Motorola Droid X2 Review - A Droid X with Tegra 2
by Brian Klug on July 7, 2011 8:31 AM ESTLauncher and application switcher are next. There’s a bottom row of icons on the home screen that persist - this is essentially Motoblur’s riff on iOS’s dock, and it seems like a feature that every OEM UI skin implements. What’s curious is that the text underneath doesn’t show up on this row of icons, instead you’re supposed to know what each does just based on the icon.
One thing that’s thankfully changed is the homescreen switcher. Previously, swiping from one homescreen to another would bring up a bottom panel with a bunch of dots. The problem was that this would sit there for a second or so and then go away, but often times after switching homescreens one would want to tap on the application launcher icon. It looked like this:
Thank goodness this is changed now. Instead, we get dots that turn blue depending on what homescreen is active, and no obscuration of that app launcher button. Thank goodness.
Hit the application launcher and you get a four icon wide grid of apps that scrolls up and down. This is pretty standard fare, and relatively smooth. Tapping on the top left corner brings up a menu that lets you switch the sorting from all, to recent, to downloaded. You can also optionally make your own and then add applications to it.
The application switcher (toggled by holding the home button) does a clever trick. Instead of bringing up a real switcher, it simply is a shortcut to the recent list of applications.
The final Motoblur customization is of course account management. Ideally, Motorola wants you to configure and log into all your social media accounts using their software, and then their widgets and special unified messaging application will populate accordingly. It’s great, and I’m sure it works for some people, but it still isn’t something for me. It’s better to just get the first party through each service’s respective application at this point.
All of that basically sums up Motoblur, which superficially just makes Android look different. Love it or hate it, it’s still here and will likely stay around for some time. It made it onto Android 2.3 on the X, and will likely do the same with the X2. There’s no way to remove it either without flashing another ROM, and at this point the X2 still has a locked bootloader (no fastboot oem unlock, trust me, I tried), so if you want to be rid of it (or install a custom ROM) you could be waiting a while.
I should note that the X2 doesn't have the even newer version of Motoblur which we've seen running atop leaked photos of the Bionic or Droid 3 as of this writing. That hopefully will come at some point in the future - or maybe not in retrospect, depending on how you feel about that version of the UI skin.
Preloaded Bloat
The X2 also comes with a bunch of preloaded applications, but no more than I’ve become used to seeing on other devices in Verizon’s smartphone lineup. That includes Amazon MP3, Blockbuster, City ID, Lets Golf 2, NFL Mobile, NFS Shift, Slacker, and four Verizon applications.
However, the good news is that you can finally uninstall some of this stuff. I successfully nuked Lets Golf, NFL Mobile, and NFS Shift. However, things like Blockbuster and the Verizon apps cannot be removed. Slowly but surely, we’re getting to the point where users can actually have some control over and remove carrier-preloaded garbage without needing root.
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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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