Design and build quality:
Measuring 5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick and 5.47 ounces, it’s a hair taller than the HTC Evo 4G, but also slightly thinner and lighter. It also makes for a tight squeeze in a pants pocket, but without a slide-out keyboard like the Droid’s, it doesn’t feel quite as bulky. The backside has a nice soft-touch finish, and the Droid X feels like a solid handset overall.
Display:
While it might feels awkward to hold such a big device up to the ear for phone calls, the upside is that the extra space makes room for a bigger screen. The Droid X’s display actually looks deceptively bigger than the Evo 4G’s because of a thin border around the edge that blends into the screen, but it’s the same size at 4.3 inches. It has a WVGA (854×480 pixels) resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio and looks absolutely brilliant and crisp. Text is easy to read, and colors look vibrant, making the multimedia experience quite great.
Speakers:
The external speaker on the Droid X was loud and clear, with an impressive volume that’s distinguishable even when you’re a couple feet away from the device. No apparent distortion reported even when cranking the volume up during conference calls and streaming tunes on Pandora.
Storage:
The Droid X has 8GB of onboard memory and ships with a 16GB microSD card, but the expansion slot supports up to 32GB cards, so you can essentially have 40GB of storage.
Cameras:
The Droid X has an 8-megapixel camera that’s capable of capturing 720p HD video. It took good pictures in daylight. In low-light conditions, the Droid X takes grainy photos unless you use the flash. Similar for videos, a lot more noise are found in the footage taken indoors than outdoors, but the quality was still acceptable.
Ports:
The Motorola Droid X comes with a Micro-USB port and a HDMI port. Like the Evo, the HDMI port is the Type D standard so you’ll need to get a Micro-HDMI cable in order to connect it to your HDTV. You can easily find the said cable on the Internet for as low as $8.
Motorola Droid X Software
The Motorola Droid X will ship running Android 2.1 with a revised version of Motoblur software. Overall, the Motoblur experience is much improved; it’s a more refined, sophisticated Motoblur, if you will. However, users coming from the Droid, which ran the stock Android UI, might need some time to acclimate, and even then it still might be too much for some. Just remember that, like all Android phones, it’s completely customizable, so just keep tweaking the UI until you find a system that works for you.
Motorola Droid X will ship with Android 2.1, but Verizon and Motorola are planning to release an over-the-air update to Android 2.2 Froyo. This will bring speed improvements as well as new features like camera software improvements and, of course, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, so you’ll get a more PC-like experience from the phone’s mobile browser.
Motorola Droid X Call Quality
Call quality was great. Conversations on both end sounded mostly clear with just some slight background noise, but nothing too distracting. Verizon’s 3G network delivered strong reception with no dropped calls reported in testing.
Motorola Droid X Performance
The Droid X has a 1GHz TI OMAP processor, and the phone has been quite responsive. It’s not quite as lightning-fast as the Droid Incredible, but reviewers were able to open multiple apps with little delay. However, occasionally when moving between home screens there was a noticeable moment of lag.
Motorola Droid X Battery Life
The Droid X comes with a 1,540mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 8 hours and up to 9 days of standby time. In the actual battery drain tests, the Droid X impressed the reviewers with 7.5 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge.
Conclusion
The Motorola Droid X makes another fine addition to Verizon’s Android family, bringing with it a rich multimedia experience and more connectivity features. In features, design, and usability, it is right up there with the HTC EVO 4G and the iPhone 4.
Motorola Droid X User ReviewsMotorola Droid X Expert ReviewsBonnie Cha from CNet says:Given Rating: The Motorola Droid X makes another fine addition to Verizon’s Android family, bringing with it a rich multimedia experience and more connectivity features.
Chris Ziegler from Engadget says:Given Rating: After seeing a string of midrange devices like the CLIQ XT, Devour, and Flipout go by, we were beginning to wonder when (or if) Motorola would make another grandiose play at the
Android music downloads crown the same way it had with the Droid the first time around — but with the introduction of the Droid X, we’re happy to say that they finally have. Problem is, this isn’t the same marketplace that Moto was dealing with back in late 2009; high-end Android gear is easier to come by than ever before (Samsung’s massive four-carrier blowout with the Galaxy S series is powerful evidence of that), and most of it is… well, really quite good. This isn’t about taking candy from a baby anymore and waltzing into unmet demand for a type of phone that hadn’t existed before — it’s about competing really, really hard. It’s about forgetting the Droid’s success, just as the company has struggled to forget the RAZR’s.
Cast in that light, the Droid X becomes a much less magical phone than the Droid was. It’s good, and it’s a pretty enjoyable execution of Android 2.1, but it’s not a must-have phone — especially in light of the Droid Incredible and the upcoming Droid 2. From a hardware perspective, this phone is pretty much a bang-on execution of what a high-end mobile powerhouse should be, but Motorola clearly still has work to do in order to play in the same software league as HTC does with Sense. If it can get there — or heck, if it can just offer this phone with stock Froyo — you’ve got perhaps the best Android phone ever made.
Sascha Segan from PC Mag says:Given Rating: The Droid X gets our nod over the HTC Droid Incredible because of its better camera, Bluetooth voice dialing, Wi-Fi hotspot mode and various other built-in apps. But the Droid X isn’t for everyone: This phone is huge. Its performance is close enough to the Incredible’s that I’m still very comfortable recommending that the smaller-pawed go for the HTC smartphone, unless you need a specific Droid X feature. Folks looking for a great Verizon smartphone with a hardware keyboard should probably wait for the Motorola Droid 2, which Motorola’s CEO Sanjay Jha promised us months ago.
Ginny Mies from PC World says:Given Rating: The Droid X is definitely one of the top smartphones coming out this summer. In features, design, and usability, it is right up there with the HTC EVO 4G and the iPhone 4. I wish that it were a little faster and that the camera ergonomics were a bit more user-friendly, but overall it is definitely one of the top Android phones available right now.
Stewart Wolpin from Digital Trends says:Given Rating: With its superphone specifications, the Droid X represents the new bleeding-edge normal, and is the best Verizon Android phone yet. But this superlative may be short-lived. Its individual capabilities hover close to the iPhone 4 and EVO, and may be surpassed by the Galaxy S Fascination thanks to its superior AMOLED screen. You may want to wait and compare the two before making a two-year contractual commitment.
Brian Neal from Laptop Magazine says:Given Rating: With its huge and responsive screen, sharp 8-MP camera, and mobile hotspot feature, the $199 Droid X can rightfully take its place as Verizon’s top Android device. Some may prefer the more compact Droid Incredible, but it doesn’t offer HDMI output or 720p video recording. While this device likely won’t sway Sprint customers away from the Evo 4G, especially if they live in a city with 4G coverage, Verizon Yes power users will find that the Droid X marks the spot.
Brandon Miniman from Pocket Now says:Given Rating: The new Motorola Droid X is like the EVO 4G in a lot of ways. It’s large, a bit unwieldy, and the battery life could use a lot of improvement. But it’s also an eye-catching device that has a terrific internet experience, solid performance, and a ton of added features like HDMI out and up to 40GB of storage that makes it a winner. If you want the flashiest Droid that is available on Verizon, the Droid X is a great choice, but if you want something more practical and well-rounded, consider the Droid Incredible, which is also on Verizon.
Andrew Munchbach from BGR says:We enjoyed our time with the Motorola DROID X, and feel it is a well-balanced, powerful addition to Verizon Yes’ Android lineup. We would have liked the device to have a better camera, a front facing camera, and perhaps some sort of optical tracking device for easier text correction, but all things considered…we really like this device. If you are or plan on being a Verizon Yes customer, and love Android — or maybe are just Android curious — you definitely have to take a good, long look at the DROID X.
Matt Buchanan from Gizmodo says:All things considered, it’s a showstopping phone whose potential is mutilated by ill-considered, ugly software that’s poorly done. The screen is sharp, colorful, resoundingly impressive. The guts are quick. The build is sculpted and robust. Unfortunately, you can’t really get around bad software—it’s is how a user touches hardware. It’s less elegant and focused than the other monster phone of the moment, HTC’s Evo on Sprint (and the Droid X doesn’t even have four gees). If the Droid X was going to be your next phone, you realistically have three options: the HTC Incredible on Verizon, the Evo on Sprint—or you can hold your breath and hope the Droid X gets better via the magic of software update, since that’s where most of the problems are. But don’t let your lungs explode in the meantime.
Rob Jackson from Phandroid says:Given Rating: The Motorola Droid X is awesome. Is it better than the EVO 4G? Better than the iPhone 4? Will it be better than the XYZ Superphone that comes out next month? I think we need to stop asking those types of questions in the first place because they don’t usually have answers.
Once you’ve reached that top of the class, cream of the crop status – only personal preference can fairly determine what defines “best”. Is the 4.3-inch screen your multimedia dream or is that too big for your hands? Does the thin frame make you feel delightful or would you prefer heft and a hardware keyboard? See what I’m getting at?
The fact of the matter is that the Droid X sits comfortably amongst the smartphone elite. The combination of pure hardware power, Android awesomeness, and software goodness mean that today it is one of – if not THE – best phone(s) available. We now live in a smartphone age where many “something better” devices eagerly wait in the wings, but here and now the Droid X can successfully claim there isn’t a better phone available. And even when there is… the Droid X will continue to please its owners with its capabilities, especially if the powers at be bless it with continued OTA updates.
In short: the Motorola Droid X for Verizon Yes comes highly recommended.
Motorola Droid X VideosMotorola Droid X SpecificationWeight5.50 ouncesScreen Size4.3-inchResolution480 x 854CPU1GHz TI OMAP3630RAM512 MBInternal Storage8 GBExternal StorageSupports up to 32GB microSD cardBattery Life8 hours talk timeFront CameraNoRear Camera8MPBluetooth2.1+EDROperating SystemAndroid 2.1
