Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Motorola Droid X (Verizon Wireless)

Motorola Droid X (Verizon Wireless)
The Motorola Droid X is now available to the world at Verizon Wireless Stores. You may have noticed the hype surrounding this gorgeous device. Is it worth a change of heart? Better yet, how does the Motorola Droid X perform against the iPhone 4?

I don’t have the iPhone 4, nor do I plan to get one, so I can’t give you that scoop. However, I have been given the opportunity to play with the Droid X before it hits stores thanks to Verizon and Motorola. After nearly a month of playing with the Droid X and a great deal of input from my tech peers, I have three words for you: make the switch.

Battery Life & Performance

I’ve been able to make it through a full work day of tweeting, emailing, downloading documents, using Maps to find my way around NY, and still have just enough juice to listen to some tunes on the subway heading home. 6 –7 hours max is what I’m getting when I adjusted the settings to my personal preference. You can leave that charger at home for the Droid X and still have a peace of mind.

The only other phone I’ve seen process any task as fast as the Droid X is the iPhone 4. The Droid X has been very capable of running many apps at once without a hiccup. We can attribute this the amazing 1 GHz processor sitting inside of it. It does a fantastic job of opening and closing applications within a second or two, unlike the wait times I’m all too familiar with on iPhones old and new.
Size & Display

I have small hands and expected to have a hard time using the Droid X with just one hand. However, the device is slim enough to comfortably hold in one hand and thin enough to carry in your pocket. Women, or guys that like to wear skinny jeans, should stop in the store before buying the Droid X. It’s a bit elongated and may stick out the top of your pants pockets a little. Deanna Zandt, author of Share This!, tested her skinny jeans out with the Droid X and it didn’t stick out enough to stop her from changing a previous pre-order to the Droid X.

The Droid X’s display can be summed up as big, bright, and crisp. The display is noticeably brighter than my iPhone 3G with both at full brightness. The bigger display makes reading a few ebooks and web articles is a joy. In fact, the bigger screen doesn’t cause me to strain my eyes nearly as much as I would when reading on my iPhone 3G
Camera

When it comes to smartphones with great cameras, Nokia dominates the market. Motorola’s giving them a run for their money with the Droid X 8MP camera. It’s love at first “cheese” I tell you! The dedicated camera button is a bit funky about how it likes to be pressed, but once you get the camera running you won’t stop taking pictures. Coupled with the amazing screen, pictures are large, crisp, and filled with details. On the computer, the images don’t look as amazing as on the screen. You’ll need to resize or pick a smaller resolution to get that same look. Low lighting photos are decent with the integrated flash. Videos taken by the Droid X are hot!

Pictures and Videos can be automatically geo-tagged, which is very accurate. The camera app comes with built-in settings for changing effects including,

* Black & white
* Sepia
* Negative
* Solarize
* Red, green, or blue tint

There’s also a nice amount of picture modes like Panorama Assist, Self Portrait, and Multi-Shot. Grab Photoshop Mobile from the Market and you’re set for taking photos on the go.
Onscreen Keyboard

If you’re looking for a smartphone with a keyboard, stick with the Droid (though I hated that keyboard; keys were too flat). For those that don’t mind the switch, the Droid X’s onscreen keyboard is great to use. I have very little typing errors compared to typing with my iPhone. My only qualm is that the space key sometimes didn’t register.

Through the keyboard you can use Voice typing or switch to Swype mode on the Droid X. Voice typing is very accurate, unless you have a heavy accent. I voiced a lot of my tweets on the go through the Voice feature. Swype mode allows you to type words without lifting a finger. Simply slide your figure from letter to letter to spell out your word. This software is very accurate and will give you a quick panel options if other words match what you’ve swyped. You can also type letter by letter in this mode too. It has become the default keyboard during my time with the Droid X.
Apps

The Android App Market has nearly 100,000 apps and is well on its way to catching up with Apple’s App Store. Foursquare, Twitter, Skype Mobile, Facebook, Pandora, Gesture Search and NYMag are my favorite Android apps. I’d give best Android App Design to NYMag. Opening Foursquare is a breath of fresh air on the Droid X. Lightening fast compared to waiting nearly 2-3 minutes on average for Foursquare to load on my iPhone 3G. I haven’t used my iPhone to check-in since I’ve used the Droid X! All in all, you’re sure to find replacements and alternatives to your favorite iPhone apps in the Android Market.
Final Thoughts

There are a ton of other features that the Droid X is packed with. My favorites are:

* The Droid X can become a 3G Mobile hotspot.
* Sharing media to other phones and your TV is cable free with DLNA.
* Live wallpapers feature mesmerizing animations on your homescreen background. Animations can even be extended into applications (check out Twitter for Android).
* Homescreen widgets can be resized and folder functionality is also extended to the homescreen.

The list truly does go on which is why I continue to recommend the Droid X as the phone to have this summer. It’s worth it and what might be missing, such as copy and paste outside of a textbox, will come soon with the Froyo 2.2 update. After spend some time with the Droid X I have on loan, 2 people have changed their pre-orders to the Droid X, and 1 iPhone 4 user is seriously considering switching to the Droid X. The Droid X is now on sale for $199 (after $100 mail-in rebate) and a 2-year contract.

[http://shegeeks.net]

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