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
Running battery life tests on smartphones has become such an engrained part of my routine that I actually completely forgot to include this section when I hit publish the first time. When I'm not testing features and out running speedtests, these phones are either charging or under battery life test. Thanks for bearing with me.
For the 3G and WiFi page loading tests, we use a set of 3 dozen or so webpages that are loaded every 20 seconds continually with the backlight set at 50%.
The Droid 2 improves on the original Droid when it comes to WiFi pretty substantially, but doesn't really change that much on 3G cellular.
Where the Droid 2 shines, however, is call time:
That pretty much says it all. Look at the top three phones—Motorola is doing something special to keep their phones cranking out impressive talk time battery life. Whatever it is, it works on the Droid 2 like it does the X and original Droid.
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bigi - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
Your pics in the sun are crap because left/middle phones have photographer shadow on them therefore showing more contrast/details in shaded area.The phone on the right looks worst because the "photographer" made this look worst.
awaken688 - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
Brian. Good review. Can you comment on how the Droid 2 works as a phone? You know the earpiece volume and clarity? Ability to get rid of background noise of the receiving speaker. I know these are smartphones, but they still are phones so I would love to have some clear thoughts on that part of the device.LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
In a week and a half, I can only comment on my own experience --but the D2 has the best reception and call clarity of the smartphones I've had (Kyocera 7135, three Treos, and a Blackberry Tour prior to this). I've gotten calls (and held them) in areas I thought previously impossible, and calls everywhere for me have been clear.Brian Klug - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
I generally don't comment too much on handset performance unless there's something extraordinarily bad about performance, purely because it's very subjective right now. In this case, Droid 2 handset quality/volume are almost identical to the original Droid. Both have noise cancellation, though I'm betting the Droid 2 is slightly less effective at cancelling noise due to that (as I mentioned) somewhat strange rear microphone placement.Otherwise I've been working on a very quantitative way to judge handset voice quality and performance, which will eventually appear in reviews. Subjectively, the Droid 2 is the same as any CDMA phone in terms of voice quality.
-Brian
DJMiggy - Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - link
Good review! Lots of good information on the Droid 2. I look forward to the ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore. March 2011 is when my new every two is up with Verizon and I can get a new phone without getting bunged 600 dollars. lolawaken688 - Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - link
Thanks LoneWolf and Brian. I just know that from my experience with the LG VX8300 that not all CDMA/GSM phones are created equal. We have an original Droid and it is by far the best phone we have used. It's clarity, volume, and reception is just hands down better than my VX8300 and it easily bests the iPhone we have too, although it is by a less noticeable amount.I'll take subjective =)
Shinobi123 - Friday, October 1, 2010 - link
Why is the XT720 never in these comparisons?I've had this phone for soon two months, and it's easily the best phone I ever had.
Not biggest screen or highest clocked cpu, but it's a good phone and excellent camera.
soccerharms - Friday, October 1, 2010 - link
Hey Brian,Is there future plans to compare the droid x with froyo with the droid 2? I would be very interested in how these stack up because people are posting significant performance increases with the update.
Thanks for the review
jeans_xp - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
The mobile world's yesterday king is backing.HAHA, first smart phone is iPhone 3GS. I find a good website for smart phone news and latest technology: www.mobilegoing.com