Droid X

[Sabre]

Article

Hardware: From afar, the Droid X looks like the EVO 4G, but up close the differences are obvious. Its slightly longer and wider, and it has four physical buttons along the bottom of the screen rather than touch-sensitive ones like those on the EVO. In hand, the phone feels really solid and we were surprised at how light it felt, though we could really do without the hump on the back. And yes, the large thing fits in a jean pocket, but not without slightly bulging.

Screen: Apparently the Droid X has a 4.3-inch, FWVGA 854 x 480-resolution screen, though we couldn't confirm that on the device itself. Regardless, it was super crisp and the capacitive screen was mighty responsive to taps and multitouch gestures. Our one concern is the mirrored trim around the screen -- it makes the whole face of the phone extra glossy.

Motorola Blur / Android: We confirmed that the Droid X was running Android 2.1 with some new sort of Motoblur (perhaps Ninjablur) skin. We didn't get to configure Blur with our social networks and contacts, but it didn't seem as "in your face" as the original. There's also a new navigation bar along the bottom that lets you easily jump to different Android panes. We can't really make a call on how we feel about this new Moto skin, but it does feel like a major improvement and it absolutely didn't slow down performance. We should also mention that preloaded on the phone was a Blockbuster application and a DLNA type app. Those two pieces combined with the fact that there will be a separate HDMI dock available has us thinking multimedia is the focus here.

Camera / Camcorder: The Droid X has a 8-megapixel camera, and records 720p video. But here's the thing about the camera: you have to tap to focus and it doesn't refocus until you actually snap the picture. In addition, the camera button on the phone was super stiff, so when we went to shoot a pic the entire thing shook and blurred the image. You can see what we are talking about in the gallery below. As for video recording, it was a bit laggy while we were shooting at 720p, but the video plays back smoothly, and in our opinion, crisper than the EVO 4G. Nevertheless, as you can see in the clip below, the white balance keeps on changing and the exposure fluctuates.

Keyboard: Just like with the CLIQ XT, Motorola preloads Swype. However, we also noticed a "multitouch keyboard" option. Oh yes, you heard us. When we held down two letters simultaneously it recognized both. We could really go on and on about how excited we are about this, but just check the video below of it in action.

Performance: Snappy! That's exactly what the Droid X is. The entire phone and transitions were super fast and responsive, keyboards popped up with virtually no lag and it tracks finger swiping more accurately than most Android phones we've seen -- it undoubtedly has its 1GHz ARMv7 processor (presumably an OMAP3630) to thank for that. If the specs on the model we saw are correct, the phone will come with 8GB of storage space. Obviously, we didn't have enough time to test battery life, but there was some sort of special battery management software on the phone.

Sounds like they addressed a lot of the complaints!

[Raven]

RAM! How much RAM does it have?

[complacent]

you had me at multitouch.

add in some system-wide copy+paste and i'll be willing to take a look at it.

[chicken n waffles]

what do you all think of the incredible? vs. the ip4? i'm swimming in personal debate (and a bunch of cheese).

[complacent]

what do you all think of the incredible? vs. the ip4? i'm swimming in personal debate (and a bunch of cheese).

you'll HATE text input, period. Also, if you ever use copy+paste, you'll HATE it.

other than those two (which are freaking huge in my book, but whatev) it's a pretty decent phone.

[chicken n waffles]

have you played around w/ the incredible yet, or are you speaking mainly of the droid itself?

[complacent]

have you played around w/ the incredible yet, or are you speaking mainly of the droid itself?

Cube-mate has one. I had to get the swype beta on it so he wouldn't return it.

It's pretty. It's fast. It multitasks well. It's skinny.

text input and manipulation FUCKING BLOWS.

Go try one out. Type a full message. Try abbreviations. Try acronyms. Try lolspeak. See how you feel about it.

I know I've got a pretty strong opinion about it. I'd definitely try one out before making the leap. To me, text input is a really big deal and I don't think the current android offerings are up to snuff in that department. Yet.

[chicken n waffles]

i did a tiny bit of text input on one at the vzw store the other day, but i'll give it a more thorough shakedown. fucking iphone... WHY CAN'T YOU BE ON TEH VERIZONZZZ?!??!?1? (yet)

[Raven]

Go try one out. Type a full message. Try abbreviations. Try acronyms. Try lolspeak. See how you feel about it.

All of these can be easily added to the dictionary. I know android is far from perfect and has several failing. Typing is however not one of them. Copy/paste yes, typing no.

[complacent]

Go try one out. Type a full message. Try abbreviations. Try acronyms. Try lolspeak. See how you feel about it.

All of these can be easily added to the dictionary. I know android is far from perfect and has several failing. Typing is however not one of them. Copy/paste yes, typing no.

Are you on crack? Try typing in portrait mode with two fingers. Can't be done quickly, period. No multitouch.

Sure, if I wanted to type s-l-o-w-l-y. Or with only one finger, it could be done.

Android keyboard, "Better Keyboard", HTC IME Keyboard, SwiftKey (private beta) are all varying degrees of SUCK. Period. I've extensively tested them all. Why do they all suck? No frigging multitouch. You cannot input a successive character until the first input is completely removed from the screen. Also, what happens when you want to go back to the second character in the last word you just typed? That's right, you hopelessly peck at the same spot thirteen times hoping that the cursor just happens to land where you want it to.


Input on android (on a software keyboard) is a DISASTER in my opinion. Swype is the only thing that has kept me from flinging my Droid into a wall. And even then, Swype isn't without its own major flaws (password entry, non-standard words, words that follow the same traced path, etc).

I really, really want to like this platform. But the idea that I have to sideload a beta keyboard *just* to input text somewhat reliably is absofuckinglutely ridiculous.

And I won't even get started on the capacitive screen issues that affect both the droid and the incredible.... I really want to see Android do well. It ain't there yet, period. i hate the concept that the culture of "good enough" is willing to accept all of these flaws. A concept should work as advertised and sold, period.

But I'm an old curmudgeon, so take everything I say with a big grain of salt. I might expect more from my device than you do.

[Raven]

I'll give you the droid's touch screen issues are a pain in the ass, but I really haven't had the soft keyboard issues you complain of. How fast do you people type texts? Why not bust out the physical keyboard if it's that bad?

[complacent]

I type fairly fast. Years of supporting and using blackberries has left me with speedy thumbs. I also went from an iphone to a droid. This leaves me with two known facts:

Mobile devices can be made to handle rapid text input.

Mobile devices can handle precise touch text input.

Yes, I can open the droid and use the hardware keyboard when the touch keyboard doesn't work right. But those considering an android device without a physical keyboard don't have that luxury... And until google (their os, their responsibility) provides a valid solution to data input (and no, voice can't be the primary method either) i can't recommend an android phone without a physical keyboard.

but I can expect them to do better. And they really need to.

[Raven]

There is one thing you should know. As far as touch screens go, the Droid is the worst on the market. The problems you have with it are not necessarily indicative of all Android devices.

http://labs.moto.com/robot_touchscreen_analysis/

[chicken n waffles]

now i'm leaning toward just upgrading to iphone4. colin's right - lack of multitouch is a deal breaker. i come from a blackberry background as well, and rapid text input is an absolute must. every time i work on my boss'es bb storm with its god-awful-no-multitouch software keyboard, i want to launch that god damned thing into the stratosphere.

[Sabre]

http://labs.moto.com/robot_touchscreen_analysis/

Pretty interesting article there! Thanks for the link!

[complacent]

There is one thing you should know. As far as touch screens go, the Droid is the worst on the market. The problems you have with it are not necessarily indicative of all Android devices.

http://labs.moto.com/robot_touchscreen_analysis/

Oh I'm aware of the varying degrees of touchscreen quality between devices and vendors. Good link though, thanks. My main concern still revolves around the lack of multitouch where it matters most - the effing keyboard.

I have high hopes for this new Droid X and it's multitouch keyboard - it could go a loooooong way toward making the android platform better. But it's not clear if it will be back-ported to other moto devices (droid, backflip, etc) and there's an even slimmer chance that it will be ported (legally) to non-moto devices (htc, samsung, lg, dell, etc).

High hopes for DroidX, not going to spend any more money on Android as of yet. They've got some growing to do.

[WRXWagon2112]

For those who are interested, the specs posted on Gizmodo for the Droid X include:

- "true multitouch keyboard, with pre-loaded Swype"

--Alan

[complacent]

I'm interested to hear more about this new "motoblur" interface, the battery life and the combination of additional features added by a 2.2 update.

Kind of weird to announce a product knowing the OS will be upgraded shortly, don't ya think?

*shrug*

[complacent]

So, I have an update and a partial-rebuttal to my earlier multitouch comments.

For a few weeks now, I've been using a posted copy of the Droid X multitouch keyboard on my original droid.

It's not 100% as good as the iphone keyboard at all, but it is much more usable. IMHO, this is one fewer reason not to consider android.

It still sucks that it's not a stock consideration of android in general. Google shouldn't be dependent upon third parties to provide core functionality... Unless they're letting the devs do their r&d for them.

Copy+Paste is still ghastly. Media integration still has a loooong way to go.

but they've finally got a decent freaking keyboard...

[Raven]

Downloaded, will try it out.

[chicken n waffles]

i've been reading up on the droid x and i have a potential line on getting one pre-release (at work) to play with. if it's as good as the many, many reviews i might have to ditch at&t/apple.

[complacent]

I've also been meaning to post up about froyo, flash, and a few other things in the android camp. i'll prolly start a separate thread. suffice it to say, 2.2 on a rooted droid brings a whole lot of real-world improvements.

(i still think media management and integration sucks though)

[Raven]

That keyboard is causing issues with my physical keyboard, it's making the ALT lock behave all weird.