Well, I have not seen anyone posting any anything comprehensive on any of the forums I regularly visit, so I figured I'd post my experiences since I installed the new 2.3.4 leak yesterday (a bit over 24 hours ago)
Previously I had a stock, unrooted 2.3.3 install. I now have a stock, unrooted 2.3.4 install. I try to keep my phone lean and mean but as close to stock as possible.
The Good:
-Installation was painless and like any other SBFing, requiring one battery pull to get out of the bootloop.
-I did have some minor issues early on with reactivating my phone with *228 but that was probably just a glitch with VZW's system. All is well now, I just had to do *228 3 times before I was able to press 1.
-The unlock slider has unfortunately not been changed to the higher position like it is on the D3 & Bionic but it's a LOT smoother now.
-Overall everything seems so much smoother and more stable. Not necessarily that much faster (though a few things are) it just glides along smoothly. Feels like hardware acceleration is in full effect now.
-I have noticed a handful of small graphical changes: Contacts icon looks more three-dimensional. The Moto Task Manager has a new icon too. Task Manager is quite a bit faster to process running apps than it was before. We definitely DO NOT GET the snazzy 3D Blur like the D3 or the Bionic but it's definitely faster and smoother all around with a few minor UI changes. I wish we had at least gotten the updated camera app (more on this below)
-The Moto Blur News widget doesn't fail to load new news feeds (from what I have seen so far)
-Stock Gallery is faster and more stable than it was before but it's still sluggish and cumbersome. I will continue with QuickPic.
-Free RAM hovers around ~80MB-85MB free which is a huge improvement. Previously with the same load of apps (I keep my phone pretty lean & mean) it was ~65 to ~75MB free. Overall system performance is definitely more sluggish than the Bionic but feels about on par with the original X now. Remember, I have not yet rooted it, debloated it or optimized the system in any way.
-The old Market was initially present but it automatically updated itself after about an hour.
-The screen-off CRT animation has been officially added. That's a cute and unexpected bonus but it only works if you leave screen animations set to "on". The "some" animations choice is now gone (maybe this was removed in 2.3.3) so you just have all on or all off.
-3G speeds are apparently a tad better, as is reception. I ran Speedtest 3x with 2.3.3 and immediately again after installing 2.3.4. With 2.3.3 I never exceeded 1200kbps but on 3 runs with 2.3.4 I consistently got over 1300. Upload speeds dropped from the low 900s to the mid 800s, however.
Web browsing definitely feels "snappier". I think the stock browser has been tweaked a bit too.
-Wi-fi connections to my Linksys router definitely are faster now. Before there was a rather annoying authentication period before it was fully up and running.
-The phone boots up much faster than before. Probably an improvement of 10 to 15 seconds off of the total startup time.
-The music skipping IS still present but it's GREATLY reduced. Tegra2 games play just as well as they did before.
-The stock camera app is the single biggest improvement in 2.3.4 IMHO. What a huge relief! This has been plaguing me since my first day with the X2! Camera is still quite slow to launch but both auto-focus and continuous focus appear a tad faster. More importantly, the flash FINALLY is in sync with the shutter!! I have been through two brand new X2's and they both exhibited this problem in 2.2 and 2.3.3. I would say that the X2 is still a bit below the old X in low-light situations but I can at least take a reasonable pic now with full flash illumination. Flesh tones still don't look great in low light but they are definitely less "splotchy" than they were before. I previously had to keep exposore on +1 just to have a hope of a halfway decent shot and now I sometimes have to dial it down a notch. Thank you Moto!
-The onscreen top-right record/stop/shutter icons in both camera and camcorder mode are enlarged and much easier to see and toggle (whew!). I still would have liked to have received the new camrea app from the D3 and Bionic but at least this is a nice improvement. The right-side settings menu is also easier to toggle and responds much more swiftly.
-I have not done much video recording but a few quick 720p test vidoes (both to internal storage and a class 2 32GB Sandisk card) revealed no crashes or corrupted videos, though I got a few droped frames (nothing major). The live viewfinder image when in the camera app also seems a tad smoother than it was before. Basically, the X2 is now FINALLY up to X levels of camera performance or, perhaps even a bit better for video recording!
-I did not format my internal or external SD cards during the update but both are mounted faster after switching off USB mode when connected to my PC.
The Bad:
-I have had one random 3G drop in a bit over 24 hours of testing. I also had one instance where disconnecting from wi-fi kept me from going back into 3G. I had to toggle Airplane Mode on and off a few times before it finally reconnected. Also, any task involving radio switching (BT on/off or airplane mode on/off) is much smoother and faster than it was before.
-I still get major keyboard lag with haptic feedback turned on.
-The occasional SMS glitch using the stock app still occurs where I sent a message to someone and it sends but still shows the "unsent" text in the message creation box. Annoying, but not a biggie.
-It's too early to tell on battery life b/c I have been using it so extensively over the past day and hitting the wi-fi pretty hard. However, it DOES seem to be draining faster than before :-( I popped in my spare battery around noon and it's already down to 70% after 10 mins of phone calls and maybe 20 mins of web browsing over 3G (watching the big Apple event and Facebook mostly).
-Dolphin Browser HD seems to be even slower than it was before and has had a few incidents when it would not fully load a page that the stock browser would. Gotta look into this more.
If anything else comes up with further testing I will report it here. Feel free to send in any questions if you have 'em. I can definitely say that if the upcoming OTA is based on this build it will be a huge improvement for us X2 users in regards to camera operation, system stability, and overall smoothness. The battery life does concern me a bit but it's too early to panic just yet!
Previously I had a stock, unrooted 2.3.3 install. I now have a stock, unrooted 2.3.4 install. I try to keep my phone lean and mean but as close to stock as possible.
The Good:
-Installation was painless and like any other SBFing, requiring one battery pull to get out of the bootloop.
-I did have some minor issues early on with reactivating my phone with *228 but that was probably just a glitch with VZW's system. All is well now, I just had to do *228 3 times before I was able to press 1.
-The unlock slider has unfortunately not been changed to the higher position like it is on the D3 & Bionic but it's a LOT smoother now.
-Overall everything seems so much smoother and more stable. Not necessarily that much faster (though a few things are) it just glides along smoothly. Feels like hardware acceleration is in full effect now.
-I have noticed a handful of small graphical changes: Contacts icon looks more three-dimensional. The Moto Task Manager has a new icon too. Task Manager is quite a bit faster to process running apps than it was before. We definitely DO NOT GET the snazzy 3D Blur like the D3 or the Bionic but it's definitely faster and smoother all around with a few minor UI changes. I wish we had at least gotten the updated camera app (more on this below)
-The Moto Blur News widget doesn't fail to load new news feeds (from what I have seen so far)
-Stock Gallery is faster and more stable than it was before but it's still sluggish and cumbersome. I will continue with QuickPic.
-Free RAM hovers around ~80MB-85MB free which is a huge improvement. Previously with the same load of apps (I keep my phone pretty lean & mean) it was ~65 to ~75MB free. Overall system performance is definitely more sluggish than the Bionic but feels about on par with the original X now. Remember, I have not yet rooted it, debloated it or optimized the system in any way.
-The old Market was initially present but it automatically updated itself after about an hour.
-The screen-off CRT animation has been officially added. That's a cute and unexpected bonus but it only works if you leave screen animations set to "on". The "some" animations choice is now gone (maybe this was removed in 2.3.3) so you just have all on or all off.
-3G speeds are apparently a tad better, as is reception. I ran Speedtest 3x with 2.3.3 and immediately again after installing 2.3.4. With 2.3.3 I never exceeded 1200kbps but on 3 runs with 2.3.4 I consistently got over 1300. Upload speeds dropped from the low 900s to the mid 800s, however.
Web browsing definitely feels "snappier". I think the stock browser has been tweaked a bit too.
-Wi-fi connections to my Linksys router definitely are faster now. Before there was a rather annoying authentication period before it was fully up and running.
-The phone boots up much faster than before. Probably an improvement of 10 to 15 seconds off of the total startup time.
-The music skipping IS still present but it's GREATLY reduced. Tegra2 games play just as well as they did before.
-The stock camera app is the single biggest improvement in 2.3.4 IMHO. What a huge relief! This has been plaguing me since my first day with the X2! Camera is still quite slow to launch but both auto-focus and continuous focus appear a tad faster. More importantly, the flash FINALLY is in sync with the shutter!! I have been through two brand new X2's and they both exhibited this problem in 2.2 and 2.3.3. I would say that the X2 is still a bit below the old X in low-light situations but I can at least take a reasonable pic now with full flash illumination. Flesh tones still don't look great in low light but they are definitely less "splotchy" than they were before. I previously had to keep exposore on +1 just to have a hope of a halfway decent shot and now I sometimes have to dial it down a notch. Thank you Moto!
-The onscreen top-right record/stop/shutter icons in both camera and camcorder mode are enlarged and much easier to see and toggle (whew!). I still would have liked to have received the new camrea app from the D3 and Bionic but at least this is a nice improvement. The right-side settings menu is also easier to toggle and responds much more swiftly.
-I have not done much video recording but a few quick 720p test vidoes (both to internal storage and a class 2 32GB Sandisk card) revealed no crashes or corrupted videos, though I got a few droped frames (nothing major). The live viewfinder image when in the camera app also seems a tad smoother than it was before. Basically, the X2 is now FINALLY up to X levels of camera performance or, perhaps even a bit better for video recording!
-I did not format my internal or external SD cards during the update but both are mounted faster after switching off USB mode when connected to my PC.
The Bad:
-I have had one random 3G drop in a bit over 24 hours of testing. I also had one instance where disconnecting from wi-fi kept me from going back into 3G. I had to toggle Airplane Mode on and off a few times before it finally reconnected. Also, any task involving radio switching (BT on/off or airplane mode on/off) is much smoother and faster than it was before.
-I still get major keyboard lag with haptic feedback turned on.
-The occasional SMS glitch using the stock app still occurs where I sent a message to someone and it sends but still shows the "unsent" text in the message creation box. Annoying, but not a biggie.
-It's too early to tell on battery life b/c I have been using it so extensively over the past day and hitting the wi-fi pretty hard. However, it DOES seem to be draining faster than before :-( I popped in my spare battery around noon and it's already down to 70% after 10 mins of phone calls and maybe 20 mins of web browsing over 3G (watching the big Apple event and Facebook mostly).
-Dolphin Browser HD seems to be even slower than it was before and has had a few incidents when it would not fully load a page that the stock browser would. Gotta look into this more.
If anything else comes up with further testing I will report it here. Feel free to send in any questions if you have 'em. I can definitely say that if the upcoming OTA is based on this build it will be a huge improvement for us X2 users in regards to camera operation, system stability, and overall smoothness. The battery life does concern me a bit but it's too early to panic just yet!
).
