This week, the Droid Bros. had a close encounter of the Droid kind. We sat down with a fresh-from-the-box Droid X, still hot from atmospheric reentry, and scrutinized every last soft-touch coated detail of this exquisite device, from the top of its lofty 4.3″ heights to the bottom. While the Droid X is already on every Android enthusiast’s most-wanted list, we know that many of you still have burning questions. What secrets lie behind the red eye? Read on past the break to find out. You know you want to.

First Impressions

The first thing we noticed about this device is that it is far lighter than we expected. Holding it in one hand with an original Droid in the other, the apparent difference in weight is staggering. The Droid X is as light as a feather, and although it packs a beautiful 4.3” LCD, we did not find it awkward to hold for an extended period. The “camera bump,” which many have expressed concern over, sits just above the index finger, leaving the phone nestled securely in the palm. This, along with the soft-touch rubberized coating, left the device feeling firmly cradled in the hand; as we began to navigate the expansive touchscreen, there was no awkward feeling that the phone might slip and fall. Turning on the display, we were invited into a Droid world of wonder.

The Droid X is a stunning example of industrial design.

Hardware

We need to say that the Droid X hardware is absolutely stunning. The industrial aesthetic, straight lines and gentle curves of this device all act in unison to create a gorgeous example of modern design. There is a perfect balance of rubberized soft-touch material and hard metal framing the 4.3” screen.

The silver power button is centered on the top of the device, which at first glance might seem like an awkward position; however, neither of us had any difficulty pressing the button while holding the Droid X in our hands. Regardless, the power button will probably be used less on this phone than the Droid, because all four physical buttons on the face of the phone will wake it up from sleep. Next to the power button is a flush headphone jack and the noise-reduction microphone.

The power button is centered on top of the device, beside the headphone jack and noise-cancellation mic.

The volume rocker and camera button have been revised from the earlier Droid. The volume rocker, now metallic, no longer has any looseness or wiggly feeling. The camera button has been changed to red, which along with the EVO 4G and Incredible, appears to be a common motif in newer Android devices. The red button provides a needed splash of color, and highlights the industrial build.

The volume rocker is metallic, and exhibits no looseness or wiggling.

The MicroUSB connection has been moved from the center of the left side toward the bottom, just above the new HDMI Type D port. We love the standardized MicroUSB, which means our existing cables will still work.

The Droid X features an HDMI-D port.

Along the top edge of the screen is the earpiece, directly adjacent to the notification LED. The LED, which defaults to green (similar to past Android devices) can be modified to display an array of colors via different apps, such as SMS Popup.

The Droid X display is really something special. At 4.3 inches, it provides plenty of space for web browsing. Websites look absolutely gorgeous in either portrait or landscape orientation. Although the screen is larger, the resolution remains the same as the original Droid (480×854), so there are no additional rows on the homescreen. This also means that existing software will already be compatible with the resolution and may not need updating. It is worth noting that, although we were practically wearing the phone on our faces, we could barely make out the pixels. The picture is crystal clear and makes iPhone 4’s Retina Display seem almost superfluous. The screen felt strong and sturdy, and was very responsive. Colors were bright and crisp and we had little difficulty viewing the screen in daylight.

Along the bottom edge of the screen are four physical buttons. As Droid users, we’ve become accustomed to simple capacitive touch buttons and so were unsure whether we would appreciate pressing physical buttons. Although the buttons are very narrow, and nearly flush with the phone, there was absolutely no difficulty locating or pressing them; they provided a solid tactile response and pressed down with a reassuring gentle click. The order of the buttons has changed to Menu, Home, Back, and Search, a different order than previous Motorola devices. The Menu icon has been revised to the newer style, a grid of four squares.

The Droid X's buttons have been rearranged from the original Droid.

One of the many ways in which the Droid X hardware shines is decidedly invisible: the vibration mechanism. We had heard previously that it is hard to describe, and feels noticeably different than any other device’s vibration — this is absolutely true. We decided after much deliberation that it felt almost as if a guitar string were being plucked within the phone. It is powerful and noticeable, and yet doesn’t leave the entire device shaking, but rather seems to resonate within the core of the phone.

Aaron: I am really fond of the design of this device. I have always been a fan of my Droid’s industrial design, and am very glad that the legacy was carried on by the Droid X. I was initially uncertain as to whether or not I would like the size of the device, but after holding it in my hand for an extended period of time I have no problems with it. I am also a big fan of the physical buttons.

Brandon: What a great overall build. X feels solid and sturdy, with no loose bits or oversight. The screen is huge, beautiful, and crystal clear, but the phone felt lighter in my hand than a Nexus One. I’m not sure what the purpose of changing the button order was, but it’s not game changing or any kind of dealbreaker.

Software

When we booted up the device, we were greeted by the familiar Android 2.1 lockscreen, mildly themed to include green buttons.

Droid X’s launcher includes seven homescreens, which are navigable by traditional swiping or through the use of navigation dots along the bottom of the screen. These appear after an initial swipe and fade a few seconds after changing screens. The homescreen is familiar, with only a few aesthetic changes from stock Android: the Launcher button has been replaced with a large arrow, on either side of which are the Dialer and Contact shortcuts.

The Droid X features a Blur-themed launcher.

The Launcher button does not bring up the 3D cube associated with Eclair, but rather a traditional 2D fullscreen application drawer, similar to HTC’s SenseUI. There is no home button at the bottom of the drawer; only the physical Back or Home buttons will escape from the drawer. Interestingly, the Contacts shortcut does not lead to the Contacts tab in the Dialer app, but rather to a custom Motorola app. The original Contacts tab is still available in the Dialer app but does not appear to be the default contact list. The Dialer itself is stock with mild theming. It’s worth noting Blur is only minimally present on top of stock Android — this is not full Motoblur. That being said, Android’s traditionally palette is absent. Highlights are a bright Verizon red, and the usual orange is nowhere to be found.

We discovered a possible bug in the way the app drawer sorts applications. After installing the Facebook and Twitter apps from the Market, they were initially in proper alphabetical order. However, later on, we discovered that both applications had jumped to the end of the list, after YouTube, for no discernible reason. As this device was a final model, we believe we can expect to see this behavior upon release next week. Hopefully it will be resolved shortly thereafter.

The Facebook icon inexplicably jumped to the end of the list some time after use.

On the homescreen, Live Wallpapers rendered quickly and animated smoothly, while introducing little or no lag to the rest of the system. The phone included the standard stock range of Live Wallpapers with the addition of only one Droid-themed wallpaper in the form of a red eye.

The phone included a full range of stock Android apps and widgets, in addition to Motorola’s widgets which include weather, RSS feeds, settings toggle switches, and contacts. The Motorola widgets can be resized by dragging, and it is no longer necessary to choose widget sizes from the menu. Apps such as Calculator, Calendar, and Amazon MP3 remain unchanged. The phone includes an FM radio feature which requires headphones, used as an FM antenna, to be plugged in.

The Droid X includes a wide range of Motorola widgets, such as RSS feeds.

We were itching to experience the Browser so we jumped into it right away. After letting the homepage load, which it did in about one second, we navigated to DroidBros.com. The site loaded, fully rendered, in approximately two seconds. Needless to say, we are simply blown away by the speed at which this device operates. Even without Froyo’s browsing speed, this thing is incredibly fast. We can only imagine the speed it will operate at after the Froyo update. The 4.3” screen provides an extraordinary browsing experience. A great portion of sites are visible and readable without zooming.

The Droid X loaded DroidBros.com fully rendered in two seconds.

A welcome addition to the browser is a syndication feed button that appears next to the URL bar on sites that supply RSS or Atom feeds. The browser offers a selection of subscription options when it’s clicked.

The browser includes an RSS feed selector.

We took a quick look at the included Blockbuster application, but could not browse as it requires an existing Blockbuster account. The app started a movie update service which ran persistently in the notification bar and could not be cleared unless disabled in the app settings. In addition, it appears that most rentals will cost $3 and $5, with purchases ranging as high as $18. Needless to say, we are not too excited to try out those features.

The DLNA app is basic and requires a Wi-Fi connection to run. Droid X supports DLNA control point, download, player, server, and upload protocols.

The phone also includes its own file browsing app. This provides access to shared folders between the phone and a host computer, as well as the phone’s SD card. It does not allow access to the onboard filesystem.

An exciting feature of the Droid X is Android’s first multi-touch virtual keyboard. This keyboard completely replaces the stock Android keyboard, which is not available. Thanks largely to the device’s powerful 1 GHz OMAP processor, the keyboard simply flew with touches registering instantly and very accurately. When inputting text in any field, a large circular graphic appears in the text field to help you ascertain the location of the cursor. In our tests, we made only a handful of typos, and that was while typing at breakneck speed. The popular Swype keyboard is also included, now with the addition of the voice key. Together, these two keyboards provided us with two powerful and very friendly input experiences on Droid X.

We sent ourselves an SMS and were pleasantly surprised to see that the Messaging app had been themed to a speech-bubble motif instead of the usual plain text. The Messaging app also provides folders for different message types, such as SMS and MMS.

The messaging app has been themed to display speech bubbles.

Looking through the phone’s Settings menu, we found the standard list of Android options such as Sound, Display, etc. There are six “Droid”-themed ringtones on the device, up from only one on the classic Droid. There is a new Settings screen to control HDMI output resolution.

The HDMI settings allow you to set the output resolution.

There are a handful of Droid-themed ringtones available.

Car Home has been themed as well, and includes some added features such as a My Location button and the ability to add a custom app to the Car Home menu.

Car home has been themed, with some functions added.

On the subject of Motorola’s theming, we want to touch on what appears to be a certain amount of inconsistency. For example, while the stock Music widget remains untouched, the Power Control widget has been inexplicably themed in a manner inconsistent with the rest of the OS. Also, certain status icons such as the “something’s downloading” arrow and the “Installed” checkmark are a mix of new and old. We hope that these minor inconsistencies will be resolved in the 2.2 update.

The Camera app has been improved from stock Android. The controls are now readily accessible on the right side of the viewfinder display. The focus and shutter speed are extremely fast, and pictures write to the SD card quickly. However, there is no onscreen button to take a picture: you must press the physical red shutter button, so it’s important to have a steady hand.

Aaron: Having had Froyo installed on my Droid for several weeks now, it was interesting to see how Motorola has largely bridged the gap between 2.1 and 2.2. I have to note, however, that I am not a fan of the Blur theme, particularly the red highlights and oversized launcher shortcuts. This is my personal opinion, however, and rest assured I will still be getting this phone! The entire thing runs extremely fast and is one hell of a tight package. I am looking forward to using the browser; it is the most-used app on my Droid, and the 4.3” screen blew me away.

Brandon: Droid X solves a number of issues present in current Android versions, and it does so without making us wait for Froyo. The resizable widgets are great and very friendly, and eliminate the need to have widgets provide all size choices in the Widgets menu. The red theme does take some getting used to, especially if you are an existing Android user and expecting orange or green highlights. But it does reinforce the bold industrial image that Droid puts off and isn’t obtrusive. As far as any small bugs or inconsistencies we encountered, none of them are life-threatening and all are easily changed in future software updates. The Messaging app is more welcoming and it is easier to discern the different sides of a conversation with the new attractive speech bubbles. And the overall collection of included software is well-rounded and able to provide a dynamic user experience without requiring too many initial Market downloads.

Final Thoughts

Just eight short months ago, we eagerly welcomed the Droid as it revolutionized the Android landscape, changed Verizon’s locked-down lineup, and brought Motorola back from the brink. Droid X only continues to keep Android at the forefront of the smartphone lineup, and does so with brilliant engineering, tight software, and a rich featureset that is unmatched by current competitors. Whether you are a casual user, an enterprise user, a developer, or merely someone who likes to hold a phone any way they like, there is no doubt in our minds that the Droid X is the Droid you are looking for.

UPDATE: Our video review followup is now up!