fill up 7 screens. There's also another option to where you can make the wallpaper not move across all 7 screens. It will simply stay static to each screen.

It's all about choices and what you prefer. I actually like the wallpaper moving across, while others, like yourself, do not like it. It's something different that we can choose to make our phones more suited to our own different tastes.

Anyways... it's time for me to take a nap before work. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I will answer.

 

[wreckshop]

I assume his post was directed at me. In any case, I'll direct both of you to this post.

So basically my post about terrible aliasing still stands. Or would you prefer i say terribly lazy aliasing? I'm not particularly partial to either one.

Get your terminology straight if ur gonna try to come off as a know it all.

The term aliasing as applied to graphics means jagged jagged edges. Anti-aliasing smooths out jagged edges. The pentile matrix makes things look soft. So therefore its not "terribly lazy aliasing" (wtf is that supposed to even mean??)

 

[wreckshop]

Your "theory" doesn't seem to explain why I (a tech savvy <23 year old) couldn't wait to get rid of my Android phone (N1). This iPhone, for me, is 1000x better than all the sh***y Android phones I've used put together.

Because ur an apple homer? My supposedly tech savvy roomie used to swear up and down that his one button hockey puck mouse was superior to my 7 button ergonomic intellimouse with a scroll wheel.

 

[wreckshop]

Your "theory" doesn't seem to explain why I (a tech savvy <23 year old) couldn't wait to get rid of my Android phone (N1). This iPhone, for me, is 1000x better than all the sh***y Android phones I've used put together.

Because ur an apple homer? My supposedly tech savvy roomie (total apple homer) used to swear up and down that his one button hockey puck mouse was superior to my 7 button ergonomic intellimouse with a scroll wheel.