Motorola Droid X Review Part IV: Battery Life, Misc., and Conclusion

My Motorola Droid X review concludes with thoughts on the phone’s battery life and miscellaneous features. After the smoke clears, I’ll give you my closing thoughts and recommendations. And away we go!

Battery Life
The Droid X comes with a 1,540 mAh lithium ion battery. With its large screen and fast processor, I wasn’t expecting great battery life, so I was surprised that I averaged 15.5 hours a day over the course of a week. With roughly the same setup and usage, I only got 12 hours a day on the comparable HTC Evo 4G.

Your mileage will depend on your usage. For my “moderate nerd” usage — lots of web browsing, 30 minutes of calls a day, lots of messaging, tweeting, foursquare, Facebook, etc. — the battery life was fantastic.

Miscellaneous
I was disappointed that the Droid X lacks a front-facing camera. For a lot of people, this is a non-issue. Some people care about video calls on a mobile phone and some don’t. Then there are people like me — heavy Skype users that can’t wait for video calling on a real Android Skype client. This would be huge for me and the tens of millions of people that use Skype. While consumers like me are in the minority today, video calling is going to take off in a huge way in the immediate future. Will the Droid X be missing a feature that’s big in 2011?

Road warriors (the business kind, not the Hawk and Animal kind) should also consider the phone’s data rates. While Verizon’s CDMA EVDO network is the best in the country, it’s hardly the fastest. Sprint is rolling out its 4G WiMax network, while AT&T and T-Mobile are deploying faster versions of their 3G networks. If you travel extensively and tether a lot then there’s a good chance the Droid X will feel slow (in terms of data) in a year.

Closing Thoughts and Recommendations
Along with the HTC Evo 4G for Sprint, the Motorola Droid X for Verizon is one of the best Google Android phones available today. If your priorities are excellent call quality and strong battery life then this is the best Android phone for you. You’ll have to deal with an interface that’s a little clunky, data rates that aren’t the fastest, and the lack of video calls, but if you’re fine with that then you’ll be well served by this excellent handset from Motorola.

If there’s anything I didn’t cover in my review, please let me know in the comments section. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

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It Ain’t Easy Being Green…Lantern: Ryan Reynolds Injured

I’m super looking forward to the Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder) and directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale). GL is one of my favorite comic books and I’m excited to see Hal Jordan on the big screen. With that in mind, I was alarmed to learn that Reynolds suffered a minor shoulder injury while filming the movie. According to E!:

Despite his power ring, Reynolds suffered a “minor injury” to his shoulder on Monday. However, the mishap did not delay production on the Martin Campbell-helmed comic book caper. (The source disputed an earlier Us Weekly report claiming the star suffered a separated shoulder.)

Thankfully Reynolds is okay and the film is going as planned. Anyone else psyched for this movie? How do you think it will play out? Will it be super heroic or a super failture?

Source

Motorola Droid X Review Part III: Camera, Pictures, and Video

The Motorola Droid X features an 8-megapixel camera with a pair of LED flashes. It’s definitely one of the better cameras I’ve used on a phone. Still images taken without a flash are excellent, with great details. Pictures taken with the flash or under low-light conditions aren’t as good. They’re still much better than average, but the flash often washes things out and produces grain.

As I mentioned in the first part of the review, the phone has a physical button for snapping pictures. It feels really flimsy and can muck with the phone’s stability, resulting in poor photos. That quibble aside, I’m confident that most people will be happy with the Droid X’s photo and video capabilities. Here are more samples — still and video — so that you can see for yourself.

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Microsoft COO Calls iPhone 4 “Apple’s Vista” (Poll Time Too!)

At Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, COO Kevin Turner took a jab at Apple’s iPhone 4. With the controversy surrounding the phone’s reception issues, Turner compared it to one of Microsoft’s recent debacles:

It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that.

On one hand, the comparison makes a certain amount of sense. Vista’s problems were overblown by the press and were never as bad as people made them out to be. While consumers have accepted that the iPhone 4 reception problem is a real issue, it’s mostly a problem for people that live in areas that are covered poorly by AT&T (San Francisco, for example). The majority of iPhone 4 users seem happy with their service.

On the other hand, comparing an operating system to a piece of hardware is usually dumb. What do you think?

[poll id=”59″]

Source via BoyGeniusReport

New Episodes of Beavis and Butt-head on the Way

The New York Post has reported that MTV is working on new episodes of Beavis and Butt-head. This is the best thing I’ve heard all month!  I love these two idiots. I love Mike Judge’s writing. And I love that the show will be used to promote music videos — a strange concept for MTV, I know. Here’s the skinny:

Sources at MTV confirmed that a new batch of “Beavis and Butt-head” episodes are in the works.

The new series would keep Beavis and Butt-head in their perpetual high-school state, but it would be updated so that the pals — who obsessively watch music videos on a battered TV set — could lob their snarky comments at more current targets like Lady Gaga.

Any of you psyched for the return of Beavis and Butt-head? What are some of your favorite moments from the show? One of my favorites was when Beavis started spouting out lyrics from Harry Belafonte’s “Man Smart (Woman Smarter)” during Pizzicato 5’s “Twiggy Twiggy vs. James Bond”. It was just a smart bit of writing geared towards older viewers…or in my case someone with parents that listened to a lot of Harry Belafonte. Ha!

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Star Wars Reenacted on a NYC Subway

Here’s an excellent video by Matt Adams that takes a scene from Star Wars: A New Hope (the real first movie) and changes the setting to a New York City subway car. It’s pretty funny and makes me miss New York…until I remember that it’s July and it’s disgustingly humid over there. Anyway, check out the clip. It’s good stuff.

Double Fine Tim Schafer Goes Off on Activision Bobby Kotick

At the recent Develop conference, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer had some scathing words for Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. As many of you know, Brutal Legend was stuck in limbo for a ridiculous period of time, partially due to Kotick not believing in the franchise’s sequel potential. Crave quoted Schafer as saying:

His obligation is to his shareholders. Well, he doesn’t have to be as much of a dick about it, does he? I think there is a way he can do it without being a total prick. It seems like it would be possible. It’s not something he’s interested in.

Hopefully he’ll go back to another industry scene. He could go to an industry that makes more money. Ball bearings… something that suits his passions more. Weapons manufacturing?

That’s just funny, funny stuff…and part of the reason it’s funny is because it’s true. Crave has more quotes from Super Tim and I highly recommend checking them out. Wait a minute…that guy owes me an interview. Maybe I’ll head to San Francisco soon.

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Coffee Talk #178: Your Favorite Videogame Endings

One of the disadvantages of being Ted (as mentioned in Coffee Talk #173) is that he doesn’t get to see many game endings. While not all games have huge payoff endings, some are so good that they make all the annoyances of a game dissolve as you’re enveloped by a wave of climactic bliss. Look at the clip of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, for example. The end is emotionally charged and cleverly uses a gameplay mechanic as a storytelling device. It’s just brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the chances of Snooki hooking up with John McCain, if Bud Selig should move the all-star game away from Arizona, or the ridiculous contracts going to above average NBA players, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

One of the disadvantages of being Ted (as mentioned in Coffee Talk #173) is that he doesn’t get to see many game endings. While not all games have huge payoff endings, some are so good that they make all the annoyances of a game dissolve as you’re enveloped by a wave of climactic bliss. Look at the clip of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, for example. The end is emotionally charged and cleverly uses a gameplay mechanic as a storytelling device. It’s just brilliant, brilliant stuff.

What are some of your favorite game endings? Why did they move you? The comments in today’s Coffee Talk could be a good way to encourage each other to beat games that we haven’t finished. Maybe we just need to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or the slinky girl wrapped in satin sheets on a water bed. Kindly share some of your favorite game endings today!

Evo 4G vs. Droid X Part II: Call Clarity, Screen Quality, and More

That battle between two of the best Google Android phones available this summer continues! This time around I’ll be comparing the HTC Evo 4G (Sprint) and the Motorola Droid X (Verizon) in terms of call clarity, user interface, form factor and display quality. These are two great phones with different advantages. Which one has the edge in the categories I mentioned above? Read on to find out!

Call Clarity
The Evo 4G works very well as a phone. After using it for about two months, I’m very satisfied with its call quality. The Droid X is simply in a different league. Motorola made a big deal about the phone’s call quality when it was announced and it was right to play up that aspect of the phone. The Droid X’s two noise-canceling microphones are brilliant for making and receiving calls in crowded places like a mall or in an area with heavy traffic. I made a few calls at the congested intersection of Wilshire and Vermont with dozens of cars and buses zipping by. The friends I called had no idea I was calling from such a busy street.

Remember, call quality greatly depends on how well your area is wired. Both Sprint and Verizon cover Los Angeles well, so it came down to hardware for me. In terms of call quality, the Evo 4G is good but the Droid X is great.

User Interface
Both phones use customized versions of Google Android 2.1 (Eclair). Motorola decided to go with a fairly basic modification, instead of the heavy handed Motorola Blur. While I prefer the Droid X’s UI over Blur, it still feels a little clunky. Sure, it does a few things better than stock Android, but it’s not nearly as polished and elegant as HTC Sense.

The Evo 4G simply has a smoother interface, better widgets, and better web browser customizations. It adds a bunch of little touches that add up for a superior Android exprience. HTC Sense is just a much better Android customization than anything Motorola has served up.

Form Factor
Both phones feature 4.3-inch screens, so they’re pretty close in terms of size. However, their displays feature different resolutions, resulting in slightly different form factors. Looking at both phones in portrait mode, the Droid X is taller and the Evo 4G is wider. The Droid X is also thinner. Being narrower and thinner makes the Droid X slightly more pocketable and a bit more functional for portrait viewing than the Evo 4G.

The Evo 4G feels better and is more functional in landscape mode. Whether it’s reading web pages or viewing videos, I feel that the Evo 4G uses its screen real estate more efficiently. The differences in form factors are a purely personal preference. Some people will favor one over the other, while others will not notice much of a difference. In my opinion, both phones have different advantages in terms of feel, so I’m calling this one a tie.

Screen Quality
Part of this I went over already in the last section. In terms of usability, I prefer the Droid X’s 854 x 480 screen in portrait mode. I prefer the Evo 4G’s 800 x 480 screen in landscape mode. Again, those are personal preference and I understand that other people will have different preferences.

What’s inarguable is that the Droid X’s screen is capable of more colors, has a better contrast ratio, and is brighter than the Evo 4G’s. Some people are fine with the Evo 4G’s 16-bit screen, but the gorgeous display on the Droid X is a noticeable step up. Motorola’s phone wins this round.

There are more Droid vs. Evo battles to follow! Check back to see how these phone compare in terms of their virtual keyboards, cameras, battery life, and more! As always, if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section.

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