Initial X2 GB impressions

[hkklife]

Installed the update (it's Android 2.3.3, not 2.3.4, unfortunately) in the wee hours of this morning on a totally stock X2 (but with a 30+ day app load & usage on my DX2). I have been using it on and off before I went to bed and since I got up (sometimes it's worth having insomnia!). Here are my observations:

Pros
-No installation issues whatsoever. Total install time was about 15 minutes or so. First boot (at the red Droid eye) was pretty slow, as usual.

-NO lag whatsoever, other than when launching the camera app. WOW! This is the fastest Blurred Moto device I've ever used! What a huge improvement. This makes it feel like an entirely new device in every aspect. Quadrant score is now 2691 (was 2084 on the first run).

-Icons have been redesigned and look like the D3's and in the most recent Bionic leaked images. Battery icon on top has been redesigned too and the green makes the Pentiule screen look less noticeable. Almost every single Moto widget has been overhauled, all for the better. Also the bluish gradient in the background (like while on a phone call) seems smoother and more refined than it was before. Less dithered, perhaps?

-Upon startup, free RAM is now 120Mb. I was at 80-something before and I haven't done anything in the way of optimization before or now.

-"Sleep" mode has been added to the power-off menu (like my DX1 had with GB). I never really used that feature but it's still nice to have.

-Annoying sound when inserted in dock has been fixed

-The duplicate text message bug appears to be totally fixed. YAY!

-Onscreen keyboard doesn't lag when haptic feedback is enabled and it's got the "hold top row buttons to get numbers" that I had on my DX GB. Huge improvement there!

-Too early to really tell but battery life seems to be somewhat improved as I've been using it pretty heavily so far (wi-fi on constantly) and I am still at 70% and I left it off the charger overnight.

-The occasional screen glitches and graphic corruption I got when playing games (namely Angry Birds and Samurai II) are gone. Updated Tegra2 drivers I assume?

-No broken apps or widgets. All I've had to so far is put my login credentials back in Amazon App Store. Netflix works fine!

-The horribly annoying camera bug I posted about a few weeks ago has thankfully been fixed. My flash fires properly 90%+ of the time. Previously I would shoot 20 pictures and maybe 4 of them would be properly illuminated. Now I just took 20+ pictures and only 2 of them were overly dark. Both continuous focus and autofocus seem faster now and I just recorded a quick 720p video to a class 4 microSDHC card and it didn't have the stutters or hiccups it sometimes did in the past.

-The annoying delay when hitting the power button or the home button before the screen came on is fixed. Also, the lock screen unlocking lag is gone.

-Stock Gallery app is still a lot slower than it was on my DX but it's definitely faster than it was on DX2 Froyo. There are also fewer empty thumbnails than before. I will keep using QuickPic, however.

Cons:
-NO UI changes whatsoever. No 3D effects or any of the fancy stuff from the Droid 3. It's identical to the Froyo/Ginerblur from the DX1 and stock DX2, just with larger and more refined-looking icons.

-No changes to the camera app. I was REALLY looking forward to getting the new camera app from the D3, if only for the UI changes. Oh well, I'll live with the huge performance improvements.

-Bootup isn't much (if any) faster than it was before. Still 120+ seconds from powering it on until it's usable.

 

[rankman]

Yea I've experienced the same pros as you stated. The phone finally feels stable and runs fast and smooth! I was hoping for the 3D blur but im more happy that we got a performance boost instead!

 

[CPR]

Any audio issues?

 

[mrfixitx]

For me audio issues are much less common but still occur with heavy multitasking. When they do occur they are less severe than before.

 

[CPR]

Wait, we're not even getting the latest version of GB? What the hell?

 

[droidsales]

How is Pandora working? That was my biggest issue with froyo.

 

[fastpicker89]

Wait, we're not even getting the latest version of GB? What the hell?

annoying as hell

 

[novemberwhiskey]

I am not seeing any improvements. Closest thing is the prettier icons.

I am now getting lag in LPP and the stock launcher. Tried restarting, battery pull, and *228.

Will keep an eye on battery life.

No improvement on gradiation or pixelation.

IMO, my phone was a lot faster before GB, both in real-world usage and in quadrant. That was the one thing I liked about GB: LPP and the stock launcher were lightening fast.

I will keep an eye on things to see if maybe something is setting up in the background.

 

[hkklife]

Thanks for the feedback. Pandora and various other audio-playback apps work great. No stuttering or choppiness at all. I have not had a ton of time to be gaming today, but I did notice a bit of stuttery audio while playing Samurai II earlier today in one or two scenes with a ton of action occuring onscreen. I still think it's a RAM issue but it's definitely better than it was before. No audio problems when on phone calls.

Not a typo, we are getting 2.3.3 and not 2.3.4. Since we don't have a front camera, I suppose .4 isn't AS important but it still sucks to get an older version (especially with no guarantees the X2 will ever see another major OS update in the future).

I have been using my phone very heavily all day and I am still at 30% remaining. I took it off the charger sometime last night shortly before midnight and I gave it a quick 5-minute charge in the car at lunchtime today. I think GB has definitely made battery life at least a little bit better.

 

[fastpicker89]

This thread is bummin' me out. I love LPP. I don't want it to lag more...

 

[rankman]

This thread is bummin' me out. I love LPP. I don't want it to lag more...

Well so far it hasn't been anything like the gb update for the DROID x1 which is a plus(by that I mean bringing bad baggage and making things worse). Typing is definitely much smother now. I used to have tons of delays or typos on sms but gb has been spot on so far and I like the new cursor that let's u place the cursor where u want easily in between words.

 

[subdivisions]

I am using LPP and have had no ill effects at all, no slowdowns.. its definatley snappier then it was on Froyo.

The only thing i see is sometimes the screen will turn black and i have to relaunch LPP (Happened once).. Other then that my LPP in GB is very happy and snappy

 

[novemberwhiskey]

Update:

Lpp is smoother now. Might have been something updating in the back.

However, still got a screen redraw after going home from the browser. Never happened on froyo. And still feels the same, if not a tiny bit slower than on froyo. Quadrant less slightly as well.


Nothing major though. Just saying, don't expect it to rock ur world. Would wait for p3 droids update with root if I could do it over again.

 

[speedracer68]

Overall it's not a bad update.

Notable improvements are that the phone feels much more responsive when opening and closing apps. Screen transitions and animations are quicker and smoother. I'm using Go Launcher which is still noticeably faster than the stock Home app.

So far, a major issue with the random reboots seems to have been solved. Under Froyo, my system would randomly crash if I was listening to music or a podcast and got a text message. That seems to have been fixed. Also, the multiple text issues seems to have been fixed, but it's probably too early to tell for sure.

Video recording runs better too. So far, no stutters and the camera app is responsive and stable.

The audio issues, for me, have not been fixed. Listening to MP3s or Pandora/Slacker while trying to multitask cause a multitude of issues, from popping and skipping to the apps totally crashing. I would blame the apps, but when I was rooted and using V6 Supercharger, these problems were pretty nonexistent. I seriously doubt if Moto is going to address this issue, as I'm guessing (based on history) that this will be the last official update that Moto releases. Any future updates (Ice Cream Sandwich) will likely come from the development community.

Battery time is still very good for me.

Also, call me crazy, but when I was looking through photos on Flickr, it did seem that the gradients were slightly less pixelated than before. Don't get me wrong, this update didn't make the display on par with Apple's iPhone 4 display, but it just looks as if color transitions are a bit smoother. Could be my aging eyes, though. Anyone else notice anything like this?

I think that if Supercharger can be made to work on this, it will be a solid update.

 

[i_am_booked]

my initial impression is WOW I finally have a dual core phone.

 

[dmodert66]

my initial impression is WOW I finally have a dual core phone.

I have to agree. All lag that was present prior (hell, I was even getting lag on the dialer) is gone. I haven't tested audio for pops yet, but everything else is fantastic and the phone is defenitly more responsive. I have installed almost all of the apps I had prior and still running smooth. Everything is faster including the browser. Pretty great update IMO. I'm still going to get a Bionic for 4G, but this will make the phone far more usable for my brother (who I will give it to).

Played a bunch of field runners and the battery life is pretty fantastic. Whatever they did, I would keep this phone if it had 4G.

 

[fastpicker89]

About how long does it take for this stuff to roll out? I still haven't gotten it.

 

[Mopsgang]

Still waiting also --

 

[novemberwhiskey]

what lag are you guys talking about? I never noticed any lag on froyo (in fact, the speed was the ONLY thing I was impressed with on the DX2).

now i am getting some hiccups on GB that i didn't have before.

 

[ABRMess006]

Still waiting here for update too

 

[rankman]

Gb has been running smooth so far and definitely feels like a dual core phone now! Feels faster in transition and the ram seems to stay at about 75mb and above. The only issue I've seen that's pretty frequent is the redraw when going back to the homescreen. Also when I have my car charger plug in and using pandora through my aux when the music isn't playing I hear a high pitch sound that sounds like a tool they use at a dentist office. Only makes that sound if im charging and using my aux while waiting for a song to load on pandora.

 

[hkklife]

After 3 full days of using this phone (probably more than usual due to the newness of the GB update and being out of town for most of the weekend and having only my X2) I can safey say that I am very pleased.

So far, I've had one lockup (while using the camera) that required a battery pull. I also had one random reboot (while web browsing) and the camera app has crashed maybe 2x on me. I have yet to lose any 3G or wi-fi connectivity. Far better than my X ever was or my X2 was with Froyo!

I still perioidically get a series of overly dark pictures where it seems like the timing of the camera flash is off but exiting and relaunching the camera usually (not always) fixes the problem. Available RAM contionues to be more than it ever was before. The X2's not perfect but it's SO much faster, smoother, and more stable than it was before. Right now I'd rate the update a solid 8 or 8.5/10. If the camera app was overhauled like what the D3 has it'd be close to perfect.

P.S. I can also verify that choosing to save new contacts to Gmail or phone storage in the Contacts prefs also stays selected and doesn't prompt me every time I add a new contact on the phone. The X GB does this as does the X2 Froyo.

 

[mrfixitx]

I also tested the dock with GB. With Froyo the X2 would repeatedly make notification noises when put on the dock and then multiple times throughout the night for no apparent reason. With the new firmware the multimedia dock works as expected and has had no unusual notification sounds.

 

[afx38]

The phone feels more stable and at least twice as fast. Having DX2 on froyo as my first smartphone, I didn't see alot of the speed complaints. Now that I have gingerbread I see how much faster it is. A second here after a click, two seconds there to load the browser, just didn't notice that stuff until it was gone. Also a big thank you P3droid and all the folks in the root forums as they made the process feel easy after reading all the information.

 

[Stick1300]

I still perioidically get a series of overly dark pictures where it seems like the timing of the camera flash is off but exiting and relaunching the camera usually (not always) fixes the problem.

I've always felt like my pictures were overly dark on the X2. I've found that they turn out better if you set the exposure setting to 1 (instead of 0). Just my experience...