As far as features go, the gap between the best smartphones is getting narrower – and the iPhone is certainly starting to have to share its position at the top of the pile. The qualities that distinguish the phones today are becoming much more nuanced, determined more by carrier, processors, coverage, personal needs and preferences, and so on.
On July 15, Motorola will unleash the Droid X. No, this Android smartphone isn’t the 10th generation (it’s the second), and it has nothing to do with X-Men, but it does have two turntables and a microphone. Not quite, but it has Android 2.1 and three microphones (the outward-facing one is for audio during video capture, the inward-facing one is for narration or dictation, and the third one on top of the device is for noise cancellation during calls). Unfortunately, the narration mic won’t be used for video calls as there is no front-facing camera, which has been a major marketing point for the iPhone 4.
Selling the Droid X
OK, so what’s driving the Droid X? Well, one thing that Motorola and Verizon are boasting about like a Jersey Shore cast member is the massive 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen. While that’s 0.7 inches bigger than the iPhone 4’s, its resolution is only 854 x 480 versus iPhone’s 960 x 640. Also, that bigger screen comes at a price if you don’t like larger devices; the Droid X measures 2.6 x 5 x 0.4 inches.
Other selling points on the Droid X include: an HDMI port, an 8MP camera that takes decent pictures in normal light, 720p video, improved MOTOBLUR (resizable widgets), a dedicated Blockbuster App, seven customizable home screens, a DLNA app that allows you to stream content from your phone to an Xbox 360, and a speed that matches the iPhone 4, among other things.
Undressing the Motorola Droid X
As stated, the Droid X has Android 2.1, but 2.2 and Flash 10 are coming later this summer. You’re also going to get 3G, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, and an option to get the 3G mobile hotspot with a 2GB data cap for an additional $20 a month – ouch, Verizon.
Battery life gets you 480 minutes of usage time and 220 hours standby.
There’s 8GB of onboard memory, 16GB microSD preinstalled, and it’s expandable to 32GB microSD.
Other goodies include Google Mobile services, haptic feedback, pinch zoom, voice commands, visual voice mail, Need for Speed Shift, voice-to-text messaging, Swype predictive text, the Texas Instruments 1GHz ARM processor, and much more.
The Droid X is $200 with two-year contract after a $100 rebate.
