Droid X First Impressions

Yesterday I received my new Droid X after a slight delay due to an ESN problem, this morning I finally got it up and running. The Droid X is replacing the Original Droid, The form factors are completely different, with the Droid X not having a physical keyboard (something I rarely used on the Droid).  The X while larger then the Droid is about 1/2 oz. lighter, and is much easier to hold.  I was a little concerned about the Camera bump on top of the device but it does not seem to be a factor at all in using it. The Droid X was delivered with Android 2.2 and there is a rumored 2.2.1 update due out soon for the X, Flash 10.1 for Android was also pre-installed. The biggest change is a design change in the function keys on the device itself, Android phones tend to have four physical keys, Home, Settings, Back, and Search,  they relocated some of the keys from the original Droid to the X (the good news is this is really not X specific, and they do appear to be consistent now across all the Android phones hitting the market). This image is the X laid on top of the original Droid where you can see how the keys have shifted. This will definitely take some getting used to. The X ships with the default Android keyboard, as well as Swype pre-installed.  I have been using Swype for a while now, but have also been using Swiftkey as well.  I also use the voice input quite a bit which is very accurate. I have not had a chance to play with the camera much yet, but it definitely seems to be a major improvement over the Droid (well it could hardly be any worse) the camera loads much faster, and seems to shoot faster as well. The X also shoots 720P HD video.  It also has an HDMI out port. Moving from one android phone to another is really simple, after activating the phone and logging in to my google account I was ready to go, and when opening up the Android Market I automatically had the option to reinstall the few applications that I had purchased.  Lotus Traveler (currently in beta)  took about 30 seconds to configure, and restore my mail, calendar, and contacts on the device, this process could truly not get any simpler. One of my biggest complaints about the X is I think one of the Android platforms biggest problems, that the manufacturers and carriers are insisting on adding bloatware to the devices, leaving me with applications that I will never use installed (Blockbuster Video for example) but the only way to remove them would be to root the device.  My other complaint also not X specific is that Android still needs a (non-root) solution to be able to capture a screen on the device without the need to connect to a computer and use the SDK – seriously even Steve Jobs allows that on iOS! Battery life is always one of my bigger concerns the X did very well in batter life tests compared to other devices, I will have to use it a few days to assess if it is really able to get through a busy day with out recharging.  I have also used applications like Juice Defender, and Tasker to try to automate some battery savings which has proven effective. So my first impressions are positive, really have to finish configuring it and get used to it which will take a few days. Motorola Droid Specs Motorola Droid X Specs Just for fun: My first impressions of the Motorola Droid (December 2009)