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Droid X

Bummer, didn't see angry birds on the marketplace. Any ideas on where I can get the apk?
 
I feel all left out and stuff not being able to relate to the Droid X discussion. But I did just DL the latest OTA (phones not root) update from HTC and now my EVO's grafix are running an average of 53 fps now on a 4G network.
 
2.2 is out .

I rooted my phone. But, I didn't download the leaked version. Now every time I try to install it, it says it failed :(. Anyone have any tips? I tried putting all the bloatware back on and that didn't help.
 
I've had my Droid X for 4 days now after upgrading from the Blackberry Storm (that I got on day 1 of its release) and have the following thoughts:

- My Storm was quite good and never really gave me any trouble. I used an app called QuickPull that simulated a battery pull and set it to run every night at 4:30 am. Those reboots cleared out all the caches and since I started doing that I think it has locked up maybe 3. I thought the Storm was a well done first attempt by BB for a full touchscreen. Sadly, they have basically gotten blown out of the water by the iPhone's continued evolution and the emergence and rapid ascension of Android. If I were a betting man (and I am) I'd sell any stock I had in RIM (BB's maker) put that company on deathwatch. They have some iPad-like tablet they are about to announce but I don't see how that breaks Apple's hold and there is no info on anything they are doing in the phone dept. to catch up to Apple and Android. Once their large base of installed corporate users reaches their upgrade points, things will go badly for them. BB is no longer the only platform that has super-tight integration with Exchange and the fleeting "coolness" factor of Blackberry's is well in decline. Unless they come up with an absolutely revolutionary new phone I see them as a dead man walking.

- I'm a "heavy user": 9 email accounts, 2 IM accounts, on the web for several hours a day, 30-60 minutes of backgammon and blackjack thrown in at odd times (i.e. conference calls). By the time I went to bed at around midnight my Storm would still have 70% of its charge left. My new Droid X on the other hand is down to 30% by mid- to late afternoon which is basically unacceptable for me. I need my phone to get a minimum of 12-14 hours as there are times I can't just plug it in somewhere. Besides, who the hell wants to be stuck with a device that sort of leashes you to a charger?

- The Droid's screen is phenomenal in clarity and size- better than any other phone on the market. It is big enough to actually watch a tv show or a movie without feeling like your watching it on a postage stamp. Sadly, that huge screen is also a battery suck.

- The App Market for Droid is very good. Not as big as Apple but the truth is the vast majority of apps for ALL platforms suck. At most I would estimate there are a couple of hundred apps that are top notch in build and usability. The rest are pale shadows, broken old versions, poor attempts at porting something. 1st attempts at building an app, and so on.

- The X's speech command functionality is simply incredible. I've sent texts, gotten directions, placed calls, written emails and more with a very high degree of accuracy.

- My X came with the original OS but as soon as I turned it on and got it running I received a notification of a software update for 2.2 (Froyo). The upgrade took less than 10 minutes total and was absolutely painless.

- I have not rooted my X as I have read conflicting reports of some issues that may occur if you root a 2.2 Droid X. So far, I haven't needed root anyway. I've also read that Motorola isn't too psyched on folks who updated to the leaked version of 2.2 and that those folks are having lots of trouble updating to the official 2.2 release. Basically, Motorola stated that there is no upgrade path from leaked to official. I don't know what the resolution is for those situations.


Summary: The phone is head and shoulders above everything else I've tried out and is a breathtaking little piece of technology. Having said that, if I can't find a way to improve my battery life I'll have to return it. I really don't know what I'd use instead - perhaps one of the 2.2 capable Androids. The Droid 2 is nice but I am not much for slider phones so I guess I'll have to keep looking if that's what it comes down to.


- Tim
 
Thank you Tim for that informative review. I just checked my account yesterday and apparently I can upgrade to a Droid X now. The battery part doesn't bother me too much, as I am in my "office" (Patrol unit) for 12 hours a day and I could just plug it in if I needed to.

I might very well have to get one. What does rooted mean? I never understood that...
 
Rooted means getting root level access. It's a Unix term and Android is based on a derivative of that OS. It's like having full Admin rights on a pc.
 
Hey Tim,
Have you considered getting an extended battery?

Truth is, any Android phone is going to run out of battery charge quicker than your Storm. It's the price we pay to have a true multitasking device. Have you downloaded Advance Task Killer or something similar? You'd be surprised how much stuff your phone has running.
 
Khari, the biggest extended battery right now is an 1850 which is only around 15% more than stock. Plus it requires a different door that sits 1mm higher than stock and I doubt my hard case will fit that. So, i'll wait for someone to make a really monstrous one.

The bummer is that I read tons of reviews extoling the battery life of the X. Oh well.

- Tim
 
As far as battery life and task killers...I found that my phone actually runs better letting it make it's own decisions on whats running and whats not. I installed Advanced Task Killer on the phone when I got it...but dumped it when Froyo was released. No decrease in battery life.
 
2.2 is out .

I rooted my phone. But, I didn't download the leaked version. Now every time I try to install it, it says it failed :(. Anyone have any tips? I tried putting all the bloatware back on and that didn't help.

You got a couple options here.. Depending on how you rooted you can unroot, you can flash the .SBF and return the phone back to stock 2.1, or you can do what i'm doing, running the leaked 2.3.15 which is practically the same. Motorola updated the bootloader and changed the signatures, screwing a lot of people. I prefer to stay at the current bootloader as its seems like they almost have it cracked. Go to androidforums.com, section droid x, theres a lot of threads that can help you out no matter what route you choose to go.
 
Hey Tim,
Have you considered getting an extended battery?

Truth is, any Android phone is going to run out of battery charge quicker than your Storm. It's the price we pay to have a true multitasking device. Have you downloaded Advance Task Killer or something similar? You'd be surprised how much stuff your phone has running.

Hey long time no see. On the topic of task killers, I have heard they are bad for the droid series..

http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html
http://androinica.com/2010/05/07/google-and-cyanogen-comments-imply-task-killermanager-apps-are-pointless/
 
Hey bud, I've been here, just don't have much time to post these days. I read the same thing about task killers. I've been running it (first on my original Droid, then on the X) for almost a year now. Never had a problem.
 
I got my new Droid X yesterday, and it is definitely faster and more entertaining than my old BB Storm. Of course, it cheesed off the wife that I spent 300 on it, so expect to see a sale here in the next week.
 
Hey Tim,
Have you considered getting an extended battery?

Truth is, any Android phone is going to run out of battery charge quicker than your Storm. It's the price we pay to have a true multitasking device. Have you downloaded Advance Task Killer or something similar? You'd be surprised how much stuff your phone has running.

Hey long time no see. On the topic of task killers, I have heard they are bad for the droid series..

http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html
http://androinica.com/2010/05/07/google-and-cyanogen-comments-imply-task-killermanager-apps-are-pointless/


Hey bud, I've been here, just don't have much time to post these days. I read the same thing about task killers. I've been running it (first on my original Droid, then on the X) for almost a year now. Never had a problem.

I never really thought of task killers as being a problem...more unnecessary. I read those articles a couple of months ago, and decided to check things out for myself. Now, if I check Running Services...there aren't nearly as many unnecessary apps running as I saw originally. As far as extending battery life...my experience (the EVO is supposedly notorious) has been that tweaking the default phone settings yields the most improvement.
 
I personally have been more impressed with the Droid line than the iPhones. I have heard some complaints about both, but Droid seems to be much more solid, and while the Android Marketplace has fewer apps so far, it is a much newer platform than iOS, and it has a much more open approval process, so I don't anticipate it taking long for the marketplace to pull ahead of the app store.
 
I'm not about to root my Droid X, just because I'm usually rougher on my phones so having a warranty is my priority for now. Maybe once I get used to having a smartphone with me all the time I may look harder into it.

After those articles about the App Killers, I realized my phone doesn't work the same way as a computer does, so I uninstalled the app killer and will see how long my battery lasts. I think what Klipsch said is the best way to save battery life, but what do i know, I still butt dial my wife once in a while! :laugh:
 
I've had my new Droid X for about four days now.... LOVE IT!

I was a faithful crackberry whore since 2002. I've had some form of Blackberry since that time and was very reluctant to switch. I'm glad I finally did.
 
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