Motorola Droid X2 Review - A Droid X with Tegra 2
by Brian Klug on July 7, 2011 8:31 AM ESTThe X2 also appears to be outfitted with a slightly darker grey shell than the original X. Alongside the X which I borrowed, the X2 looks almost black. It’s hard to say whether that’s just because his X has faded considerably, or whether the X2 has been intentionally made darker so people can tell the two apart. It’s probably a subtle thing similar to the way Apple made logos chrome between the 3G and 3GS to differentiate the two.
The other obvious way to differentiate which one is which is by looking at the back cover. The X2 has its name in red written below the metallic Motorola logo on the battery door. Otherwise even the two battery doors are identical. The trademark thickness bulge where the camera is located also persists on the X2. This is one area that I think could have benefited from some slimming, although it’s physically impossible to reduce the throw (depth) of some camera systems.
Button placement on the X2 is likewise the same as the X. At the top is power, centered and raised slightly. Just offset from it is the headset jack and then a microphone for noise cancellation on calls.
On the right side is the volume rocker which is identical to the one on the X. It’s a solid piece of plastic with a small detent in the center. The buttons are still sufficiently clicky. Of course, at the very bottom of the right side is where the two-step camera button would have been, should Motorola have decided it was worth keeping.
The bottom has a small lip with the same physical, backlit Android buttons. Thankfully these are in the same order as they were on the X, so there’s no relearning if you’re upgrading. Dead center below buttons is the primary microphone for calls, just like before.
The left side of the X2 is still home to microUSB and a microHDMI port. Back when we reviewed the X, I was disappointed with how HDMI was implemented. You could output certain types of media to the TV, but not do full mirroring. Instead, the display turned into a small control panel, and the attached HDMI monitor became the playback canvas. It felt half-baked back then.
This time, you can do full mirroring with overscan control. What’s odd, however, is that rotation isn’t implemented like it was on the Optimus 2X.
Plug an HDMI monitor in, and the whole interface rotates to landscape and stays there. If you have an application which only has portrait support, it will appear rotated 90 degrees on the TV, instead of rotating properly like the LG Optimus 2X does.
The phone’s display is upscaled to 1080p using what looks like nearest neighbor, so things are blocky, but it works.
Proximity sensor and the notification LED are still hidden in the black strips up near the earpiece. Again, it wouldn’t surprise me if all of this was exactly the same as it was on the original X just because of how virtually nothing is physically different on the outside of the X2. I guess that actually sums up what there is to say about the exterior - if you liked the angular and masculine aesthetics of the original X, you’ll like the X2 because it’s essentially the same thing. Similarly, if you disliked the way the X looked, you’ll dislike the X2.
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bplewis24 - Friday, July 8, 2011 - link
I wonder if the updated version of Blur is the reason for the additional memory usage?wpwoodjr - Friday, July 8, 2011 - link
No, if that were the case the memory would still be counted in the Running Services report. The "missing" memory is probably used by the graphics card. I like the Moto "Home" app (especially the "Groups" feature and the "Recent" group) and some of the widgets.bplewis24 - Friday, July 8, 2011 - link
Where can we download the Basemark apk?Impulses - Friday, July 8, 2011 - link
I like the closing thoughts, every new device doesn't have to one up the last one in every last category, even amongst the high end... As phones get more and more advanced they also get more personal, and so does the choice between them. A lot of people won't see LTE for a year or longer, they're far better off with this than any of the current LTE VZW options.I'm not even with VZW btw, so personally I could care less, more choices are always a good thing for the consumer tho. Speaking of choices, the one thing Android desperately needs more of right now are high end phones sized at 4"or less. I'm a guy, I enjoy my 4.3" device, but the vast majority of women I speak to would never buy something larger than an Atrix and even that's pushing it. Yet many of them still want a device with the latest CPU, video recording capabilities, etc etc.
Anyway, as far as the review... I loved the part about the video recording issues and the SD card, that kind of in depth stuff (not to mention the usual barrage of tests) is why AT phone reviews are second to none. Keep up the good work!
Oh and any word on the EVO 3D review?
Vinny DePaul - Friday, July 8, 2011 - link
Droid X2 been around for awhile. Many web sites already have Droid x2 review. At first I thought it is a Droid 3 review.NeoteriX - Friday, July 8, 2011 - link
And all the other sites have about 2/3rds less content, testing, and original information. Those are the breaks for quality reviewing.wpwoodjr - Friday, July 8, 2011 - link
This is by far the best, most educated review.fabuchua - Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - link
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toilkenn - Thursday, July 21, 2011 - link
I've had the DX2 for about two months and I've already had 3 replacements. I originally got this phone as replacement for my original Droid X which locked up when I downloaded the 2.3 (gingerbread) update to it. Needless to say, I would rather have my old droid x back! The dual core processor is fast and you can tell this phone has a lot of potential, but it has a lot of bugs in the software and Motorola has yet to announce when they push the 2.3 update out for the DX2. Its kind of sad the the DX has the 2.3, but the DX2 doesn't.Also the camera and camcorder are really bad on this one. They are a lot clearer and all but the camera is bugging and hesitates a lot when trying to capture footage and all. This is critical if your trying to catch a shot on the fly and you can't because all of a sudden your phone wants to act up. They should have left the dedicated camera button on, but I guess they have their reasons for doing so. All the phones that I have had reset ted on me randomly during calls or watching video and the phone itself gets really hot at times. I believe when they send out a firmware update, all these issues will be fixed, but until then, i would recommend the Droid 3 instead.
By the way, motoblur really sucks on this phone too. The Droid 3 has a revamped moto OS and it seems more fluid and stable than the Droid X2 OS!
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