Motorola Droid 2 Review: Rebooting the Droid
by Brian Klug on September 19, 2010 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Droid
- Motorola Droid 2
- Android
- Mobile
Performance on the Droid 2
The Droid 2 also uses an OMAP3620 series SoC, similar in nature to the OMAP3630 used in the Droid X. The OMAP3620 and OMAP3630 are both ARM Cortex-A8 based, and clocked at a maximum of 1 GHz. Both share the same PowerVR SGX 530 GPU at the same clocks.
Where the OMAP 3620 differs is in video encode and camera capture support. The OMAP3630 is capable of HD 720p video capture and playback, along with support for camera resolutions above 5 megapixels—this makes the SoC the clear choice for the Droid X, which has a higher resolution camera and unsurprisingly supports 720p video encode. The OMAP3620 in the Droid 2, however, only supports up to SD DVD (720 x 480) video capture and playback, and up to 5 megapixel camera capture.
The reason why 720p video encode isn't present with the Droid 2 is now pretty obvious—SoC support isn't there. The rest of the platform is the same—you get Cortex A8 at 1 GHz, the SGX 530 graphics and the rest of the OMAP36xx platform the Droid X has that made it very quick in our benchmarks. The Droid 2 surprisingly has DDR3 onboard (not to be confused with LPDDR3—OMAP3630 and OMAP3620 support LPDDR1 at up to 200 MHz).
Performance is thankfully relatively speedy, as long as you’re not considering that strangely slow applications menu fade animation. Surprisingly however, the Droid 2 doesn’t post numbers in line with how fast Snapdragon 1 GHz parts with 2.2 are posting in a number of areas. Linpack is probably the most interesting:
I’m uncertain about whether the issue lies with Motorola’s 2.2 install on the Droid 2, but hopefully the X doesn’t suffer the same kind of oddities. Back on 2.1, OMAP3630 in the Droid X packed a fairly decent lead CPU wise whenever we could measure it, so hopefully this is an issue with the JIT compiler or something else simple that will be fixed.
Interestingly enough, browser performance is right where it should be on the Droid 2 with Froyo, scoring just a bit behind the Nexus One.
GPU benchmarks remain OMAP 3620’s strong point, with the OMAP 3620 in the Droid 2 posting Neocore and kwaak3 numbers in line with what we saw with the Droid X. That’s how things should be here, too:
The move to 2.2 or the 3620 (from the Droid X's 3630) doesn't really change those scores at all. It'll be interesting to see if Droid X Froyo performance is in line with the Droid 2 or if other hardware differences make it slightly faster.
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bjacobson - Sunday, September 19, 2010 - link
My Droid's keyboard now has very bubbled keys. Try running your fingernails down and across in the creases beteween keys. I did this a few times pressing hard, went back to typing texts, and it's made my keys bubbled like the Droid2's, even moreso in my opinion than the photograph there.Also, I believe the resistance in the sliding mechanism is the mechanical sliders; I'm pretty sure 2 teflon strips on the back of the phone won't fix that.
sotoa - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I like having a dpad on my droid, I just wish it was on the left side like a gamepad, and wish it had diagonals.KaRRiLLioN - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
I bought the Droid 2 the day it came out but had to return it for several reasons, most of which I hope have been fixed. Corporate email synch had a terrible bug where it wouldn't synch contacts from Exchange if they had categories. Facebook synch would synch EVERYONE instead of just existing contacts. There was no option to change that.Most of these issues were caused by BLUR. Any idea if these items now work as advertised?
So I still have my original Droid with the original flat keyboard. I'm pretty used to it now and have no issues. I think I'll stick to this until another Android-based phone catches my eye. I wouldn't mind something like the Droid X, but I want Super AMOLED.
LoneWolf15 - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
To fix the Facebook issue, download the Facebook app instead of using the Droid 2's "Social Networking" app.I'm not using my D2 for Exchange (we have a Google Apps Domain) but after a week, I've been very happy with my switch from a Blackberry Tour (which I was reasonably satisfied with).
PubicTheHare - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
The best keyboard on any smart phone is found on the Epic 4G. I played with it yesterday and was amazed at the tactile feedback and overall usability.Also, I don't buy that the Droid 2 screen is brighter than the Epic/Fascinate/Captivate/Vibrant's.
I have the Fascinate and placed it side by side with the Droid 2, both in a store and against a friend's Droid 2 outdoors, and the Fascinate's display was substantially brighter and had more contrast.
Great review. It seems like Motorola is hitting it out of the ballpark with its latest phones, though I still think they have the most bland styling and their UI (Motoblur) is hideous.
I bet the OMAP processors are about 80% responsible for the impressive battery life. 9.5 hrs is ridiculous!
Thanks, Anand.
Myrandex - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
The Keyboard does look much better than the original Droid, however it still doesn't look like it comes close to the HTC Touch Pro 2 series phone's keyboard. That one is the thing to beat in my opinion. I love the spaced out offset keys and the dedicated row of numbers at the top. I sure hope my next phone has one at least that good.Jason
silverblue - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
...that you barely mentioned the Epic 4G and its Galaxy S variants. Not trying to justify my purchase, however the lack of a mention on even the gaming and video capture fronts was a little disappointing.MrPIppy - Monday, September 20, 2010 - link
It's interesting that the Motorola Droids have always been a huge design win for TI, even though almost no other Android phones use TI's OMAP or wireless chips. The Droid, Droid X, and Droid 2 use TI OMAP and WiLink (for WiFi/BT), instead of the almost universal combination of Qualcomm MSM+Broadcom BCM4329. Even Motorola's other Android phones (Backflip, Cliq, etc.) use MSM+BCM4329. Any idea why the Droids get the TI parts?bil3 - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
Surprised that Anandtech doesn't know, but the Droid JIT performance in linpack is normal.Only Snapdragon's scorpion and cortex A9 devices have a fast 128bit FPU which the JIT is optimized for and takes full advantage of.
This is a very specific case for this operating system as it's very much Java based, JIT performance matters in many operations.
The OMAP uses the standard A8 FPU which is anemic in comparison (just like the hummingbird & co.)
The CPU itself is not bad, that's why it's fast enough in raw performance benchmarks or benchs that aren't limited by the JIT.
In all cases, the JIT still bring a good bit of performance, just not as much as on devices with a fast FPU.
Brian Klug - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
Bil3,Very interesting, I wondered for a while about the performance delta being due to the A8 architecture versus Qualcomm's own Scorpion design, but couldn't find that remaining detail. Intriguing that the 128bit FPU makes such a big difference.
Awesome tidbit!
-Brian