Hardware, Aesthetics, Design
Motorola’s Droid X is a clear-cut response to the HTC EVO 4G. While Droid X doesn’t offer a front-facing camera or 4G connectivity, it does sport a TI 1GHz OMAP 3630 processor, a 4.3 inch display, HDMI output, 3G mobile hotspot, 8 megapixel camera, 720p video recording, Android v2.1, GPS navigation, Bluetooth v2.1, FM radio, WiFi b/g/n, and Motoblur. And to meet smartphone standards, Motorola includes an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, and an ambient light detector.

While Verizon’s HTC Droid Incredible sports a familiar size, the Droid X is simply huge. It stands 5 inches tall, spans 2.6 inches wide, and is just 0.4 inches thick. Although those dimensions make it even taller than the already monstrous HTC EVO 4G, the Droid X is also a tenth of an inch thinner. It weighs in at about 5.5 ounces, a half ounce lighter than the EVO 4G. Let’s keep in mind that Apple’s iPhone 4 weighs just 4.8 ounces. While the Droid X isn’t nearly as robust as the original Droid’s tank-like structure, it’s still a very durable device. It is also apparent that this phone can easily survive a drop or two, which the somewhat-fragile and heavy HTC EVO 4G won’t. The Droid X should easily last through a few years of reasonable wear and tear.

Considering the technology packed inside, the Droid X is by no means bulky. It is comfortable to hold when navigating through the touch screen interface or when held up for a phone call. Unlike the Apple iPhone 4, which has a fully glossy coat on both sides, the Droid X has an all-around soft matte finish. The material helps keeps dust, fingerprints, and grime hidden, while offering a great grip. And aside from the dark grey paint job, the phone is fairly subtle. While the silver coated earpiece grill, Motorola emblem, volume controls, and power key are a nice contrast, the phone simply doesn’t stand out as much as the EVO 4G or the iPhone 4.

Regarding the odd hump on the back, it’s clear that Motorola simply ran out of space when adding the camera sensor. It’s something that definitely needs to disappear in a future model since it serves no purpose. While it does form a slightly angled surface, it won’t help when it comes to watching a video. On the other hand, the kick stand on the HTC EVO 4G is a great addition. But in regards to the unnecessary bulge, it is still easy to hold and fits into my pockets just fine. However, let’s not forget what our female writer found: it doesn’t exactly fit into a tight jeans pocket.

The front side of the Droid X hosts the 4.3 inch touch screen display below the ear piece, proximity sensor, and ambient light sensor. A line of four physical keys for Menu, Home, Back, and Search are directly below the display. While adapting to the EVO’s capacitive buttons was fairly easy, with little-to-no separation, distinguishing between each physical key is difficult. Also, Motorola interestingly changed the order since the original Droid, which might be annoying for upgrading customers. As for ports, the micro HDMI and a microUSB connectors  are on the lower left side while a volume rocker and a multi-level camera shutter key are on the right. The top of the Droid X has a power/lock button and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. The removable 1540mAh battery pack and the included 16GB microSD card are hidden under a slide-off rear panel. However, it’s unfortunate that the microSD card isn’t swappable without turning off the phone to remove the battery pack. The 8 megapixel camera and complementary dual LED flashes are above the rear panel while the mono speakerphone is directly below. The Droid X also features three microphones for noise cancellation: one on the lower front chin, another on the top of the phone, and the last on the lower backside of the phone.

The Display
Yes, we all know the 4.3 inch screen is huge, but how does it look? Fortunately, the TFT screen gets the job done despite the fact that it doesn’t offer the pixel density of Apple’s Retina Display on the iPhone 4 or the power efficiency of the Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen on the Epic 4G. Numerically speaking, the Droid X sports a 480-by-854 pixel resolution and 16M colors, which gives it a competitive edge over the EVO’s  480-by-800 pixel display and 65k color set. While the Droid Incredible’s AMOLED screen makes viewing under direct sunlight difficult, the Droid X is still bearable. The ambient light sensors do a great job adjusting brightness to the appropriate levels and viewing angles meet expectations. As for the performance of the capacitive touch screen, it’s actually impressively responsive and accurate. Scrolling through contact lists or dragging down the notification bar was quicker and smoother than the EVO 4G, which was somewhat choppy.

Operating System
While the original Motorola Droid featured the native Android OS interface with minimal modifications, the Droid X comes bundled with the latest version of MotoBlur. Fortunately, it’s not the same horrid version that’s found on the AT&T Moto Backflip, which left many users frustrated. For starters, the revamped version no longer requires creating a MotoBlur account for using the phone. Users can sign into their email and social networking accounts without having to deal with another step in the configuration process. Motorola clearly hopes to improve the relatively dry Android interface with their own overlay to improve user experience. It’s the same thing HTC does with the Sense UI on all their Android devices. While the introduction of MotoBlur brings some improvements, it also creates some issues.

Starting with the advantages, it adds integration for Corporate Sync, Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket, Picasa, Twitter, and Yahoo! Mail. The interface provides an easy unified location for configuring these accounts. Motorola includes its own applications for accessing these services and even a streamlined inbox for browsing through all network updates at once. MotoBlur also brings an interactive Droid Eye live background and a set of widgets for phone settings, calendar events, contacts, date/time, messages, RSS news, photos, social networks, post-it notes, and weather. The idea sounds great, but in reality, Motoblur doesn’t meet expectations.

Limited functionality is a widespread issue for just about every Motorola application. Sure, even HTC’s Sense UI has limitations in that regard, but it is well designed and polished. Customers will likely choose to entirely avoid MotoBlur applications and download the full-fledged versions of MySpace, Photobucket, Twitter, and Yahoo Mail. The duplicated functionality is highly unnecessary and does no favors for customers. As for the widgets, these aren’t exactly “fancy-looking” either. They offer minimal customizations and the seven home screens lack the expose view that is included with HTC’s Sense UI.

While I did find Motoblur running smoother and snappier than HTC Sense UI, Motorola needs to spend sometime refining their overlay. It may run quickly, but the integration into the Android OS isn’t too friendly. While the HTC Sense UI tries to make the Android OS interface more consistent, Motoblur achieves the opposite effect. For instance, it automatically dumps Twitter contacts into the main address book. While sorting options are available, Motoblur doesn’t allow choosing a combination of Google and Facebook contacts. Users can only filter the contact list for a single service at a time. A Motorola representative did inform us that our unit has some early software, but with a launch date just a week away, I doubt there are any major changes.

Android Marketplace
Apps were scarce when I first dove into the Android Marketplace in late 2009 shortly after the launch of the Motorola Droid. Today, Google’s app store features over 50,000 applications created by over 180,000 developers. Android is now undoubtedly attractive enough for companies to invest resources for building apps for it. Early Android Apps weren’t as polished as iPhone counterparts either, but that’s no longer the case. Within the first few days with the Droid X, I downloaded apps for all the services that I regularly use: Amazon, Barcode Scanner, Digg, Dropbox, eBuddy, Flickster, Google Voice, Mint, Pandora, Photoshop, Qik, Shazam, SpeedTest, UrbanSpoon, and WordPress. While the iOS App Store may still offer a larger selection, Android users won’t be missing out on anything major. As this is a Verizon Wireless handset, it of course features Skype for VoIP calls.

The Keyboard
While the Droid X doesn’t have a physical keyboard like the Motorola Droid, it sports both a standard virtual keyboard and Swype. While the HTC EVO’s large on-screen keyboard is easy-to-use, it has a poorly-designed set of directional keys for selecting text and lacked support for multi-touch typing. The Droid X addresses those concerns with multi-touch keyboard and touch-based cursor-selector. While typing on the EVO wasn’t problematic, each key response still had a slight millisecond delay. The Droid X keyboard appears to have done away with that issue as well, typing is just as fluid as with an Apple iPhone keyboard. The landscape mode makes for the best typing experience, but the portrait mode is roomy enough as well. Simply being able to hold down the shift key and selecting a letter simultaneously, as you would on a traditional keyboard, satisfies an expected experience. Despite the EVO’s similarly-sized screen, I found myself typing faster with the Droid X. It’s probably the best Android keyboard out there, aside from Swype being a special exception.

Other standard goodies such as auto-correction, spelling suggestions, and custom dictionaries make for an excellent experience. Android natively even features voice-to-text input, which is impressively accurate. While having to speak somewhat slower and clearly enunciating words, it is almost always spot-on. And as we saw at Google I/O 2010, the latest version of Android, Froyo v2.2, will bring further accuracy and performance improvements. As for the Swype keyboard, I won’t go into details here since we recently published a video demo. While that offers a simple walk through of the revolutionary keyboard technology, we’ll also be publishing another in-depth piece regarding Swype shortly.

Camera and Camcorder
Although manufacturers are pumping megapixels into smarpthones, image quality isn’t necessarily always improving. However, the 8 megapixel camera on the Droid X is nothing short of excellent. The snappy processor and efficient software launches the viewfinder within 2 seconds. The Motoblur customizations bring 8 scene modes, 8 color effects, flash settings, geo-tagging, face detection, ISO sensitivity, and Exposure levels. While the interface is still somewhat rugged and laggy, the Droid X still gets the job done. The interface even offers tap-to-focus capabilities for photos, but was oddly left out for video recording. Holding down the shutter key half way let’s the sensor focus on a target and a full press snaps an image. Photos taken in well-lit areas are generally properly exposed and saturated. The built-in dual LED flash truly helps with low lighting. It’s actually about twice as bright as the two LEDs on the EVO 4g, which makes it pretty darn bright.

The Droid X performs well when it comes 720p HD video recording as well. I actually found it looking a notch better than video on HTC EVO 4G, which often contains compression artifacts. The Motoblur interface, once again, offers a few custom options. A prominently featured audio option lets users take better advantage of the built-in microphones. Modes for reducing wind noise, narrating on-the-scene videos, and recording interviews are available. A set of eight video color effects are included as well. Motorola includes to option to leave the dual LEDs on during video recording, making for an excellent pocket camcorder even in dark conditions. However the Droid X suffers from the low 24 FPS capture rate that also effects the EVO 4G. A bump to a standard 30 FPS can easily help smoothen video playback. Nonetheless, it’s a damn good pocket camera, but it still won’t be replacing a dedicated HD camcorder anytime soon.

As for sharing captured content, the Droid X offers more options than the default Android OS. In addition to Bluetooth, Email, Facebook, and Twitter sharing, it includes support for Online Albums, Picasa, and Printing to Retail Stories (e.g. Costco). With a HDMI output, it’s also easy to playback photo slideshows and videos on a HDTV set. The Droid X is the best camera phone Verizon Wireless has to offer, however it’s still missing one big feature that the iPhone 4, EVO 4G, and Epic 4G have: a front-facing camera.

Productivity Tools
Getting work done with the Droid X isn’t a problem. Google’s Gmail client, push notifications, a threaded SMS application, and a native Android Calendar keep users informed. The built-in web browser renders pages faster than the iPhone’s mobile Safari browser over the same WiFi network. While the Droid X only comes with Flash Lite, we had a chance to demo an early version Flash 10.1 Beta with some employees from Adobe and it ran surprisingly well. Playing videos from ESPN.com or even TheDailyShow.com was impressively smooth. Since the Droid X supports saving files on both internal and external storage, it’s easy to view documents with QuickOffice. There’s even a native file browser to manage content stored on the phone and for accessing shared network folders. A built-in DLNA app offers the option to playback and control multimedia from compatible devices. Other standard apps include an Alarm/Timer, Amazon MP3, Calculator, Blockbuster, Car Dock, News (RSS Reader), Voice Commands, and Voicemail.

Multimedia Interface
When it comes to music playback, the Droid X sports the nessary hardware, but lacks a polished user interface. Transferring music onto a microSD card from a Windows 7, Mac OS X, or Linux machine with the included microUSB cable is easy. While Android doesn’t have the iTunes equivalent that iPods and iPhones have, other alternatives are available. Programs such as Windows Media Player 12 play well with the phone. DoubleTwist, a relatively newcomer, is slowly paving its way into becoming a possible iTunes alternative. Even manually copying audio files onto the phone works as the Android OS automatically identifies, indexes, and adds new files to the music library.

The internal 8GB of memory gives the Droid X a major edge over the EVO 4G which only offers 1GB. Motorola even outfits their device with a 16GB Class 4 microSD card while HTC only bundles a 8GB microSD. The music player allows users to browse through their collection by artist, album, playlist, and songs. Unfortunately, it lacks filters for genres and composers. The interface shows album artwork whenever possible. There are also modes for shuffle and repeat. Motoblur includes options to adjust Surround and Equalizer settings with presets for 3D Stereo, Home Theater, and Live Stage. The music app can run in the background and an indicator appears in the notification bar while using other programs. Other apps such as Pandora also take advantage of background multitasking capabilities. A default Android widget lets users control the music application without leaving the home screen.

When it comes to video playback, much like the HTC EVO 4G, the Droid X makes for great experience with a large 4.3 inch display and a snappy processor to handle HD content. With an over-sized screen, it actually begins to enter the territory of tablet devices such as the Apple iPad or Dell Streak. The TI processor easily handled playback of high-resolution H.264 content. This includes most videos tagged as HD in the iTunes Podcast library. Content from TED Talks and Revision 3 ran smoothly without any pixelation, pauses, or buffering. And for HDTV owners, there’s also a HDMI output on the device, but a cable wasn’t included. A pre-installed Blockbuster application offers access to their library, but it isn’t worth the hassle. It doesn’t stream content, but rather forces downloads of large files. Prices are ridiculous and the app doesn’t allow HDMI output either.

Speakers, Headphones, and Radio
The built-in mono speaker on the Droid X is fairly loud and sounds clear, but it’s nothing compared to the HTC EVO. Although audio remains crisp and doesn’t crack when reaching max volume, the EVO 4G gets about twice as loud. While neither feature a set of stereo speakers, the best audio experience still comes with a pair of headphones. Regrettably, Motorola doesn’t include a pair. It’s a rather odd decision, since the phone features an embedded FM tuner that won’t work without a pair of wired headphones plugged in as it’s also the antenna. But on that note, the FM radio feature is a great addition since it doesn’t consume nearly as much power as applications, such as Pandora, that need WiFi or 3G. With my pair of Shure SE210 earphones, music sounded great whether it came from my microSD card or FM Radio.

Call Network Quality
Placing a traditional phone call couldn’t be better with Verizon Wireless. After facing a year’s worth of dropped calls with my iPhone 3GS on AT&T’s network, I was glad to temporarily return to my former service provider. While Sprint on my EVO 4G is wonderful, Verizon simply offers better nationwide coverage. In our review of the original Motorola Droid, we credited it for including a robust microphone that made calls sound clearer than with competing devices. The Droid X once again raises the bar by introducing three microphones, placed on different parts of the phone, to intelligently cancel out unwanted noises. It even has an edge over the iPhone 4 which features only two microphones and the EVO 4G which sadly offers no noise cancellation. I placed a call while in a loud crowded restaurant which had music playing in the background with both my EVO 4G and the Droid X. Motorola’s technology worked as it truly eliminated external noises leaving nothing but a little static buzzing. With the EVO, the caller on the other end could hear things going on around me and had a difficult time discerning my speech. That’s a huge plus for the Droid X. It’s something that should be standard on all smartphones.

Data Speeds and Mobile Hotspot
For speed tests, I opted to use the SpeedTest.net service. After running tests from just about everywhere from the Sacramento Area down to San Jose, I found some interesting results. Verizon Wireless unquestionably had the best coverage. While AT&T 3G speeds often spiked into first place, it was rarely consistent. In fact, Sprint has upload speeds that are 2-3x faster than AT&T. However, when it came to average download speeds, Verizon Wireless came in first followed by AT&T taking second and Sprint taking third. In numbers, Verizon averaged about 1.45 Mbps for downloads and 0.8 Mbps for uploads. That’s a notch better than the 1.2 Mbps download and 0.8 Mbps upload speeds I found with the HTC EVO on Sprint’s 3G network. However, Verizon Wireless is still much slower than Sprint’s 4G coverage in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was seeing  peak speeds of nearly 3 Mbps for download and 1 Mbps for upload on my EVO, which is impressive considering Sprint hasn’t officially announced or deployed 4G in the area.

Since the Droid X doesn’t ship with Android Froyo v2.2, it doesn’t natively include the portable hotspot technology. Fortunately, Motorola included Mobile Hotspot application is fairly good. It takes less than 15 seconds to start-up, can handle up to five devices at once, and offers three network security options: WEP, WPA, or WPA2. The HTC EVO does the latter, but also supports up to eight users. While I’m a fan of mobile hotspots, Verizon’s service plans have a few pros and cons. The company will charge customers $20/month for 2GB of data. Overage fees are 5 cents per megabyte. Fortunately, paying for the Mobile Hotspot feature doesn’t eat into or effect the required $30 smartphone data plan. That makes it a notch better than AT&T’s plan which charges users $20/month to enable tethering access to the 2GB of data they are already paying $30/month for. Sprint, however, comes out on top by offering unlimited data for both phone usage and tethering on either 3G or 4G networks.Verizon could have easily had an edge over competitors if they chose to offer the Mobile Hotspot feature for free as they do for Palm Pre Plus owners.

Battery Life
The replaceable 1540 mAh battery in the Droid X is a tad bit better than the one in the EVO 4G. Motorola claims 8 hours of talk time, but after putting the phone to the test, I found that the phone could easily surpass that limit on a full charge. That’s another step up from the original Motorola Droid which runs for just 6.4 hours and the HTC EVO that only gets 5 hours. With regular mixed usage including sending text messages, checking emails, browsing the web, using the calendar, and getting occasional Google Navigator directions, the Droid X will make it through a day and a half. On the other hand, the HTC EVO 4G barely makes it through an entire day. The improved battery life doesn’t end there, the upcoming Froyo v2.2 update claims to bring power consumption savings. And a Motorola representative stated that a high-capacity 1800 mAh battery would be available during launch, but would add a little less than a millimeter of thickness to the phone. As for charging the phone, it’s easy since the Droid X sports a standard microUSB cable. It plugs into both the included AC adapter and computer’s USB port. I highly recommend finding a power source when running the Mobile Hotspot feature, which will drain a battery in about 2 hours.

The Bottom Line
When it comes to the latest generation of smartphones, the battle between the Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G, and Apple iPhone 4 is closer than ever. However, the Droid X faces on major issue: it offers nothing revolutionary. It doesn’t have 4G connectivity, a front-facing camera, or high pixel density display. While Motorola may have taken the safer route, they still have something to offer: an all-around robust smartphone. For starters, it runs on Verizon Wireless, which Consumer Reports categorizes as the most reliable carrier. Talk-time battery life and call quality is better than both the EVO 4G and iPhone 4. The built-in 8 megapixel camera is the best of the bunch as well. While my experience with the early version of the Motoblur was somewhat disappointing, I can only expect that the Froyo v2.2 update, coming in “late summer,” will solve these problems.

While the Motorola Droid made its mark, it’s unlikely that the Droid X will be as well-recognized. It’s by no means an unworthy competitor, but upcoming devices may steal the spotlight. Those looking for a revolutionary device should look elsewhere. With Sprint’s Samsung Galaxy S based Epic 4G hitting the streets and the Motorola Droid 2, which features a physical keyboard, due soon, the Droid X is probably going to become outdated quicker than you would expect. However, at this time, it is the best smart phone that Verizon Wireless has to offer. It will definitely fly off store shelves quickly and won’t disappoint customers. Those interested in buying a Droid X can get one on July 15th for $199 after signing a new two-year contract. Since Verizon Wireless intends to heavily promote this device, anyone eligible for upgrade in 2010 qualifies to upgrade to the this device at the discounted price.

Links: VerizonWireless.com Droid X | Motorola.com Droid X

On paper, this is a smart move on AT&T’s part, since their 3G coverage is infamous for its unreliability and data traffic congestion. It has been clear for a while now that something must be done to alleviate the burden on the network. However, the hotspot’s location and size is more than a little questionable. It is located exclusively in a tourist hub, not inhabited by many permanent New York City residents. This means that it will be primarily temporary users being switched from 3G to Wi-Fi, not the resident users who have already been overwhelming the network. In addition, the hotspot isn’t very large at only two city blocks and an area this small can hardly put much of a dent in the congestion problem AT&T has in this city. While it is true that some relief is better than none, I can’t imagine that NYC AT&T customers will notice any significant difference in their 3G service coverage because of this tiny hotspot.

By launching this free prototype Wi-Fi hotspot, AT&T is acknowledging that there are serious problems with its 3G network while failing to provide an adequate solution to these problems. AT&T is essentially applying a Band-Aid and trying to tell consumers that it will heal a gunshot wound. It is true that this move will likely cause other companies like Verizon and Sprint to offer similar free Wi-Fi hotspots for their own customers in highly populated areas, which will fundamentally shift how both consumers and cell companies think about data coverage. However, it will take a lot more than a few two-block Wi-Fi hotspots here and there to fix the problems with AT&T’s 3G network.

Link: ATT.com

The Basics
Although not too apparent through marketing, Sierra Wireless actually built the hardware. The device weighs merely 4.5 ounces, which is slightly lighter than an iPhone 3GS. It is only about a half-inch thick and three inches tall and wide, making it slightly larger than the Verizon Wireless MiFi we reviewed late last year. Although small enough to slide into a pocket, it is probably ideal to leave it in a bag since there’s no reason to constantly interact with the device. Also especially since it becomes considerably warm during operation. Some may find the overly glossy finish visually appealing, but it’s a major flaw. The unit is a fingerprint magnet and it also scratches quite easily. For those that care, forget about maintaining the pristine condition since it won’t last long.

Moving on, there’s a 128-by-228 pixel LED display on the front above a large power button that also doubles as a flashing indicator. A microUSB port and microSD card reader are on the bottom while a volume control switch is on the top. There’s also a slide-off cover on the back to access the 1800mAh removable battery pack. As for the internals, there’s a 4G WiMax chipset and a 3G CDMA module for complete backwards compatibility. The device acts much like a WiFi router, but it only lets a maximum of five users connect to the hotspot at any given instance.

Setup Process
Getting the Overdrive running couldn’t be easier. Once turned on, the device connects to 4G or 3G and creates a close-range WiFi hotspot. A network name (SSID) and password appear on the display. The device soon appears on the “available networks” list on just about any device that supports 802.11 b/g. I tested it with a Windows 7 laptop, an Ubuntu netbook, and the Apple iPhone 3GS. It’s truly a convenient process for the average user since there’s no need to deal with finding, downloading, and installing drivers. Since it’s a hotspot, it’s easy to access the 4G network from multiple devices or even share internet with friends. Even the Verizon MiFi is more cumbersome since it doesn’t have a screen to display the network name and password, leaving users having to write it down somewhere else. The only nuisance with the Overdrive would have to be the cumbersome 1-2 minute startup time.

Control Panel
While most customers will probably go about doing their work and enjoying the 4G speeds, geeks are likely going to begin digging into the settings. The device’s display only shows status information, it can’t do any more. To customize the device, there’s a web-based configuration page that’s accessible through a web browser by visiting ‘http://overdrive’ when connected to the device. The homepage of the interface displays a variety of information including 3G/4G signal strength, a list of the connected users, remaining battery life, data usage, connection duration, and volume controls. The Administrator Settings offers controls to pick a router password, set a new network name SSID, and choose a new network pass key.

Navigating further into the Advance Settings page reveals a variety of configuration options. Users can update the device firmware and export/import settings. There’s also a feature to enable auto-standby, control audible alerts, and adjust the display brightness. It’s also easy to customize the information that appears on-screen including the option to hide the passkey from unwanted eyes. For the paranoid, the Overdrive offers the option to tighten security with WPA2 and MAC filtering. It was also interesting to find support for port forwarding, UPnP, and various other settings. The entire feature set is quite impressive considering the device’s size.

Battery Life
The Overdrive only offers about 3 hours of battery life when the 4G network is in use for browsing the web, streaming a few videos, replying to emails, and chatting. It’s not nearly enough for an entire day’s use or even a commute to work for some. That being said, any built-in battery is better than none. It’s better to let the mobile broadband technology take a toll on the Overdrive rather than your laptop if it were built-in. With the standby feature, the device automatically when there are no longer any devices connected or if there’s no data transfer for an extended period of time.

Recharging the Overdrive is convenient since it features a standardized microUSB port. Sprint includes a USB AC adapter and cable in the packaging. It’s possible to charge the device with a computer’s USB port, but it will generally take somewhat longer. Even the recharge duration with the included power supply was very disappointing. The device often took close to 6 hours to regain a full charge, which is twice the time it takes to run dry.

4G Network Speeds
The spotlight feature is undoubtedly the 4G network. I ran speed test through out the day with SpeedTest.net, a popular network speed benchmarking tool. On my two trips to Las Vegas, I ran 4G speed test from multiple locations: Sahara Hotel on the end of the strip, from the Las Vegas convention center, and from the airport (LAS). Speeds from my hotel room and the airport were fairly consistent. I received nearly 3.5 Mb/s down and 1.01 Mb/s up speeds with a latency of 130 ms on average. However signal from the convention center during CES and CTIA was spotty due to two reasons: concrete construct and too many 4G connection overload. Even when I did manage to establish a strong 4G signal near the conference, speeds dropped to .40 Mb/s down and .29 Mb/s up on average. While the WiMax technology shouldn’t get cluttered with large user volumes as quickly, there was definitely a performance degradation.

My tests in the Seattle area were also quite impressive. I observed speeds in the Seattle Airport (SEA), during a cab ride to Redmond, and from my hotel room there. Speeds this time averaged in at 3.88 Mb/s down and 1.52 Mb/s up. The only variance was were slow ping times of about 180 ms during my cab ride and from hotel room. However the ping time was closer to 119 ms from the airport. I overall had a better experience with 4G reliability and speeds in Seattle than in Las Vegas.

Sprint’s 4G is definitely getting close to replace traditional broadband for some. While 3G networks often choke on multimedia, WiMax smoothly delivered Hulu in 480p, SlingBox streaming at nearly 2000 kbps, and YouTube 720p without significant pauses for buffering. It’s most definitely fast enough to get work done, however it may cause issues for certain tasks such as gaming. Playing a first person shooter with a large lag time isn’t a great idea. However asides from that, the Overdrive easily pumped enough bandwidth through for any task I likely would be doing on my residential broadband line.

The Bottom Line
For those living and working in any of the current 4G markets with a need for mobile broadband, the Sprint Overdrive is a perfect solution. Even those who may step out of the 4G coverage area occasional won’t face any issues since the device safely falls back onto existing 3G networks. The device goes for about $99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year contract through Sprint.com, but for only $50 through Amazon.com with the same requirements. Monthly service plans begin at $60 per month, which is on par with most service plans. It’s definitely a plus since there’s 4G speeds for the same price. Sprint also impressively offers unlimited data usage for 4G, but caps 3G to just 5GB per month. Sprint is also expanding their 4G coverage to major cities including Boston, Huston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. this year, which makes the Overdrive even more enticing. But with that being said, drawbacks include an unusually long startup time and short battery life. Those that aren’t in a rush to jump onto the 4G bandwagon right away should consider waiting for the HTC Evo 4G that includes the same hotspot feature, but for up to 8 devices. However, those looking to immediately subscribe to mobile broadband will not be disappointed with Sprint’s Overdrive.

Links: Sprint.com Overdrive
Buy: $50 for Sprint 4G Overdrive

Palm Pre Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless
• Operating System: Palm webOS
• Display: 3.1-inch 320×480 multi-touch
• Camera: 3.0 Megapixel Camera + Flash
• Music: MP3, WAV, AAC/AAC+
• Video: MPEG4, H.263, H.264
• Memory: 16GB internal, 512MB RAM
• Dimensions: 3.9L x 2.3W x .67D inches
• Battery: 5 hours talk time | 350 hours stand-by
• Wireless: WiFi 802.11 b/g & Bluetooth 2.1+

The Body: 4.5/5 stars
The Palm Pre Plus weighs under five ounces and looks like a smooth glossy black stone. The body has a soft feel and offers a great grip. It’s probably one of the best looking phones I’ve come across recently. It definitely offers a friendly and welcoming feeling compared to devices such as the robotic Droid. There’s a volume rocker, a switch to silence your phone, and a microUSB port on the right side. Accessing the charging/data USB port was easier than on the Palm Pixi, however it needs to be relocated to the bottom. If you are holding your phone to your ear while it’s charging, it’s a nuisance since the cable extends out sideways. I also was cautious each time I tried to open the flap that covers the port since it’s quite flimsy. It is also quite tricky to get the flap open; I found myself using nails to pry it open. I feel that Palm has a secret agenda to get us to buy their Wireless Touchstone Charger by annoying us with the charging port. The back of the phone is a rear “face-plate” that comes pre-enabled for wireless charging unlike on the original Pre. Palm also offers a variety of custom artistic styles for those tired of the all-black look. Although there’s 16GB of on-board storage, which is twice that of the original Pre, there’s still no microSD expansion. The only thing under the rear cover is the interchangeable battery pack. The 3 megapixel camera, a LED flash, and speakers are on the upper rear part of the Palm Pre. The power button and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack are on the top. The front of the phone houses the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a gesture area, and a 3.1 inch display from bottom to top. I found the curvature of the slide out keyboard aesthetically appealing and comfortable for typing. There’s also a reflective mirror hidden behind the upper portion of the phone that becomes visible when the keyboard is extended. It definitely comes in handy for taking self portraits. I’m still fascinated with how well Palm has reinvented themselves with a new generation of hardware, but it has already been over a year and it’s time for another major release.

Gesture Area: 5/5 stars
Palm made one major cosmetic change to the Pre, they removed the physical touch button and replaced it with a touchpad that’s hidden under the casing. It now looks cleaner and simpler. It, however, almost feels as though they forgot to put something on it. This gesture area is a thin touch-sensitive slit between the display and keyboard. It’s unique and makes using the phone much more intuitive. For example, to move back a page in the browser, just do a quick swipe to the left. The pad illuminates the direction you swiped with a neat little animation. To get back to the home screen, just swipe up. The Pre Plus also lights up the gesture area to indicate that the phone is busy performing a task. It’s definitely a more intuitive take on the simple physical home key that’s prominently featured on the Apple iPhone. It’s a lot more convenient than having to double or triple tap to perform commands.

The Display: 4/5 stars
The Palm Pre Plus’s display looks stunning. The screen seems to reach out at you due to the curvature of the body. It doesn’t appear recessed into the body like the iPhone but rather runs edge-to-edge. The 3.1 inch display is about a half-inch larger than the screen on the Palm Pixi, but still smaller than the Droid and iPhone. The interface offer plenty of space for viewing web pages. It’s still unfortunately nothing compared to the Motorola Droid’s whopping 480×854 pixel display. While the Pixi we reviewed last year only had 18-bits of color, the Pre Plus features 24-bits. Despite the boost, I doubt anyone could point out the difference unless told about it. The multi-touch functionality performed accurately and responsively. It was easy to pinch a webpage with two fingers to zoom out or in. The accelerometer was also very responsive and would kick in quickly to change orientations when rotated. The gesture pad also conveniently changed from the page navigating mode to scrolling. The Sprint Palm Pixi, on the other hand, rarely rotated properly. I should point out that since this phone doesn’t feature an on-screen keyboard, you’ll have to switch back to portrait mode to type. I was also worried that the glossy finish would make reading the screen difficult in direct sunlight or under bright lights, however the ambient light sensor brightens everything up enough so that it’s not much of a problem.

The Keyboard: 3.5/5 stars
When I first saw the Pre Plus, I expected a comfortable keyboard especially since it’s a fairly premium device. However, after a few days of use, I have to say otherwise. Although the four rows of keys are decently sized and spaced out, the keyboard lacks the same tactile feel the Pixi’s keyboard offers. The buttons almost seem sticky and I had a surprisingly difficult time getting accustomed to it. The keys are too flat and don’t offer enough of a click when pressed. Typing messages on the Pre Plus took longer than it did on the Pixi. I had to exert more pressure on each key and take time to ensure an accepted input. It isn’t necessarily hard to type messages, but takes more getting used to than with other phones. It also would have helped if the phone featured a decent virtual auto-correction tool as found on the iPhone and Droid. I feel that Palm should consider revamping or entirely redesigning the keyboard on a future iteration. It’s an essential part of the phone and it’s currently lacking.

Operating System: 4/5 stars
A smartphone’s ability to properly bring a desktop-like experience to a handheld is essential.  One of those important features includes the ability to multi-task. For instance, the Apple iPhone has taken much heat for lacking that ability. Fortunately the Palm Pre Plus breezes through this with webOS 1.3.5.1. In addition, since the Pre Plus sports double the RAM, it can handle running twice as many applications at once. I managed to run nearly 10 apps at once without any issues, however having too many open can take a steep toll on battery life. Even if there’s enough RAM, the CPU will become a bottleneck as it can no longer handle all the processes. Running multiple programs definitely handled better than the Sprint Pixi that easily froze up and wouldn’t even let me make a phone call at times. The home screen, interface, and major components are still pretty much the same as with last year’s webOS. The default calendar, phonebook, contacts, and mail apps are essentially identical. The Synergy feature does an excellent job which I’ll get to in the next section. The web browser does an excellent job of rendering web pages and that’s expected since it’s called the webOS after all. The pinch to zoom works seamlessly which even the North American Motorola Droid doesn’t have yet. It’s still not as great as the iPhone’s Safari Browser, but it’s drastically superior to both Windows Mobile’s IE and BlackBerry’s browser. Moving on, the Google Maps application is wonderful as always, but still isn’t the Google Maps Navigation software found on Android devices that offers turn-by-turn directions. Verizon customers will have to opt to use the VZW Navigator which costs $10/month. A new v5.0 of the GPS software with major changes should become available in a few weeks. As for getting real work done, a built in Document Viewer lets you access Excel, Word, and PowerPoint documents. If you are ready to grab some new programs, the App Catalog has come a long way. There’s a lot more it has to offer, but it’s still far from offering numbers close to the 100,000 in the Apple App Store. Despite that, there’s a great selection of quality applications for everyone to appreciate. The UI is quite intuitive and I still love the idea of being able to “toss” a program up to close it. The home screen could better use the empty space with some sort of widgets as seen on Android devices, but you can at least customize backgrounds unlike the iPhone. Even with improved support for higher quality games, the Palm webOS probably needs some more ground-breaking features such as Synergy to truly take on competition.

Synergy: 5/5 stars
There’s one way to explain Synergy: WOW. It’s just that awesome. The Palm Pre’s webOS offers a single central interface to pull information in from a variety of accounts. These include Google Sync, Facebook, Microsoft Exchange, LinkedIn, and Yahoo. After a single login, my Calendars, Contacts, and Emails started pouring in. I definitely recommend syncing over a fast WiFi connection the first time. Instead of creating havoc with a mess of duplicate contacts and data, the Synergy technology handles it quite well. It merges duplicate contacts without destroying your data. For instance, if you have “Jon Doe” on both Facebook and LinkedIn, it will create a merged contact card. If you happen to make any changes to your contacts, updates are automatically relayed to the server. I was truly glad to see that just about all my Facebook contacts appeared along with profile photos, email addresses, and phone numbers. This was by far the easiest and most convenient way to fetch data. If most of your data is already in the ‘Cloud,’ there no reason to have to deal with manually re-entering data, Bluetooth sync, CSV sheets, or VCards. The next step would be to make this feature more powerful. Adding support for more popular web services and offering a clean way to manually select which contacts to sync would go a long way. Palm has an edge over competitors in this segment and needs to keep running with features like these.

Messaging: 4/5 stars
As for messaging, both the webOS is great. All my emails were setup for delivery with Synergy’s magic. It has great support for Gmail folders and features. When an email arrives, the phone alerts the user with a popup and a notification icon at the bottom of the screen. The same row displays alerts for texts, missed calls, voicemails, calendar appointments, alarms, and more. To dismiss an alert, you can either slide it off to the side to acknowledge that you’ve seen it or click on it to open the respective application. Composing and reply to emails and texts was an easy task. The conversation logs are neatly organized as well. The option to forward items often comes in handy. Copy and paste saves the hassle and time of having to remember and retype things. The only thing that would have improved the experience would have been a better predictive text tool and spell checker that will both speed up typing and correct typos.

Call Quality + Network: 5/5 stars
The Palm Pre performs on par with most smarphone devices. It wasn’t as amazing at eliminating external noises such as the Droid, but still got the job done. I was clearly able to hear the party on the other end and vice versa. I almost always had a decent number of bars throughout the Sacramento and Davis area. Verizon’s network didn’t drop just one call since I had this phone, which was rare in my opinion. I’ve humorously seen the iPhone running on AT&T try and repeatedly fail to make calls from the same areas even though the device reported full signal. I was always able to communicate without issues. I found the ability to call someone by simply starting to type their name while on the home screen a convenient method instead of scrolling through the contact list. There’s a clean list that displays all incoming, outgoing, and missed calls. I also was glad to see that you could delete specific items from the call history, which I can’t do on the iPhone. 3G data reliability was also pretty great, which I’ll get into more details in the Hotspot section. However, if you for some reason can’t fetch a strong signal, you can always opt to use WiFi.

Multimedia: 3.5/5 stars
The Palm Pre Plus streamed videos impressively well from YouTube. I was a bit dissappoitned to find that VCast wasn’t included on this phone. I truly enjoyed having the Sprint TV streaming service available to enjoy ESPN on the Palm Pixi. Considering the price of a data plan, that should definitely be thrown in. I copied some video podcasts and MP4 movies over the device. Some appeared in the video application, but others with certain codecs didn’t. I was further disappointed to find that some files that played just fine on my iPhone didn’t play past a few frames. The video formats are a bit limited at the time and could sure use some improvements. As for music, things were a lot better. Although iTunes sync support is not reliable since Apple keeps disabling support, programs such as Windows Media Player get the job done. If that doesn’t work for you, simply connecting it as a mass storage device with any machine and dragging files onto the device will work just fine. The phone also supports Bluetooth AD2p stereo profiles for devices such as the Jabra Halo, Altec-Lansing BackBeat, or Nokia BT-905. Speaking of music, Pandora worked quite well with this phone. Especially great since I can let it run in the background unlike with the iPhone. I had it connected to my car’s stereo through an AUX jack. It streamed music impressively well without any major pauses for buffering. While it’s still no iPod when it comes to multimedia, it should be able to replace the need for an additional MP3 player for most consumers.

Camera & Camcorder: 3.5/5 stars
The Pre Plus sports a 3.0 megapixel camera, which is a step up from the 2 megapixel camera on the Pixi, but no match versus other smartphones. The phone once again entirely lacks the ability to record videos. A v1.4 webOS update should become available this month that will enable video recording and editing amongst other new features. Getting back to the camera, it fails to impress. I was disappointed to see how long it took for the camera to start up. Once it was up and running, it was actually fairly responsive and the interface was simple, clean, and easy to use. However, it falls flat in terms of custom settings. I was only able to enable, disable, or set the flash to auto. There are no other special effects, filters, resolution settings, or anything else. Browsing through your library of photos was slow to load. Sliding images to the left or right to get to another one would take a moment to render. However, zoom in and out with the pinch gesture was smooth and quick. I was glad to see that I could email, MMS, or upload photos to Facebook right from the gallery. It’s a neat addition, but it’s unfortunate that the camera isn’t better. The colors were decent at best. Bright objects became easily over exposed. Images that aren’t taken in anything less than a brightly  lit area appear grainy. The flash helps with close up head shots in dark settings, but is still not bright enough. Fortunately the turnaround time for snapping each image was fairly quick. But the fact remains, it lacks features even inexpensive or free flip phones have. There’s a lot of work Palm needs to put into this element of the phone.

WiFi & Mobile Hot Spot: 5/5 stars
This was by far one of my most favorite features. There’s a pre-installed App for Mobile Hotspot that lets you use Verizon 3G network and share it with up to 5 nearby WiFi enabled devices. The App lets you pick a network name (SSID), set a WPA/WPA2 security passphrase, or even leave it as an open network. I put it to the test with a couple of machines including an Asus netbook, Dell Mini, Apple iPhone, and Dell XPS Laptop. Mostly using a single device at a time, speeds were actually quite impressive. After several tests in Northern California (San Jose, Davis, and Sacramento), we found download speeds averaging around 1.1 MB/s and upload at 0.30 MB/s. I also noticed that even if multiple connected computers weren’t necessarily using data at a given instance, speeds did slow down a bit. Also, if you are using the Pre Plus as a WiFi Hotspot, you definitely should find a source of power as the built in battery will drain quickly. And of course with any neat feature comes a price. Enabling the Palm Plus for use as a 3G hotspot costs $40/month. That’s the same cost as it is with other smartphones. But the advantage of the Pre Plus, like a MiFi, internet access isn’t just limited to one device. You can take your iPod Touch, Sony PSP, Nintendo DSi, or any WiFi enabled device online easily.

Conclusion:
The Pre Plus definitely packs a punch and seems appealing until you look at competition. The webOS, Synergy, and the hardware are all great, but it’s definitely a notch down from what both the Motorola Droid and Apple iPhone have to offer. It’s especially in the shadows compared to the Google HTC Nexus One. If you’re a Verizon Wireless customer or planning on switching to their network, the Droid is only $50 more, offers more features, and has the same monthly fees. Although the Droid may not have the ability to host a personal WiFi Hotspot, I doubt many customers will opt to pay the extra $40 each month in addition to a calling + data + texting plans. I should note that the Palm Pre is definitely easier to use and has a friendlier feel, but I truly have a hard time recommending it over the Droid. For example, the Pre Plus requires a $10/month fee for using VZ Navigator, while the Droid has the free Google Navigator. The Palm Pre hasn’t really seen any major changes other than the new gesture pad and doubling the RAM and Flash Storage. It was a unique product and fairly decent device about a year ago when it first launched, but it has definitely begun to look old compared to newer phones. The Pre Plus is really due for a major hardware upgrade along with new cutting edge software features to stay afloat. Plus with a few disadvantages such as a mediocre camera, no voice commands, a slow CPU, and a lacking App Catalog, there’s not much it offers versus other smartphones at nearly the same price range. However I should note that there isn’t anything particularly wrong about the device. It’s a wonderful creation, has a great polish, and does what it’s designed to do but simply can’t stand up against competition. If you simply like the aesthetics, the webOS, or need the hotspot feature, then this phone won’t disappoint.

Buy: $150 for Palm Pre Plus
Links: VerizonWireless.com Palm Pre Plus

The Pre Plus also comes with some extra goodies over its predecessor. It now comes with a touch-stone enabled rear cover. You won’t need to spend extra cash if you decided to buy a Touchstone Dock. The phone now has 16GB of internal storage versus the 8GB available on its older sibling still running on the Sprint network. The phone also has double the RAM, meaning more multitasking. The hardware gesture key is now embedded into the casing and is no longer visible, but functions just the same. The Pixi Plus also has some improvements in addition to the new hotspot feature. Yes, if you didn’t guess already, that means the Pixi now has WiFi. It’s also compatible with a variety of designer rear plates that are all compatible with the Touchstone Dock.

Palm Pre Plus:

Palm Pixi Plus:

Both the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will hit store shelves and will be available for purchase online starting January 25th, 2010. That’s just 3 days away! The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will cost you $150 and $99, respectively. That’s, however, after signing a new two-year contract and sending in a $100 mail-in-rebate. Verizon’s also has a new promotion that runs through February that will get you a Palm Pixi Plus for free after a mail-in-rebate if you buy either of the phones first. As you can tell from the gallery of images above, our units just arrived. We’re working quickly on our reviews and hope to have them published before launch. To read our full review, stay tuned. You can subscribe to our RSS Feed or sign up for Email Subscriptions. If you haven’t heard, we’re also on Facebook and Twitter!

Links: VerizonWireless.com | Palm.com
Related: Palm Pixi Sprint Review

Sprint’s Overdrive is the first 4G-powered mobile hotspot. All predecessors from other carriers have only supported 3G networks to date. Sprint’s 4G coverage extends only to 27 markets at this time, but they’ve announced plans to expand to Boston, Huston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. this year. You can check if you are in the included coverage area here. Fortunately, the Overdrive is entirely backwards compatible with Sprint’s 3G network as well. Although slower, it’s widely available nationwide.

So here’s how it works. Just press the power button and wait a few seconds for the device to turn on, connect to Sprint, and start the local hotspot. The SSID and secure key appears on the display. Just turn on any WiFi enabled device such as a Laptop, Netbook, Sony PSP, Nintendo DSi, Zune, or iPod Touch. (Even works with the iPhone’s Wi-Fi if AT&T’s network is being spotty.) The Overdrive allows up to five simultaneous connections. Portable hotspots, unlike embedded mobile broadband chips and external USB cards, offer the freedom to share internet access with more than a device.

Sprint was kind enough to lend us a 4G mobile broadband card while we were in Las Vegas for CES, one of their 4G markets. Although I’ll leave the details in the full review of the U300 4G card, speeds often reached up to 6MB/s. (Theoretically 10Mb/s!) That’s faster than many home DSL lines and is plenty of bandwidth for streaming music from Pandora, videos from Hulu, and Skype video calls.

Sprint has sent us a sample unit for a full review, but it’s still in transit. However, a couple of unique features worth mentioning now. The Overdrive has a microSD card expansion (16GB max) to create a mini network shared drive for connected devices. The LCD displays active users, signal strength, battery life, and a few more details. Sierra Wireless, the manufacturers of the Overdrive, claims a 150 foot WiFi range. In regards to battery life, it’s expected to last up to 3 hours in use and 36 hours on standby. If you run out of juice, there’s a microUSB cable to recharge the device. The device just hit stores on January 10th and will run you about $99 after signing a two-year contract and sending in a $50 mail-in-rebate.

For more details on this and to read our full review, stay tuned. You can subscribe to our RSS Feed or sign up for Email Subscriptions. If you haven’t heard, we’re also on Facebook and Twitter!

Links: Sprint.com/Overdrive

An average brand-name Netbook (e.g. Dell, HP) with a standard 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM costs about $300. Cell Phone carriers including AT&T and Verizon now offer subsidized Netbooks with a 3G Wireless Broadband card built in. So the big question: “Is it worth purchasing a Netbook with a contract?” The simple answer is NO.

For example, let’s take a look at the HP Mini 110. It retails for about $300 excluding tax straight from HP.com. Verizon Wireless offers the same configuration of the Mini 110 for a subsidized price of $150. Half-off seems like a great deal, but it’s not. First there’s a $35 activation fee. Next you’ll have to sign-up for a data plan that costs $60 per month for just 5GB of data. I should note that there’s also a $40/month data plan that offers just 250MB of data. Considering that I feel 5GB itself is too little, 250MB is just ridiculous. Plus there’s also a 2-year contract associated with the device. To get out, you’ll have to pay the $175 early termination fee. So if you add that up here’s what you get:

$150 (HP Mini 110) + $35 (Activation Fee) + $1440 (5GB Plan, $60 x 24 Months) = $1625.

Keep in mind that I didn’t include tax either. That’s nearly the cost of a fairly high-end Dell XPS laptop or MacBook Pro. Although Netbooks are a great tool, it’s not a good idea to spend that much for one and be stuck with it for two years. The technology is evolving and new models that run faster and longer keep coming out. Dual Core Atom processors are probably going to hit Netbooks within the next few months. Your Netbook will be outdated in no time. Unless you need a computer with 3G Broadband at all times, it might be better just to use hotspots when you need access. If you decide to upgrade your netbook every year, you can do so and still end up paying less than half of what a contracted Netbook costs. If you really need broadband on the go, either try to add a tethering plan to your current phone, grab a MiFi that works with multiple devices, or a separate 3G USB Modem.

Links: AT&T Netbooks | Verizon Netbooks