Droid X2 Does Fast May 25, 2011

Reviewer:  David L. Zech "zecpull"  (Wooster,Ohio) -

I got my Droid x2 on May 20th. I came from a Droid X, and previously a Droid 1. Even though this phone is not running Gingerbread yet, the Menus, and interface are much improved over the original Droid X. The Screen can be described as richer. It has more contrast, and the colors are better. The Camera is Much faster, and I feel takes much nicer pictures than the X. One major advantage for me is that it fits in my Car Dock, and my cases. How many times have you changed phones only to have to buy all new accessories. If you are just moving to a Droid phone, this is the fastest phone on the market now. I see people crying that it is not 4g.. I have never felt there was anything I could not download fast enough. My 3G Streams video,loads games, you name it. If I have something big to download, the phone is great on WiFi.. and the DX2 is even faster there. The Battery seems to be about the same even with the much faster Processor.
Like the Ad says the Droid does.. and the Droid X2 does twice as fast.

Awesome phone, could be perfect if updates software May 31, 2011

Reviewer:  Dan "dnolan52" 

I'm coming from an iPhone 3G, for what that is worth to you. The first thing that I notice operating the phone is the unfathomable ease with which it was set up. I have everything done through Google, my contacts, calendars, mail, everything. After telling the phone my email and password, everything was instantly integrated. As I use my phone on a professional basis, I have many contacts. I remember in the past taking forever to finally getting everything into new phones, this took seconds. It is a feature I'm not soon to forget.

Briefly, very nice 4.3 inch screen. Impressive camera, although the coloring in videos can be a bit shaky, shifting in hues. It is fast, due to it's dual core processor, which can only get better when Gingerbread is unleashed which is more geared towards using the additional processing power. It has 8GB internal memory, and a very easily accessible micro SD. It comes with an 8GB card, but I have 10GB of music, so I purchased a 16GB. Coming from iTunes, I simply highlighted my playlist and dragged it into the folder. iTunes did not like doing large amounts of songs, so I had to break it up into blocks of a few hundred songs at a time. Then I used an app simply called "Cover Art downloader", which was free, and it automatically downloaded all the cover art. So setting up my phone was nice and easy.

As far as customizing goes, widgets are incredible. Once I turn on my phone, I have numerous pieces of data right on the home screen. I get my schedule, the weather, and if you want social networking up dates streaming here too, and news feeds. I don't have to go into any piece of software, they are all just here. this is an awesome feature of Android, I love it. You also have choice as to how you use the phone, you can use the stock email client, or download gmail's own app. You can use their music app, which is basic and fine for me, or get something that is more suited to your tastes. Instead of going on about the pros of Android, I'll keep the rest of the review to the hardware itself.

The battery is weak, only 1500 mAh is silly. I plan on purchasing the OEM 1880 shortly. It barely makes it through the day.

One thing I was very impressed with is the accessory bundle I got from Verizon. I got a dock, a car adapter, and various cables. The part that I very much am impressed by is that when it plugs into the dock or the car adapter, it behaves differently. When in the car, it "knows" you want it to behave like a GPS, so the interface alters. I must say that it works better than my stand alone Garmin Nuvi when using the FREE google navigation. The X2 has upgraded components, something about a digital compass. When in the dock, it allows you to make it act like an alarm clock (which is what I need it for) or a digital photo frame. These are nice little things that not all droid phones come with, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Not all is perfect, as my wife says, the phone does too much. Some aspects will feel like an incredible freedom in being albe to do whatever you want, other aspects simply feel unrefined. For example, the volume rocker does nothing without the screen being unlocked. That part is annoying. Things like that and controls from the microphone button on headphones needs further refinements. I got used to it quick.

I know this phone gets criticized for not having a front facing camera and no 4G. Personally, these do not matter to me. I barely ever use skype on my computer, why do I need it on my phone? And it is likely that no phone coming out in 2011 will be 4G SOC (system on a chip). 4G is being achieved with an additional chip. To save the technical jargin for someone who understands it better, it will not be energy efficient and smoothly operating until the 2nd gen 4G phones come out. So neither of the big criticisms I've seen about this phone amount to much to me.

Now for the really bad part updated after a month of use and TWO REPLACEMENT PHONES. The software is buggy. It is very buggy. Poor screen zeroing (makes for jerky use, locked screen, etc), random reboots (very annoying), and incompatibility with common apps. From what I can tell in the forums, those who root their phones and update themselves to 2.3 have eliminated these problems (for the most part). Essentially, Motorolla let this out with an immature batch of software/firmware. Wait until this receives an update, because otherwise it is a great phone.

Update #2. Things went from bad to worse with this phone as it was updated to Gingerbread. It is especially problematic when working with Motorola docks. The rate of reboots has increased, not decreased. The docks no longer work propperly, which is terrible when using the car dock as it likes to reboot while giving you directions. the last thing I want to do at 65 MPH is adjust my phone. There is something massively wrong here, and as much as I like so much about the phone, I can not reccomend anyone purchasing this.

Update #3. Another software update. Another set of problems, but there were improvements. I have noticed better battery life, still at 40-50% at the end of the day. It is no longer hot enough to fry an egg on after using it in the car dock with the navigation system. They have definitely added some stability to the docking situation, but I still have near daily reboots. What I have come to realize is that part of the problem with the phone is that it uses 80-90% of it's RAM just by being on. I honestly do not think that this phone will ever live up to it's potential. When it works, it's great, but the screen locking up as a blank screen and reboots have truly hobbled it. I had a computer running windows XP with 256GB of RAM, why is Android taking 400? There is no reason why 512 is insufficient, but that seems to be the case. Unless you get the phone for free, there are numerous better options.

DROID X2= Why change a great thing! May 28, 2011

Reviewer:  Closeyou "Joe"  (boston,ma) -

I recently got a droid X1 after having it a week I found out the X2 was coming out, so i quickly returned my X and a few days later got the droid X2. Having both phones, there is not a difference hardly in the looks, your accesories from X and any cases will fit the X2. The main difference in appearance is the X2 on back and they removed the red camera button(now you only can use the touch screen, no biggie.). The changes were mainly in the power and picture. X2 is now running a dual core processor the first for verizon phones instead of single core. The scrren is a qhd with higher resolution for better pics and videos. My favorite is the mirror mode, so while your on amazon you might as well buy the motorola hdmi cord and playback 1080p videos on your flat screen or play games like your phone is the controller. SWEET! All in all, if you own the droid X already you may not justify the upgrade, however if you loved your X1, you will also love the droid x2. If you are like me and like to protect your phone I might add that the X2 did away with the car dock manual option, so if you use a case it will probally not fit in the motorola car dock unless you remove it each time to put the phone in car dock mode, contacted motorola about this and they said only way is dont use a case so it fits in dock to trigger mode, other than that the phone is excellent for surfing and pic clarity. NO front facing camera or 4G, but really who wants the front camera, so everyone wont bother me with skyping, and until 2012 or 2013 the 4g wont be everywhere unless you are in a big city. Hope this helps and happy phone hunting!

Don't let 4G influence you; it's the best Motorola phone yet! August 14, 2011

Reviewer:  Kim  (Willoughby, OH USA) -

If you are torn between wanting a new phone that is 4G compatible and one that is a 3G only phone, don't jump at the latest and greatest (4G)...yet. I am of the opinion that 4G will one day be a great data highway, but for now it is not available in enough areas to impress me to want to look at 4G phones. Many 4G phone owners have complained about how the search for available 4G networks has become a great drain on battery life. This is Motorola's first dual-processor phone, and I can tell you it is responsive enough to put a smile on your face.

I've owned and used a lot of Motorola phones and have found them all to be credible performers, but none have been as impressive as the new Droid X2. I recently upgraded from the original Droid with the slide-out keyboard and am a former BlackBerry user. The Droid was a solid and reliable phone, but can't even come close to the performance of the X2. When it came time for me to upgrade to a new phone I considered the Samsung Charge, the HTC Incredible 2 and the Droid X2. All three are great phones, but for me, the overall performance and features of the X2 were enough to make me select it as the winner. I don't need a phone with dual-facing cameras (like the Incredible 2) and I am not concerned with 4G connectivity that the Charge offers.

Physically, it's a large phone, but not what I consider bulky. It's actually thinner and lighter than my old Droid. What you get with a phone of this size is a lot of screen area and on this phone the display is sharper and brighter than anything I had seen previously. I went to a party last night and kept it in the front pocket of a pair of dress pants and it didn't feel uncomfortable or distracting. Without a protective cover it is a surprisingly light phone with a low profile.

As a media professional, the last couple of years has forced me to rely on my smartphones as a multimedia tool, mainly for the ability to take pictures and video. My old Droid made beautiful pictures in bright sun and moderate daylight, but was horrible at night and with flash. At last night's party I asked someone to use my X2 to snap a group picture of me with my high school pals in dim lighting. From about 12 feet away, the flash produced enough light to make an acceptable picture and no blur. The new software allows you to select your focus zones and the 8MP camera will give you the ability to make larger prints, or to zoom in with better picture quality. It's not the number of pixels that make a good picture, but the imaging chip and I have to say this chip is an improvement over previous models. By the way, I share content with a newspaper and they were very pleased with the quality my old Droid gave them at 3MP. They will be totally impressed with what the X2 will give them at 8MP.

When I first got the phone, it took some getting used to. Icons were slightly different and kind of small. I continually got odd messages that the Verizon software was not responding and needed to be force closed. This glitch went away the very next day with a complete over-the-air (OTA) firmware update, version 1.3.232. This might mean virtually nothing to most people, but it did solve a number of minor glitches and it also gave the icons a makeover that made them easier to read.

Another really great improvement for me was the on-screen keyboard. Huge improvement. With the Droid, I was constantly making typographical errors because I kept hitting keys I didn't want. My fingers are an average size (I wear a size 11 ring), but it was the keyboard on the old Droid; the keys were cramped. With the X2 you get a much roomier keyboard and better haptic (vibration) feedback with keystrokes. Another significant improvement is correcting typos. When you are typing in windows, you will see a little blue circle around where your cursor is. Pressing down on that area opens up a magnified window off to the side that will allow you to move the cursor to a more precise position. This was a problematic issue with the smaller Droid, where I always had trouble getting the cursor to where I really wanted it.

Two other areas people seem to be concerned about are call quality and battery life. I have been able to hear pretty well without having to strain as I have in past phones. My daughter told me she thought she could hear my voice clearly on her Samsung Haven. As far as battery life goes, it's like any other smartphone; you have to manage it. I do not keep all of the communication services running. Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS remain off until I need them. With regular use I've been able to use the phone all day without having to charge it. The charging port is the same as my old Droid, so I now have an extra wall charger for traveling.

I was, at first, disappointed that the X2 came with an 8GB microSD card, compared to the 16GB card that came with the original Droid, but then I remembered that there are 8GB of internal storage and whatever you place in to the memory slot in the battery compartment. I placed my 16GB card from my Droid in to the new X2 for a whopping 24GB of total memory.

So here is a comprehensive assessment of the new Droid X2:

PROS:
* Thin and lightweight
* Much improved display
* Seamless integration with Google's cloud network
* Fast and responsive-performs well doing most tasks
* Improved "Gingerbread" Android operating system (OS)
* Larger, more responsive keyboard with improved text editing features
* The incorporation of Swype text input, as opposed to traditional "tapping"
* Better management of social media services
* Excellent picture quality, acceptable flash pictures
* Ability to choose focus zones allows for more creative composition
* Ability to create metadata within photo app, including face tagging
* FM radio app (must use cabled headphones)
* 8GB of internal memory; external memory slot can take up to 32GB microSD storage
* Shoots 720p HD video
* Micro HDMI port allows for connection to HD TV sets
* Can be used as a true 3G wireless hotspot
* Connects to Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n networks for faster wireless connections
* Comes with Skype Mobile
* Standard installation includes many useful apps
* Extended battery available

CONS:
* Larger size may prove to be bulky for *some* people
* Add a protective cover (recommended) and it will become slightly more bulky
* Phone can get warm near the battery compartment under normal use
* Does not come with micro HDMI cable or adaptor
* Standard installation also includes a couple game demos and other software others may not want
* Battery life may be a concern when full services are utilized, especially GPS and WiFi
* Large ringtone selection still yields annoying sounds

This phone receives five stars based on all of its great features, impressive performance, and the fact that it stacks up favorably with the iPhone 4. At this time I am not concerned about 4G connectivity.

Great phone! Not perfect, but pretty close June 6, 2011

Reviewer:  D. Kaniss 

The good:
This phone is simply amazing when it comes to games, music, and applications. Everything runs smoothly without any crashes, and I've found a total of 1 program that runs slowly (which says that the program wasn't coded correctly). The screen is simply phenomenal, and movies look great on it. HDMI mirroring works very well, and can actually "mirror" everything shown on the phone screen (as the name says)... instead of simply displaying media on a tv. The form factor is nice; it's a huge phone, but very thin... which surprisingly enough adds up to being very comfortable to slip into a pocket. This phone has Gorilla Glass: this is impressive stuff, which will REALLY help protect your phone. HOWEVER... you should still get a screen protector. Gorilla glass is strong, but not unbreakable or unscratchable...just break and scratch resistant (ie... water resistant on a watch is not water proof, as I found out...)

The simply-informational:
This phone is VERY similar to the Droid X, with a few updates. From my perspective, you don't need to fix things that aren't broken... so I'm not saying that it's a bad thing. Anyways, the differences are slight but important: 26% more pixels in the X2, dual cores, updated interface, and the lack of a physical camera button. The form factor is exactly the same, as is the battery, the camera, the keys, etc. What you should take away from this is that it's not a significant jump from the X to the X2, so it's not really worth it to upgrade if you want to see a huge difference in your new phone. However, if you're coming from a "feature phone" or something like that, the Droid X2 will blow your mind. Some possible deal-breakers for some people are the lack of 4G, and the lack of a front facing camera... but I wouldn't be using either of those features anyway, so they're not important for me. If you need them, you might want to wait for the Droid Bionic, which is coming out fairly soon.

The bad:
The only real drawback I've found with this phone is how hungry it is for batteries. I had wifi, gps, and background data off; screen brightness as far down as possible; and not vibrating (for anything, including games or notifications). With all of these things, I was expecting a whole day of use, or at least 12 hours or so... but I'm getting 6-7 hours of continuous use on games and applications (8 if the cpu isn't working hard). I ordered several replacement batteries because I was charging my phone from 5% about 2 times/ day and again at night. For typical usage, 3 batteries total are a safe bet and you'll probably finish the day with close to 50% charge on the third battery. Fortunately, the battery isn't hard to replace, so you can up and running again within ~3 minutes of the phone dying (including the startup).
One note about the extended battery: if you get it, you can't use the car dock OR the standard cases OR the media dock. Plus, it only adds about 20% power.

The annoying (this is going to sound a bit whiny... you have been warned):
First, the phone is quiet in general, including playing media, talking (both your voice and the other person's voice). The vibrator function feels "gentle", especially for text messages, and it doesn't repeat the notification in a few minutes. It's easy to miss texts if you're sitting just right... but if you're thinking about it, you feel it buzz just fine. EDIT: A brilliant commenter (JonnyK) suggested using a progam called SMS Popup. This app works very well, and completely gets rid of this problem.

Second, the speaker for media playback is on the back. This means if I want to see the screen and listen to music I can either blast music so I can hear it (which I don't want to do), or I can...hmmm... put in headphones (which aren't as comfortable)

Third, Verizon sells the phone with an 8 GB card. Realistically, if you plan to put music or movies on the phone, you're going to want at least a 16 GB card... but it's easy enough to upgrade. I ended up getting a 32 gb card so I could put most of my media collection on it... and so I don't have the hassle of upgrading when it's full.

Fourth, I can't take my SD card out without removing the battery. Every other phone I've had, I could simply pull open a cover, remove the card, and stick it back when I had put stuff on it. This is the least annoying in day to day life, but it does get annoying really quickly when you have take the card back and forth between your pc and your phone multiple times.

Fifth, when you put the phone into a dock, it automatically puts it into car dock mode, which is a pain to use. It's not user-friendly, and applications don't play as well together inside the dock program (ie... you're using google maps, you launch a song, and you can't get back to the maps program without undocking it)

The overall:
Get the phone. It's not perfect, but it's still pretty amazing.

Very Good Smartphone with Email Flaw June 14, 2011

Reviewer:  runwest 

Much good: excellent screen color and sharpness, easy to read text after up-sizing fonts, all apps I tried open quickly, 'type and search by voice' works well, lots of fun for music and video, fits nicely in back pocket of a suit (not too heavy). Internet speed varies but is usually good in my experience. I like the build quality and even the bump on the back, which makes it easy to grab and hard to drop. The unexpected and fatal flaw to me is you cannot edit text in work emails (outlook at the office) that you receive. When responding to (or forwarding) an email, this means that instead of simply copying the received text and then modifying it (say, addressing issues point by point), you must type (re-type?) everything from scratch. This peculiar shortcoming was confirmed by the Verizon Store tech rep as well as various other doubters. Coming from a Blackberry, this is an impossible step down in functionality. So, I'll be moving on to something capable of handling this basic function, perhaps a Droid Charge. If corporate email is not a major concern, however, this is an excellent smart phone.

I love this phone! July 9, 2011

Reviewer:  oldfields 

This is my first Android phone, and I'm coming over from a Blackberry Curve, so obviously I'm going to be impressed with any Android phone. But ...

I closely compared the HTC Incredible 2 & the Motorola Droid X2 and these are my findings:
* The Incredible 2 has a slightly more intuitive user interface (not important to me).
* The battery life on the Incredible 2 was HORRIBLE even when using the advanced app killer.
* The screen resolution is slightly better on the X2 (moderately important).
* The microphone and speaker aren't great on the Incredible 2. Call clarity is much better on the X2 ... for both the caller and receiver (very important ... it is a phone, after all).
* The reception is much better on the X2. If you live on the fringe of a service area, don't even consider the Incredible 2. It won't work well ... calls will constantly be dropped and streamed music quality will be intolerable, at best.

In summary ... I love my phone. And now that my sister has traded her HTC Incredible 2 for a Motorola Droid X2, so does she.

First smartphone, good so far July 8, 2011

Reviewer:  Karen L. Tucker "karent7"  (Benton, IL USA) -

This is my first smartphone and so far, so good. I have had it for a week. The only problem that I have had is one time I had to pull the battery after the phone died. It hasn't happened again. As a new smartphone user, I have the interface to be very intuitive and haven't had any problems finding what I need or using the phones features. I was surprised at how easy it was.

The first couple of days, the battery life was horrible. I turned it off and charged for three hours (per motorola webite) and the change was nothing short of miraculous. It was a duh moment. Should have checked directions when I got the phone, not 2 days later. I've added an app killer and juice defender, which also helped.

I text a lot and was concerned about the lack of a hard querty keyboard. However, I've adjusted pretty quickly to the touchscreen. The words to choose from that pop up across the top are very helpful. Both my sons have smartphones and they don't have that feature. It is a big help to me.

I can't compare this phone to other smartphones, but I am very pleased with my purchase.

All-Around Performer August 8, 2011

Reviewer:  A. Ketzler  (Columbus, OH USA) -

I've had this phone for about a week and absolutely love this thing. The X2 puts my iPhone and HTC Surround (Windows Phone 7) to shame. I switched to Verizon from A&T as I am going to be moving soon and Verizon has way better coverage there. Amazingly I do not, however, get better reception at home right now with Verizon. Although, it seems like I get consistently good coverage anywhere else I go. The Android operating system allows me so much freedom when compared to iPhone and WP7. The dual core processor keeps things moving at a lightning fast pace, and the ability to view flash content is a godsend. The limitations of my previous phones were such an annoyance, but those days are gone, and I don't plan on going back. The screen is huge at 4.3", which makes watching videos and browsing the web a pleasure. The vast number of home screens and profiles makes it easy to organize and find apps. The 8 megapixel camera takes very high quality pictures for a cell phone, however, the lack of a front-facing camera is kind of annoying as my fiancée's Motorola Atrix has this feature. Call quality is a definite improvement over my previous phones with the iPhone being the worst. I also have not experienced the freezes and odd bugs that plagued my WP7. The build quality is every bit as good as the iPhone. I did, however, purchase an Otterbox case, because I do not plan on replacing this phone anytime in the near future. If you're looking for a case for the X2 the Otterbox is a good if slightly bulky option. I upgraded to Gingerbread the day I got the X2 which fixed some initial gripes I had with the operating system. Since the download it has been smooth sailing. There are always things which can be improved upon in future generations such as a front-facing camera and 4g capability. As it stands, i am happy to finally have a phone that gives me the closet to a desktop computer experience as you can have on a cell phone. I am a happy convert to Android and will remain so until someone else dethrones them, as they are clearly at the top of the cell phone market right now.

A very good small multi purpose device June 15, 2011

Reviewer:  GEEBEE 

At the time of writng this, I have had the X2 for about 2 weeks. My previous experience was a Treo 700p, a corporate Blackberry, and my immediate prior phone was some Motorola flip phone that I hated.

I've found the X2 to be reliable and fast. Easy to set up, and an excellent out of box experience. The only negative on this is I wish I had had a more detailed explanation of some of the bundled apps that came with the phone. I've had to do far more exploring than I like to do to get beyond basic functionality. The level of bundled app and background support may be fine for young people, but as a middle-aged man, I don't have all of the basic knowledge that a 20 year old might have. That part was a bit stressful for me.

A list of the features I like is Excellent screen display, fast for showing videos no chopiness or stuttering, the camera is pretty good for a phone camera. It works well as a 3g phone and with wifi (more on that later), and though I've not tried it it can act as a bluetooth internet hub for up to 5 BT devices.

It works well with all my email accounts and displays a little envelope in the upper left corner when an unread message appears. You just touch the little enveope icon and drag it down, and you have instant access to your unread email messages from all your email accounts. It also has a mini HDMI connector so if you download a movie or game you can connect it to your TV. (I haven't tried this out yet, I can't seem to find an appropriate cable.)

Excellent sound as a music player and as a telephone. It also has a built it FM radio controlled by a software app, both the radio and the app work pretty well. The built in PDA type apps are better than the Palm and Blackberry built ins. But even if I didn't like them on the X2, I could still download OTHER apps that I might like better. The X2 provides all the positive features of the Palm devices with none of th negative

The things I don't like are the lack of enough supporting background info for an old guy like me. and while you can use a bluetooth head set with it, there is no provision for connecting a wired telephone headset (you know, that teeny little mini plug that the wired earpieces use). My experience with bluetooth has been spotty so I would like to have the option of using a wired headset when I need to.

I NEED a password keeper type application like what is built into my corporate Balckberry, so I tried to find one in the Verizon Store and the Android market, Again, I had to figure out the download process. Apparently, as a default setting the phone won't download an app until it is connexcted to Wifi, even though you can download on a 3G network after changing the setting. So I thought it was broken, it turns out I had to change the default setting to download on 3G. Now that I understand this, I'll probably wait and do my downloads when I'm on wifi, but it was frustrating. Once I had that figured out the download & installation was fast and easy.

I also downloaded the Sony, KOBO, and Barnes & Noble ebook reader apps. It came with a Kindle reader built in. An excellent display for ebook reading. But the apps themselves are kind of basic, and I'd like to be able to auto scroll the text the way my Palm based MobiPocket software allowed. I haven't used the Kindle app yet. Also, I haven't been able to figure out how to side load an ebook from Calibre on my PC to the X2 yet.

One last thing, I downloaded the HBO Go App for HBO subscribers onto the phone and that is slick! I can watch any HBO program on my phone! I didn't think I'd care about that, but I really like it. No stuttering, no unexplained pauses, a very good viewing experience. The X2 is a very good platform for this sort of thing.

Videos eat up a lot of power from the battery, but I can read during the day, and use it like a phone and PDA and still have plenty of power at the end of the day. Battery life isn't any worse than my Treo, but not as good as my Blackberry.

When my Blackberry contract is up, I will likely abandon BB for something else. I have seen the future and BB isn't in it for me.

Droid x2 smartphone December 27, 2011

Reviewer:  Elizabeth L 

I bought the Droid x2 as an upgrade from my Droid Eris/Blackberry (I used 2 phones in 1 two year period). And I am so far completely happy with it. I do wish that it didn't come pre-loaded with so many apps that I have no use for, and probably will never use. I downloaded very few apps so it still runs like new. I use the phone for a company email, Facebook, and texting.

Not the best phone on battery but still a good phone. Would suggest a car charger if you spend a lot of time in the car. Phone has a great screen, and is very clear. Takes OK photo's - not the best unless you are in natural lighting. Keyboard is somewhat easy to use, I downloaded GOSMS and use the "dialer" keyboard with that.

there are a few things I absolutely do not like about this phone:
-the 4 bottom icons on your screen are not removable (you must always have 4 there, however you can change the apps that are shown.)

-Its very hard to find a photo to fit the background - even with a picture the camera took.

-I still haven't figured out how to change the ringtone and make it "stay". Always reverts back to the original ringtones.

-I don't think you can change the style (in regular messaging) from Blackberry keyboard to a dial pad keyboard.

Overall, I think this is a good phone. It's great for someone who owns/runs a business. Hope my review was helpful! if it was, please click yes! (:

Destroyed with Software Version 4.X November 18, 2011

Reviewer:  DeviceUser 

DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR PHONE.
CONTINUE TO CLICK ON THE DO NOT INSTALL.
CALL YOUR CARRIER AND HAVE THEM REMOVE THE UPGRADE DOWNLOAD.

I did want the upgrade to my phone. I like to review my upgrades and test them before I subject my machine to them. I rejected the window that continuously popped up on my screen to upgrade to the 4.X Software. It will not stop harassing you unless you call your carrier. Convenient hey?

In the middle of the night one night, my dogs started barking. I heard a noise outside. I reached for my phone (as I am a tech nerd) to look at my CCTV camera's and see if any of my motion sensors went off. Argghhhhhh I accidentally bumped the upgrade button. I was stuck, my phone was upgrading, I had no easy way to see my cameras and there may have been someone outside.

This is where the interesting fun part ends. Continue reading only if you are interested in the crappy details.

The upgrade sucks, The display is very blue, the dialer is even worse than the 2.2 upgrade. Your speed dials will be deleted. Many personal settings will be gone. The camera will act totally different. The phone will not feel like the phone you spent a lot of money on after researching throughly.

The dialer is the worst part for me. I bought the Droid because I like the Big Giant Buttons on the Big Display. I was constantly mashing the wrong button. With the first upgrade Google took that luxury away from me by putting an ugly absolutely useless information Bar in that fills 1/5 of the screen. I tried for hours on the Internet, support calls and poking at it to get it to go away. To make it worse, when you make a call, your previous call hangs on the display for a bit making you think you are dialing the wrong number. Your stuck with it. The new upgrade makes it even worse by making it completely ugly and old looking with the same tiny crappy blocky numbers.

The "Visual Voice Mail Window" and the "Address Book" have gone from very useful to so ugly you can barely look at them. I have asked others their opinion and they cannot believe how bad it is. It looks like windows 3.1 (thats before windows 95 for you younger crowd). Worst part is, YOU CANNOT CHANGE IT!

I tried to use the camera at my job and it was horribly different. All of my personal options were gone. You cannot look at the picture after you take it, it instantly minimizes. It was a lot harder to take a decent picture. I had to take pictures 3 or 4 times to get a decent shot. And the bad ones were 3 times harder to delete.

I was so frustrated and mad that this update was forced upon me. I called Verizon and they said there was nothing they could do. Verizon said they were forced by contract to send the updates from Motorola. I called Motorola. They said I had to call Verizon and tell them to stop sending the update. I asked Everyone to remove the new software. Impossible they said. Google is next, unfortunately they can only be reached by email. I can see why it is the best company in the world to work for, obviously you can do whatever you want with no consequences.

None of the companies would do anything to help me. I told them I was going to come and make their car an ugly different color and tell them to late now. I explained that if I destroyed the appearance of anything they owned I would repair or replace it. Expect it to get worse, the iphone is actually starting to look good to me. :(

Hope this helps.
Eat my Droid Google!

JSD

When it's working it's great... January 26, 2012

Reviewer:  Benny 

The Droid X2 was my first smart phone. My wife has an iPhone so I decided I wanted to try something different. I'll start with the good

PROS:
- The number of home screens as well as the ability to customize them (widgets and what not) was great. I really enjoyed messing around with this, there is really just an unlimited number of ways to customize it.

- The processor is fast and runs apps well. It also makes internet surfing about as good as it gets with a 3G phone.

- Android Market is great. Not as many apps as the Apple App store, but it's very close, and there are alot of great apps in there that you can't get from Apple.

- Flash. Being able to watch internet videos is awesome.

- The patern screen lock is cool. My 2 year old has no problem unlocking my wife's iPhone and wreaking havoc on the apps. This is not the case with the X2. This lock feature allows you to draw your own patern to unlock your phone. It works much faster than entering a code.

- Mini SD external memory is an awesome feature. The phone comes with 8GB internal storage and 8 miniSD, but you can have up to a 32 GB miniSD.

- You can use and create word, excel, Power Point, and PDF files.

- HDMI input allows you to connect device to larger screens, bigtime bonus.

- Swype keyboard makes texting very fast and easy

- I never drop calls and the incall sound is crystal clear. The speaker phone is nice and loud too.

CONS:
- Like the title of my review says, when this phone is working, it's great...the key is the "when it's working". This phone tends to freeze or just randomly restart while you're doing stuff...very frustrating. This happens several times per day. Consider yourself lucky if it restarts by itself though...everytime is just freezes I have to take my Otter Box case off and take the battery out, it's a serious pain in the butt.

- Glitchy apps - There alot of great apps, but alot of them are very glitchy and tend to freeze up or not run at all.

- Unless you get a good app killer, the battery goes REALLY fast.

- Updates (FB, Email, etc) are kind of spotty. Sometimes they come through, sometimes I have to manually go into the app to check it.

-Camera sucks really bad, and there's no camera on the front screen, so you can't skype. The camera is 8mp, but it's just awful. It's slow and the pictures are always grainey and blurry. The 5mp camera on the iPhone 4 is worlds better.

That's about all I can think of right now. I like the phone in general, but it tends to drive me insane sometimes too, hence the 3 star rating I gave it. Hopefully this helps!

great phone if you are willing to stay on 3g November 27, 2011

Reviewer:  Oleg Basov "Alan Bass"  (northbrook, il) -

I have owned five Android phones including the original Droid x that I passed along to my wife. I really don't see much difference between the Droid x and x2...I tested the processing speed against each other and found them to be very similar. This phone is used for business and my primary phone is a Motorola 4g Razr. This is a great phone, super fast and well built. I would recommend switching to 4g phone. However if you insist on staying with 3g this is one of the best. The wifi works great and you don't need 4g at that point. Just stay away from the bionic (you can read my review) I ended up returning the phone and this has been the only Android I've had issues with. Battery life is fine, you can purchase batteries for $5 and have several extra once around as back ups. I would recommend this phone if you are looking for a 3g phone, or I would recommend the Razr if you are upgrading to 4g. Good luck with your purchase and thanks for reading.

Caution November 22, 2011

Reviewer:  Sally 

Droid OS on a Motorola phone is not something I will ever deal with again. I have gone through 4 of these in 5 weeks. Finally, it looks like the latest one will last a bit longer, but still not great. The past problems were power cycling randomly, broken buttons, and frozen screens. The latest of the 4 has lasted the longest (approximately a month), however, in the last week, has power cycled twice and frozen numerous times. Factory resets have never helped.

Going into a VZW store is basically pointless, as they will do and say the same as tech support. All "new" phones received are factory refurbished (regardless how much the tech will try to convince you otherwise--that big sticker on the face that says "factory refurbished" is a bit more convincing), rather than actual new units. It seems we are all just sharing the same broken devices.

I like the phone itself, but it isn't worth the headache of dealing with weekly problems--especially for someone who travels for work.

My sweetheart has had the Samsung Galaxy (forgot the details) for almost a year and has never had an issue. I just ordered the Samsung Stratosphere--an upgrade from the Galaxy. In all my cell-owning years, I have never had an issue with a Samsung. Lets cross our fingers...

Good luck!
Leslie

Droid X2 December 20, 2011

Reviewer:  Droid Lover 

I have the same problems with the Droid x2. I love the phone with the big screen size and when it works great it is great. However, when it's bad I want to throw it. It freezes and reboots to often. Someone please tell me they're going to fix this!

Love the phone, don't like Amazon.commerical December 6, 2011

Reviewer:  Runningbrave 

We purchased two X2 droids and are very happy with the units. I got an email informing me that I MIGHT be eligible for a $100 gift certificate for each purchase IF I had/have mobile hot-spot enabled on my phones.
I checked with the Verizon folks and yes I do have Mobile Hot-spot and it comes as part of the data package we purchased with the phones. Got the $30, 2GB plan. When I spoke with the Amazon lady she explained that I had to buy the Mobile Hot-spot at time of purchase, WHICH I DID via the 2GB packages. Amazon wants you to pay a $100 for a package that they DO NOT PROVIDE. My carrier provides the data package and my package includes Mobile Hot-spot, but no $100 gift certificate!
A rip off at best......

Great phone though,

DROID X2 - Not the Bionic, but a surprising smartphone September 8, 2011

Reviewer:  A. Perper 

I bought my Droid X2 in August 2011 after finally losing patience with my original Droid. I loved the Droid but it became a constant fixture in the slow lane of smartphones. And the battery started heating up so much that it scared me. I wanted to wait for the Bionic or Galaxy II, and in the end, I'm glad I didn't.

The run down:
Screen - high rez that displays graphics and movies beautifully. Text is very good, but not great. Screen dimensions are just what I wanted; not too large and not too small. Tactile touch works great. Gorilla Glass for reduced scratching. B+
Speed - dual core 1Ghz that really has punch. Seems to plow through apps with no hesitation. A
Memory (RAM) - Always can use more. Seems sufficient but after the apps are loaded, I feel that another 256 meg would help. Don't want to revert to Task Killer all the time. B-
Buttons - one thing about the original Droid that always bugged me, was the sensitivity of the Android keys at the bottom of the phone. I always seemed to be pressing the Home or Back key when I didn't want to. The X2 has actual little buttons that some folks might find annoying, but to me, they're the answer to the problem. A
Camera - Very solid rear 8 mp sensor with a decent lens and the standard camera app does an OK job. Not looking for a medium format Hasselblad here. Front facing is missing, so if you're a video chatter, you might want to look elsewhere. For me, I don't care. B
Connectors - Micro HDMI and micro USB. Will try out the micro HDMI this weekend and will update review. USB is....a USB. B
Internet - Well, it's 3G. Not too quick, but much better than the old 1x. Would love to have the 4G speed, but.... C-
Apps - As many others have said, lotsa Verizon-Moto bloatware. such a shame and you can't remove the apps either. just ignore 'em. There are other decent apps, a couple of games (NFS and a useless golf game), and of course, the Android market place. B-
Battery - Almost get a full day of moderate use out of a charge. Have bought two more after market batteries and a charger, so I'm pretty prepared. B-
Stability - So far (two weeks) I have had very few forced closes, 2 unexplained reboots, and an easy upgrade from Android 2.3.2 to 2.3.3 Pretty happy here. A-
Storage - 8 gigs of internal storage (divided between App Storage & general storage) plus an 8 gig card. not bad. I hoisted the 16 gig card from my old Droid (had all my music and photos on it) and replaced the 8 gig card with it. B+
Look and Feel - solid feel in my hand, a bit of plastic but not terrible, weight is reasonable. Wouldn't mind more metal, but plastic is cheaper and lighter. B
Price - About 2 Benjamins cheaper than the Bionic. That paid for half of my new tablet. A+

Overall, a high B.

To be continued - conntinued June 29, 2011

Reviewer:  T. Long "J Long"  (Tullahoma, TN) -

About a month later ........
Updated a month after the first review, everything I said below still applies. I now have a few more comments ......
First - in defense of Blackberry... prior to the X2 I had a Blackberry Bold for two years. It is a little dated but it did a couple things better than the X2. First - the phone sound quality was great using the Blackberry - not so great for the X2. I liked having the Blackberry wake up when I pulled it out of the case. Constantly unlocking the X2 is a minor pain. And the Blackberry did 85% of what I do with a phone just fine - phone calls, contacts, calendar, and email.
Things I like about the X2 - it's fast enough for me without 4G. I guess I don't use it for the kind of thing for which 4G makes a big difference. I don't stream video, for example, except on rare occasion. I guess the dual core processor makes some difference. Just bringing up a web page it seems just as fast as my daughter's Samsung Charge running 4G. It is a lot faster than my 3G Blackberry was - though that difference could have been the carrier. I had been on AT&T and am now on Verizon.
I like having the GPS, WIFI, etc switches on the home page. Maybe they all do that. I am new to android phones. Email works quite well and I like the sync of contacts with Google. And the voice recognition works. I tried speaking some text messages and web pages and they translated accurately - which surprised me. I like the clip/carrier for the X/X2 that Verizon sells - it works great - once you get used to how it clips together. Before that, make sure you don't leave it half in because it will jump out. However, this clip doesn't provide any armor. But I don't like the bulk of something like the OtterBox and if you put a case around the X2 you won't find a good belt clip to hold it. The build quality and ruggedness of the X2 seem better than either the Charge or the Thunderbolt - both of which I have used. My X2 did jump out of my clip falling on concrete - I hadn't clipped it in correctly. It suffered some slight abrasion on a couple of the corners and a month later seems unaffected.
The screen is great. I read a professional review that pans the screen. I can't figure out what they don't like about it. I think it's the best I've seen on a droid phone.
What don't I like: the meazly 8Gig micro SD card. I bought my X2 for $99. After I buy a 32Gig card, the cost becomes $150. The Samsung Charge I bought for my daughter didn't cost any more than that and it came with a 32Gig card.
So why did I buy the X2 rather than the Charge for myself? I liked the screen and I figured that in wifi situations it would outperform the Charge - something I haven't verified yet. I'm going to put wifi in my home and figure that it will be available in many places when I'm out and about.
I'll update again if there are any more discoveries - good or bad.

First review entry:
I've used the phone for about 2 weeks. I also considered the HTC Thunderbolt and the Samsung Charge. I actually had a Thunderbolt for a short time and returned it - primarily for battery life and no HDMI. I gave a Samsung Charge to my daughter and bought an X2 for myself. In my side-by-side comparisons, the X2 seemed as fast as the Charge for the kinds of things I do. I can only explain that by the fact that it has a dual core processor while the Charge does not - and the comparisons were done in a 4G area with the Charge communicating on 4G.
I won't go through a litany of the features as others have done so with reasonable accuracy.
This phone is fast enough for the browsing and gps mapping I mainly use it for - in fact, for internet browsing, I could detect no difference in speed between the X2 and the Charge.
One significant problem is the voice quality during a phone call. It is poor. I hope it is fixable with a software update.
Battery life is marginal when used heavily - which I do only occasionally. For my normal use - it is sufficient.
One big kudo is the great screen. I consider it better than the Charge. I compared them in sunlight, played with the brightness settings, and the X2 is easier to read.
More to follow as time goes on.

Great overall phone June 12, 2011

Reviewer:  Michael 

This phone, despite not having some notable features when compared to the high end phones on vzw network (ie a front facing camera and 4g) is still one of the best phones available. Other than the two aforementioned features, this is a very high end phone in terms of hardware and specs. It is very fast and thanks to the dual core processor, runs even MOTOBLUR decently well. The keyboard is nice, but I am not a huge fan of the haptic feedback on it. This is an easy fix by either using the preinstalled swype or downloading a different keyboard form the android market. The preinstalled 8gb memory card and the additional 8 gb internal storage is probably enough for most though if you intend on watching miovies on it to use hdmi cable to mirror to your tv or are going to put music on it, you might want to get a bigger micro sd card. Like many smartphones today, you are probably going to need to charge it daily, possibly more depending on how heavy a user you are. I am a relatively heavy user and get through most of a day. When it gets updated to gingerbread battery life should improve as it utilizes the dual core processor more effectively.