Almost convinced that the X is the phone for me; few questions though...

[Harb]

So I've been torn between the Droid X and the Fascinate for about a week now. I've been reading all up and down these forums and through tons of reviews, and I'm leaning toward the Droid. However, there are a few questions still lingering that I havn't seen answered outright that I want solid answers to before I commit to a phone for 2 years.

First, I've read that the Droid X has a locked bootloader....whatever that means. Clearly this hasn't stopped the phone from being rooted, but does it cause any hindrances when doing stuff with the phone that Verizon/Moto really would rather you not do?

Second, I've read that Moto has put some custom skins and stuff on top of Android that really are more trouble than they're worth. Will rooting the phone allow me to have a 'true' Android experience and get rid of all of Motorola's extra stuff? If so, will the changes also extend to the camera functionality? I heard that the camera interface Moto gave the X is slow and inconvenient compared to a stock Android camera UI.

Finally, just how powerful is the X in terms of processing power, including graphics processing? One of the reasons I've been considering the Fascinate is because it supposedly has a pretty beastly GPU that the X can't compare with. I don't plan on doing a ton of gaming (I have 2 computers for that stuff), but I don't want to feel wanting for more horsepower when I do decide to push the phone to its limits.


Thanks for reading, and I apologize if any of these questions are dead horses in need of a rest. I've tried to read many pages back through all the X forums and make use of the search functions, but I couldn't find all the info I wanted.

 

[Darkseider]

OK. The Droid X has a locked bootloader which means that you cannot install a custom kernel which means no overclocking and/or custom voltages and custom insertable modules like TUN, EXT3, EXT4, etc... The Fascinate is an open book but nothing has been done for it in terms of really good custom ROMs or kernels, yet. Hardware wise aside from the .3" difference in screen size the Samsung has a slightly better GPU which translates into smoother gaming. Other than that not too much.

 

[justin82]

So I've been torn between the Droid X and the Fascinate for about a week now. I've been reading all up and down these forums and through tons of reviews, and I'm leaning toward the Droid. However, there are a few questions still lingering that I havn't seen answered outright that I want solid answers to before I commit to a phone for 2 years.

First, I've read that the Droid X has a locked bootloader....whatever that means. Clearly this hasn't stopped the phone from being rooted, but does it cause any hindrances when doing stuff with the phone that Verizon/Moto really would rather you not do? you can still wifi tether/theme etc.. just no custom kernals and no true recovery

Second, I've read that Moto has put some custom skins and stuff on top of Android that really are more trouble than they're worth. Will rooting the phone allow me to have a 'true' Android experience and get rid of all of Motorola's extra stuff? If so, will the changes also extend to the camera functionality? I heard that the camera interface Moto gave the X is slow and inconvenient compared to a stock Android camera UI. yes they make blurless roms i use trnquility with adw launcher.. fast for me.. plus cvpcs is working on a built from source rom for this as well..

Finally, just how powerful is the X in terms of processing power, including graphics processing? One of the reasons I've been considering the Fascinate is because it supposedly has a pretty beastly GPU that the X can't compare with. I don't plan on doing a ton of gaming (I have 2 computers for that stuff), but I don't want to feel wanting for more horsepower when I do decide to push the phone to its limits. i do not do a lot of gaming.. it plays angry birds just fine a couple of racing games i have tried it does a great job.


Thanks for reading, and I apologize if any of these questions are dead horses in need of a rest. I've tried to read many pages back through all the X forums and make use of the search functions, but I couldn't find all the info I wanted.

responses in red ..

 

[Harb]

Wow, thanks for the quick responses guys!

justin82, what do you mean by no 'true recovery'?

 

[justin82]

it means if you stuck at moto logo hello RSD..:icon_eek:

in all honesty this is what i mean. for instance on droid 1 if you booted into recovery you booted into your custom recovery.

with the droid x you have to boot into a recovery from an app itself on a running phone. or at least make it to bootanimation then do a battery pull then it will boot into custom recovery.

if you boot into recovery from off phone ( power on while hoolding home button) you will boot into The X's original recovery.

hope this explains it a little better

 

[sephtin]

Have an X, Love it. Know others with Epic/Fascinate, they love theirs too.
Sounds like the form factor doesn't bother you, and you don't care about the physical keyboard Those are the biggest differences between the phones in my eyes.

Regarding your questions, some unbiased info:
1) Locked bootloader will affect customization, Darkseider summarized it very very well.

2) MotoBlur is good and bad. Some features it brings to the table are loved by some, hated by others (facebook/twitter/etc. contact integration requires the Blur components, etc.). There are already 2 or 3 roms available that shed some/much of the Blur components, but as a side affect, they can affect things like the panorama assist within the camera app.. requires some blur component, etc.
If you're not happy with the camera app, there are several alternatives from the market that might provide what you're looking for...
Also, Samsung has some custom interface stuff as well.. unfortunately I can't comment, as I know almost nothing about it. :S

Finally) Graphics. Unless apps start coming out with much much more advanced graphics requirements (not likely).. you won't feel lacking with either phone. Stock CPU, same. they are both amazing, and customizations are coming out for both phones that will make them run smoother (getting rid of bloat, etc.) as well.
Regarding overclocking the CPU, I have read that the highest stable overclock for DX is around 1.2, but around 1.4-1.5 for GalaxyS... No clue how much of a benefit that'd give you, and both are bound to change as devs continue to dig in...

GL with your decision. It must be hard to decide between two awesome phones! I'd say it's a win either way! GL!

 

[thelion]

I have had the X, and I have had the Fascinate. In my opinion, the Fascinate cannot compare to the X. It was laggy (even with their update), it looked toyish, the camera was absolutely abismal compared to the X and the colors seemed too bright and almost clownish.

I get it, it has a pretty screen. But the screen is also noticably smaller than the X. The Fascinate is very much an iPhone clone. Heck, even the standard setup has the app screens look like an iPhone (locked four button bar, side to side locked scrolling through apps).

I went back to my X because I wanted a powerful device that is more like a handheld computer than a "pretty" phone. It all depends on what you want. The Fascinate, to me, felt cheaply mad, the camera was crap, the voice quality was similar to the original Droid and it was glitchy. None of these issues are unique, I have seen many, many folks complaining about the same thing. I went back to my X because I could not have kept the Fascinate for two years.

If I wanted an iPhone, I would have gotten an iPhone. I want an Android device.

 

[pointzero1]

I agree with some of the things thelion mentions. I was also on the edge between the fascinate and X, and the droid 2. But one of the main reasons i gave up the fascinate was the build and form factor. IT just SCREAMED cheap knockoff of the iphone 3GS. I mean, heck if i wanted something that looked so closely to the iphone, I would just get the original iphone, which im sure is also far better optimized than what samsung offers.

However, I have heard that the fascinate is far more powerful especially in GPU, and the quadrant benchmark videos I have see online show that it gets a much higher fps than the X, the X avg at like 15-20ish in the videos I've seen and have conducted myself.

In terms of power under the hood, I do worry that my X will become obsolete very soon. However, I have ZERO apps that require much power at all, so for me, it matters not much.

I do love the screen real estate. At 4.3inches I have ZERO issues reading mangas, no zoom required.

:]

 

[sephtin]

...
I do love the screen real estate. At 4.3inches I have ZERO issues reading mangas, no zoom required.
:]

Had to post. I agree, the screen on the X is a thing of beauty!

 

[matrix2004]

I forgot Droid X has Blur. I've been using Launcher Pro Plus since day one.

 

[pointzero1]

I still use BLUR and Android 2.1. No problems whatsoever. The only time it lags, is when I accidentally press text-to-speech using the swype keyboard...but rare occurences, and not really a feature I use.

 

[BodyBagz]

My $0.02...take it for what its worth...

I have the Droid X, when I went to get my new phone, my choices were the X, Droid 2 and the HTC Incredible. I kicked the Droid 2 off the bat because it has a hardware keyboard and I dont like them.

So, that left me between the Incredible and X...and it was a real no-brainer after handling both devices. Now, granted, I did not have a chance to decide between the Fascinate and the X, but I have looked at the specs on the Fascinate, and outside the GPU push and the SuperAMOLED screen, the X is still the winner in my book. My reasons are:

1) 4.3" screen is a beauty to behold...and if you do ant video/movie watching on your phone, that extra .3" does come in handy!

2) The actual "heft" of the X...it feels like a solid built device...because it is a solid built device, made with Aluminum. Its also not as large in hand once you own ity for a week or two and get accustomed to it. I came from a HTC Touch(VX6900)...a plastic WinMo phone...and the Fascinate reminds me this phone because of all the plastic.

3) Call clarity...to say the least, the Droid X and its Noise Canceling microphones make my calls a ton clearer to recipients. Call recetion on my end is also above par...so far I have no complaints.

4) Root + WiFi Tether = $$$ for me! Mobile HotSpot is an awesome ability, but IMPO, Verizon Inc is raping its subscribers by charging an additional fee for a function that is built into the phone and highly publicized as a selling point....but, I digress.

5) Froyo on the Droid X has been a great addition for myself. The update adjusted the battery consumption to the point of me running all day on a single charge with normally 40-60% battery left before charging for the night.

In the end, get the phone that does all you need it to do, as much as it can what you want it to do, and that you think you will be happy with for the next 6-12 months...dancedroid

 

[Harb]

Just got home with my shiny new Droid X dancedroid

Thanks for the input everyone. It was a really tough call - I still hadn't decided when the Verizon worker asked me which phone I wanted to buy; had to make a split-second decision and apparently my subconscious wanted the X more than the Fascinate.

Gotta say I'm loving this thing so far

 

[kk4df]

It's a fabulous phone. No regrets here.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[mountainbikermark]

You mentioned something about the camera. That might be what your subconscious was thinking. The X has a much better camera

wified from my Incredible monolith using some form of slider keypad on Tapatalk