[Merged] Motorola Droid X

[PlatinuM195]

HTC's Sense UI interface is very, very well done if you want to go just by manufacturer.

Aren't they getting rid of the ability to apply custom manufacturer skins in Android 3.0 in October?

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.

That sounds great I have been tempted to either just get iPhone 4, or see if Android 3.0 fixes the jerkiness and somewhat alleviates fragmentation problems of the general Android platform.

 

[Vihzel]

Aren't they getting rid of the ability to apply custom manufacturer skins in Android 3.0 in October?

That sounds great I have been tempted to either just get iPhone 4, or see if Android 3.0 fixes the jerkiness and somewhat alleviates fragmentation problems of the general Android platform.

I'm not exactly sure what's coming along with Gingerbread other than a complete UI overhaul. I'm just preoccupied with 2.2 right now with my X. lol I can't wait until Motorola updates it in August. That's when the real tests should begin with browser tests with iOS4 vs. Froyo. It's much more logical to compare those two since they're much closer in release date as compared to Eclair.

 

[JustLeft]

Agree. The 2.2 update on my N1 made a night and day difference on the phone. Never have had an update on any platform that made that much of a difference. Whether that is because 2.2 was so good or 2.1 was so bad is the topic of another conversation!

The iphone 4 is my main phone. If they ever get notifications right on the iphone, and they aren't close at the moment, I would be ecstatic.

Android has it's issues. I have little nits with it such as the ability to move apps to the card, but the developer of each app has to enable it. Or the ability to back up application data, but again, the developer has to enable it.

Each has it pluses and minuses. Using both Android and ios4 gets me the best of both worlds. Using caldav to sync calendars keeps my calendar synced across all platforms. Doesn't get better than that.

I'm not exactly sure what's coming along with Gingerbread other than a complete UI overhaul. I'm just preoccupied with 2.2 right now with my X. lol I can't wait until Motorola updates it in August. That's when the real tests should begin with browser tests with iOS4 vs. Froyo. It's much more logical to compare those two since they're much closer in release date as compared to Eclair.

 

[nfrs2000]

i'm amazed how many android users are in the iphone forum...

Because they all want iPhones. And then they say how much better their crap is because they realize that Verizon isnt getting it, so they try to bash the iPhone that they have been secretly in love with.

 

[BadMoon]

This is probably a dumb question but oh well. Is there an LED notification light on the front of the Droid X that lets you know you missed a text or a call (similar to a blackberry)?

Can anyone answer this?

 

[wreckshop]

Because they all want iPhones. And then they say how much better their crap is because they realize that Verizon isnt getting it, so they try to bash the iPhone that they have been secretly in love with.

Dont u think if they all wanted really an iphone they'd get one?

 

[tbayrgs]

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

I'm sorry but I have to agree with insidmal...what exactly are you guys doing in an Apple iPhone forum? I can appreciate your preference for Android--hey, too each their own and Vihzel especially, it clearly seems to fit your needs so as neither of you seem to have any interest in iOS or the iPhone, what the hell exactly are you doing here?

I am admittedly a big fan of the iPhone and iOS and while I do find many aspects of Android interesting/intriguing, don't recall ever visited an Android forum, especially to try to justify why my phone of choices is 'better than yours'. Troll much?

 

[nfrs2000]

Dont u think if they all wanted really an iphone they'd get one?

No, cuz they are all on Verizons nuts.

 

[tbayrgs]

Dont u think if they all wanted really an iphone they'd get one?

Considering the huge demand and short supply of iPhones, they CAN'T get one, thus the iPhone envy and trolling of the iPhone forums.

 

[rizzuh]

Considering the huge demand and short supply of iPhones, they CAN'T get one, thus the iPhone envy and trolling of the iPhone forums.

yeah, because having the audacity of liking something other than our precious iphones is equivalent to trolling

i've been a faithful iphone user (original iphone, iphone 3gs and incoming iphone 4), but i also just ordered a nexus one to check out what seems to be a pretty solid alternative to apple's iOS. some of you guys really need to lighten up and stop being so defensive over a damn phone. both platforms have their pluses and minuses and at the end of the day, it all comes down to preference.

sometimes i feel like it's people like you and many others on this board (fanboys who can't seem to be objective) that make people "hate" on the iphone and look for reasons to bash it.

 

[vegastime]

This is probably a dumb question but oh well. Is there an LED notification light on the front of the Droid X that lets you know you missed a text or a call (similar to a blackberry)?

Yes, there is a LED that lets you know when you have missed a text, call, or have new email. It will blink green. I think the color can be changed through the market place to show different colors for calls, text, etc.

 

[vegastime]

Each has it pluses and minuses. Using both Android and ios4 gets me the best of both worlds. Using caldav to sync calendars keeps my calendar synced across all platforms. Doesn't get better than that.

I have been testing the Droid X and iPhone for the last few days. They are both great phones. I am having a really hard time deciding between the two. So much so, that I am also thinking about keeping both phones.


I really like the calendar of the X. I tap on the event with the address, and I can get directions from my current location. I do not have to enter anything else. The iphone, I have to enter the destination into the google maps manually, unless, I am missing something.

 

[tbayrgs]

yeah, because having the audacity of liking something other than our precious iphones is equivalent to trolling

i've been a faithful iphone user (original iphone, iphone 3gs and incoming iphone 4), but i also just ordered a nexus one to check out what seems to be a pretty solid alternative to apple's iOS. some of you guys really need to lighten up and stop being so defensive over a damn phone. both platforms have their pluses and minuses and at the end of the day, it all comes down to preference.

sometimes i feel like it's people like you and many others on this board (fanboys who can't seem to be objective) that make people "hate" on the iphone and look for reasons to bash it.

I'm sorry but I have to agree with insidmal...what exactly are you guys doing in an Apple iPhone forum? I can appreciate your preference for Android--hey, too each their own and Vihzel especially, it clearly seems fits your needs so as neither of you seem to have any interest in iOS or the iPhone, what the hell exactly are you doing here?

I am admittedly a big fan of the iPhone and iOS and while I do find many aspects of Android interesting/intriguing, don't recall ever visited an Android forum, especially to try to justify why my phone of choices is 'better than yours'. Troll much?

Well rizzah, since you apparently only read that single post of mine in this thread, thought I'd highlight my previous comment an entire 2 posts prior. I have nothing against the Android OS or the phones that use it as an OS--very nearly bought a Nexus One myself to check it out but couldn't justify the $500+ price tag so I passed. If I didn't have an iPhone, I almost certainly would have an Android OS. My point wasn't against Android, rather the fact that this thread (and others on MacRumors Forums) are littered with comments by individuals who have no other apparent purpose than to troll and pick arguments. Take a look at Phokus' posts (all made in the 3 days since he joined, all bashing anything Apple).

So who's not being objective?

 

[jp700p]

My rebuttals for Droid X

An LA News Monitor reviewer has posted why the Droid X is better.
http://www.lanewsmonitor.com/blog/droid-x-vs-iphone-4-why-droid-x-is-superior-to-iphone-4-1279575286/

Heres my take after using the phone for about an hour at the Verizon store:
"Experts say this arrangement produces a surprising degree of call clarity even in places of unavoidable noise.
I didn't get a chance to make a call, but it still can't make a call and use the internet at the same time. I never thought that was useful, but I recently had to look up information for someone while they were on the line. The iPhone 4 performed beautifully doing that task.


Droid X will soon get an over-the-air upgrade that will allow it to run videos using Adobe’s Flash software, a feature lacking in iPhone 4.
Flash is such a memory hog and practical use of it is horrible. On my previous phone, the HTC EVO, trying to load a flash site took forever. And trying to use a flash program was nearly impossible. I tried to view a BestBuy flyer that was flash enabled on the EVO and 4 out of 5 times it made my browser crash and I saw my battery life decrease 1% every minute as flash tried to load the ad. So whats the point of flash if it drags down battery life and doesn't even work practically?

Droid X’s 4.3-inch screen runs a 854×480 resolution. It has 8-megapixel camera that experts say takes sharp photos in good light.
The screen on the Droid X was beautiful and the colors were surprisingly very good... until you compare it to the iPhone 4. You simply can not see the pixels on the iPhone 4. On the Droid X, they were easy to find. The colors on the iPhone were more "colorful". For those of you who are familular with LCD technology, IPS produces the best color. The LCD on the Droid X is probably a TN with dithering to produce the other colors it can't produce natively. Also just because it can capture 8-megapixels doesn't mean it can produce a better photo. As any photographer knows, the higher the megapixels actually means worse photo quality most of the time. The most famous low light shooter the Fujifilm F30/F31fd is still one of the best low light shooting cameras and its still the benchmark among photographers. It only shoots 6 megapixels. The iPhone 4's camera is so good, Ducati has shot an entire commercial only using an iPhone 4. http://www.intomobile.com/2010/06/29/ducati-shoots-entire-motorcycle-commercial-with-iphone-4/ How many Android phones can claim that?

Droid X has a Swype software that makes typing faster and accurate.
Swype was pretty cool to use. I had this on my HTC EVO and it worked very well. But its far from perfect, and I spent most of the time choosing the correct word it was confused about. This is not a deal breaker.

The Droid X runs Android 2.1 with the latest version of Motorola’s MotoBlur extensions and offers a single interface for various accounts, including Google, Facebook and MySpace. Experts believe that when Verizon upgrades Android software to 2.2 version, it would make the phone run faster and improve the camera.
When scrolling through web pages or swiping through home screens, it was not as smooth. I'm not saying that I wouldn't pick a phone over that reason, but the iPhone 4 is such a breath of fresh air. iPhone 4 feels like I am using a very advanced phone, while the Android I feel like i'm using last years model. Also for anyone who used MotoBlur, its garbage and one of the most useless features of the phone.

Droid X acts as a mobile hotspot. It allows you to connect up to five compatible Wi-Fi devices to Verizon’s network, such as your laptop, your iPad, or other gadgets, for an extra $20 per month. Moreover, Droid X offers a kit with all the G-apps pre-installed and has a superior battery life.
The hotspot is a nice feature, but you can get it for free using Wi-Fi Tether if you can actually root the phone... oh wait, you can't. Motorola is locking any bootloaders with hardware. And if you try, you risk bricking your phone. And i'm not so sure about the battery life comment either. Try going to any popular Android forum and you will see numerous complaints about the battery life.

Overall the Droid X is a good phone, but its simply not better than iPhone 4, as long as your holding it right

 

[mrfriggz]

OP: Interesting review. A friend of mine unfortunetly got an X last week. I used it for a few hours and I think its a piece of crap. I like my other friends Eris better. X is too big. Android is interesting. I like my iOS better.

 

[Squid7085]

I hardly consider that article a piece of reputable journalism. Saying something like "The Verizon network is superior to AT&T" Screams fanboy and partisan journalism. Funny thing, I haven't heard of these so called "Analysts" that say the Droid X is better.

 

[samcraig]

I have a question/some questions. And it's not meant to be snarky.. here goes

Why bother?

Why do people feel the need to comment on any review of another phone and compare it to the iPhone.

Enjoy your phone. Unless you're in the market to switch, then who cares whether another phone is better, worse, different?

 

[gehrbox]

It looks clunky.

 

[maflynn]

Given the volume of threads bashing android, and its phones here. It feels like some members have a serious case of inferiority complex or they're afraid that android will be exceeding the iPhone so they need to justify their purchase by bashing the other platform.

I have a Droid X and I say article mostly BS. I'd rather not go into the specifics but generally speaking it seems the apple fanboys are afraid that of the android phones.

 

[randomerratum]

"Droid X will soon get an over-the-air upgrade that will allow it to run videos using Adobe’s Flash software, a feature lacking in iPhone 4."

I'll believe this is a good thing when I see it. It's one thing to say it WILL play flash videos and another to put it into practice efficiently.

Additionally, I seriously doubt that means Netflux, Hulu or ******* is going to work in the browser anyway.

Besides... maybe 3 or 4 months ago this might have peaked my interest, but pretty much EVERY single video site has gone HTML5 since then anyway. At this point I think it's been a solid month since I've even SEEN a blue lego.

 

[phrint]

Given the volume of threads bashing android, and its phones here. It feels like some members have a serious case of inferiority complex or they're afraid that android will be exceeding the iPhone so they need to justify their purchase by bashing the other platform.

I have a Droid X and I say article mostly BS. I'd rather not go into the specifics but generally speaking it seems the apple fanboys are afraid that of the android phones.

I'd say the same for all those Android owners posting their love fests for their phones on an Apple forum.

 

[maflynn]

I'd say the same for all those Android owners posting their love fests for their phones on an Apple forum.

Yeah, there's some truth to that to be sure, but then there's others posting about their android phones to be troll as well.

"Droid X will soon get an over-the-air upgrade that will allow it to run videos using Adobe’s Flash software, a feature lacking in iPhone 4."

I'll believe this is a good thing when I see it. It's one thing to say it WILL play flash videos and another to put it into practice efficiently.

That won't arrive until alter this summer, so many people read this as August. It will be part of the Froyo upgrade which the Nexus already received. I was a Nexus owner before selling it for my Droid X and I can say that flash was neither a battery killer nor did it introduce instability to the phone. I'm excited about getting 2.2 on my Droid X - that will make the DX fly.

 

[phillq23]

An LA News Monitor reviewer has posted why the Droid X is better.
http://www.lanewsmonitor.com/blog/droid-x-vs-iphone-4-why-droid-x-is-superior-to-iphone-4-1279575286/


Droid X will soon get an over-the-air upgrade that will allow it to run videos using Adobe’s Flash software, a feature lacking in iPhone 4.
Flash is such a memory hog and practical use of it is horrible. On my previous phone, the HTC EVO, trying to load a flash site took forever. And trying to use a flash program was nearly impossible. I tried to view a BestBuy flyer that was flash enabled on the EVO and 4 out of 5 times it made my browser crash and I saw my battery life decrease 1% every minute as flash tried to load the ad. So whats the point of flash if it drags down battery life and doesn't even work practically?

The EVO has flash lite. Try using Flash 10.1 on a nexus with 2.2. It is completely different. I was streaming every world cup game, streaming espn3, and playing every flash game on kongregate without a hiccup.

 

[The Governor]

I hardly consider that article a piece of reputable journalism. Saying something like "The Verizon network is superior to AT&T" Screams fanboy and partisan journalism. Funny thing, I haven't heard of these so called "Analysts" that say the Droid X is better.

Hmmm. You are correct, but they do say that the evo is better

 

[wirelessmacuser]

I'm sorry but I have to agree with insidmal...what exactly are you guys doing in an Apple iPhone forum? I can appreciate your preference for Android--hey, too each their own and Vihzel especially, it clearly seems to fit your needs so as neither of you seem to have any interest in iOS or the iPhone, what the hell exactly are you doing here?

Exactly?
• I own an iPhone 4
• Plus a Droid X
• And a Galaxy S
• As well as a BlackBerry Bold
• I'm a multi-platformist
• iOS4 is an excellent OS
• Android is a very good OS
• So Is WebOS
• Open-Moko is in the Enterprise

It's all hi-tech goodness. Needless to say the Smartphone business is rapidly & dramatically changing. The dynamics are staggering.*