Motorola Droid X2 Review

The Motorola Droid X2 is Verizon's first phone with a dual core processor. It comes less than 11 months after the release of the original Droid X.


Here are the key features:

• Android 2.2.2 (2.3 coming)
• 1000MHz Dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
• 512mb RAM
• 4.3gb internal storage - 8gb microSD card installed
• 4.3" qHD 540 x 960 display
• 8mp camera w/ due LED flash & HD video
• 3g mobile hotspot
• FM Radio

The Droid X2 will be in Verizon stores on May 26th for $199.99 with a new two-year contract.

Cosmetics
The Droid X2 looks exactly the same as the original with two exceptions; it's missing a camera button (this seems to be the latest trend though so I'm not surprised), and the rubberized backing is black vs grey.



The Droid X is on the left and the Droid X2 is on the right.

Screen
Motorola decided to keep the 4.3" screen size but increase the resolution from 480 x 854 to 540 x 960. The resolution itself is called qHD (quarter of HD). This basically means that there are more dots per inch and things will be a bit smaller in size when compared to the original. The higher resolution makes things a bit more crisp.

Keyboard
I didn't think that the original Droid X's keyboard could be better but this one is thanks to the processor. They board responds even faster with absolutely no skipping at all. I love typing on this keyboard.


Also included is the option to use the Swype keyboard. I see that they also included a couple more features, like turning off word suggestions and transferring your word dictionary to the sd card.

Software
There aren't too many new things on the Droid X2 that you haven't seen on the Droid X. Many of the application are the same. Everything is colored darker on the X2.

One stand-out feature is the new photo gallery. It allows you to load photos from Flickr, Photobucket, Youtube, Picasa and Facebook. While browsing photos you can also view tags, like (for Facebook), and comment on the photos. I found that retrieving this info was very slow however, even on a wi-fi connection. I also had trouble loading Picasa albums and photos.


The home screen icons (call, camera, text messages, and applications) are fixed to the bottom while scrolling through different home screens (7 of them). Motorola has included 3 easily switchable home screen profiles off of the home screen menu. They also made the application menu viewable in landscape mode.


(1st and 7th screens are blank)

I really like the added ability to put application in groups! The simple addition makes organizing applications much easier. The last selected group is what opens from the home screen. You can easily create a shortcut to the group on the home screen. I also found that you can remove apps simply by long pressing them (unfortunately you still can't uninstall some bloatware).



The contacts application adds alphabetic dividers and dedicated group and search icons in the upper left. For some reason the social networking and history panels have gone missing.

The dialer was updated slightly to look more... blue:


Camera
The camera (8mp) and camera software is exactly the same as the original with the addition of a couple settings; storage location, and the addition of continuous focus. Missing is a dedicated camera button. This isn't really a big deal since they include a camera icon on the home screen.

Since the processor is faster, taking pics is also much faster. One thing I wish they would've improved on is the low light abilities of the camera. They are still a little lacking

Performance & Battery
As you would expect, the Droid X2 has outstanding processor performance. Everything with the exception of the gallery app opens instantly and doesn't hesitate at all when scrolling. If you do something as simple as open the application screen and move you finger up and down fast, the phone has no problem keeping up with your finger. Doing the same thing with the original Droid X shows some slowness.



The question is, will you really need all this processing power? Maybe. Two cores doesn't necessarily mean double the speed. While motorola has done some tweaking on the back end to utilize both cores, most applications are built to be light weight and fast. Right now there aren't a lot of apps out there that need a lot of CPU to run. One thing that does require a lot of processing power though is Flash. I tried loading a flash game in the browser, and although it could keep up better than the original Droid X, it still wasn't playable.

Furthermore, since the phone doesn't have a 4g antenna, you can't really use it to it's full capacity with web applications.

The battery is exactly the same as the original Droid and is rated at the same 8 hours talk time and 220 hours stand-by time. I have no problem using the phone all day on a single change.



I'm baffled as to why they didn't include a 16gb sd card like the original. Here you're only getting an 8gb card (which still requires you to remove the battery to access). Quadrant reads a 4.3gb internal capacity, contrary to the 8gb internal capacity reported. I'm not sure where the other 3.7gb went.



Conclusion
The Droid X2 is a fantastic phone, but it may leave users wanting more over the original. I have a feeling that Motorola just wanted to get their dual core foot in the door with this phone. With the Droid Bionic (dual core + 4g) on the horizon the Droid X2 seems underwhelming. In any other situation I would love to have this phone, but in this case it seems like a filler to make more money.

Here's a quick comparison between the two phones

They both have:

• 3g data
• 4.3" screen
• 512mb ram
• HDMI
• 1540 mAh battery (8 hours talk time 220 stand-by)
• 8mp camera
• HD 720p video
• FM Radio
• Same size and case (grey/black)
• Same weight

Reasons to get the Droid X2:

• You don't need 4g data speeds
• You want a large, high resolution screen
• You need a really fast CPU

Reasons to not get the Droid X2:

• You want 4g
• You rather wait for the Droid Bionic
• You can get the original Droid X cheaper

Visit the Droid forum for more

Get the Motorola Droid X2