Motorola Droid X: Thoroughly Reviewed
by Brian Klug on July 20, 2010 4:27 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Motorola Droid X
- OMAP
- Mobile
Still Captures
What’s particularly interesting about the X is that it contains a bonafide mechanical shutter system that actually actuates. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s there. In what testing I’ve done, the shutter actually seems to activate of the time in low light situations than in bright light outdoors, which is a bit paradoxical to me. If you look close in the video, you can actually see the lens assembly go in and out for focusing, which is pretty normal.
Stills themselves aren’t amazing on the Droid X, but a definite step up from the camera on the Motorola Droid. If you’re making that jump, the difference will be a welcome improvement in camera quality.
You can compare all of the shots we’ve taken at 7 different locations in the gallery below. I’ve updated the results with an example shot from a Nikon D80 DSLR as well for comparison as something of a baseline. We’ve now got photos from the Droid X, EVO 4G, HTC Incredible, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, KIN ONE, KIN TWO (which has the competing 8 megapixel Sony IMX046 SoC), Motorola Droid, N900, and Nexus One. Location 7 and 4 are the most interesting, in my estimation.
The shots really speak for themselves. The EVO 4G and Incredible tend to oversaturate and over-sharpen, and the iPhone 4 does have some over-saturation of its own.
What I found particularly interesting about the X’s shooting modes for stills was in picture modes. The X will let you shoot stills very quickly at the expense of quality - they’re captured at 1 megapixel - in multi-shot mode. You don’t get to dictate when the exposures take place, 6 photos are just captured in rapid succession.
Next, there’s a self portrait mode that uses face detection to take your photo whenever it sees a face. Remember face detection I hit on earlier? This is an interesting application for it. Unfortunately, it refuses to detect my face and take the photo about 80% of the time. I even used my notebook’s built in webcam to monitor what was going on and if my face was in the frame. Even perfectly centered, most of the time inexplicably no dice. It even pops up a “no faces detected” box after 30 seconds. Apparently I’m a vampire or somesuch living undead.
But what I found really intriguing was the included auto stitch panorama mode. This is one of the most interesting applications I’ve seen for the compass; location aware image stitching. That’s right, you go into this mode, and can stitch together six images. That’s been done before, sure, but in the bottom left, you get an augmented reality preview showing how far you need to rotate to the next position before a photo is automatically captured. Repeat the process, and the software stitches the images back together automatically.
Panorama - Stitched entirely on the X
There’s just something so right about this process - I shouldn’t have to manually overlay bits of the previous image if the smartphone already has a good enough compass to know what direction we’re pointed, so do it in software! The X does precisely that.
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numberoneoppa - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Can't wait, I look forward on your impressions on Samsung's touchwizz overlay, from what I can tell, it rather hurts the GUI performance. :(Zebo - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Would be nice if these smart phones reviews had a large table for quick access to pro's and con's of each phone.Each box/catagory in the table could be based on 1-10 with a little narrative or to as simple as just check mark for superiority.
Hey it's a perfect review so i had to make something up to nag about:)
Droid X seems to be top dog android...- Evo is unsuitable you actually USE the phone's unlimited plan with it's poor batt life but just as nice too. Hard to pick.
radium69 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Thank you Brian & Anand, for this in depth review.I find your articles to be very interesting, and well written!
Keep up the good work!
mvmorr01 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Thanks, cool app!LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
(quote)"The Droid X is the spiritual successor to last year’s Droid."(/quote)Actually, I'd say the upcoming Droid II is the sequel, as it has a fully tactile keyboard, as opposed to the touchscreen Droid X. I'd say the Droid X is a new product rather than a successor.
I'm waiting to see what the Droid II can do --I won't buy a smartphone that doesn't have a physical keyboard.
tbuck79 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
I have a Droid X, the WiFi is terrible on my Netgear Router but at work on a Linksys router it's fine (both are single band N), however, using any WiFi the distance is really bad with the X, compared to an iPhone 4 in my other hand, the iPhone can get MUCH farther away from the AP than the X, could you guys see if there is an actual problem with range on the X?WaltFrench - Saturday, July 24, 2010 - link
you must be holding the X the wrong way.Ratman6161 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
The Droid and the Doid X are both Android 2.1 and both are soon to be upgraded to 2.2 (mine already is). The run the same apps and do the same things (weather or not you like Motoblur and find it an advantage is up to you). The Droid will basically do everything the Droid X does - just not quite as fast. So "obsolete" is a matter of perspective. That's what Verizon and Motorola would like us to think. They just love people like your friend who ditched his Droid for an Incredible and now wants to ditch the incredible for a Droid X.Lets face it - it's evolution not revolution. If you are always trying to have the latest cool gadget, you are always going to end up disappointed and with a much thinner wallet.
Good review though. If I were buying today I'd probably go with the X. But with another year to go before the next upgrade, something else will come along long before I'm ready to buy.
digipro55 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Incredibly well written and through review. I can admit I didn't understand all the jargon in the performance tests but it certainly is a wealth of knowledge concerning the best Android phone on the market. Thanks again for a very informative reviewAikouka - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Hey Brian, just to let you know, the mini-HDMI to HDMI cables are available at Monoprice, but of course it sounds like you were looking for one ASAP from a B&M store :). So I guess if you know you'll need one, you can order one, but it also looks like they're not terribly commonplace as you mentioned as they're kind of expensive on Monoprice compared to standard HDMI cables.