Hello Folks!
This week, Verizon Wireless kindly sent us a Moto Droid X to get our hands on and open up to see what it was made of!
Read on to find out what we think of it, and for our Youtube Video Links!
The DROID X is the ‘sister’ product to the original Motorola DROID which we reviewed a few months back, we have to say there are A LOT of improvements.
First off, the processor grew from a 524 MHZ TI OMAP to the big 1GHZ. According to What we’ve heard, it’s also one of the highest performing ARM processors on the market, a strong competitor to the Snapdragon!
Second, it got a boost straight to Android 2.1 and sports it all on a MASSIVE 4.3″ WVGA Screeen. We really love the screen’s quality!
The battery cover was a gripe on the old Moto DROID, and this one has been beefed up and won’t fall off in the pocket!
Now, onto specifics. The device is lighter, thinner, but longer (height-wise) than the EVO, which contends it as to being really equal, as some prefer the extra width on the EVO and its more curved simple design. The X sports a curved, thicker edge where the camera is giving it a ramp on the back. This may bother some when held in the hand a specific way, but it also ensure you always pick the phone up from the right side!
Other stats include standard micro-USB, HDMI-Out (Identical to the EVO,) 8MP Camera with Dual-flash and four buttons on the bottom edge. They are ordered – Menu, Home, Back, and Search. This switch in menu and home seems strange, and if you are a previous Android User, it will take some getting used to in order to adjust to the difference!
The software runs a standard Android 2.1 compliment with an upgraded Motorola software enhancer for the homepage. It’s much lighter and more customizable in comparison to HTC Sense, but both serve the same purpose of weather, calendar, contacts and more. the DRIOD X however uses a much more blocky design so they can be interchangeable used in various orders to keep the style. The Sense style is more curved and stylish, unlike the simple coloring of the X, but at the same time is less compatible with “mixing and matching.” Social networking and aggregation is also combined using various internal sofware. It also sports a Need For Speed Demo and various Verizon features (Visual Voicemail, My Verizon, City ID and more) but we still prefer the standard software as always. Did we mention everything has a wicket red style to it for Big Red? Everything moves through just as fast as the EVO’s snapdragon, but the text and content resolution is much smaller, meaning you get more per page, but you will need to strain your eyes a bit at times! The EVO likes it wide and easy to read, but you have to scroll more often.
Lastly, i want to note speeds. The X is of course CDMA just like Sprint, but i’ve always seemed outperforming Download Speeds (for the most part) through various times of the day. Upload speeds however have been slow, perhaps akin to Sprint’s more open bandwidth and allowing the higher speeds. Still, at times Verizon can be inconsistant with speeds as Sprint remains the opposite, which brings questions to mind on how it gets its bandwidth maintained (at least in the New York Metro area where the review was performed)
The 1570 mAH battery performs well through a day of heavy usage. I will admit the EVO slacks on Battery life big time and it can suck you down to 40 in a matter of hours of moderate usage without clockspeed control (through root.) I will admit though both are strong contenders and fabulous devices for the avid Android user.
The EVO and X Both sell at $199.99 through a two year contract on Verizon and the X requires a 30$ smartphone data plan, while the EVO requires a 10 dollar premium data fee not including a data – talk plan. The X is a welcomed addition to Verizon’s “Rule the Air” campaign and surely will prevent Verizon users from feeling left out when interested in a powerful device like the DROID X. Based on current specifications, it’s very likely to hit 2.2 by the end of the year as well.
Reviewer: Mr. Joshua Sherman
Editorial Assistant: Mr. Wayne Sherman