Prizefight (week of July 27)
Motorola Droid X vs. HTC Droid Incredible
Motorola Droid X vs. HTC Droid Incredible
When HTC unveiled the Droid Incredible, there was no doubt it was Verizon's top Android phone. Sleek, feature-rich, and fast, the Incredible is so hot that to this day the carrier is having a hard time keeping it stocked on store shelves.
However, as we all know, the tech world is a fast-paced one and there's always something bigger, better, and brighter right around the corner. Sure enough, within several months of the Incredible's release, the Motorola Droid X made its grand entrance.
Armed with a larger screen, an HDMI port, and mobile hot spot capabilities, the Droid X surely got people's attention; however, judging by all the reader e-mails we received on this topic, it also left a lot of Verizon customers confused: Should they get the Droid Incredible or the Droid X?
Well, we decided this would be the perfect subject for our latest Prizefight, so grab a seat and see who comes out on top in this inter-carrier battle. Let's have a clean fight, fellas.
Ding Ding!
Editors'note: The Prizefight scoring system is as follows: Each judge rates on a zero to five scale. At the end of each round, we will take an average of the three judges' scores. The final score for each phone will be an average of all five rounds.
Round 1: Sexiness and durability
Design and looks count for a lot when you're shopping for a cell phone, so here's where we examine the look, size, feel, and sex appeal of the devices.| player | Bonnie | Nicole | Brian | the winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 HTC Droid Incredible | 5Personally, I think the Droid Incredible is sexier because of its slim, compact design. I also appreciate some of the finer details that HTC put into the device, such as the topographic design and colorful internal components. | 4The Droid Incredible is quite a looker, with a beautiful 3.7-inch display that is vibrant as it is sharp. It also has a neat topographic back and the size is nice and slim as well. | 4It fits in my hand quite nicely, it's perfect for the pocket, and its rubberized back can take a beating, but I'm still not a fan of that triple-layer booty. | 4.3 |
 Motorola Droid X | 4The Droid X's 4.3-inch touch screen is gorgeous. It's just the phone's large size is a slight turnoff to me. | 4I can't help but think of the Droid X as a huge lumbering cousin to the Incredible. Yes, I love the 4.3-inch display and its slim profile, but I can't get over how horribly large it is. So for me, it's a tie. | 3The 4.3-inch screen is gorgeous, and I'm a sucker for big shiny things, but believe it or not, this phone is bigger than the HTC Evo 4G is. It's taller and fatter at the top and I have to shift my hand to use the lock screen. | 3.7 |
Round 2: Controls and user interface
Sexiness is one thing, but are the phones easy to use? In round 2, we examine the design and usability of their user interfaces, keyboards, and navigation controls.| player | Bonnie | Nicole | Brian | the winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HTC Droid Incredible | 4I've said it many times before, but HTC Sense provides the best user experience on Android. Also, I used to think HTC's keyboard was pretty great until I used the Droid X's keyboard. The touch-sensitive keys below the screen are OK, but I could do without the optical joystick. | 4I found the Incredible pretty easy to get around. I quite like the HTC Sense interface as well as the keyboard, which I find is way easier to use than the standard Android one. I wasn't a big fan of the optical joystick though, as it didn't make navigating that much easier, and I often accidentally brushed against it. The lack of a dedicated camera button is also annoying. | 4HTC's Sense interface is still my favorite flavor of Android. The touch screen and buttons are responsive and I like the optical joystick option that doesn't hurt the design. This is the most feature-packed operating system available, but you are going to have to learn how to use it. | 4 |
| Motorola Droid X | 4Motorola's done a good job of toning down Motoblur, but it's still a little clunky compared with HTC's Sense. That said, the keyboard is awesome and the physical navigation controls are a plus, so this round is a draw for me. | 4I much prefer the Droid X's physical hot keys to the touch sensor ones on the Incredible, so I give points there. However, I do think the MotoBlur interface isn't as refined as HTC's, and it's not as easy to skip between home screens. | 3Physical buttons are nice, but why did Motorola swap the Menu and Home buttons that have been a staple for almost every Android phone? The interface is definitely Android, but it's not as clean as HTC's Sense interface and you feel that immediately. | 3.7 |
Round 3: Features
What do these phones offer under the hood? Here we examine the features in each device and rate which phone offers more.| player | Bonnie | Nicole | Brian | the winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HTC Droid Incredible | 4The Droid Incredible and Droid X are evenly matched in terms of core features, but the X pulls ahead with a couple of extras, such as mobile hot spot capabilities and an HDMI port. | 4With its 8-megapixel camera, music player, Wi-Fi, and GPS, the Droid Incredible has all the features you would want in a modern smartphone. Its Google integration is great, as is the variety of apps you can get from the Android Market. | 4Both phones have 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, as well as all the great Android features like voice search, voice commands, turn-by-turn directions, speech-to-text messages, and more. | 4 |
| Motorola Droid X | 5See comment above. | 4The Droid X matches the Incredible's features pretty closely, so we give it the same marks as well. | 5You're getting a couple of extra features on the Droid X that give it the edge. The mobile hot spot feature is killer and it has an HDMI port on the bottom. Boo yeah! | 4.7 |
Round 4: Web browsing and multimedia
These handsets do a lot more than just make calls--they also have Web browsers and multimedia players. We tell you which phone offers a better media and Web browsing experience.| player | Bonnie | Nicole | Brian | the winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HTC Droid Incredible | 4The Droid Incredible provides a perfectly fine Web browsing and multimedia experience. The pinch-to-zoom gesture works smoothly on the browser, and its page load times are swift. Also, HTC Sense gives the music player a nice Cover Flow-like interface. | 4The Web browsing felt intuitive and smooth, and we had no problems engaging the accelerometer. Videos look fantastic on its display as well. | 4Both share the same Web browser with multiple windows and bookmark previews. Both phones have 8-megapixel cameras with flash and 720p video. One advantage is HTC's Sense interface that has a more polished media player. | 4 |
| Motorola Droid X | 5The Droid X offers a similar experience to the Incredible; however, it supersizes it on a 4.3-inch touch screen, making Web browsing and video watching that much better. | 5There's little doubt in my mind that despite my loathing for the size of the Droid X, its 4.3-inch display does allow for a vastly superior multimedia experience. The video looks stunning, and Web pages really take advantage of every pixel. | 5It's all about the screen here. Size matters here because the screen enhances every action from Web surfing to watching movies. | 5 |
Round 5: Call quality and general performance
Cell phones aren't worth much if they don't make good calls and can't keep up with your demands. In the final round, we check out just how well devices work as a phone and everything in between.| player | Bonnie | Nicole | Brian | the winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HTC Droid Incredible | 5The Droid Incredible's call quality is good, with little to no background noise or voice distortion. Its battery life could be better, but the phone's general performance is outstanding. | 4Call quality was fantastic, overall; however, I did hear a bit more clicking and fuzz with the Incredible than I did with the Droid X. | 3I was disappointed with the call quality on both of these phones. I've heard better from other Verizon phones, and I heard noise pops and breaks in multiple calls. Its battery gives you a solid 5.5 hours of 3G talk time. | 4 |
| Motorola Droid X | 5The Droid X's call quality was as good as the Incredible's. The phone didn't feel quite as snappy as the Incredible, but its battery life was better. I'm calling this round a draw. | 5While I heard some minor clicking and popping on the Droid X, I felt its audio quality was better than that of the Incredible in the end. There was hardly any background noise as well. | 4Call quality was pretty much the same for both phones, but it's always dependent on your location. The Droid X's 3G talk time was impressive with 7.5 hours of juice. | 4.7 |
The winner is...
Winner
Motorola Droid X (4.4 pts)
Runner-Up
HTC Droid Incredible (4.1 pts)
Despite taking an early lead, the Droid Incredible lost steam in the latter half of the match as the Droid X overpowered it with its extra features and 4.3-inch touch screen. But remember, one size does not fit all. If you find the Droid X a bit much, you're still getting a solid product in the Droid Incredible.
Also, you guys need to stop downgrading Android phones because you don't like the UI. I have Sense-like features on my Droid X because there are launchers in the market that provide that functionality. If you want a different UI, go into the market and find one you like. Not every skin will be to everyone's liking, but that's the beauty of Android. You get to choose the UI elements that appeal to you and are not stuck with just a wall of icons and no skins, themes, live wallpapers, etc.
So bascially the review is preference with both phones being pretty much equal... Pocket size vs bigger screen
I prefer HTC as far as a brand, cus of motorola's efuse
Big often doesn't equate to sexy. No one will say that the Hummer H1is sexier than a Porsche Cayenne. So of course because since it's strength will come in performance indicators like Multimedia opportunity.
Secondly, how are they downgrading Android Phones? Incredible with the Sense UI IS AN ANDROID phone.
And Sense isn't a skin, or a wallpaper slick. It is a user interface that is proprietary to HTC. You can't find it in the market like you can a ringtone.
- Droid X is said to come with a lot of marketing driven crapware (Blockbuster, Amazon MP3, NFL, etc.) that can't be uninstalled - in addition to the MotoBlur, which to me is a loathsome interface. Is there a similar problem with the Incredible. Which phone can be reverted to a stock Android interface easier?
- Speaking of which, the Droid X is also said to have the eFuse thingy which can make rooting the phone harder, Is rooting more likely to brick the Droid X than the Incredible? Does the Incredible have circuitry similar to eFuse which allows the manufacturer / carrier to retain control over what an owner does with his/her phone?
Also, as I said before, if you don't like MotoBlur then use something else. I like ADW, so that's what I use. If you want the "stock Android interface" then just go find it in the market. There are plenty of launchers available that can make that happen.
As far as rooting goes, the phone just came out. Nothing is really known yet. Motorola did say the phone will not be completely bricked if you try to install a ROM, but it will just sit in recovery mode until a genuine ROM is installed. Give the dev community some time to work on it.
I cant say much for the Droid X as I have never really used one but I have heard the same things about obnoxious software. I do have an Incredible though and it comes with a few extra applications that dont get in the way all (ex. "Friendstream" social networking app to combine twitter, FB, etc., I just deleted the widget and as far as i'm concerned its basically gone).
Also i tend to like a lot of the HTC widgets more than the stock android ones (which on the Inc. you also have the option to use) specifically the clock/weather one. Plus the Sense keyboard is amazing for an onscreen, but but i havent tried the X and am coming off of an LG Dare... so not much comparison. but as always w/ android you can install other ones that you like more from the marketplace.
As far as rooting goes I was looking into it to try the "stock android experience" (but decided to wait till after the rumored 2.2 update next month) and it looks like the incredible is very easy to root and revert back to stock (basically a "one step" root) and they have a good walkthrough on lifehacker.com.
Love the Inc. and had the X been out when I got it I would be in the same dilemma you are. But I love the incredible i really dont think you would regret either one. Cause really the main difference seems to be screen size and ease/risk of rooting.
crapware is enough to drive you insane but the rotting fixes that
-In terms of crapware the only feature I've noticed so far is CityID which can be a pain because it bugs you periodically to buy its $2/mo service, but I've read that after the 2 week trial period it doesn't pop up anymore. As for reverting to a stock interface I'm not sure about that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's possible. I've seen Sense added to devices which didn't originally have it (i.e. Nexus One), so I'd bet you can do the opposite.
-The Incredible does not have the eFuse that the Droid X does. This is probably due to different manufacturers (Droid X is Motorola, Incredible is HTC). I haven't personally installed custom ROMs yet but I know they exists for the Incredible.
Hope that helps!
Looking forward to future matches!
As to the eFuse, I've heard mixed information on the chip. Yes it's installed but I've heard it's not activated at this time. Even if it was active the podcasts I've been listening too aren't too concerned--they state the techies out there will find a workaround and/or it will only trigger if you hose up the phone anyway. I understand it being a negative point for people who's sole desire is to break the phone down to it's bits and completely mess with it, but for standard users, even power users that are okay with some limitations, it shouldn't be an issue. My car has a redline limiter. Yes I could go in and reprogram the computer to allow me above that line, but even if that weren't possible I would still have bought the car.
There is also rumor of upgrading the video capture on the Incredible to allow higher resolution recording.(720p perhaps?)
The last thing is the fact that both phones have a video out port. The Incredible wins in this area in my opinion. The Incredible will allow you to display ANYTHING that the phone display shows onto a HD tv. The HDMI on the Droid X will only allow you to output videos that are captured by the phone....or so I have heard.
720p video capture will be coming to the Incredible in an update which has already been pushed to some users for testing as of last week.
I think you're a little off on the video out port. As far as I know the Incredible can only output via a composite video cable whereas the Droid X has an extra dedicated HDMI port which the Incredible lacks.
Nothing else matters...for now.
Not sure why CNET wanted the Droid X to win this, but that's sure the feeling I get ...
This goes back to my previous point. The player that comes by default has no meaning because there are plenty of great video/audio/media players in the market. You get to choose the one you like best.
Come on, CNET. You guys are supposed to be experts yet you ignore one of Android's main strengths. It's like you don't want to spend 10 minutes setting up the phone and just want to use the default EVERYTHING.
A little customization goes a long way.
J