I have an upgrade due in November and want to get a good phone that could supply my needs for the next year. I'm looking at the Droid X and the Samsung Fascinate and wanted to ask those with Droid X if the real life performance is good. I want to know:
1. Is opening applications and exiting applications fast?
2. Is there any significant lag during day to day use?
3. Is the GPU good enough to produce smooth gameplay on 3D games such as Angry Birds, NFS Shift, or other demanding games?
I just want to know if the Droid X is good enough to be my next phone (my current one is the Eris).
Sent from Eris with Froyo
i cant speak specifically for the fascinate, but i have used the captivate before switching to the droid x.
1. there is terrible lag on the captivate in some applications. unlocking the phone, and even just answering a phone call gave me terrible lag. there are lag fixes, but you have to root to use them.
2. see #1
3. i think that the galaxy s units have a superior gpu, but i have had no issues whatsoever playing any of the games that you mentioned at all.
i have been completly happy with my x, and to me its much better than the galaxy s line of phones. the galaxy's have better screens, but thats about where it ends. good luck!
I can't speak on behalf on the fascinate but I can tell you that the droid x tends to be a bit laggy when performing regular tasks like scrolling through apps and screens. As for everything else it's amazing. No lag with games, speedy browsing, and amazing pictures. It would be the best phone ever made IMO if the lag was fixed.
I have both of these phones and the one I use 99% of the time is the Droid x. I have 2 numbers and have all calls from the samsung line forwarded to the droid x line. The x is built better; the samsung is mostly plastic and feels cheap. The x has 4 times the onboard memory; 8 gb to 2 gb. The x has a larger screen; the samsung has a nicer looking screen. The samsung is a google phone with microsoft software; that makes alot of sense??? The samsung is definately more "laggy" than the x. The x seems to get better reception. The x has 3 more megapixels in the camera. I'm not saying the samsung is a bad phone; if I had never tried the x I would be more than happy with it. Especially coming from an eris, I think you'll be happy with either one of them. Oh, your hand size might pay a role in the decision as well. Some people can't hold the x with one hand and touch anywhere on the screen. I don't have this problem, but I could see how it would be annoying. I hope that helps.
Thanks for these tips! I'm pretty sure this will be my next phone now, unless Verizon comes out with something mindblowing.
Sent from Eris with Froyo
TheSonicEmerald said:
Thanks for these tips! I'm pretty sure this will be my next phone now, unless Verizon comes out with something mindblowing.
Sent from Eris with Froyo
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The HTC Merge is coming next mid-month...
Might be worth it to wait a month or two to see what else comes out.
The x is a pretty good phone to go with minus the locked bootloader.
LTE and a front facing camera would be sweet to see. Those two things in addition to current features of the x would be the perfect phone in my opinion. Still waiting for the double rainbow of phones though.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
you could wait, but as fast as phones are coming out, you would always be waiting for whatever was new. i say get what you want now. it'll be outdated in a month anyway regardless of what you get!
Cobra302 said:
you could wait, but as fast as phones are coming out, you would always be waiting for whatever was new. i say get what you want now. it'll be outdated in a month anyway regardless of what you get!
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Click to collapse
True, true.
Sent from my Eris using XDA App
Before anything, Go into a corporate store and ask to play around with both phones, most sales reps have the droid x or the fascinate as their personal phone and they will let you use them.
with that being said. I bought the Samsung Fascinate first and brought it back a week later to get the Droid X. Fascinate has a GREAT battery life compared to the droid X.
Reason I did this is not because the phone is not a good phone it is because the phone has some thing integrated that I did not like.
1) Bing is every where on the phone, so you must tweak it to where you can use google via an app on the home screen instead of a search bar ( some of us don't mind but I did.
2)On the car dock the default navigation system to use is VZNavigator which is run by BING and you must subscribe to it, so again to use google maps which is free btw you must use another short cut key.
These are the two biggest things I did not like on this phone. Other than those two things the phone has a beautiful screen and the camera quality is equal to greater than the Droid X, but without a case for the phone the phone feels very light and cheap.
Droid X has some issues of its own but nothing a little rooting can't help. When I had the stock Droid X I had a few freeze ups and lag but haven't had it happen since I rooted and did a few other tweaks.
Issues
1)Camera even though is 8MP is not the best but still does the job.
2)Do not know if this is a 2.2 issue or not but when you record video and then try to play it back on say a computer the audio gets messed up and has a delay
3)Battery life doesn't do to well
Other than those are minor ones and they can be fixed in time but you should also wait to see what they have coming out when they roll out LTE Network because I have seen a few I would love to get my hands on already.
I can't say anything about the fascinate but I have no major complaints about my x I mean sometimes the camera takes grainy pictures, but that's about it I've never had a freeze or anything of the sort im runnig completely stock 2.2 ota im always running live wallpapers and the battery lastes me 12-15 hours and that's with wifi use and emailing facebooking testing calling. Heavy use lol
The only thing that mainly depletes my batery is pandora when I have it hooked up in my car but that still takes 6-8 hours to kill it.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
conradd said:
I can't speak on behalf on the fascinate but I can tell you that the droid x tends to be a bit laggy when performing regular tasks like scrolling through apps and screens. As for everything else it's amazing. No lag with games, speedy browsing, and amazing pictures. It would be the best phone ever made IMO if the lag was fixed.
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Click to collapse
it's because of the default Blur software. After I removed bloat and installed launcher pro, the phone is as smooth as butter with 100 MB free memory
My plan was to try the Fascinate 1st then get the Droid X if I didn't like the Fascinate. The Fascinate had a beautiful screen. The Fascinate is plastic and felt plasticky. Touchwiz was not bad. I didnt like the Bing presence and was holding off on modifying the OS.
The deal breaker for me was the abominable GPS and an issue with 3G instability (frequent dropping) after the Fascinate update. My roomie has an original Droid and she had great GPS and 3G by comparison.
I exchanged the Fascinate for the DroidX (after opening a trouble ticket for the 3G issues which VZW acknowledged was a problem with that phone).
Needless to say, I am totally happy with the Droid X. It's super responsive and everything works great (GPS, wifi, bluetooth, 3G). I appreciate the large, clear screen.
Battery performance is about 17-21hrs. I disable data when i dont need it. Generally have phone on for calls and text. I enable wifi at home or 3g out-and-about when it's needed. I dont need frequent updates of twitter,weather,email etc. (Once got 27hrs...). The GTD apps have always been my primary use of a smartphone.
My DroidX is pretty much where I want it to be (GTD apps and launcherpro, not a gamer per se). And it is unrooted.
I'm a girl with girl sized hands (you know what I mean) and I am totally comfortable with the Droid X. Unlike the Fascinate, the DroidX feels solidly built.
sheth1nks said:
I'm a girl with girl sized hands (you know what I mean) and I am totally comfortable with the Droid X. Unlike the Fascinate, the DroidX feels solidly built.
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glad you like it. At first I thought the X was too big for my big hands coming from eris, let alone a girl carrying it. But now I have learned to carry it comfortably and operate it with one hand.
rlacsamana1989 said:
3)Battery life doesn't do to well
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Click to collapse
Define "doesn't do to[o] well," because my phone often lasts me 9 hours of rather moderate use (numerous phone calls, ~75 texts, ~3 hours of music streaming, and probably ~1 hour of browsing the internet) and still keeps 50% left.
Get Setcpu if you don't already use it and learn how to set up profiles, especially one for when your screen is off.
Related
I wasn't planning on buying the Droid X but because of the unknown arrival time for the Fascinate, I picked up the X today. I am going to put it through its paces and will do the same when the Fascinate arrives. Then I'll sell the lesser of the two phones.
I am so sick and tired of the issues with the Eris that I needed to get something. At least with the Droid X, it has bluetooth voice dialing with Android 2.1 whereas the Fascinate won't have it until 2.2.
I bought the X today with only the intent of having it until I could buy the Fascinate, or for 30 days if it wasn't out yet then and I'd pay for a month of service on my old phone.
Then, I tested the GPS. Holy Christ. I've never in my life seen a GPS perform like the one in this phone. It was lightning-quick with the directions, I couldn't discern any lag whatsoever in the directions it was reading off, and it synced seemingly instantly. I did enable the quick GPS update in the settings, and I turned the GPS on before opening the car dock app, but still; it worked AMAZINGLY well. It seems like Motorola put a good, powerful GPS chip in this phone. Damn them, I may have to stick with the X long-term now, lol.
Like everything you buy, you have to give more weight to some items than others based on what is important to you. One of the things that's was driving me crazy on my stinking Eris is not having BT voice dialing. The Voice Command on the X is fantastic! I'm so impressed with this phone.
im waiting on the fascinate
I had the x for 2 days and did not like a few things.
Moto blur garbage.
Super quiet ringtones
super quiet voice navagation / hard to hear.
Blurry photo's
Slow charge and quick discharge
Moto blur garbage.. had to mention it twice.
The screen was nice and big, but after seeing the side by side with the fascinate and the Droid x.. The fascinate has 2x the quality of the screen...
sprintrjm said:
I had the x for 2 days and did not like a few things.
Moto blur garbage.
Super quiet ringtones
super quiet voice navagation / hard to hear.
Blurry photo's
Slow charge and quick discharge
Moto blur garbage.. had to mention it twice.
The screen was nice and big, but after seeing the side by side with the fascinate and the Droid x.. The fascinate has 2x the quality of the screen...
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Click to collapse
I too have found a few things lacking,
Quality of physical buttons (and difficulty of depressing small physical buttons when stretching my thumb down that massive screen)
Uncertainty of non Motorola ROMS (I know this has been debated in great detail elsewhere)
Random software issues (screen waking on it's own, for example)
I am most likely going to return the DX and hope it doesn't take too long for the Fascinate to come out. I wanted to like this phone so much but it just doesn't feel right.
The Droid X is like a giant... Probably because I'm 5'4
I played around with both models quite a bit before settling on the Fascinate. The Fascinate has an overall better chip in it, and I've always been a fan of Samsung phones in general. The GPU is noticably better, and I can't wait till Froyo hits. Downsides were the lack of HDMI out, and the 5 MP camera. Still and all, the pics look better than the DX, and the camera is a hell of a lot more responsive.
The biggest drawbacks to the DX IMO are the lockdown on the kernel, which will hinder, or at least slow development, and the fact that it won't fit comfortably into the pocket of anyone not named Kirsty Alley.
About that 5mp shooter on the fascinate. I've owned both and its also been proven that the Samsung galaxy phones take a much better pictures.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
ksizzle9 said:
About that 5mp shooter on the fascinate. I've owned both and its also been proven that the Samsung galaxy phones take a much better pictures.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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Agreed. I'm a bit of a digi-photo buff, and that was a big selling point for me.
I am on my 3rd Dinc replacement, I always seem to get duds. I have an option to get the Droid X instead of yet another refurb'd Dinc.
First, what I do/dont do with my phone.
I use GPS voice nav all the time.
I load it up with my audio books
I dont use widgets, dont do facebook, etc.
I use the camera and camcorder to take pics and videos of my kids, and I do alot of texting, sending pics/etc.
Surf the web, but I dont watch videos on the phone at all.
I use a BT headset.
I dont play games on it at all.
Could care less if the phone is rooted or not, I am rooted but I use LauncherPro so I dont have to deal with the bloated Sensi UI.
I dont have more than 6 apps downloaded from the market.
I hate the absolute ****ty battery the Dinc has.
Going on that info, is the Droid X going to give more problems (been reading up on battery, volume levels, etc) than the Dinc?, can the Droid X be considered a similar phone to what I have, except it does have that big ass screen. I have played with one for a few minutes, it is large, I can see things better on that big screen, and that screen size is the only thing that is even making me consider getting that phone.
droid x
the droid x is a great phone all those things you mentioned that you like to do the droid x will do and ask for more.i have used mine for 12hr on one charge not heavy use just some videos,marketplace,texting,camera.
btw: the amoled screen on the incredible is not visable in sunlight.
I am very happy that I made the switch, the two things I miss most are some of the sense widgets and root, neither of which seem to be an issue for you. The screen is amazing, the camera is amazing and the battery is an improvement. All in all it's a great phone and I couldn't be happier with it, well maybe with root, but I'm not getting my hopes up anytime soon.
pima said:
btw: the amoled screen on the incredible is not visable in sunlight.
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Click to collapse
Did you even have an Incredible? Yes, it's not the easiest to see in sunlight, but it certainly isn't "invisible", please.
To the OP, I am still trying to decide if I am going to keep my X, or go back to my Incredible. The X seems to get a little better signal then the Incredible, and it certainly works better with my Motorola T505, that I use to listen to my music through my car stereo, but it's big. I don't know if I like the feel of it in my hand. The Incredible, is a nice size, and fits perfect, in pocket, and in hand. Maybe the answer will be the 4" Samsung Galaxy S, when that arrives at Verizon. Anyway, I wish I could give you a more definitive answer, but it's only been a few days, and I'm still giving the X a chance, before I decide which on to stay with.
I think the HTC phone despite screen size and battery life is better. The DroidX screen is horribly washed out. Even compared to other phones including the Evo.
There are things that Sense manages even if you use a different launcher that the X does not have.
Simple things like SMS/Gmail icon notifications on the X are non-existent.
You can't use contact pictures from exchange, the facebook integration with contacts is X is a joke compared to HTC.
The contact UI in sense is much better and easier to manage than the X.
The camera on the INC is faster in low light and does not turn pictures yellow like the Motorola. The Motorola lock screen is slow and buggy.
The HTC just provides a more complete experience out of the box without having to download a bunch of crap to get everything the way you want.
spotmark
dont tell me that the screen is visable in direct sunlight because i did have one and your full of it if you say that you can read everything on the screen in direct sunlight.
pima said:
dont tell me that the screen is visable in direct sunlight because i did have one and your full of it if you say that you can read everything on the screen in direct sunlight.
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Click to collapse
Not only can I see it in direct sunlight, I can do it with sunglasses on.
ok whatever you say.
pima said:
ok whatever you say.
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Click to collapse
Learn to turn up the brightness on your display...
The Droid Incredible and Nexus One have identical displays and I can see my Nexus One fine in direct sunlight when I have brightness on 100%. Once I start turning down the brightness, the visibility fades exponentially.
If you compare, the x is much more advanced and snappier than the incredible. Let's say you don't need noise cancellation and the nifty features of the cameras audio and video capture. Then yeah your cool with the incredible, essentially they're the same. Just the x has a larger display.
Also, if you sit and think, every android has a little more than this one, others have less, more have innovative inserts like the x, and others are just pretty like the droid incredible and the htc evo. This all boils down to what you feel suits your needs.
Oh btw, verizon is releasing froyo in a few weeks. For the droid, incredible, droidx, and droid 2. BGR just got the tip for it. Its on twitter. Damn, verizon really really like to be dominant. Like they see no other alternative but to be great.
Sent from my DROIDX via Telepathic DLNA.
I must agree with pima. I absolutely love my Inc (I also bought the X and am deciding which to keep), but it is extremely difficult (for me anyways) to read things like text messages on it when outside in direct sunlight on a bright day, even when I set brightness all the way up.
Sense definitely runs more smoothly than Motoblur, however I don't care for either and can't comprehend why Motorola or HTC would want to try to fix something that is not broken. It's maddening that OS updates are held up for months because of this. I long for a phone that doesn't force me to use it's manufacturer's UI (and is less glitchy than the N1). But I digress...
I see enormous potential in the X's camera, but find it to be very frustrating in it's current form. For example, I couldn't use Barcode Scanner yesterday because the auto-focus kept zooming in and out; therefore, the camera couldn't focus on a barcode long enough to get a scan (the same phenomenon resulted in inconsistent pic's). Luckily, this is undoubtedly a software issue the should be resolved in short order through an OTA update (this may well be fixed in the update that is being rolled out today).
I love the X's keyboard. I actually also liked the Inc's keyboard relative to my previous phone, the N1. However, the X's keyboard is the best I've used on a smartphone (and I also owned an iphone 3gs at one low point in my life).
The X's battery is way better than the Inc's in my opinion. I get more life from it than I did from the 2150 extended battery I bought from HTC.
I can defintely empathize with oldmacnut's dilemma. Both phones have clear advantages/disadvantages. I'm finding that rooting/unlocking are more important to me than i realized, so I will likely go back to the Inc. However, if was in the OP's shoes I would probably go with the X, especially considering that its bugs are fixable and Froyo update is coming soon.
I came over to the x from the dinc myself, if u aren't rooting i'd go with the x. The hi is actually a little more gittery on the x but the biggest difference i can notice is the actual power of the proccessor on the x, not just clock speed. The x can run games that would make my dinc choke up and freeze. Look at the quadrant benchmarks. Its freakin rediculous. The dinc is a AWESOME phone. The build quality feels superior on the x and it really comes down to what fits u best. I can say i miss the DInc but i don't regret getting the x. Goodluck, this cud b a tough decision.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
After today, I decided that the X is just too big for my liking. I reactivated my Incredible, and tomorrow, I'm shipping the X back to Verizon.
my wife
spotmark said:
After today, I decided that the X is just too big for my liking. I reactivated my Incredible, and tomorrow, I'm shipping the X back to Verizon.
Click to expand...
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come on man really you sound like my wife
This phone is huge... I just had to get a magnum case for it, the normal sized case fits too tight
pima said:
come on man really you sound like my wife
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Click to collapse
I know, she tells me that all the time, too.
But, seriously, it's just too big to use with one hand. I predict, that we will start hearing about people dropping their X while trying to use it one handed.
pima said:
dont tell me that the screen is visable in direct sunlight because i did have one and your full of it if you say that you can read everything on the screen in direct sunlight.
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Click to collapse
I did perfectly fine in sunlight...make sure the auto brightness is checked and you will be fine. Had the Incredible for 2 months...Now have the X, and I would say the X is may be a little bit better in sunlight, but NOT by much... Incredible size is better.. X is just TOO big.
I am starting to wonder if I should keep the X. May like the dinc more
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
They are both great devices. I had the choice of either or and I choose the Dinc. It's an HTC thing. IMO I think HTC has the best smartphones available period. Motorola choose to encrypt the bootlooder and imo that's extremely lame. Sure it may not matter to the average Joe but it's still sneaky.
I also have both and am still undecided which I prefer. As far as both out the box it depends on wether you're new to android or not. HTC Sense is very user friendly and I love the wigdgets. Motoblur is a bit laggy and the widgets aren't bad but not as good aa HTC. Performance in my opinion is about equal except games. The X is definitely superior although I never have a problem with the Inc. The Incs camera is slightly better but not much. I could go on but I think it comes down to root. I love to customize and make my phone unique. With the X it looks like that will be hard and the Inc is already rooted. And the X is really big but not uncomfortably so although I prefer the size of the Inc. So like I said before they're both great devices so I think root is really the deciding factor. Once the X is rooted it will probably be far superior.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
For everyone actually rockin the second coming of the Droid (Droid 2), why don't we share our stories here.
I'm coming from WinMo (Raphael) so this is my first android. I figured 2.2 was a good place to start.
First good impression is that the voice commands rock. This phone rocks.
Bought at Costco, had to beg the sales dude to go back to receiving to get it. Bought my dear wife one as well. She's worth it.
My Droid 2 arrived yesterday morning and so far I'm pretty pleased. As some background, I've owned the following phones over the last 12 months: iPhone 3G, myTouch 3G, Droid, Nexus One, Droid Incredible, EVO 4G, iPhone 4, and the Samsung Captivate. So far, the Droid 2 is the fastest out of the box; however, I I think the Captivate has the best display (even against the iPhone 4). I also really liked the EVO, but I didn't like paying an extra $10/month for 4G coverage that was non-existent here in Colorado.
I find the Droid 2 to be very responsive with little to no lag - even with whatever software Motorola has running in the background. I ran Quadrant and scored a 1381, which was higher than I expected. Watching Quadrant run through the graphics tests, however, was pretty sad. The frame rate appears to be the worst of the bunch. Overall, the display is good, but looks a little washed out compared to the Captivate.
The keyboard is SO much better than the one on the original Droid. Typing is lightning fast! The onscreen keyboard is pretty darn accurate and fast, too.
The build quality (so far) ranks up there. The phone feels solid and I like the navy blue color w/ the dark chrome bezel.
And of course, Verizon's network speed makes the online experience so much more enjoyable than the others. Even when I could get a good connection on AT&T, I could never get anything faster than 1.5Mbps down, and I swear they capped the upload speeds - both the iPhone 4 and Captivate had crappy upload speeds around 150Kbps.
No buyer's remorse here.
I also came from WinMo - Herman. So far the Droid 2 is awesome - blazingly fast, great experience so far. Only downside is that the android integration with exchange leaves something to be desired.. like tasks and contact photos..
New Driod 2 Purchased 8/15/10 for my wife. I have a Driod Incredible. the Driod 2 is only pulling about half of her contacts from Exchange. My Incredible works perfectly. The clock is ticking on the 30 day exchange policy... ball is in Motorola's court on wether we keep it or move to an HTC device. Except for the very nice hardware keyboard on the Driod 2 I like the Incredible much better.
I actually switched to a Droid 2 from a Droid X. I do a lot of ssh'ing and while the Droid X was wonderful in every other respect, trying to ssh with a virtual keyboard is not pleasant. The keyboard takes up half the screen and trying to send control codes is not fun.
So, I handed off my Droid X to my wife and picked up a Droid 2 on release day and I've been really happy with it. The only problem is when I use my wife's Droid X now, I find that I REALLY miss the screen on that monster.
I'm not too much of a big fan of mid-size phones. I'm coming off the Motorola Cliq, which had the Android 1.5 on it. I rooted and packed on the 2.1 leak. I went through various customizations and even flashed a new radio on it. I fell in love with my Cliq all over again. The only problem with the Cliq that made me switch was the processor was slow, and the new games for mobile phones weren't able to play properly on it.
I like the Droid 2 because of the speed. I admit that the unlock screen kinda bugs me cause the slider freezes before it unlocks, but eh, who cares? I mean the only good thing for me so far with this phone is the speed, and ability to play newer games on it without a lag. I think I'm just missing root and the option of custom roms and themes...
i came from owning my 3 yr companion Xv6800 to this droid2
without a doubt you guys know im impressed and happy to finally own a qwerty phone that is up to date...
sure my 6800 had WM6.5 ...but it was oldie and started failing me, not to mention i could no longer get replacements from verizon...so be it...
anyways, on my trip to san francisco, this thing was amazing, gps, yelp, google maps, was the shiznets...
My experience is horrible coming from a nexus one. This phone may still be one hell of an upgrade if you are new to the android scene. But really this is poor performance. The hardware is there. But it runs at one third of the speed my previous android phone ran at. The music skips dragging through my contacts lags and its just dissapointingly slow. I am returning this phone when I get a chance labor day weekend. Motorola has spilt the beans on this one and should have either not locked the bootloader or not put this motoblur crap on it.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
jrmars07 said:
My experience is horrible coming from a nexus one. This phone may still be one hell of an upgrade if you are new to the android scene. But really this is poor performance. The hardware is there. But it runs at one third of the speed my previous android phone ran at. The music skips dragging through my contacts lags and its just dissapointingly slow. I am returning this phone when I get a chance labor day weekend. Motorola has spilt the beans on this one and should have either not locked the bootloader or not put this motoblur crap on it.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you apply the recent update? Do you have a task killer app running?
bobby_v said:
Did you apply the recent update? Do you have a task killer app running?
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yes. yes. lag.
I am also coming from Windows Mobile.
I can say that the Droid 2 isn't as functional out of the box.
I love the voice navigation, speech to text, the fluid movement of the screen, and the live wallpaper.
However, I miss the Windows Mobile voice command app reading my incoming text messages thru my BT headset. I miss being able to sync with Outlook notes, tasks, and calendar on my PC.
I miss being able to fully customize my home screen, I don't really care for the icons and widgets.
I didn't like having to create a Google account just to be able to have an email app where I can create folders (labels) and have the ability to delete the emails from my roadrunner pop3 server. In WM I could also create folders in the text messaging app and save them there.
I didn't like having to pay $15 for Documents to Go because quick office didn't allow me to delete cells in excel.
WM did all of that right out of the box.
Last night I was playing around with the Spark app which is just a plain black screen and wherever you touch lighting bolts streak out from your finger and vibrate the phone.
Well I was poking it rather fast to see how well it could keep up and the phone got locked up on the vibrate and kept vibrating for about 5 minutes (and it wasn't just going through all the touches in a queue, I didn't touch it /that/ much) and it would go from just solid vibrating to pauses in between. Had to reboot to fix it...was pretty crazy, it vibrated the whole time it was powering down too.
Anyways it was probably the app and not the phone, but still a funny story worth sharing.
I think I am going to swap my Droid 2 for a Droid X, what do you all think?
I got my Droid 2 today after big V finally realized that three defective Eris sets in a row was unlikely. I think the defect was selling that phone to paying customers... anywho, here's what I've noticed:
The Good
1. Callers on the other end can hear me much better than with my last phone
2. A few of the Motorola widgets are pretty nice
The Bad
1. Phone runs much slower than I expected. I figured a phone with double the clock and RAM of my last phone, and Froyo would run better. This could be because I had Android System Info installed, which can be used to kill apps. I'm going to remove it and see how it works.
2. Sound quality of incoming calls is no better than it was with the Eris. I'm frequently asking people to repeat themselves.
3. I've talked to two people and had two dropped calls. 1:1 ratio? I hope it gets better.
4. Phone froze for a moment or two when I tried to add a dialer shortcut
5. It seems like apps refuse to die. If you close the program, they're relaunched. This might've been another result of using Android System Info.
6. Phone is preloaded with too much crap that you can't remove. I was happy to be able to remove the NFS demo, but why can't I get rid of the CityID demo? And why do I need Blockbuster?
7. I launched the YouTube app while connected to my wireless network and it warned me that I had no data connection. Ok?
I'm resetting to defaults since it applied an OTA update, and I'm going to avoid installing Android System Info and see how it works out for me.
D2 is my first Android phone. Previous phones included BlackBerry Storm2 and Tour. Two of my best friends have owned (or still own) iPhone, Nexus One, Droid, EVO, and Incredible so I knew what I was getting into. I walked into the Verizon store knowing I was going to purchase one of the three: DX, D2, or Incredible.
I obviously loved the screen on the DX but after shattering the screen on my Storm2, I will not own a phone with a glass screen again without a case and a DX with a case is just enormous. The four buttons on the front also felt extremely cheap/flimsy.
The Incredible is an awesome phone. HD recording, HTC Sense, and Snapdragon processor are big selling points. I am not big on the virtual keyboards. I probably would have gotten used to it on the Incredible but having owned the EnV, EnV2, and BB Tour, I love typing on a real keyboard and the D2's is 100x better than the D1's.
In the end I went with the D2 for several reasons but mostly the keyboard. I rarely used the camera on any of my phones for pictures and I think I have taken exactly 2 videos in the 6 years I have owned camera phones so the HD recording on the other two just wasn't a big deal for me. I also knew that I would be tinkering with this phone so issues related to the OS/GUI I could solve myself. I have since rooted the D2 and started to remove a ton of the bloatware that came installed on the phone. It made for a huge improvement in performance all around. Responsiveness, smoothness, battery life, etc. Looking at the specs on the D2, I am convinced that the poor performance is thanks to the hacked up 2.2 from Moto/VZW.
Maybe someday I will have to suck it up and deal with a virtual keyboard but not yet.
Sounds like a support group! Lol
Hi, my name is chet and I used to love windows. That is, till I got my wife a droid x. The sheer awesomeness of the screen amazed us. So when my laggy keyboard-ed htc touch pro fell victim to water, I had to get a droid 2.
I love the responsiveness, non laggy keyboard, that it doesn't freeze for a sec after sending a text msg while it goes 3g to 1x to 3g. The bigger screen. Louder speaker. Easy to make a call (tho that could be bc the htc was gimped and it was just hard to run anything). All the internal memory. Software keyboard. I barely ever flip out the u one.
And google navigator! Super awesomo and the gps connects in seconds, not 4 minutes.
3.5mm jack. Need i say anything about htc ext usb?
Bad...micro usb. Had to get new cables or adapters. U know how many minis I had? Even the dollar store had those
But besides needing a phone now what made me switch? Winmo7phone wouldnt have been backwards compatible. If i had to start new, why not all new?
Sent via droid2
Droid 2 User (starting tomorrow)
I purchased a Droid in December of 09 & had it until today, mysteriously the screen went dark, luckily while still under warranty, VZW store had none so they told me to call in to warranty replacement. They told me there was a 72 hour wait on Droids, so I told them that I need a phone tomorrow the latest, so after being put on hold they offered me a refurbed Incredible, I held out for 20 minutes longer after that, and finally they sent me a Droid 2, arrives tomorrow
keep'em coming
Keep writting your reviews guys, this will greatly help me decide if I`ll buy the Milestone 2 when it comes out in Canada!
Cheers
With Android, you can modify software to the point that most high-end phones are virtually interchangeable. Blur sucks out of the box, but every day we find ways to make the Droid 2 snappier, have better battery, and more customized.
So the real choice is hardware - do you want the keyboard or not? Personally I love the rock solid build of the Droid 2 and tighter, staggered keyboard as compared to the Epic. If you have no need for the keyboard, get something else. It's all Android at the end of the day.
I purchased an HTC Eris in November, because I liked it a lot better than the Droid. Unfortunately, because it wasn't Verizon's flagship phone, it was plagued with bugs that they had no intention of fixing. After four replacements, Verizon upgraded me to a Droid. I could deal with the fact that it was a brick, decorated in cheap gold paint, after rooting and installing Sapphire 1.0 with the 1.2Ghz kernel. Then after two months, the keys started to fall off of the keyboard. So last week I called Verizon to try getting a Droid 2, they offered me one for retail price, but there was no way in hell I was going to pay that. After agreeing on a replacement Droid, FedEx brought me a shiny new Droid 2 two days later with an apology letter saying they were out of stock. Obviously, I was outraged by this "inconvenience" so I called Verizon to complain, and ended up with a $50 credit.
Not a bad deal. I just wish I didn't have problems with reception on the D2.
i havent had any call reception problems on droid2, but late at night (im an insomniac) and i'm jacking with the phone, i do seem to lose 3g here and there. which is weird, because ithappens only after 1am...
never happened with my old touch pro, but it does happen with the wifes droid x...
perhaps vzw is tweaking the towers i hope, getting ready for upgrades? *crosses fingers*
I'm a current sprint customer with my upgrade available October 1st. I love a lot of things about the Epic, but the build quality is just absolute garbage. The spring-loaded screen feels like it could snap off with a slight breeze. For some, this might not be a cause for concern, but build quality is really important to me.
I decided to go play around with some other phones, and following my keyboard-desires, I came upon the droid2. I had played with a droid1 significantly a couple of months ago and really liked the build quality. It was rooted/rom'd/and overclocked and the phone ran great. Which is why I was disappointed when I arrived at the Verizon store.
The droid2, at least the one they had on display, was unbelievably laggy. Unlocking, changing screens, browsing contacts, everything ran slower than my current HTC hero, which is bad (because this phone lags hard).
What I'm wondering: is this lag a real issue? Was the floor model just suffering from overuse? I've looked through a couple of threads and found some people have lag, some dont. Is there a fix? I love love love the phone, love the slightly raised keys and layout, the slide mechanism is great. But I can't spend my days waiting around for a phone to catch up to me.
Any info is greatly appreciated...
I'm not usually one to change carriers unless I am dissatisfied with the carrier, or I feel that a carrier is better.
With that said, I don't find the Droid 2 particularly laggy. Some seem to complain, but I don't really see it. I don't think Motorola's unlock animation is smooth, but it unlocks just fine. Now I'm running "Widget Locker" which replaces the lock screen; now my lock screen seems very smooth (I don't load the lock screen up with lots of widgets, just a number of sliders).
Overall, I think the Droid 2 is quick and responsive. Keep in mind that I don't use much of Moto's widgets either, and there are always other poorly coded applications you can download that can bog down your phone as well.
I think it is a solid phone, but ultimately I would go with my favorite carrier (mine currently is Verizon).
I don't have any issues with lag. Anyone that does probably has some bad apps running, much like a store model likely does. Bottom line - it's a 1GHz OMAP processor and 512MB RAM. Any speed issues will be software based, which is something we can always fix.
I haven't experienced any lag issues the couple times I've used a Droid 2. I've seen that lag though with most display phones and it's probably just from customers screwing around with settings constantly.
Well I have the droid 2 but the epic 4g does have have 4g and a front facing camera, but verizon has a overall better coverage, the droid2 is very solid in the hand and if you get a case it feels like you can use it as a weapon
With that said, now you can root and droid 2 and put on "deblurred" rom and make the phone run so much better, and yes the phones you saw in the store is laggy because overuse and people download crap on it
Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk
Also, amazon's pricing for the droid2 is dropping like a rock. i wish the droid2 had a 5 row keyboard though =/
Just got the Droid 2 as an exchange for the Eris - was never on my radar as my next choice, but was happy to get it as a free exchange - I find no lag, calls are made and answered instantly, and build quality is great - considering the fact that 4g isn't fully implemented yet, and the front camera is still waiting for a universal video call application, the only real differences are screen size and I believe an hdmi output - verizon has the best service, which for me is always priority number one - I am super impressed with the Droid and see no reason to change anytime soon - my two cents
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
I'm hoping to get some help in making this decision by asking the expert community here at xda. I have a Fascinate now & while it's been fine in most aspects it seems to have connectivity issues with the stock email app. I live & work in a rural area & need this to work reliably. I'm coming from a Droid Eris that had no problem in this area. My 30 days isn't up yet so I can switch to something else if that will solve my problem. All Big Red has done so far is push new prls to the phone. Is the X better with 3g signal reception?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Keep the fascinating ate. When its all said and done it will get much more attention from the dev community
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I had an X and have a Fascinate and i am considering going back. It is weird.
I like the feel of the fascinate in my hand better. Both devices had/have lag issues but the X seems to be not as bad as the fascinate on lag. I am not sure what I want to do. The Incredible seems to be the least laggy of the 3. I might hang on to the fascinate in hopes of cyanogen coming.
I am torn.
I appreciate the input. How have you found the signal strength of each? For me, it has to come down to day-to-day functionality first and I need to have the best possible connection for data.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I think the X may be slightly better on reception.
Droid x is a solid phone, but depending on what you want to be able to do with your phone is what you should look at.
Ie, modding custom roms - Fascinate
Solid feel -Droid x
Locked boot loader- droid x
E fuze- droid x
Can you tell that im a little preferential ?
But seriously, the droid x is solid phone if you have no interest in running custom roms.
jarlaxle said:
I had an X and have a Fascinate and i am considering going back. It is weird.
I like the feel of the fascinate in my hand better. Both devices had/have lag issues but the X seems to be not as bad as the fascinate on lag. I am not sure what I want to do. The Incredible seems to be the least laggy of the 3. I might hang on to the fascinate in hopes of cyanogen coming.
I am torn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that about answers my question before even being asked
id go with fascinate
X vs Fascinate
I work in an office where everyone was on Berries or various iOS devices and have slowly been making converts of them all. Most of the guys here carry either Xs or Galaxy S variants for the different networks.
I have a Fascinate and honestly the biggest difference I have found between the two is peripheral support. Moto seems to do a much better job of getting "extra" hardware out and known.
Software wise it is WAY easier to work in and on the fascinate because there is no fear of tripping that fuze or fuse or whatever it is officially called. As far as performance goes, none of us really see much difference although the S seem to have brighter\crisper screens in a wider range of tests.
I've owned both phones, and I prefer the Fascinate. I like it better because it feels better in my hand, and in the end, I think it's going to be a lot more customizable.
Thanks for all the advice. Has anyone noticed any other issues with the Fascinate? How's call quality been? Battery life? Display? Camera? All these areas have threads in the X forums as well & what I'm seeing so far is alot more ex-X owners here than ex-Fascinate owners there. I guess that should tell me something.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Well, to be fair, the Droid X has also been out longer than the Fascinate so it follows that there are fewer ex-Fascinate owners.
Another tricky thing to consider--the Droid X is going to be EOL'd (end of life) in March of 2011 according to an internal Verizon document leaked via droid-life. Presumably, Motorola will be releasing a refresh or replacement model around that time. However, Moto released updates for the original Droid well after Verizon stopped selling it, whereas Samsung is infamous for halting software support altogether once carrier(s) EOL a device. Whether or not they'll do that with their high-profile Galaxy S line at the cost of their own credibility/brand equity in the global smartphone market remains to be seen.
The consensus in the market is that the X has superior voice call quality and a more accurate GPS. If either of those factors is decisive for you, you might want to just go with the X. Also, its LCD screen displays text more crisply than the SGS' S-AMOLED screens (out of the box anyway), although the still underway Project Voodoo is aiming to help remedy this, but it's not available yet and there's no guarantee that they'll be able to make it superior, just less fuzzy than it currently is. Having said that, if you can live with the text resolution, the display on the SGS devices is truly impressive for image/video and also useable outside in sunlight! Oh and Galaxy S devices are compatible with more codecs and, despite lacking an HDMI outlet and Moto's fancy noise cancellation for phone calls, have a dedicated audio chip that makes for exceptional sound quality for music.
Samsung has promised to get Froyo and other fixes for the Fascinate out by the end of the month. A comprehensive GPS overhaul doesn't appear likely anytime soon, but the form factor is still dreamy and the fact that the bootloader is unlocked means many of the device's shortcomings may find custom ROM solutions more easily than the X.
Essentially, you'll have to decide what your priorities are and trust your own judgment. Good luck!
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
I just got my Fascinate this past Sunday and these are some of the things I noticed:
- My GPS works really well in my opinion. Once in a while, it might take like 30 seconds to lock, but the GPS I was using before took just as long, if not longer (although granted, it wasn't a top of the line GPS). In any case, I really don't find any issues with the GPS.
- I don't like where they put the lock/unlock button. I keep accidentally pressing the volume rocker on the other side of the phone. Does anyone else find this annoying?
- I have noticed that reception always seems rather low. Now, I generally don't care much about how many bars of reception are displayed, but when using Google Voice to send text messages, I often get the error "Message could not be sent" and then I'd have to try again and it'd work (and I may end up sending the message twice by accident). This happens many, many times in a day, even when I appear to have good reception or am outside, etc. Does this happen to anyone else?
Anyway, after doing a lot of research between the Fascinate and the Droid X, I agree with the other person that the Fascinate is the best choice if you want to do a lot of customizing, and if you trust in the community, the Fascinate's future has more potential. I think my biggest concern for the Fascinate is the reception, which is the main thing that makes me wonder about switching to the Droid X. Other than Google Voice constantly not being able to send a message, I don't have any major issues with reception (i.e. no dropped calls in unusual places or anything else I can remember). If you don't care too much for customization and control, I'd say go with the Droid X. It is definitely a solid phone, right out of the box.
Other things about the Droid X that may factor into your decision:
- Reported to have a low speaker/ringtone
- Has an LED notification light
- Official Froyo release
I just played with both at a local wireless store. For some reason, the droid x has a lot better reception/signal. It had 5 bars, while the fascinate only had 3. Also, I ran that Speed Test App to see how fast Verizon's 3g was in my town, and the droid x got around 600, while the fascinate only got around 350. Strange. If I had to pick, I would get the droid x simple because: bigger screen, 8gb internal storage, and better signal.
"You are holding it wrong."
I had the Droid X from launch and I have them both sitting here as I type this. One of them has to be shipped back. The Droid X was meant to replace the Fascinate that replaced the Droid X.... lol ... Since the Droid X launch
Droid X (important to add I have a 32GB sd) Rebooting issues
Evo Solid Phone only drawback was space, and that was not serious.
Droid X long fight to get VZW to send me battery, back chargers ( 2 FCC complaints resulted)
Vibrant (2x on $99 dollar day) The best of them all in my opinion. Lol I still have the Avatar movie in hopes of getting past the drm on it. 16gb + 32gb. Only problem T-Mobile Customer service! Sales in English / Customer Support I don't understand English! (FCC to get refund and cancel service)
Droid X minor issues once I recieved a new one
Fascinate 1st brick, 2nd strange shut offs could be setcpu issue in hindsight.
Droid X Froyo update, working well, but (see below)
Fascinate (currently using)
As you can tell I've had some experience on this debate. I mentioned a couple other phones because they do play into my choices.
I wanted to decide between Epic, Vibrant, Fascinate or Droid X. Customer service is a big deal to me. I work for Verizon (not wireless) and this is the first time I'm using my discount on the VZ network.
Epic very nice phone, but small rom. I did have a nice discount and 4g was nice. Very hard not to take this phone
Vibrant ... Customer service killed it
Droid X amazing hardware on this phone. I can even live with the screen not being Super Amoled, but the software is terrible!
locked bootloader
No DLNA support to stream to device. Moov Atom different than most DLNA devices so Mezzmo who would create a profile is useless! Bootloader prevents cifs so not possible to mount drives (or I never found a solution). Only real option is Androstream in my opinion.
The Droid X does shine when it comes to syncing. Moto's Link tool is very nice to be free. I had no problem finding something that worked out of the box.
Fascinate small rom, but codec support is amazing! 5.1 audio. I want the option to listen to music and or watch tv shows on the go like I did with my iPhone through AirVideo. Cifs manager I can mount shares and watch anything! If I needed to I can use Twonky, Tversity, Playon and Mezzemo (they have a profile and it works well). I couldnt send a simple 5 second movie on the DX through mms, just would get an error. Fascinate converts and sends. Once this phone gets flash, native Playon support it will be perfect.
My real complaint is the fact this Version does not have the Kies option in the sync settings for Samsungs sync software. Media Monkey is the best option I've found.
The media hub now works (something happened in last couple days). Able to use my iPhone armband to workout with it as well as my
http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Research-ARWH1-Bluetooth-Headset/dp/B00195HS28
I just read that HTC is going to start locking down their phones, so I might stay with Samsung a while.
I put alot of thought into this decision and if not for my just getting an iPad I would have more to say about the media issues.
It's been mentioned before. You want a solid multimedia phone for the average user. Droid X is the way to go.
Honestly buy the Fascinate it comes with a Droid X free! Buy one get one of the same or equal value promotion will always trump the Droid X on its own, I have two this way! You would laugh if you knew how many screen protectors I went through in the last couple of months. Not that I'm hearing the Samsung Tab might be 399 with 2yr or 500-600 instead of the 1k first rumored, I believe that is where my next gadgit fix will go. Google Voice + Whistler = free phone anyway on my iPad, so its going to be interesting what options I have with the Tab.
[/rambling]
INeedYourHelp said:
I just played with both at a local wireless store. For some reason, the droid x has a lot better reception/signal. It had 5 bars, while the fascinate only had 3. Also, I ran that Speed Test App to see how fast Verizon's 3g was in my town, and the droid x got around 600, while the fascinate only got around 350. Strange. If I had to pick, I would get the droid x simple because: bigger screen, 8gb internal storage, and better signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is some talk that the DX inflates its signal strength. i have seen a couple of reviews on the web with the DX and the SF next to each other and the SF showed less bars(not only cell but WiFi as well) and the SF was faster. this was also one of the problems with the iplop's signal strength before they claimed they "fixed" it with an update. i messed around with both at the local VZN store and the SF was faster opening apps and on the web. one thing i didnt like about the DX was when swiping to the next screen it always seems to over slide then slide back to center. the SF did not do this, it had a nice smooth slide from screen to screen. as for the screen, yes, the DX is larger but i see that as a down fall. there are times i slip my cell in my pocket and the larger phone is a PITA. i dont want to have to have it in a holster all the time. one shining point of the DX is the miniHDMI out. as it sits the SF doesnt do video out via a cable. of course, i dont have HDMI on my TV so its not that big of an issue. i would have preferred tthat it had the video out like the SF should have once 2.2 comes out(at least im hoping). right now, from where im sitting the SF edges out the DX but not by much. its all in what the end user wants to do with there phone.
I now have voodoo on my Fascinate and I would not go back to the X.
Battery life is on par with the x. The screen and multimedia features se much better than the x. The camera and video quality are much much better on the fascinate. And the fascinate will be much easier to customize. I've had the DInc, X, D2, and now the fascinate. Of all three the only thing I dislike the most about the fascinate is the lack of froyo. We will have that too, soon enough. Not to mention is has the best CPU/GPU combination in the mobile market anywhere. The iPhone 4 is know as a heat gaming phone. Ell guess what, the x has the powerVR SGX 530, the iPhone 4 has the powerVR SGX 535, and last but not least the Fascinate has the POWERVR SGX 540. Not to mention the sixaxis accelerometer. Its a great phone.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I had a droid x for about a week before i switched to the fascinate. Honestly i wanted to like the droid x but everything just felt slower on it. I had an epic before i dropped sprint for verizon and moving to the droid x felt like a step backwards. Even running the blurless roms for the droid x i still noticed little hitches all over the place where my epic had been totally smooth. To be fair though the gps and battery were better om the droid x for me, but i just felt like the entire system was slower in comparison to the galaxy s phones. I am really enjoying the fascinate so far though, gets better batery life than my epic did plus its so damn thin i've had a lot of peole comment on how nice this phone looks and i agree.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App