Droid X2 Review

[John58543]

I just unboxed my new X2 and got everything activated and ready to go. I am going to see how everything goes today and post on my experience. I am coming from an Eris, so I'm sure my experience will be 10X better with this device.

Keep checking back for updates about my experience with phone!

NOTE: I'm not a technical genius when it comes to cell phones, I just really enjoy new technology, especially when it comes to cell phones. I just hope this review gives some perspective to the DX2. I realize its not the latest and greatest when it comes to upcoming phones.

**ATTN People running into problems during activation** - When phone starts up and you click on little android guy it starts the programming process, I kept getting a "cannot be completed" message. So I just went to verizonwireless.com and activated the phone using my online account. This really helped and my phone programmed just fine the next time I powered it up. Seems like maybe Verizon wasn't ready to activate DX2s yet lol.

I've attached a pic to confirm I do have the device for the doubters out there. Also have pic of DX2 next to Eris for size comparison for those of you interested in having an idea of the size of this beast. Yes, that's an Otterbox Defender case if curious...makes phone look larger...and also attached pic without case on...

Any questions you guys have about the device? I'm glad to answer to help you in decision making process on whether or not to buy phone...

Thoughts so far:

PROS

- GPS - This phone has the best GPS (for a phone) I've ever used. Locks right on to your position within seconds. My eris took up to a minute sometimes and my BB 9700 can take up to 15-20 seconds...Bottom line, the DX2 GPS is how a GPS should be. Two thumbs up!

- Call Quality/Phone Speaker- Phone speaker is amazing in my opinion and speakerphone is great too. Seems like so many phones these days are loaded with technology but when it comes to making calls they suck. This is NOT the case with the X2.

- SPEED- Ran Quadrant twice and got 2137 first time and 2569 second go round...see pics below (nkd got 2654) Bottom line, phone is FAST.

- OS Runs Well (Ninjablur). I went ahead an installed Launcher Pro because that's what I'm used to. The factory Moto widgets seem bland and colorless...they are all on a white background. HTC widgets seemed a lot cooler.

- qHD screen is OK. Never seen such a bright, crisp screen on a cell phone. However when scrolling fast, the text does blur/"ghost" somewhat FWIW...

- BATTERY LIFE - So far so good, phone ships at about 60% and I've been running it like crazy since about 12PM CST and its down to 15%...ie Wifi enabled, GPS enabled, constant web browsing, played games for 15-20min, d/l and installed several apps, and played with Google Earth for awhile. UPDATE had to charge battery (remember started at about 60%) after 6 hours of heavy use. UPDATE After a full day of light to moderate use with mobile data on as well as gps...I'm at 60% overall left. Not too shabby eh?

- DLNA/HDMI - This phone does have DLNA capabilities as well, which were never mentioned in specs before I believe. I tried it out with my PS3 last night, and its awesome...and of course, the phone does have a micro HDMI out as well for those of you with older HDTVs (like me).

Cons

- No Front Facing Camera - This really doesn't bother me, as I bought the phone, but it may affect your decision to buy one.

- No 4G - At this point I don't even have 4G where I live, so once again, not a big deal to me, but may affect your decision

- Launched with Android 2.2 (Froyo) - This is a shame in my opinion, I even had Gingerbread on my Eris (rooted of course). I don't understand why they are even still shipping devices with Froyo!

- Bloatware - This has become a consistent issue with all phones these days. The phone comes with Amazon Kindle, Amazon MP3, Blockbuster, Lets Golf, Need For Speed, Backup Assistant, City ID (pretty cool), Emergency Alerts, FM Player, Help Center, Quick Office, Rich Location, Skype Mobile, Slacker, Social Networking, V Cast Apps, V Cast Music, V Cast Videos, VZ Navigator...this is the majority of bloatware, you can see pictures of my app drawer below.

- Video Recording - Whenever I try to record a video it seems very choppy...anyone else noticing this? In other words during recording I get tons of freeze ups...very frustrating.

- Lag - The amount this phone lags after being on it a few hours is RIDICULOUS. I'm beginning to think its Android, not the device, as my Eris did the EXACT SAME THING.

- Gameplay Lag - Half of the cool games the X2 comes with lag during play!!! I thought this device was DUAL CORE! I guess that really doesn't mean anything...

OVERALL VERDICT - The longer I have this phone, the more I want to return it...so frustrating! Even after getting a major deal on an accessory pack, I'm pretty sure I will be returning this and most likely going back to my Eris, or getting my wife an iPhone. Yes, an iPhone, I'm beginning to think that Android is the reason all my device experiences have been bad so far...

Wound up returning phone on last day of 14 day return policy.

 

[Praetorian]

Mine is currently out for delivery and I'm waiting eagerly to recieve this phone. I'm also comming from an Eris with GSB and I want something that will actually run the apps in the market.

 

[dguy]

Mine is currently out for delivery and I'm waiting eagerly to recieve this phone. I'm also comming from an Eris with GSB and I want something that will actually run the apps in the market.

Mine is out for delivery as well

 

[mrfixitx]

I hope to have mine this weekend or monday. I wish I had remembered to choose next day shipping.

 

[roy5000x2]

What's the count on VZW bloatware apps?
Also how's the battery?

 

[CPR]

Traded in my DInc2 for one at Best Buy today and so far I'm very happy with the X2 over the HTC. For one, the Inc2 speaker SUCKS. It sounds tinny and has a lot of distortion at high volume. The DX2 speaker sounds better than my old iPhone 4's, which I was perfectly happy with.

Overall, the build quality seems better and the phone is definitely more solid. I prefer the industrial design of the Motroloa over the nerdy Star Trek look of the Inc2.

I haven't really invested too much time in Sense, so moving to Blur isn't that big of a deal.

 

[John58543]

Seems like about 10-12 apps are bloatware. Blockbuster, Amazon Kindle, VZW Navigator etc...nothing out of ordinary. Does have a need for speed game as well.

 

[Santamoose]

Even if the bootloader is locked (which I still haven't heard anything about? We need news here people!) you can still attain root access and delete the bloatware. I was going to get this phone but I really.. really like my notification light lol

Not to mention I'm wary of the big screen and battery life.

 

[John58543]

It does have a notification light on top left of phone next to ear speaker.

 

[rushmore]

I just unboxed my new X2 and got everything activated and ready to go. I am going to see how everything goes today and post on my experience. I am coming from an Eris, so I'm sure my experience will be 10X better with this device.

I've attached a pic to confirm I do have the device for the doubters out there.

Any questions you guys have about the device? I'm glad to answer to help you in decision making process on whether or not to buy phone...

Phone speaker is amazing in my opinion and speakerphone is great too.

Stay tuned.

So the phone is loaded with VZW bloatware...gotta love that! I already miss root from my Eris for this reason...

Gingerbreak it, install Titanium/Busybox and freeze the bloat

 

[twistedlim]

Gingerbreak it, install Titanium/Busybox and freeze the bloat

Run launcher pro or go launcher and don't worry about the bloat. If it aint running it is not drawing power anyway.

 

[John58543]

delete post, info moved to first post

 

[nkd]

I am coming from thunderbolt just got this phone, do I miss 4g speeds yes. I Fricking love this phone, it is so light in hands and has a perfect fit. Now I feel how the wide design on the thunderbolt was hard to hold in one hand.

I have heard so many bad things about blur. The new version of blur is fricking sweet. I mean I am loving it. It is smooth as butter and most of the apps, gallery and messaging just have a theme on it, otherwise they are pretty much stock. Loving the scree and the camera. Hands down the best camera I have used, this thing feels like a digital camera, the picture is smooth when you are moving the phone.

Ran quadrant twice I got 2654, if that means anything.

 

[dguy]

I am pleased to see that some of the bloatware can be uninstalled. Stuff like NFS Shift, Let's Golf, and Adobe Flash, and a few others can be uninstalled.

 

[utekking]

Got my phone a couple of hours ago, Love it so far. I had the D1 up to a week ago and when it died. Early upgrade was the DX1 but traded that in for the DX2. So much faster, the speaker phone is much better. The DX1 earpiece sucked but this one is crystal clear. Will have to play with it some more before I can say anything else about it. BUT I LOVE IT SO FAR!!!!

 

[utekking]

Did just notice that there is no camera button on the side with the DX2.

 

[Heelpir8]

Ran quadrant twice I got 2654, if that means anything.

A lot to a guy who just got 323 on his Eris, haha.

 

[nkd]

I am pleased to see that some of the bloatware can be uninstalled. Stuff like NFS Shift, Let's Golf, and Adobe Flash, and a few others can be uninstalled.

LOL I really dont think adobe flash counts as bloatware.

 

[Praetorian]

My phone just got delivered and i'm stuck at work. Dammit!

 

[subdivisions]

My phone is on a fedex truck coming from PA to me on Long Island.. I am coming from (dont laugh) an HTC Touch Pro 2.. WinMo 6.5 Phone..

waiting for the jaws to hit the floor..

::THUD::

There we go..

SO needless to say i am just going to love the ability to ANSWER A %(*!# Phone call.. The rest is all BuTTA..

 

[dguy]

LOL I really dont think adobe flash counts as bloatware.

A program that makes web pages scroll slower, load slower, and display more advertisements is not terribly appealing.

 

[blog]

Now that mine is activated and I've had a little bit to play around with it, I'll give my first impressions. A little background first - I've had: Droid, Droid Incredible, DroidX, Fascinate, Thunderbolt, and Droid Charge (for 2 whole days), so if there's something I feel experienced in evaluating, it is the flagship Verizon android handsets. The original DroidX, with all its faults, is my favorite phone over and above the 2 newer 4G units.

I was really happy when i unboxed this sucker because it has the amazing build quality that I always loved from my original DroidX that I felt was terribly lacking in the Thunderbolt and especially the Charge. So far, so good.

The DX2's QHD screen immediately made my heart sink. The dreaded pentile array of subpixels from the Incredible and Fascinate (among others) has infected this phone too. It gives the impression of everything being full of tiny holes. Circles on screen don't have smooth edges, tiny text is nearly unreadable due to the fuzziness caused by this particular screen tech. It seems to me that only about 1/3 of users actually notice a difference, but I definitely do. It is nice to have the extra pixels, and it makes the DX2 feel like more of a tool than a toy. Colors are similar to what you'd find on the original Droid and DX - slightly washed out, mediocre black levels, but a nice bright white. Viewing angle fades from side to side like the original DX as well. Again like the DX, there is some ghosting when you are scrolling light objects/text on a black background. Overall I would rate the screen a disappointment in every aspect except for resolution.

I got a thunderbolt right as the leaked gingerbread came out for the DX, so I hadn't had a chance to play with the new Blur until now. It is definitely an improvement functionally. I find it to be kind of ugly in places (white menu backgrounds?), but there are some thoughtful additions vs stock android.

I fired up a few games to see how they compared to the performance on the Droid Charge. If I had to guess, I would say the Charge was actually faster/smoother in some of them due to lower resolution (or lack of Tegra optimization). Doodlejump actually wasn't completely smooth all the time. Guns'N'Glory ran fine. Pinball HD for Tegra ran nicely, and I might actually like it better on here than on the xoom.

Camera software is improved from the DroidX and it functions quickly and accurately. Nice job here. Unfortunately the sensor is same and the pictures are only average. Better than the thunderbolt, same as the droidx, and not as good as the Charge. I don't miss the crummy camera button from the original DX.

External speaker quality is very nice, much better than the Charge, and it doesn't have the stupid kickstand to block it like on the Thunderbolt.

Cliffs Notes:
Good phone in all the same ways as the original DroidX except for a subpar screen.

 

[mrfixitx]

I am really looking forward to this upgrade. Hopefully the pentile screen doesnt bother me.

I ran Quadrant on my d1 and it seems like the app is glitchy my first result was a 644 which considering a stock droid is listed below 500 i thought was good due to runing CM 7.0.3. I ran it a second time and it jumped to 768, 3rd time 857. Before i rebooted i had a score over 1,000. After a reboot I ran it and got 718. Seems like Quadrant standard app is a bit unreliable.

 

[blog]

Don't put too much stock into Quadrant scores. My Droid Charge scores < 1000 and yet it feels faster than the DX2 in some areas.

And the pentile array isn't quite as bad with this screen as it was on the fascinate. Since it is a denser display, it isn't as obvious as it was on that phone.

Coming from a Droid or Dinc, someone will love this phone. From a DX, it is a bit of an upgrade. I actually like it better than the Thunderbolt just because I hated that phone so much. I think the Droid Charge is still my #1 on verizon despite its horrible plastic toylike body.

 

[rushmore]

A program that makes web pages scroll slower, load slower, and display more advertisements is not terribly appealing.

It only does that if you leave it on all the time. The browsers allow you to select "on demand" so it only works when you want to play a game or watch a video (you tap the Flash app window).