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
Speakerphone Comparison
We’ve been testing speakerphones regularly on devices, specifically volume numerically using a decibel meter and audio quality subjectively. The Droid 2 is sufficiently loud at maximum volume on speakerphone.
I was surprised, but there’s actually a bit of distortion and saturation at maximum volume. Taking it down one notch results in much better sound quality and no distortion. Nothing rattles around at maximum volume, it just sounds like there's definitely some saturation.
As was the case with the old Droid, the speaker is on the back of the device under the silver (previously gold) grating. Thankfully there’s a raised portion which creates a small channel for that sound to come out the sides. It’s still quite loud even face up as we’ve shown. Handset voice quality is par for CDMA 1x voice.
Camera
About the only unchanged thing on the new Droid 2 is the camera, which inexplicably is the same 5 MP resolution as its predecessor. I wasn’t hugely impressed with the shots that camera produced on the first Droid, nor its interface, but the Droid 2 seems to have mitigated some of it in the software. What has changed on paper is video recording quality—we’re up to 30 FPS from 24 for that SD DVD quality 720 x 480 video. Again, 720p capture is missing because the Droid 2 has an OMAP3620 versus the OMAP3630 in the Droid X.
The first gallery is our bench, which is becoming difficult to ensure stays the same due to changing weather and lighting—which is the reason we've added those controlled lightbox tests.
I noted in the BlackBerry Torch review that I’m going to do more controlled testing with uniform testing in a lightbox, in addition to bench photos. I’ve done the same with the Droid 2, and if you looked, you’ve already seen the shots it produces. Many of you asked for a DSLR pic in the box as well, I've added shots from my D80.
The Droid 2 by default still produces pics that are a bit undersaturated, but not nearly as much as its predecessor. Where it does shine though is using the flash—it’s hard to argue that the Droid 2 doesn’t have the most uniformly lit photo of the bunch.
The Droid X included an interesting and occasionally awesome camera software stack. Essentially everything from that camera application is also ported to the Droid 2.
The only things that are missing are the microphone noise canceling options, and 720P video. Everything else—including the awesome panorama mode—is there. Camera capture is roughly the same speed as it is on the Droid X.
Video Capture
Finally we've got our video tests. The Droid 2 captures video in H.264 video and AAC audio at an average bitrate of 550 kBps in our video. As I mentioned before, it's difficult to control light at the test location. Video capture on the Droid 2 actually is pretty good, and 30 FPS versus the original Droid's 24 makes a visible difference. This section is starting to get a bit unwieldy large, eventually we'll craft a nice switcher for easy comparison.
Motorola Droid 2
BlackBerry Torch 9800
Motorola Droid X
HTC EVO 4G
Nexus One
iPhone 4
HTC Droid Incredible
Motorola Droid
Nokia N900
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
39 Comments
View All Comments
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