Motorola Droid X: Thoroughly Reviewed
by Brian Klug on July 20, 2010 4:27 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Motorola Droid X
- OMAP
- Mobile
You have to hand it to Motorola; as little as a year ago their future looked bleak. Android was still in its infancy and lacking polish, mainstream devices running it were few, and there weren’t public or visible signs of any forthcoming devices which would challenge the dominance of BlackBerry or iOS, especially from Motorola. A few months later, they launched the Motorola Droid, and a few months after the floodgates opened up - out has poured a steady stream of relatively polished devices running Android 2.x. It’s been breakneck almost, with new flagships every 3 months on average - the latest is Motorola’s Droid X on Verizon - henceforth just 'X.'
You also have to hand it to Verizon for getting its act together. Previously, they were infamous for crippling device hardware and OSes - the Touch Pro notoriously lacked an entire row of keys, and half the RAM. Their smartphone lineup also used to consist entirely of BlackBerries and Windows Mobile devices. That’s all changed.
Since the first Motorola Droid, they’ve been probably the single most vocal proponent of Android, embracing and billing their lineup of “Droids” as serious iPhone alternatives. The unique combination of being the largest carrier and the largest 3G footprint (and the perception of having above average coverage) has resulted in massive growth of the Android platform. That’s definitely a turnaround for two giants.
Eight months after launch, the Motorola Droid is now a relatively old piece of kit. It’s amazing how fast the market is moving - the fact that an 8 month old handset is now obsolete is a testament to just how breakneck this pace is.
Motorola and HTC are now locked in a battle for dominance of the Android segment on the nation’s largest carrier. On one side is the HTC Incredible, on the other is the X and eventually the Droid 2. Across the aisle at Sprint, HTC has the EVO 4G. If you’re interested in a smartphone of the Android variety, you’ve got the most options ever right now, and the X is the newest contender. Let’s dive in.
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czesiu - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
great review!higher res version for this please:)
http://images.anandtech.com/doci/3826/DROIDX-Anand...
Brian Klug - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
I'm actually going to dump all the screen comparison photos I've got (there are quite a few) into a gallery, then you can peruse at native resolution. Should be up in a little bit ;)-Brian
hatter_india - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
Fantastic review but I expect no less from AnandTech. But there are a couple of bloopers:1- OMAP 3630 is third mobile chip to use 45nm process. First is of course A4. But second is Samsung's Hummingbird, a chip that the korean company designed with help of Intrinsity. This chip is found in Galaxy S or its variants. Samsung is the same company that also tweaked A4, which incidentally is fabbed by Samsung. Too many coincidences ;-)
2- A comparison to PowerVR SGX 540 found on Galaxy S would have been interesting as according to Samsung SGX 540 is almost three times more powerful than SGX535.
3- Droid X should have also been compared with Galaxy S or any of its variants like Captivate, Vibrant etc
hatter_india - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
This line: Samsung is the same company that also tweaked A4, which incidentally is fabbed by SamsungShould read: Intrinsity is the same company that also tweaked A4, which incidentally is fabbed by Samsung
Goty - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
Does AT have any plans to review any of the Galaxy S phones? I just picked up a Captivate on Sunday and I'd love to see how it stacks up. I just ran the Neocore benchmark and got around 55 FPS, which speaks well of the GPU, but I'd like to see results from the other tests you guys do.Brian Klug - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
Hey Goty,We definitely have plans to do reviews of all of the Galaxy S phones we can get our hands on. I'm working on getting them as soon as possible ;)
I'm also pretty excited to explore that SoC and compare.
-Brian
Ram21 - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
Really enjoyed this review. Keep up the great work! Being as thorough as you guys are really helps to make good decisions on purchases.SonicIce - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
lol how long before we can attach an external mouse and keyboard to a phone to use it as a pc and play 3d games online with itstrikeback03 - Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - link
How about this?http://www.androidcentral.com/dell-streak-logitech...
ltfields - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - link
Guys, another gold standard review. I may not be able to pick up an X because I'm still under contract with another carrier, but the reviews are riveting. Keep up the excellent work!