Need advice

[cypherx82]

I'm at a bit of an impasse.

I'm upgrading very soon but I don't know what to get. I was going to go for the Incredible but the shortages made me look elsewhere. The X is looking good but I'm skeptical.

This is the Droid X forum so I'm obviously going to see a lot of X love, but can someone please identify for me the drawbacks of the X?

Namely anything I would notice moving from the original Droid. I am fine with losing the physical keyboard and I am not interested in rooting and using ROMs after I bricked my first Droid attempting that (thankfully it was replaced by Verizon and my second attempt was successful.)

If I decide to go with the X I will probably be visiting Verizon tomorrow, so timely responses are appreciated.

Also, what other phones should I consider?

Thank you.

TL;DR: What's bad about the Droid X? Should I be looking elsewhere?

 

[ext]

I have been analyzing this up and down a lot myself lately. Hopefully my insight will help you.

I currently have an iPhone 3GS through work, and I loathe AT&T but they provide me the smart phone that I need since I am a Systems Administrator. I have had Verizon though since 1999 when Airtouch and GTE and Bell South merged to be come Verizon, so I still personally own a VZW phone - non-smart phone the Alias 2. So I have used both cellular service all over the country in my travels, as well as data cause I use a Verizon Aircard for internet access since AT&T is horrid and I can find 3G anywhere with VZW.

I have been turned off from the Droid for awhile because no phone really got my interest or really compared to the iPhone in terms of fuctionality. I have used a Droid 1 and enjoyed it because it had a physical keyboard, which I am used to on my Alias 2 and other cell phones before for texting purposes. But also became very accustomed to it on the iPhone with the virtual keyboard (in landscape, not portrait). Which brings me to the Droid X and why I am choosing it.

1.) It is feature rich - neat options such as the HDMI out, and 8MP camera with 720p capability? Great - even if the initial reviews the camera was questionable - apparently a software update resolves this issue. It won't replace my high end prosumer camera, but to snap quality pictures and some quick video, all the demos I have seen I have been super impressed.

2.) Huge display - not just because of the huge display, it means that the virtual keyboard will be that much bigger in landscape which will better fit my hands. My hands aren't huge, but I find it hard to use the iPhone virtual keyboard even in landscape mode sometimes.

3.) Android is gaining some serious momentum as a platform - granted half the apps are probably junk just like that on the Apple marketplace - but regardless the quality of applications will begin to really shine through. 2.2 is right around the corner for Droid X, and 3.0 officially from Google by years end. 2.2 on the Nexus One shows how much of an upgrade overall it is from 2.1 and if Droid X is close running 2.1 compared to the Nexus One running 2.2 I can only imagine how much faster 2.2 on Droid X will be. Every upgrade to iOS from Apple has made the iPhone slower and slower. Try using a iPhone 3G with iOS4 and the iPhone 3G only came out 2 years ago. I see this as an overall bloat of the platform which doesn't seem like a trend happening on the Android platform. Supposedly 3.0 is going to be a huge upgrade visually and in terms of speed.

4.) Google vs Apple. Is it just more or is this G v A war brewing remind anyone of the hay days of the PC when Apple was the dominate platform and Microsoft was the underdog fighting for market share? If history serves as any kind of indicator Apple was making serious cash back then as well, but started making some tactical mistakes regarding what they felt users wanted - and the overall direction of the market. They started off extremely strong and started waning. I think that the iPhone 4 SNAFU's are just the beginning - I highly doubt they will go nearly bankrupt in a few years as they did back then with their competing products such as the Apple II / Lisa/Macintosh platform and they ultimately failed to the open platform of Microsoft (at the time). Since Android is open to all manufacturers there is a lot of hype around the overall direction of the platform. Google thus far seems to be open and friendly with customers more than most major companies are. Again, why not go where the standards are. For god sake you can't even replace your own battery or add your own SD card. Really Apple... really?

5.) Coming Flash support - Really, almost going back to point 4 with openess - Adobe Flash is ubiquitous and for Apple to say that Flash is crap is completely baseless. The truth of the matter is that iOS4 on an iPhone 3G is already crippled from not having multi-tasking - because the hardware that is 2 years old as of July 11th can't even run the latest OS. How did it become outdated so fast? Flash wouldn't even begin to run on the phone - and that is my firm belief as to why there is no Flash on the phone - iOS is to bloated and can't support it.

On-top of being the latest and greatest... it seems like it is going to be a decent phone. Is the phone gonna have quirks and issues? Sure, no phone or electronic device is perfect. Does it suck that the bootloader is encrypted and locked? Sure. Will the camera potentially not be as good as what is in the iPhone 4G? Sure. Not being rooted on day 1? yeah that sucks too.

I am willing to give it a try. I loved every Motorola phone I have owned and used - the last being the RAZR (just like everyone else).

Just some of my thoughts.

-Ext

 

[cypherx82]

Wow! Thanks for your response.

I see all of your points and agree. The Droid X looks like it will serve me well until I succumb to Verizon's 4G devices.

You've sold me.

Besides, I always prefer the honest opinion of a forum member rather than that of someone whose job it is to sell the device.

 

[thelion]

Great - even if the initial reviews the camera was questionable - apparently a software update resolves this issue.

-Ext

Oh, man. I almost fell off my bed. I just remember when Droid came out, the camera had some issues and they kept pushing the idea of a software update to fix it. And some fools thought cleaning their camera was fixing it...aww memories.