WiFi Hotspot, Speakerphone, Call Quality, and GPS - Motorola Droid X2 Review

WiFi Hotspot

Although the X2 we were sent wasn’t provisioned to use the WiFi hotspot functionality, I could indeed test the settings pages, verify that it worked, and at least get to the Verizon provisioning page. Motorola’s hotspot app lets you change DHCP server settings (or at least define the subnet), and also change the channel, something super important if you’re in a crowded spectrum environment.

Beyond that, I really can’t speak to the hotspot side of things, nor could we run our WiFi hotspot battery life test. 

Speakerphone Loudness

Speakerphone on the X2 is a bit disappointing. For all the things that could and should have carried over from the X, speakerphone clearly wasn’t one of them. The actual port on the back of the device is the same as the X, however volume isn’t. 

It’s just odd that this isn’t better. I listened to both side by side doing our call test, and the X2 simply isn’t as loud. Having a louder speaker is just so important, especially if you intend to use the device for playing music or frequently using Google Navigation.

Call Quality

Audio quality on the X2 over the earpiece is very good. Similar to other Motorola phones, you can also change the voice coder by dialing ##program, entering “000000,” tapping test mode, going right three pages or so, then changing from EVRC to either EVRC-B, or 13K.

I recorded some examples of the X2’s 1x voice quality by doing line-out to a computer and simply recording. Subjectively I think things sound good, and again the X2 has a second microphone for ambient noise suppression when on calls in loud locations. I was unable to find out what audio codec is inside the X2 for those concerned with how music sounds through the audio jack, though I'd expect similar performance to the original X. 

GPS

Finally we have GPS on the X2, which locks extremely quickly and shows similar performance to the original X. I’m not entirely certain, but it’s possible the X2 is using Qualcomm’s GPS on the MDM6600, or at least it would make a lot of sense to. Again, fixes happened extremely quickly on the device when given a good swath of visible sky. Even indoors, the X2 frequently was able to get a good 3D GPS fix, which is more than I can say for a number of other Android handsets. 

Left: Droid X2, Right: Droid X

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