Motorola Droid X: Thoroughly Reviewed
by Brian Klug on July 20, 2010 4:27 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Motorola Droid X
- OMAP
- Mobile
Swype Keyboard
It isn’t enabled by default, but comes preloaded. I think it arguably is one of the largest steps forward in virtual keyboard interaction paradigms since the first iPhone’s usable virtual keyboard, perhaps since graffiti in Palm OS. Anyone remember those single stroke gestures? I had them down so pat back in the day I could nearly crank 30-40 WPM.
Regardless, Swype itself is a different and somewhat mind-bending way of inputting text. Instead of tapping and having the touch-up stroke denote a keypress, Swype works based on continual smooth swipes across the keyboard, with sharp changes in direction and a few other gestures denoting the characters that create a given word. You don’t input the entire word character by character, but swipe over the characters that form the word. Swype does some math behind the scenes, decides what word you likely meant based on those characters you passed, and pops out a word.
It’s mindbending because you run your finger across the keyboard instead of tapping. It’s even more of a twist because you might have to relearn the QWERTY layout a bit - I felt my mind CPU use go to 100% the first few words I tried. With a few days of practice, I was screaming along. The only side effect is that typing on a normal keyboard now feels odd; the first time I went back to my keyboard I found myself wanting to swype.
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Left: Default installed keyboards, Middle: Typing "just," Right: Attempting to type "dood"
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Most of it is straightfoward - trace out what characters make up the word - but there are a few other things you need to do for special cases. For words with a character that repeats immediately, like “hello,” you make a circle over the character. For capitalization, swipe off the top of the keyboard and then back down.
If Swype doesn’t know the word you’re trying to input, or there are multiple possible words that could be formed with the keys you’ve passed over, it’ll pop up a box and prompt you to select which one you meant.
Of course, you don’t necessarily have to always use the swype gestures on their keyboard - you can tap and press just like a normal keyboard. In fact, for words that swype doesn’t know, this is how you teach it.
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I can understand why Swype is shipped with the X disabled, but it’s such a great and different input method that I’m honestly left wondering why Google doesn’t acquire and license it across the entire platform. Sure, it takes some time to learn, but the Swype tutorial is excellent - I went from no knowledge to swyping away in under 10 minutes. That's much easier than the learning curve graffitti threw at users, for example.
The stock Android keyboard is completely depressing. In fact, it’s pretty much the one thing left on Android on the platform which makes me wince. The X’s excellent Blur multitouch keyboard and even better swype input methods more than mitigate the mammoth device lacking a hardware keyboard. The sheer size of the screen is what really makes it easy to type.
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numberoneoppa - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Can't wait, I look forward on your impressions on Samsung's touchwizz overlay, from what I can tell, it rather hurts the GUI performance. :(Zebo - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Would be nice if these smart phones reviews had a large table for quick access to pro's and con's of each phone.Each box/catagory in the table could be based on 1-10 with a little narrative or to as simple as just check mark for superiority.
Hey it's a perfect review so i had to make something up to nag about:)
Droid X seems to be top dog android...- Evo is unsuitable you actually USE the phone's unlimited plan with it's poor batt life but just as nice too. Hard to pick.
radium69 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Thank you Brian & Anand, for this in depth review.I find your articles to be very interesting, and well written!
Keep up the good work!
mvmorr01 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Thanks, cool app!LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
(quote)"The Droid X is the spiritual successor to last year’s Droid."(/quote)Actually, I'd say the upcoming Droid II is the sequel, as it has a fully tactile keyboard, as opposed to the touchscreen Droid X. I'd say the Droid X is a new product rather than a successor.
I'm waiting to see what the Droid II can do --I won't buy a smartphone that doesn't have a physical keyboard.
tbuck79 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
I have a Droid X, the WiFi is terrible on my Netgear Router but at work on a Linksys router it's fine (both are single band N), however, using any WiFi the distance is really bad with the X, compared to an iPhone 4 in my other hand, the iPhone can get MUCH farther away from the AP than the X, could you guys see if there is an actual problem with range on the X?WaltFrench - Saturday, July 24, 2010 - link
you must be holding the X the wrong way.Ratman6161 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
The Droid and the Doid X are both Android 2.1 and both are soon to be upgraded to 2.2 (mine already is). The run the same apps and do the same things (weather or not you like Motoblur and find it an advantage is up to you). The Droid will basically do everything the Droid X does - just not quite as fast. So "obsolete" is a matter of perspective. That's what Verizon and Motorola would like us to think. They just love people like your friend who ditched his Droid for an Incredible and now wants to ditch the incredible for a Droid X.Lets face it - it's evolution not revolution. If you are always trying to have the latest cool gadget, you are always going to end up disappointed and with a much thinner wallet.
Good review though. If I were buying today I'd probably go with the X. But with another year to go before the next upgrade, something else will come along long before I'm ready to buy.
digipro55 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Incredibly well written and through review. I can admit I didn't understand all the jargon in the performance tests but it certainly is a wealth of knowledge concerning the best Android phone on the market. Thanks again for a very informative reviewAikouka - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Hey Brian, just to let you know, the mini-HDMI to HDMI cables are available at Monoprice, but of course it sounds like you were looking for one ASAP from a B&M store :). So I guess if you know you'll need one, you can order one, but it also looks like they're not terribly commonplace as you mentioned as they're kind of expensive on Monoprice compared to standard HDMI cables.