Droid X Forum Member Initial Thoughts & Reviews

[mikesmith]

After a day, I'm not sold... Yup, the screen is amazing and the browser works really well under WiFi, but as a phone, well, it sucks.

You really can not make a judgement on something after a day. Especially if you don't know how it works yet.

Where are the simple things that have been in phones for twenty years like speed-dial keys?

Dialer > Favorites

How come when the phone rings I have to swipe, rather than have it answer on a touch of the screen? (Or, at least an option to do so).

Settings > Location & Security > Screen Lock > Uncheck

(though after you pocket answer for like the 15th time, I'm sure you will want to enable the screen lock again)

Why did they change the metaphor from directories/subdirectories to SEVEN home screens with apps sitting behind them? And, of course, I can find no documentation that describes that metaphor.

I'm really not sure what you mean by metaphor here. They have seven home screens so you can dedicate a screen to anything you want like messaging, games, email, media, etc. So you if you want to access any of it, all you have to do is scroll to that screen. And not have to go to the main directory then find the subdirectory and then find the app you want.

Why do they have apps, widgets (Motorola and Android, like I care), and shortcuts? And, of course in the 68 page "manual" (that reads more like a marketing brochure) they don't tell you which is which.

Shortcuts are there to provide you with a one tap access to your email, browser, music, games, camera, etc.

Apps are there to let you do damn near anything you want on your phone. From the ridiculous like fart sounds to being able to get turn by turn directions.

Widgets are there to give you information at a glance like weather, calender, date/time, news, etc.

Here's an example, my POP3 mail is an app/widget/? which sits behind a folder/app/widget/? called Messaging. How in the world to I get my POP3 thing to my home screen.

If you press and hold the icon in the app drawer it will give you the option of placing it on the screen you are currently on.

Press and hold the Email icon and it will allow you to place it on your home screen.

If anyone can help me out and point me to a tutorial that explains some of this stuff, please let me know.

I would say just read through this forum. Post a thread asking any questions you have. Use the search function. Even Google it if you need help.

You'll get it. It will just take some time.

 

[Topweasel]

no offense taken, I don't know why it's too much to expect these things to be a phone first, and a a powerful device second.

A Porsche is an unbelievable car, damn fast, nimble, and sporty.

I think the analogy might be more that the X is like a van conversion camping wagon that, yes, is a car, but, it doesn't do that very well, but it does a whole lot of other things really well.

You might be right though on one thing, if the X is meant for the heavy Twitter/Facebook crowd who keeps their contacts in Facebook, and not an address book, then, you're right, it's not for me. I'm an adult who wants a real tool, not a toy.

I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Bob

PS, one of the the reasons Google became the leader in search (even though at the beginning it wasn't even their search engine), is that their UI was so ridiculously clean and simple. Then they design the Android OS which couldn't be further from that. I expected it to be cool and funky, but not cludgey.

No, Porsche is right. You think of a smartphone as a phone. Its not. Its a PDA that can make a call. Android is the most flexible PDA OS that is really available and the X is the best phone or one of the best phones on it. Smartphones are not the evolution of phones, they are the evolution of PDA's. Want a phone that is the best at making calls, there are tons of Dare's, Chocolates, and EnV's out there.

Once you get the hang of it the flexibility from shorcuts, widgets, and applications will give you the flexibility to turn your Dx into as simple or as intricate as you want it to be and a screen big enough to fit whatever you need and a CPU fast enough to run what you want. With enough memory to hold just about anything but the terabyte of pron that you can stream with DNLA to your Dx that is connected to the TV through HDMI.

 

[efn77mx]

Just got back from returning the Droid 2 for the Droid X (Best Buy was nice enough to set one aside because they didn't have one when I started service). I was already blown away by the whole Android experience with the D2 (coming from a Blackberry), now this DX comes along a week later and I find it even more mind-blowing than before. This phone is light, the screen is by far the largest of any device I've had in the past. VERY easy to type on this huge screen. Can't comment on battery life because I just got it, but I can tell that no matter what, I am REALLY going to enjoy owning this device!

 

[RVH1951]

Thanks for the responses

Thanks for the responses, especially to MikeSmith who was kind enough to tell me how to do some of the things I want to do.

Now that I have it configured, and am much more comfortable I really love the device. I am blown away at how fast the browser is, even when it's not on WiFi, and I LOVE the voice enabled Google search bar.

Having to use a third party app for Contacts is a drag and there is no excuse for Google to not have that capacity and is a major problem for many corporate folks that I've talked to.

Bob

 

[bobmartin25]

I am an old techie, I?ve been in the tech business over 40 years now and am now on the dark side of the business in Marketing. I USE my cell phone for business and pleasure, no games though. My first smart phone was a PN820 flip windows mobile phone, then a BB Storm and now Droid X. Since getting the BB Storm the phone has become my book reader, Phone, Email on the go and casual web research client. The Storm?s browser didn?t allow for much web research, too frustrating. I have been using the Droid X now for 3 weeks. I am taking my first trip with the X. As everyone knows the screen is wonderful and the browser is wonderful, you can actually browse the internet and do research on this device. I find the phone call quality is as good as Blackberry or better, it is very good, other than the speaker volume, a bit too low.
I do find that Blackberry is more integrated when it comes to communications. Email, the Blackberry is king of email on the small screen. 1st of all I really don?t like the gmail interface and it?s sort of a turn off to have to have a gmail account to use this phone. I like being able to create different accounts for my work and personal emails but I really miss the ability to have a choice of deleting messages on the phone or the phone and server with one tap. I realize ?different strokes for different folks? but the way I use my phone for email is to allow the emails to come to the phone without deleting them from the server. I get a lot of enewletters and ezines from the industry, I will either read these or determine that I don?t want to read that edition and delete them from the server, from my phone. When you delete an email from the Blackberry it ask you if you want to delete it from the phone only or both the server and phone, very handy for how I use email on the phone, I miss that.
Phone calls, on the blackberry when I invoke the phone screen there is a search field there, I press that and start typing a name, the name comes up and I press it and make the call. When I terminate the call all of these windows close and I am back at the dial pad, when I close that I am back at my home page. If I press on a missed call, the Blackberry dials the number, even if it?s a number in the contacts. On the DX I notice that when I search for a call, from the phone interface I go into the contacts database and I can place the call but when I complete the call I am still in the contacts database. I have to back out of the search screen then the contacts database to insure everything is closed, or it seems that way, perhaps I can just press home and everything will be OK, it?s just a bit unnerving. I also noticed that if I press a missed number that is in the contact database the phone doesn?t dial the number it sends me to the contacts and I have to select which number I want to dial, Office or Mobil, even though their office number was the one missed.
Overall the DX is smoother to operate, easier to read and is a better overall experience than the Storm. I?ll probably keep it, especially since there doesn?t seem to be any prospect of an S3 anytime this year. I just wish the DX had better business manners.
If there are any app developers out there, I would pay for an email client that simulates the operational characteristics of the Blackberry.

 

[BigGuyNH]

My take on the Droid X

Not being a techno geek, and really not into games, I bought the first droid to improve my ability to be away from the office. After going thru 5 units, I told Verizon, "Cancel my contract and try to collect the $1000.00 dollars for canceling 5 numbers".

Well, They decided to give me a Droid x for my troubles. and here are my thoughts...

Battery - still terrible; I cannot get more than 3-4 hours out it before it goes black, the really need to work on their battery life. I also use an ap killer, but have you ever noticed, that the apps still come back on?

Screen - YES!!!! I can finally see what I want. Now after stating that they need a bigger font on emails ( old guy eyes)

Phone and blue tooth - okay, not great but okay. Blue tooth could be a little quicker. And why does the music stop when I hard wire the MP3 player into my car, I can listen to the radio and talk on my bluetooth at the same time


Moto Blur - waste of time and space - hate them. I did not buy this phone for a toy, I bought it to work with.

Widgets - don't use

Performance - Excellent overall, it flies from ap to ap.

Keyboard - Okay guys don't laugh, I really never learned how to type w/o looking at the keyboard, so even though I love SWIPE, I use the regular keyboard. which is very, very good

Email and calendar - I still do not like that I cannot use Outlook on this phone - my company uses Outlook and I cannot import/export from their calendar to Droid. email is much more stable on this phone

Camera - TERRIBLE!!!! I cannot figure out why every picture comes out blury.
Overall much better than the original, but still far from getting it righte. ( I did that on porpose)

 

[bc6droid]

Im not sure if I posted my thoughts on the X or not so here goes nothing. I upgraded to the X comming from the Env3 after 2 Env's the original and a replacement I gave up on the Env3 and got an X. Originally I was supposed to get the DINC but since the shortages that never happend.

Fast forward to Aug 16 2010, I get my X, of course Im like a kid in a candy store with my new toy draining the battery left and right. I loaded up the X with full of multimedia, Im a techie by profession so its in my nature to do that lol.

The X is my first Smartphone, I wanted the ability to be able to play music, videos, surf the net, have an available GPS unit when needed.

After a month I really like the Droid X, I like the fact that its like a mini netbook that I can stick in my pocket. I love the big viewing screen so I can watch movies, YouTube, stream music from Pandora.

I like the cool apps that you can download most of which are free or low cost. Ive downloaded some casual game about 10 or so which keep me busy on my commute to and from work. I love the fact that Im connected to whoever wants or needs to connect with me all in one device.

As you can tell Im a multimedia buff, which in the past meant I had a cellphone and a device for playing my multimedia.
I love how I see people on the train with an ipod and a phone and still dont get the fact that they can do both on their Smartphone. They look so silly juggling two devices when I do it ALL on my Droid X .

One I got the battery issue taken care of Im in heaven with my Droid X. I truly cant think of a bad thing to say about this Smartphone other than it rules.

 

[kj11]

Not being a techno geek, and really not into games, I bought the first droid to improve my ability to be away from the office. After going thru 5 units, I told Verizon, "Cancel my contract and try to collect the $1000.00 dollars for canceling 5 numbers".

Well, They decided to give me a Droid x for my troubles. and here are my thoughts...

Battery - still terrible; I cannot get more than 3-4 hours out it before it goes black, the really need to work on their battery life. I also use an ap killer, but have you ever noticed, that the apps still come back on?

Screen - YES!!!! I can finally see what I want. Now after stating that they need a bigger font on emails ( old guy eyes)

Phone and blue tooth - okay, not great but okay. Blue tooth could be a little quicker. And why does the music stop when I hard wire the MP3 player into my car, I can listen to the radio and talk on my bluetooth at the same time


Moto Blur - waste of time and space - hate them. I did not buy this phone for a toy, I bought it to work with.

Widgets - don't use

Performance - Excellent overall, it flies from ap to ap.

Keyboard - Okay guys don't laugh, I really never learned how to type w/o looking at the keyboard, so even though I love SWIPE, I use the regular keyboard. which is very, very good

Email and calendar - I still do not like that I cannot use Outlook on this phone - my company uses Outlook and I cannot import/export from their calendar to Droid. email is much more stable on this phone

Camera - TERRIBLE!!!! I cannot figure out why every picture comes out blury.
Overall much better than the original, but still far from getting it righte. ( I did that on porpose)

You might want to take a look through the forms, many people, including myself, are getting at least 5 times the battery life you are.

Same thing with the camera. My pictures come out great, you may need to adjust the settings depending on light conditions, and make sure you keep the lens clean.

Keep looking around the forum though, hopefully you'll find some tips that will help you out

 

[tmar23]

Not being a techno geek, and really not into games, I bought the first droid to improve my ability to be away from the office. After going thru 5 units, I told Verizon, "Cancel my contract and try to collect the $1000.00 dollars for canceling 5 numbers".

Well, They decided to give me a Droid x for my troubles. and here are my thoughts...

Battery - still terrible; I cannot get more than 3-4 hours out it before it goes black, the really need to work on their battery life. I also use an ap killer, but have you ever noticed, that the apps still come back on?

Screen - YES!!!! I can finally see what I want. Now after stating that they need a bigger font on emails ( old guy eyes)

Phone and blue tooth - okay, not great but okay. Blue tooth could be a little quicker. And why does the music stop when I hard wire the MP3 player into my car, I can listen to the radio and talk on my bluetooth at the same time


Moto Blur - waste of time and space - hate them. I did not buy this phone for a toy, I bought it to work with.

Widgets - don't use

Performance - Excellent overall, it flies from ap to ap.

Keyboard - Okay guys don't laugh, I really never learned how to type w/o looking at the keyboard, so even though I love SWIPE, I use the regular keyboard. which is very, very good

Email and calendar - I still do not like that I cannot use Outlook on this phone - my company uses Outlook and I cannot import/export from their calendar to Droid. email is much more stable on this phone

Camera - TERRIBLE!!!! I cannot figure out why every picture comes out blury.
Overall much better than the original, but still far from getting it righte. ( I did that on porpose)

Try Touchdown for syncing with corporate email. I love this app and it syncs great with my work email/calendar/tasks/etc. I just wish I could use this to sync with my personal email thru comcast. (Note -- maybe I can, I just don't know how to add a second account!!!! If anyone knows, PLEASE share!)

As for the camera, vignette is MUCH better at low light. Also, vignette and/or froyo allow for taking a picture by touching the screen (rather than using the hard button on the side which causes bluriness, imo)

Just my 2 cents, good luck!

 

[kj11]

The Motorola Droid X is the latest Android OS smartphone offered by Verizon Wireless. It has a large display, 1 GHz processor, 8 GB of memory, a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 32 GB in capacity, and an 8 megapixel camera/camcorder.
It is offered exclusively by Verizon Wireless for $200 with a new two-year contract and will officially launch on July 15.

_______________________________________________


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This is great information, thank you.

Anyone else planning on getting one of these on launch day? When do you think they will start taking pre-orders?

 

[Buffalo]

This is great information, thank you.

Anyone else planning on getting one of these on launch day? When do you think they will start taking pre-orders?

Launch Day? Deja Vu!

 

[BrewersWin]

I have had my Droid X for 3 days so far. I love the screen size, I was a little worried about the size of it, but that has not been an issue. I like the web browser. I like the speed. I can?t wait to see what improvements are coming with the new OS
And for those worried about e-mail; I was able to set up both my Gmail (obviously) and Hotmail accounts with no trouble at all.
The battery life is not what I would like, but that may have to do with the fact I am playing with it whenever I am not working.
The only thing I really don?t like is the time for the screen to hibernate. You can choose 1 minute, 2 minutes, 10 minutes , ETC. I think 2 minutes is too quick and 10 minutes is too long, I would have liked to see a 5 minute option. But that is just my preference.
Came from a Storm (1&2) to the Droid X. This is sort like comparing a computer running DOS vs. one running Windows 7

 

[seanubis]

I'm on day 3 with my DX also, coming from a Droid 1 (rooted and overclocked to 800Mhz, running stock Froyo with Launcher Pro Plus and Swype).

Speed: the DX is fast, but certain things felt faster on the D1. Could be because of Froyo on the D1.

Display: the giant screen on the DX is sweet, and is much easier to type on than the D1. Colors seem a bit brighter on the D1.

Home: I really liked LauncherPro on my D1 and tried to replicate that setup on my DX, but it just didn't feel the same. The stock launcher is not bad at all. The toggle, messaging, news, and social widgets are really nice. The picture widget is a different story - pictures don't always stay within the widget borders, and they don't have the same cropping behavior as the picture widgets on the D1.

Camera: coming from the D1, the camera on the DX is a massive improvement, especially for outdoor photography. The gallery app, well, not so much. Hopefully that'll improve when the X gets Froyo.

Annoyances: the picture widgets I mentioned, also the stock power widget has an ugly black border that it didn't have on my D1. No Twitter @mention notification in the social networking app. need more control over contact integration from the social networking app.

Overall, I'm happy with the DX. My D1 already feels too small and too heavy, and I don't miss the slide keyboard at all. Bring on the Froyo!

Edit: after two more days, I'm back on LauncherPro Plus. I've also removed my Twitter and Facebook info from the social networking settings and have gone back to using the official Twitter and FB apps and widgets. I found that I didn't like the way the Moto stuff integrated with the contacts app.

 

[kj11]

I have had my Droid X for 3 days so far. I love the screen size, I was a little worried about the size of it, but that has not been an issue. I like the web browser. I like the speed. I can?t wait to see what improvements are coming with the new OS
And for those worried about e-mail; I was able to set up both my Gmail (obviously) and Hotmail accounts with no trouble at all.
The battery life is not what I would like, but that may have to do with the fact I am playing with it whenever I am not working.
The only thing I really don?t like is the time for the screen to hibernate. You can choose 1 minute, 2 minutes, 10 minutes , ETC. I think 2 minutes is too quick and 10 minutes is too long, I would have liked to see a 5 minute option. But that is just my preference.
Came from a Storm (1&2) to the Droid X. This is sort like comparing a computer running DOS vs. one running Windows 7

You're battery life is suffering big time because you have the screen timeout at 2 minutes....set it to something more reasonable, I have mine at 30 seconds....after you put the phone down, why do you need to look at the screen for 2 minutes anyway?

 

[xelhabb]

Coming from the Storm 9530 to the Droid X was like trading in my old Chevy Chevette with power nothing for a jet plane. LOL.

The giant screen is amazing. The internet actually works like the internet. Despite what everyone in the Blackberry crowd asserts (I still love you all), the Droid is every bit as much as a business phone as a Blackberry. You can't lean on that hype anymore my friends! Come on over now because the hype is true - DROID DOES...

 

[boilerjohn94]

I have had my DX for a week now and I absolutely love it.
Coming from a Blackberry Tour, it is like I jumped about 25 years into the future with this phone. It is MUCH, MUCH faster and is much more highly integrated than the Blackberry ever was.
I am still getting used to the touchscreen typing and trying to decide which keyboard I like best, but I love it. BB is not even close to these phones and I kind of feel sorry for those that stubbornly stick to their BB's. Their loss I guess.

 

[Bleezy]

I couldnt agree more with you guys. I also came from a BB Storm 9530 and compared to my new DX...it feels like its from the future. RIM has a very long way to go if they plan to stay relevent in the smartphone biz. Even the new Torch doesnt come close to Droid!

 

[EpicInUtah]

Well, I have had my X for about 3hrs now and so far I LOVE it. As I am working, I haven't been able to really get down and play w/ it yet and explore everything it has to offer but that's what tonight is for Coming from a BB Curve 8330 I definitely feel like McFly after having gone 88mph into the future.

 

[ThePinkChameleon]

Xel, Boiler, Bleezy and & Utah, thanks for your input. I will also be getting my droid(near future) either the X or the Fascinate(still undecided-lol) and I'm happy to see more & more posts of people coming from bb's that dont regret the move. I've been on my curve for lil over 2yrs now & it was always one of my concerns as to whether i"d like it or not & aft cking them out in my local Vzw, I love what i see! Cant wait!
.
(sorry for the hijack)

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

Prior to switching to the Motorola Droid 1, I used a Blackberry Storm, and then a Blackberry Storm 2. Decent phones if they could get a handle on the memory bleed.

I personally have loved my Droids. I have used the Droid 1, Droid Incredible, Droid 2, and the Droid X. Right now I'm primarily using the Droid X, with the Droid 2 as a back up. They are great. Probably the only thing that I wish was better was the battery life.