It’s time for another device to review here at TechGuySmartBuy. This time we get to talk about the Motorola Droid 2 for Verizon. The Droid 2 marks the first Android device to come shipped with Android 2.2 bringing Flash 10.1 support and 3G Mobile Hotspot option. The Droid 2 has a sliding QWERTY keyboard, Swype keyboard software built-in, 3.7inch touchscreen, 5MP camera w/ dual LED flash + video recording, DNLA support, 1GHz TI OMAP processor, 8GB of internal storage, and equipped w/ an 8GB MicroSD card. With all of this under the hood, does the Droid 2 beat out the original Droid? Keep reading to found out.
The Droid 2 is definitely an nice step up from the original Droid in regards to the hardware and a few software features. Starting off with the screen display, it has the same resolution as the original Droid at 854 x 480. Compared to today’s standard the Droid’s display keeps up with the competition with its bright and brilliant resolution. It’s not the Retina display or Super AMOLED but it gets the job done. The Flash 10.1 support gives you the full version of the internet on the go, which is definitely been missing on mobile devices. Coupled with the boost of faster internet performance makes it a nice internet browsing experience. The 1GHz TI processor keeps up with you and your phone needs unless an app crashes or an occasional hiccup.
The overall build of the Droid 2 is just as solid as the original one. Of course the most noticeable difference is the redesign of the keyboard. Motorola got rid of that directional pad and replaced it with directional keys. Also they got rid of the flat keyboard buttons and put in rounded out buttons are gave it a back key, Alt & Shift keys bigger keys. Also gone is the Menu button on the keyboard leaving just the on screen soft key. The actual phone part was very good being armed with a dual-mic for noise cancellation for additional noise. The Droid 2’s camera is armed with awesome features like single/continuous shot, panorama w/ assist, auto-focus, and face detection to keep your 5MP camera fresh.
The Droid 2 does have some problems that come along with it as well. The camera having all those features and flash but the video recording is not recording at 720p HD quality. Definitely thought with the Droid 2 coming with Android 2.2 with come with all the latest bells and whistles but they kinda dropped the ball on this one. Motorola’s newest version of the Motoblur UI running on top of Android 2.2 is a bit of an annoying gnat. I would have preferred to see the Droid 2 running the stock version of Android 2.2. The Motoblur UI is unnecessary to the Android experience.
Another issue that I experienced with our review unit was the funky reception. The Droid 2 at times seemed to jump from 3G to 1xRTT (CDMA’s EDGE) at times. This can definitely be a nuisance when using the 3G Mobile Hotspot for my netbook and the service goes out. It didn’t happen often but when it did, it sucked. Hopefully a software update can be unleashed by Motorola to repair this issue.
So after our highs and lows on the Droid 2, the Droid 2 will keep Android lovers content with the sliding QWERTY keyboard, Swype, and touchscreen all at your disposal. It will give you about a day of battery use and like any other Android device you are gonna want to charge it nightly. It would have been nice for the Droid 2 to have a slightly bigger screen in a world of 4 and 4.3inch touchscreen but it still gets the job done. You may prefer the Droid X’s 8MP camera over the Droid 2 but essentially they are the same phone except for a few physical differences. Although I prefer the original Droid’s keyboard, the Droid 2 is the best QWERTY keyboard Android device on Verizon for $199.
