Verizon unwraps 4.3-inch, Flash-ready Motorola Droid X

[dwcsoup22]

Looking to upgrade as well but my plan does not allow it to April of next year. Im using an Envy touch right now and really want a smart phone. Trying to decide if I should wait till the end of the year and see what new phones come out or buy the Incredible. Anyone know how to get an early upgrade or even get a discount on the phone?

[Vitruvian]

Go to verizonwireless.com, login, and use the customer service chat to find out about upgrading. Ordering online you can get 10% off with promo code WEBCH10 (assuming it still works). Ordering online typically is simpler and gets instant rebates vs. mail-ins.

[timdull2]

FWIW, I HATE the mail-in rebate thing, especially now that it's a giftcard instead of a check or however they used to do it. You used to be able to apply the rebate directly to the bill, just as you could bill the cost of the new phones to your next month's bill. Now, it's cash up front and a lame giftcard that does NOT work everywhere (and can't pay the bill with it).

/rant

[naturalguy]

FWIW, I HATE the mail-in rebate thing, especially now that it's a giftcard instead of a check or however they used to do it. You used to be able to apply the rebate directly to the bill, just as you could bill the cost of the new phones to your next month's bill. Now, it's cash up front and a lame giftcard that does NOT work everywhere (and can't pay the bill with it).

/rant

You actually can pay your bill with it. If you pay your bill online then you can use the gift card as a credit card and pay it. That is what I did with my rebate card.

[njmuscle66]

You actually can pay your bill with it. If you pay your bill online then you can use the gift card as a credit card and pay it. That is what I did with my rebate card.

Eric-Since you had the device for a few weeks, coming from a blackberry, what is your overall impression. Any issue at all with it not having a keyboard? I still want to wait until the Droid 2 comes out so I can compare them both.

[JHICKS3301]

Go to verizonwireless.com, login, and use the customer service chat to find out about upgrading. Ordering online you can get 10% off with promo code WEBCH10 (assuming it still works). Ordering online typically is simpler and gets instant rebates vs. mail-ins.

can you link me to the chat?? I'm not seeing it.

I've got one more month left but I'm going to try again to upgrade. My phone just keeps freezing up on me and it's pissing me off major

[Doughboy]

Eric-Since you had the device for a few weeks, coming from a blackberry, what is your overall impression. Any issue at all with it not having a keyboard? I still want to wait until the Droid 2 comes out so I can compare them both.

My opinion is you will miss the BB keyboard. I have the Droid and while it has a keyboard it does not come close to the BB.

I cannot use the touch screen keyboard, I hate it.

Did you see the New BB Torch, has the slide down keyboard and a touch screen.

[deadpool9]

The 2.2 update for X should be out pretty soon, by the 15th from what I hear. Should also cover the original Droid.
Should be a massive performance increase, as the benchmarks for the original droid on 2.2 actually outperform the X on 2.1, lol. So you can imagine how fast the X on 2.2 will be.
I think HTC is already rolling 2.2 out to the EVO, should hit the Incredible shortly.

[naturalguy]

Eric-Since you had the device for a few weeks, coming from a blackberry, what is your overall impression. Any issue at all with it not having a keyboard? I still want to wait until the Droid 2 comes out so I can compare them both.

The Droid is on a whole other level, I can do so much more with this phone. It has replaced my Garmin gps in the car, my digital camera and video recorder oh yeah and it makes phone calls to lol.

With the big screen and the program called "Swype" I don't miss the physical keyboard one bit. Swype took a few days to get used to but once I got the hang of it was easy.

[deadpool9]

The Droid is on a whole other level, I can do so much more with this phone. It has replaced my Garmin gps in the car, my digital camera and video recorder oh yeah and it makes phone calls to lol.

With the big screen and the program called "Swype" I don't miss the physical keyboard one bit. Swype took a few days to get used to but once I got the hang of it was easy.

How is the UI? I have heard a few gripes about it being laggy, but from most people they say its great. I know MOTOblur is running on top of the Android OS, but wasn't sure how truely annoying it would be.

[Vitruvian]

can you link me to the chat?? I'm not seeing it.

I've got one more month left but I'm going to try again to upgrade. My phone just keeps freezing up on me and it's pissing me off major

It was a pop-up when I had logged in and was shopping through different phones. Not sure if there was a specific trigger or what.

[Doughboy]

How is the UI? I have heard a few gripes about it being laggy, but from most people they say its great. I know MOTOblur is running on top of the Android OS, but wasn't sure how truely annoying it would be.

I thought the X was not going to have Motoblur?

[naturalguy]

How is the UI? I have heard a few gripes about it being laggy, but from most people they say its great. I know MOTOblur is running on top of the Android OS, but wasn't sure how truely annoying it would be.

Sometimes it is laggy but most of the time it's smooth. I am using LauncherPro over the stock UI which is smoother.

I thought the X was not going to have Motoblur?

It has a form of Blur but not like the original.

[bogus83]

I haven't read the whole thread, but here are the cliff notes on my first impressions:


Screen is huge (coming from a Sprint Vogue) and looks great, but you can tell it isn't HD when watching TV or movies on it.

The Menu/Home/Back/Search physical buttons are kind of weird- they click, as opposed to electrostatic buttons on most other android phones. It's not a problem but takes some getting used to.

The phone is FAST. There's still about a half-second delay when changing orientation, but it'll take you longer to reposition your hands than it does to switch the screen. Typing with the on-screen keyboard is a MILLION times better on the bigger screen.

The UI is "not-Motoblur". It comes with a bunch of blur-esque widgets, but you can easily disable them. If you're so inclined, you can one-touch root the device and uninstall the packaged bloatware too. I prefer ADW.Launcher over the stock home screens anyway, so not-blur doesn't bother me at all. No lag between screens.

The Power and Volume buttons are pretty small considering the size of the device and can be tough to use with one hand. They feel solid though, unlike the camera button which literally "wiggles" in its socket. That's probably necessary however since it's a two-stage camera button (focus/take picture). Speaking of the camera, you can take some massive sized pictures at 8MP, but you'll probably want to scale it down a bit to reduce grain and noise in low-light shots.

Using Rockplayer or DoubleTwist you can play just about any format of video, including divx/xvid and .mvk. You're not going to want to play 720p video though, the system can't quite handle it. It can stream it out over HDMI no problem.

It's a well-built device. It's solid but not too heavy, and the body is all matte black soft-touch plastic. The screen is a fingerprint magnet but super sensitive (it beats the heck out of resistive touchscreens). Multitouch works great.

Battery life is good even with heavy use, but turn off the wifi and GPS at night unless you want your widgets to kill the battery before you wake up. Or, invest in Tasker and create a power-saving schedule.

Gotta get back to work, but if anyone has questions about the X let me know.

[deadpool9]

I thought the X was not going to have Motoblur?

I haven't read the whole thread, but here are the cliff notes on my first impressions:
The UI is "not-Motoblur". It comes with a bunch of blur-esque widgets, but you can easily disable them. If you're so inclined, you can one-touch root the device and uninstall the packaged bloatware too. I prefer ADW.Launcher over the stock home screens anyway, so not-blur doesn't bother me at all. No lag between screens.

They aren't officially calling it blur, but its essentially still there from what a lot of the reviewers say.

[Doughboy]

Just upgraded to froyo. I thought this would support flash?

[bogus83]

Just upgraded to froyo. I thought this would support flash?

You got Froyo on a Droid X? I'd love to know how.

Also yes, 2.2 does/will support Flash playback.

[Doughboy]

You got Froyo on a Droid X? I'd love to know how.

Also yes, 2.2 does/will support Flash playback.

I have the droid not the x

This porn site won't play the flash vid lol

[bogus83]

Ahhhh, I getcha. Damn, here I was hoping the update was coming early. The X is already fast, I can't wait for another 10-20% speed increase.

[Doughboy]

Ahhhh, I getcha. Damn, here I was hoping the update was coming early. The X is already fast, I can't wait for another 10-20% speed increase.

Seems faster to me and I do see the tethering option now. I will test the flash more when I get home.

[timdull2]

The 2.2 update for X should be out pretty soon, by the 15th from what I hear. Should also cover the original Droid.
Should be a massive performance increase, as the benchmarks for the original droid on 2.2 actually outperform the X on 2.1, lol. So you can imagine how fast the X on 2.2 will be.
I think HTC is already rolling 2.2 out to the EVO, should hit the Incredible shortly.

So if the update for the original Droid is coming, would this be a "hack" upgrade or something that is sent out to each phone as an automatic update/upgrade?

I'm all about newer and better, but still very very leary about trying the froyo hack and brickin the dang thing.

[bogus83]

It'll be a legit OTA (over the air) upgrade, for the Droid and Droid X (eventually). The official 2.2 upgrade for the old Droid was found on Google's servers, but they pulled it. The current rumor is that version had some bugs but I don't know if there's any truth to that.

If you have a Droid, you can root it and "hack" (read: flash a ROM) of Froyo on there right now. Us DX users have to wait.

[Doughboy]

So if the update for the original Droid is coming, would this be a "hack" upgrade or something that is sent out to each phone as an automatic update/upgrade?

I'm all about newer and better, but still very very leary about trying the froyo hack and brickin the dang thing.

It's not a hack its a software upgrade, phones does not need to be rooted in fact I think it cannot be rooted.

http://androidforums.com/motorola-dr...ola-droid.html

It is working on my droid

[timdull2]

It'll be a legit OTA (over the air) upgrade, for the Droid and Droid X (eventually). The official 2.2 upgrade for the old Droid was found on Google's servers, but they pulled it. The current rumor is that version had some bugs but I don't know if there's any truth to that.

If you have a Droid, you can root it and "hack" (read: flash a ROM) of Froyo on there right now. Us DX users have to wait.

Yeah, it's times like this that I wish I was more tech savvy. I only know enough to be dangerous! Root it? flash a who? Yup. Lost. Will probably wait till the over the air upgrade thing...which will HOPEFULLY come sooner than that Flash 10.1 or .2 or whatever from Adobe that was SUPPOSED to be out in July for our phones!!!

[timdull2]

It's not a hack its a software upgrade, phones does not need to be rooted in fact I think it cannot be rooted.

http://androidforums.com/motorola-dr...ola-droid.html

It is working on my droid

That link looks a ton easier than the one I was given before! Would you recommend going for it this way, or waiting for the OTA update? I'm patient.

[Doughboy]

That link looks a ton easier than the one I was given before! Would you recommend going for it this way, or waiting for the OTA update? I'm patient.

Well I guess you could wait. I only did it because I was bored at work

Here is what I have noticed - Seems a bit faster. Can watch flash on the web and I can now tether if I choose to.

[timdull2]

I happened to stop into the local V store today for work and talked to the guy there about the update. He said that Verizon was rolling it out starting on the 4th through the 8th as an OTA. That means it's confirmed and is coming soon. Hopefully they won't be late. (Crossing my fingers and knowing they will be...)

I asked if they had a Droid X there to play with and they didn't. He said the whole store had a meeting coming up to discuss it. They won't have any for atleast another 60 days. Yeeesh!!!

[Vitruvian]

Any apps or other suggestions to extend battery life?

[bogus83]

For the DX? Turn off wifi and GPS when you aren't using it, that'll help a lot. Turn data off completely overnight if you phone dies before your alarm needs to go off. Set your widget update interval to 30 minutes or longer (chances are you don't need a weather update every 5 minutes). Set your screen timeout to under 1 minute. Lower the brightness or set it to automatic.

I find the DX to have pretty decent battery life. I charge it overnight and I still have about 30% left when I get home from work (that's with moderate to frequent use). If I plug it in while at work it'll last all day no problem.

[timdull2]

For the DX? Turn off wifi and GPS when you aren't using it, that'll help a lot. Turn data off completely overnight if you phone dies before your alarm needs to go off. Set your widget update interval to 30 minutes or longer (chances are you don't need a weather update every 5 minutes). Set your screen timeout to under 1 minute. Lower the brightness or set it to automatic.

I find the DX to have pretty decent battery life. I charge it overnight and I still have about 30% left when I get home from work (that's with moderate to frequent use). If I plug it in while at work it'll last all day no problem.

Ditto. Get the Mini Info app and use it to see what's sucking battery life. Chances are good, if the X is like the original, that calls and the screen do it the most.