Motorola Droid 2 Review: Rebooting the Droid
by Brian Klug on September 19, 2010 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Droid
- Motorola Droid 2
- Android
- Mobile
Performance on the Droid 2
The Droid 2 also uses an OMAP3620 series SoC, similar in nature to the OMAP3630 used in the Droid X. The OMAP3620 and OMAP3630 are both ARM Cortex-A8 based, and clocked at a maximum of 1 GHz. Both share the same PowerVR SGX 530 GPU at the same clocks.
Where the OMAP 3620 differs is in video encode and camera capture support. The OMAP3630 is capable of HD 720p video capture and playback, along with support for camera resolutions above 5 megapixels—this makes the SoC the clear choice for the Droid X, which has a higher resolution camera and unsurprisingly supports 720p video encode. The OMAP3620 in the Droid 2, however, only supports up to SD DVD (720 x 480) video capture and playback, and up to 5 megapixel camera capture.
The reason why 720p video encode isn't present with the Droid 2 is now pretty obvious—SoC support isn't there. The rest of the platform is the same—you get Cortex A8 at 1 GHz, the SGX 530 graphics and the rest of the OMAP36xx platform the Droid X has that made it very quick in our benchmarks. The Droid 2 surprisingly has DDR3 onboard (not to be confused with LPDDR3—OMAP3630 and OMAP3620 support LPDDR1 at up to 200 MHz).
Performance is thankfully relatively speedy, as long as you’re not considering that strangely slow applications menu fade animation. Surprisingly however, the Droid 2 doesn’t post numbers in line with how fast Snapdragon 1 GHz parts with 2.2 are posting in a number of areas. Linpack is probably the most interesting:
I’m uncertain about whether the issue lies with Motorola’s 2.2 install on the Droid 2, but hopefully the X doesn’t suffer the same kind of oddities. Back on 2.1, OMAP3630 in the Droid X packed a fairly decent lead CPU wise whenever we could measure it, so hopefully this is an issue with the JIT compiler or something else simple that will be fixed.
Interestingly enough, browser performance is right where it should be on the Droid 2 with Froyo, scoring just a bit behind the Nexus One.
GPU benchmarks remain OMAP 3620’s strong point, with the OMAP 3620 in the Droid 2 posting Neocore and kwaak3 numbers in line with what we saw with the Droid X. That’s how things should be here, too:
The move to 2.2 or the 3620 (from the Droid X's 3630) doesn't really change those scores at all. It'll be interesting to see if Droid X Froyo performance is in line with the Droid 2 or if other hardware differences make it slightly faster.
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bigi - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
Your pics in the sun are crap because left/middle phones have photographer shadow on them therefore showing more contrast/details in shaded area.The phone on the right looks worst because the "photographer" made this look worst.
awaken688 - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
Brian. Good review. Can you comment on how the Droid 2 works as a phone? You know the earpiece volume and clarity? Ability to get rid of background noise of the receiving speaker. I know these are smartphones, but they still are phones so I would love to have some clear thoughts on that part of the device.LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
In a week and a half, I can only comment on my own experience --but the D2 has the best reception and call clarity of the smartphones I've had (Kyocera 7135, three Treos, and a Blackberry Tour prior to this). I've gotten calls (and held them) in areas I thought previously impossible, and calls everywhere for me have been clear.Brian Klug - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - link
I generally don't comment too much on handset performance unless there's something extraordinarily bad about performance, purely because it's very subjective right now. In this case, Droid 2 handset quality/volume are almost identical to the original Droid. Both have noise cancellation, though I'm betting the Droid 2 is slightly less effective at cancelling noise due to that (as I mentioned) somewhat strange rear microphone placement.Otherwise I've been working on a very quantitative way to judge handset voice quality and performance, which will eventually appear in reviews. Subjectively, the Droid 2 is the same as any CDMA phone in terms of voice quality.
-Brian
DJMiggy - Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - link
Good review! Lots of good information on the Droid 2. I look forward to the ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore. March 2011 is when my new every two is up with Verizon and I can get a new phone without getting bunged 600 dollars. lolawaken688 - Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - link
Thanks LoneWolf and Brian. I just know that from my experience with the LG VX8300 that not all CDMA/GSM phones are created equal. We have an original Droid and it is by far the best phone we have used. It's clarity, volume, and reception is just hands down better than my VX8300 and it easily bests the iPhone we have too, although it is by a less noticeable amount.I'll take subjective =)
Shinobi123 - Friday, October 1, 2010 - link
Why is the XT720 never in these comparisons?I've had this phone for soon two months, and it's easily the best phone I ever had.
Not biggest screen or highest clocked cpu, but it's a good phone and excellent camera.
soccerharms - Friday, October 1, 2010 - link
Hey Brian,Is there future plans to compare the droid x with froyo with the droid 2? I would be very interested in how these stack up because people are posting significant performance increases with the update.
Thanks for the review
jeans_xp - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
The mobile world's yesterday king is backing.HAHA, first smart phone is iPhone 3GS. I find a good website for smart phone news and latest technology: www.mobilegoing.com