DX: My Cursory Firsthand Impressions

[Steven58]

They let me handle the DX in the VZW store today.

Funny, they had a Super Mario background on it. I found it obnoxious, but that's me.

The OS is snappy and responsive. As a former Dinc owner, I would say you don't miss anything in speed. It's very good. It's very fast.

The guy seemed itchy to get the phone back, but I tested it out anyway. I took the liberty of changing the screen back to the Droid eye as the Mario thing was really annoying me!

My first first impression was. My gooness! This thing's huge! And it is. It's big in the hand and it's going to take some getting used to. I went back over the Dinc demo afterwards and it seemed a perfect size for a phone. However, at my age, with my need for reading glasses? The size was good for reading stuff. I tried out the swype and it was really good. It was just like the final android beta they had out. I know, I was a tester. The web was snappy. The apps opened up quickly.

I will say this, however. From what I was used to on the screen, it seemed a touch dull compared to the Dinc, which kind of jumped out at you (except in the sunlight, where it went bye-bye.)

The feel was unusual. It was so big, yet very, very thin feeling. I think for my fingers, a case would round it out a bit and I'd feel better about the thinness. Also, it is all rubberized, so the grip is good. Case: Yeah. Note to self: Buy one. I know I'd drop this baby bigtime.

I did find out that the store opens at 7 am on Thursday, not 8. Huh. When were they gonna tell me that? They said 8 am as late as yesterday!

So, overall, I really like the phone. I have a day or two before I have to make my decision. I am seriously thinking about the Samsung Fascinate, as well. I liked the way the screen looked like and the way it took pictures and movies. In the comparisons, however, it seemed as is the DX was faster at almost everything.

I do want to say to all Dinc owners: Man, you got a fantastic phone. If you like it, if you like the feel of it, you lose nothing by keeping it. In fact, holding the DX made my opinion of the Dinc go right back up. It is a great phone. If I had younger eyes, I would have kept it for sure.

Also, do I want to be at the VZ store at 7 am fighting it out with a bunch of other over-obsessed geeks and lay out the MIR money? Or do I want to do it online Wednesday night Thursday morning? Also, do I want to wait for the Fascinate and take a look at that one before I commit?

I invite you to register you opinions and guidance. I give you my word that I will consider the things you say before I make up my mind.

Steven58

 

[aleis]

wow it sounds like you are now on the fence...
im still all in after playing with it.

 

[Steven58]

wow it sounds like you are now on the fence...
im still all in after playing with it.

I'm always on the fence. I am a hopeless tech whore. I am titillated by the newest thing. (Steven shakes his head at himself in disappointment!)

 

[D13]

I am also really considering just waiting it out for the at least the release date of the Fascinate.

 

[damstr]

Nice. When I went into the Verizon store and asked for the demo the guy handed it to me then walked away.

I agree with it feeling huge but at the same time thin which makes it feel odd.

Mine is out for delivery now. Should have it in an hour or two. Going to activate it, set it up like my old Droid play around with the widgets.

Then I'm going to go to BB and Verizon and casually walk in and see what accessories they have for my phone at which point I take it out.

So excited!

 

[bc6droid]

Glad you finally got a chance to play with the X. Motorola usally makes well designed phones and the DX is no exception. I would have love to see that Mario wallpaper in person, I think thats going to be the first wallpaper I install on my phone.

 

[Steven58]

Glad you finally got a chance to play with the X. Motorola usally makes well designed phones and the DX is no exception. I would have love to see that Mario wallpaper in person, I think thats going to be the first wallpaper I install on my phone.

Yeah, it's like always having a video game running in the background. It's a bit ADHD for me!

 

[ghdtpdna]

Glad you finally got a chance to play with the X. Motorola usally makes well designed phones and the DX is no exception. I would have love to see that Mario wallpaper in person, I think thats going to be the first wallpaper I install on my phone.

I have the Mario running on my phone, and I can almost see my battery life go done real time with it.

 

[verdegallardo]

Thanks for sharing. I personally love the size of the screen and now consider smaller phones like the inc and iphone too small for me. I think it's the sweet spot size. I love browsing the web on the bigger screen, that's probably my favorite reason for liking the bigger screen.

I'm of the belief that if you weren't thinking I gotta have this phone as soon as you started playing with it, that maybe you should wait. That's exactly how I felt about the iphone 4, it did nothing for me and man am I glad I waited!!

Mario is annoying to me too!

 

[1stAndroid]

Then I'm going to go to BB and Verizon and casually walk in and see what accessories they have for my phone at which point I take it out.

So excited!

Make sure they don't think it's the demo version

 

[Wolfedude88]

Am I the only one after playing with the phone didn't think it was all that big? I know it is bigger than the Incredible but I didn't even feel like it was that big, I feel like the EVO feels bigger to me. Maybe it does have something to do with how light the phone is.

We are almost there!!!!!

 

[j_ryan]

The X wasn't nearly as large in person as everyone online was saying. I love the size of that screen...can't wait for a better res than my iPhone 3G.

 

[rushmore]

I agree with the OP's observations. Screen is kind of dull (but you get used to it- same as other LCDs) and the device is bigger than you expect- not the opposite, IMO. I guess it depends on how big your hands are, or your expectations.

The speed seemed just as fast as the Inc, so not sure what happened in some of the reviews and Youtube vids.

The one thing I would like is a tech explanation for why the display shows text with jaggies. Older Droid does not. Please compare the Inc and X and you will notice that text looks better on the Inc. I always thought amoled would look worse than LCD, but in this case, text looks worse on the X. Old Droid is much clearer. Almost seems like the sharpness on the X is overdone to the point of causing the jaggies. Weird.

Any insight as to why text has jaggies on the X would be appreciated.

 

[damstr]

Make sure they don't think it's the demo version

Yeah the thought had crossed my mind about them thinking that. Guess we will find out!

 

[EKG]

The one thing I would like is a tech explanation for why the display shows text with jaggies. Older Droid does not. Please compare the Inc and X and you will notice that text looks better on the Inc. I always thought amoled would look worse than LCD, but in this case, text looks worse on the X. Old Droid is much clearer. Almost seems like the sharpness on the X is overdone to the point of causing the jaggies. Weird.

Any insight as to why text has jaggies on the X would be appreciated.

People who have the phone stated that a software update recently released has fixed that problem.

 

[PeaceMaker]

If I could accept the battery life of the Dinc, I would opt for that phone. However, I am willing to accept the size of the DX as the only "downside" to the phone. But in reality, it's really got some up's to it--so I'm still set. It's unfortunate that HTC has ran into a supply issue w/ Samsung. Though I must say, the Samsung Galaxy S has a gorgeous looking screen.

 

[Paznos]

I've used my friend's Droid from time to time and that's the screen I'm used to that and my ipod touch so I don't' think i'll have any problems with the LCD screen, I would have bought the Incredible back in April if I didn't go out of the country for a few weeks.

I just feel like I can't keep waiting much longer, been waiting since November really after I decided to pass on the Droid since I didn't like the keyboard.

 

[you2]

Did you try the phone outside? If so how was the screen then? As for the samsung the only thing negative I've heard is that it will freeze from time to time when it access memory. It is unclear if this is a design flaw or fixable with a new firmware. Also I've not heard much with regards to reception/clarity/noise cancellation. The big wins are gpu and display. The other thing to consider is that it has a larger border so it is nearly the same size but has a smaller screen (mostly in the Y direction). It is also lighter.
-
For me it is not clear just how much better the display is on the samsung but other than that I could use the noise cancellation and solid reception. If the freeze thing is not fixable it would drive me nuts.

 

[mach330]

i tried out the phone as well. i'm shopping for my wife's phone. i wanted to have the wife see if it was too big for her. it definitely felt too big for me, but it's so thin and light, that i think i might overlook at. screen is awesome though especially in watching movies/youtubes and webpages. my wife is not geeky by anymean so i was telling her to wait for the sammy fascinate and see which one she likes better (she has the droid now). but she said to just get it. does anyone know when the fascinate will come out? aug sometime? the tmo and att version are coming out this week so i was hoping the fascinate will come out shortly as well. still like my dinc tho. Dx felt just as fast and smooth. does fascinate have a front facing camera?

 

[jroc]

Did you try the phone outside? If so how was the screen then? As for the samsung the only thing negative I've heard is that it will freeze from time to time when it access memory. It is unclear if this is a design flaw or fixable with a new firmware. Also I've not heard much with regards to reception/clarity/noise cancellation. The big wins are gpu and display. The other thing to consider is that it has a larger border so it is nearly the same size but has a smaller screen (mostly in the Y direction). It is also lighter.
-
For me it is not clear just how much better the display is on the samsung but other than that I could use the noise cancellation and solid reception. If the freeze thing is not fixable it would drive me nuts.

http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-x/120737-finally-review-covers-call-quality.html

Its a clip in here of someone testing the noise cancellation. And dont pay attention to that nut that said it sounded bad. I dont think he has any idea how noise cancellation works. lol

 

[mountainlover]

Do you think it's too large for a woman? Any idea when the Fascinate will be out?

 

[kishin14]

Am I the only one after playing with the phone didn't think it was all that big? I know it is bigger than the Incredible but I didn't even feel like it was that big, I feel like the EVO feels bigger to me. Maybe it does have something to do with how light the phone is.

We are almost there!!!!!

You're not the only one. I was relieved to find the droid x to be smaller in person than I initially feared. I also found it to be pretty pocketable.

 

[AJ_EVO]

I thought the Evo screen was perfect, and while the phone was pretty beefy, most people seem to agree that Droid X feels smaller. This phone is going to be awesome!!!

 

[kwest12]

Nice review Steven and others, thanks for the input. Here is one thought that may help those who are on the fence about the DX b/c of the Fascinate.

The other carriers have very similar versions of the Galaxy S coming out prior to the Fascinate, so you will at least be able to draw some logical comparisons to the Fascinate even if it doesn't drop within 30 days of the DX release.

You will most likely be able to hear about battery life based on the Epic: it will have slightly worse performance than the Fascinate if they have the same size battery: both carriers are CDMA, but Verizon has better coverage and doesn't have a battery eating 4G antenna.

Either AT&T or T-Mobile (I forget which one) has one that has almost the exact same specs as the Fascinate. Besides the network technology it should be a fairly direct look at the type of hardware that the Fascinate will be sporting.

I'd expect the software/firmware to be roughly the same besides the bloatware that each provider puts on their version.

The ONLY thing I'm concerned that we won't know soon enough is whether or not the boot loader is sporting encryption or not. That's what scares me too: it's the major reason I'm still considering holding off of the Droid.

Based on the videos and reviews I've seen of the Galaxy S, I would want to replace the Samsung ROM sporting TouchWiz asap, and replace it with some custom sexiness. If I can't do that, there is not a single thing that would make me want this over the DX. (I don't play may graphics intensive games and I personally value bigger screens over brighter screens).

What I'm trying to say is this: I'm buying the DX on Thursday, trying out the Galaxy S versions on the other carriers (if the Fascinate isn't release within my 30 day window) and then making a decision on whether to keep the DX or return it and wait for the Fascinate.

 

[Paznos]

The regular Galaxy S(Europe?) has been rooted but there still aren't custom roms for it yet but I'm sure that's just a matter of time before that happens, if the Fascinate is rooted and there is not encrypted bootloader that would be great but my main concern is the build quality of the Fascinate and phone call quality.