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
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39 Comments
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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