Motorola Droid X: Thoroughly Reviewed
by Brian Klug on July 20, 2010 4:27 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Motorola Droid X
- OMAP
- Mobile
Conclusions
It’s hard to argue that the new Motorola Droid X hasn’t captured the Android performance and flagship crown once again. Eight months after the original Motorola Droid, Motorola has launched a worthy successor. Further into the summer, we'll see a true followuup to the original Droid - the Droid 2. It will pack an improved hardware keyboard, the same size and form factor as the first Droid, and probably the same SoC as the X.
Motorola Droid X. Image Courtesy of Sarah Trainor.
The X brings a lot more than just a bigger screen and the Blur interface - after the iPhone 4, it's the second phone on the market with a 45nm SoC. TI's OMAP 3630 is the new Snapdragon. You get the same real world performance as a 1GHz Snapdragon, but with much better GPU performance. Unfortunately for TI the latter only really matters in 3D games, which are still at their infancy on smartphones.There's still some occasional choppiness scrolling through menus, but that seems to be an Android thing
The battery life offered by Motorola's design (both hardware and software) and the OMAP 3630 is just great. Despite its size the Droid X lastest the longest on a single charge of any Android phone we've tested thus far. While the iPhone 4 lasts longer for browsing, the X is our new champion for talk time weighing in at just under 9 hours. We're only a generation or two away from all smartphones having better-than-notebook battery life for all of our major tasks.
If you're on Verizon and prefer the larger screen, the Droid X takes our pick for the best Android phone on the market today. All we really need is a good Nexus One successor for those users who want something a bit smaller, and maybe an entirely new form factor for the ultimate smallest in devices.
From a higher vantagepoint, the Droid X isn't going to change your opinion on Android. If you love the OS then you'll be very happy with the device. While we would definitely appreciate Froyo on the X today, we're starting to get really excited about Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) due out by the end of the year.
There are also OMAP 4 and Tegra 2 to keep in mind. While the 3630 is the cream of the crop today, in less than 12 months it'll move down to mainstream and we'll be pining for the next wave of dual-core Cortex A9 smartphones. We wouldn't recommend waiting another year if you need a new phone, but just plan on wanting to upgrade really bad next year.
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jeffjcom - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Monoprice cables are Mini not Micro.MrPete123 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
A little bit off topic but....I haven't seen any mention of Android 2.2 and battery life. Do we know if executing code significantly faster allows the CPU to sleep more often, saving power? Or perhaps there's other power saving alterations in 2.2?bplewis24 - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
I'm interested in this as well. Maybe update the Nexus One review with this info?Brandon
stlc8tr - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
"It’s interesting that Motorola is sticking to FWVGA - this is admittedly exactly 16:9 aspect ratio"Well, I guess it depends on how digits of precision you're using. 854x480 is actually 16:8.992974. :-)
soydios - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Whichever author wrote that, you are not being too picky about the short 3-foot length of the included USB cable. 6 feet or bust. I'd say that the majority of us like to have the phone on the nightstand or desk while it's charging, not on the floor next to the power socket.Piano Man - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - link
Now this is what I call a smartphone review. I'm glad that these smartphones are getting full review treatment like they were computer systems. Since I got my Moto Droid at work 7 months ago, I think about 25-30 more have followed suit. I really thing these phones are gonna become our primary all-in-one electronic system sooner than we think. Glad they're getting the review they deserve. Please keep it up for the future biggie's (Samsung Galaxy, and the new OMAP processors).jleach1 - Thursday, July 22, 2010 - link
"droid x lastest longest on a single charge"not sure if this was an accent -=D
dumpsterj - Thursday, July 22, 2010 - link
man i want this phone lol. I was gonna wait to see how windows phone 7 works out cuz i love zune . However it seems verizon is pissing all over microsoft lately with the kin and i wonder if vz will even get the damn phones.VashHT - Thursday, July 22, 2010 - link
Anyone else notice there evo benchmarks a lot better in this article than in the official evo review? It seems like the updates might have actually helped it out, it went from being slower to the incredible to faster in this review (in browsing tests I mean), you guys should update your evo review with the patches,i think they fixed the few little flaws the evo had when it first came out.One43637 - Thursday, July 22, 2010 - link
Great to hear Brian. I just picked up a Vibrant after owning a G1 for the duration. Phone is great, and I was pleasantly surprised how unobtrusive TouchWiz 3.0 is. Phone does not feel cheap at all, just because it has a plastic back.Can't wait to read your review and Froyo!