Punny title, right?
Regardless of the lack of humor, I was really pumped for this phone to come out. After it did, there were a couple of problems I had with it.
One: MotoBlur is still a part of the phone. I’m not sure why phone manufacturers feel like they have to muck with the Android UI. HTC’s Sense is nice, but after using a Nexus One, I can honestly say that I just prefer the stock Android UI.
Two: You can not install custom ROMs. This is almost the lifeblood of the reason a technie like myself wants an Android based device. We want to be free to play, free to get our hands dirty, and free to break the phone. With the Droid X, you can’t do this, unless you want a brick. See, Motorola has locked the bootloader with the same encryption algorithm that they locked the Milestone with. The chance of gaining root on this device is close to nil. If you try to install a custom ROM, the encryption chip renders the phone useless and it can only be reset at the manufacturer.
Okay, so those aren’t too bad I guess, you can still live with that. But let’s say your whole user input device, the touch screen, is defective.
Three: Turns out, they have been shipping with defective screens.
Example 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFqIOmmFQ48&feature=player_embedded
Example 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRFX0t7cDb4&feature=player_embedded
I really thought Motorola was going to change my mind about them with this one… Sad to say, this has been crossed off as “my next phone.”
I guess I’ll wait for the HTC Prodigal.
Update: It won’t break your phone completely, just brick it until you install legit software. There is hope!
“Motorola’s primary focus is the security of our end users and protection of their data, while also meeting carrier, partner and legal requirements. The Droid X and a majority of Android consumer devices on the market today have a secured bootloader. In reference specifically to eFuse, the technology is not loaded with the purpose of preventing a consumer device from functioning, but rather ensuring for the user that the device only runs on updated and tested versions of software. If a device attempts to boot with unapproved software, it will go into recovery mode, and can re-boot once approved software is re-installed. Checking for a valid software configuration is a common practice within the industry to protect the user against potential malicious software threats. Motorola has been a long time advocate of open platforms and provides a number of resources to developers to foster the ecosystem including tools and access to devices via MOTODEV at http://developer.motorola.com.”
Update 2: Root access has been granted! http://bit.ly/clAFdx