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
Conclusions
The Droid 2 is obviously incremental—look no further than the name. But even nailing incremental product refreshes can be hard, and Motorola has largely done it with the Droid 2's excellent hardware. The masculine industrial design of the first still shines through on the Droid 2, and the hardware itself retains what was great about the form factor without changing everything needlessly.
For the most part, virtually every major complaint about the first device has been addressed, and for that Motorola deserves credit. The D-Pad is gone, the keyboard is completely revamped for the better, troublesome buttons refined, awkward chin tucked away, and the platform's SoC has been updated. The device hardware itself is thoroughly modern with the exception of the camera stack's inability to record 720P video.
Though the Droid 2's hardware is unequivocally excellent, the software still needs tweaking. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that 3G tethering needs some major attention, and performance in some areas just isn't where it should be. Hopefully all of this can and will be addressed with a timely OTA update. There's also the matter of Motorola's BLUR skin, which there isn't any way to turn off short of rooting and loading a different ROM.
If you're an existing Motorola Droid owner, the Droid 2 will feel like almost completely familiar territory. Quite honestly, unless you're absolutely dissatisfied with the speed of that device, the Droid 2 will feel exactly the same. The differences lie in the keyboard, and whether you'll have the 'Wow' moment I did will depend entirely on which original Droid keyboard you ended up with.
If the original Droid was a slightly insecure adolescent that made up for being the newcomer with brash masculine boasting, the Droid 2 would conversely be a much more confident polished 30-something. It's still hip, but there's nothing earth-shattering about the whole package this time around—it's just a safe update. If you've got the original Droid, the Droid 2 just isn't quite enough of a huge leap forward to warrant an upgrade unless you really need the speed. Faster performance will come late 2010 and early 2011 in the form of ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore based devices running at even faster clock speeds. That said, if you're in the market for an Android phone on Verizon with a keyboard, look no further than the Droid 2.
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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