The recently released Motorola Droid X update (update 4.5.588) brought Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, the latest version of Motorola’s MotoBlur UI, and is showing some major performance upgrades. The Droid X is powered by a 1GHz processor and after its most recent update it is running Android 2.2 Froyo. After the update it is reportedly getting a score of 1918 which is a significant boost over it’s Android 2.2 update and nearly double the score from running Android 2.1, which the phone launched with (scores shown in image above).

Posted under Android News, Droid X Gingerbread

The Droid X² may be the Motorola smartphone getting all the spotlight lately, with its first press shots showing up late last week, but there may be yet another Moto Droid lurking in the shadows, as Droid-life has received some pictures of an unidentified Motorola model, purported to be an in-house multi-core prototype.

While this pictured model looks quite similar to the Droid X, you’ll notice this smartphone features a silver faceplate and is significantly thicker than the Droid X, with a bulging battery cover in the rear. While there have been extended batteries available for the Droid X which included replacement covers to let them stick out a bit, we haven’t seen anything like this. It doesn’t quite look like a production model, at any rate, as it doesn’t fit flush against the smartphone’s body. Droid-life speculates that we could be seeing a gutted shell of a Droid X used as a testbed for prototyping new hardware, with the extended case giving engineers room to work.

The silver border around the phone’s screen recalls the Droid X SE we looked at last fall, which never made it to market. Could Motorola have a stash of these cases it’s been using for spare parts? According to the source, this prototype is multi-core, has a 12-megapixel camera, a qHD screen, and is just one of five similarly-equipped smartphones being worked on. For now, we’ll just have to keep our eyes open and see if we don’t run across this odd hardware again, hopefully with some explanation accompanying it.

Posted under Droid X2

We got pictures and video of the Motorola Droid X2 being handled already, but one thing we didn’t have was benchmarks. Well, that problem has now been rectified as more evidence of the Droid X2 has leaked on to the Interwebs. You can see the Tegra 2-powered X2 easily besting its predecessor’s score of just under 1,250 with nearly 2,500 in Quadrant — that is just about twice the graphical power, people. Suffice to say, the Droid X2 will be quite a powerhouse once Verizon gets around to launching it.

Posted under Droid X2

Without any official word from Motorola or Verizon, any mention of the Motorola Droid X2′s specifications is a guess based on pieced-together information from various sources on the Internet, and leaks like the one we saw earlier this month.  Words like dual-core and Tegra 2 have been thrown around, and from the looks of this video of the DX2 booting up, we can be pretty sure of the dual-core part.  Since Motorola is using it on other products like the Xoom and Atrix 4G, we can hopefully assume the DX2 has some sweet Tegra 2 juice inside as well.

Check out the boot video after the break, folks.  Thanks, anonymous!

Note: We edited out the about screen because it could be a Canary Trap, but it’s the same as the one seen here because it is the same one seen there. :p

Posted under Droid X2

It seems that Verizon/Motorola are quietly rolling out an official version of the Droid X Gingerbread update that leaked a couple of weeks ago, but this one is slightly modified. If you recall, the build number for the leak was 4.5.573, but the new update is 4.5.588 – verifying that it is indeed a newer version.

From what I can gather, this update brings one big thing that everyone wants – Gingerbread. But it also brings something that no one wants – a new bootloader. What does this mean? It means that if you’re rooted and you grab this update, it will kill root access and there is currently no way to get it back.

It has been suggested that this update is only rolling out to users with the latest official build from Verizon (build 2.3.340), but if you’re currently rooted then ClockworkMod Recovery should block the update from happening. This is a “silent” update, meaning that there is no notification that the update is available to download, but instead it will download automatically and then you will be prompted to restart your phone so the update can take place.

This is all currently happening right now, so we’ll make sure to update this post with any new details as they arise.

Posted under Droid X News

The Motorola Droid 2 and Droid X are both headed toward their one-year anniversaries this summer, which has pretty much become the culling hour for a smartphone of any creed these days. Their successors, ingeniously titled the Droid 3 and Droid X 2, have seemingly made an appearance over atHowardForums, courtesy of longtime forum member wnrussell. He’s also kindly provided imagery of a heretofore unknown device, called the Targa, which promises Verizon 4G LTE and has a protrusion on its rear that looks to be dedicated to accommodating an outsized camera sensor. It reminds us most of Motorola’s XT720, though it sports a chrome outline to its body similar to what you see above on the purported Droid 3. Click past the break to get an eyeful of this Targa device and its Droid X 2 brandmate

Posted under Droid X2

FPse for Android, the “fastest and the most compatible PSone emulator for handled devices”, is now avaliable in the Android Market. This app lets you load up your PS1 games and play them on your Android-powered smartphone or tablet. According to its developer FPse is very fast and compatible with a wide-variety of devices.

Sound quality should be great and it even allows emulation of audio tracks (using a .cue file). Various controls and features of your Android are supported, including force feedback, analog sticks (by sliding on the screen), orientation sensor, and hardware keys.

This version adds new game image formats, including: .img .iso .bin .cue .nrg and .Z formats.

If you’re a PS1 gamer, this emulator is the best we’ve seen. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Posted under Droid X Apps, Droid X Emulator, Droid X Emulator Games, Droid X Games, Droid X PSx4Droid, Droid X PSx4Droid Games

While we’re probably still years or decades away from getting our very own animatronic clones, Google’s released the next best thing for the time being. Available on the Android Market is this Androidify app, which, as the name says for itself, lets us mere mortals craft our very own Android mascot lookalikes. Hell, you can even slap on some facial hair or a baby droid while you’re at it. We’ll say no more — see the app in action after the break, if you’re not already busy dishing out your new avatar across the web.

Posted under Droid X Apps

Today seems to be the day for new Android apps to be hitting the Market! This time around it’s for all you sports lovers out there! Sports Illustrated, the popular sports magazine, is now available for both Android smartphones and Android tablets.

“This is a significant step in delivering Sports Illustrated’s award-winning journalism to sports fans everywhere and in any way they want it,” said Mark Ford, Time Inc. EVP and President of its Sports Group.

The app is free, but you’ll need a subscription to access the content:
- Print/Digital (Samsung Galaxy/Android Smartphone/Web): $48 annually or $4.99/month
- Digital Only: $3.99/month
- Current print subscribers have free access to the digital package throughout the remainder of their term

Since I knew you were going to ask, because Sports Illustrated is now almost synonymous with “the swimsuit edition”, according to their press release “there are also several new Swimsuit digital products, including 3D, coming out on February 15″, 2011.

Posted under Android News

Posted under Droid X Apps