Motorola Droid 2 Global Review - First Look at Verizon's World Traveling Smartphone

Motorola Droid 2 Global Review - First Look at Verizon's World Traveling Smartphone
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Motorola Droid 2 Global Review

The Motorola Droid 2 Global is somewhat of a successor to the Motorola Droid 2. The Motorola Droid 2 Global has silently been released by Verizon and is available now for $199.99 on contract. The Motorola Droid 2 Global has similar hardware to the original Droid 2, but it is slightly more powerful. The main selling point of the Motorola Droid 2 Global is the fact that it can be used, like the name suggests, globally. Verizon’s CDMA technology has prevented customers from using their smartphones around the globe and the Motorola Droid 2 Global is the first smartphone in their line up to use both CDMA and GSM technologies. At the moment, Verizon has locked the GSM functionality from allowing the Motorola Droid 2 Global to use other U.S. carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile, but hackers may very well be able to hack the device into allowing it.

Motorola Droid 2 Global Specifications:

  • Dimensions: 4.58 x 2.38 x 0.54 inches (116 x 60 x 13.7 mm)
  • Weight: 6.1 oz (173 g)
  • Display: 3.7 inch LCD capacitive touchscreen display, 480 x 854 pixels
  • Memory: 8 GB + 8 GB microSD expandable to 32 GB
  • OS: Android OS 2.2
  • Processor: 1.2 GHz TI OMAP
  • Camera: 5 MP camera with dual LED flash
  • Connectivity: Global - CDMA 800/1900, CDMA EV-DO Rev. A 800/1900 , WCDMA 850/1900/2100, GSM 850/900/1800/1900
  • Bluetooth: Stereo Bluetooth 2.1
  • GPS: GPS with A-GPS
  • Battery: 1420 mAh

Design and Display (4 out of 5)

The Motorola Droid 2 Global is almost a spitting image of the original Motorola Droid 2, the only

Motorola Droid 2 Global Review

difference being a slight bump in the Droid 2 Global’s camera, mainly due to the entire phone being just a smidgen thinner than the original. Otherwise the design is pretty much the same with the Motorola Droid 2. Starting with the 3.7 inch LCD capacitive touchscreen display that can display a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. The LCD screen is not as vibrant as the Super AMOLED displays on the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones, such as the Samsung Captivate. The viewing angle is okay but, once again, not as far reaching as a Super AMOLED counterpart.

Push the display and a physical QWERTY keyboard slides out. The keyboard is identical to the original Droid 2, easy to use, but not quite the best. The Samsung Epic 4G actually is a bit easier to use due to having more space between the keys, but the Motorola Droid 2 Global’s keyboard is still sufficient. Below the display are the usual four touch sensitive keys, settings, home, back and search. On top is the power/lock key and the 3.5 mm headphone jack. The microUSB is located on the left hand side.

Behind the display and keyboard, the back of the phone has the 5 megapixel camera and the dual LED flash. Overall, pretty much identical to the Motorola Droid 2. Like the original, the Droid 2 Global has a well made design, not too blocky but also not too flashy.

Hardware and Software (5 out of 5)

Though the design and display of the Motorola Droid 2 Global pretty much mirrors the original Droid 2, the insides of the Droid 2 Global are actually different. The Motorola Droid 2 Global is equipped with a 1.2 GHz TI OMAP processor that has a dedicated GPU, which makes the Motorola Droid 2 Global one of the most powerful smartphones currently available. It is also the first Verizon and Motorola smartphone to be able to connect to both CDMA and GSM networks, making it usable in over 200 countries. This means you can make and receive calls, as well as use data, while in a different country other than the U.S.

The Motorola Droid 2 Global doesn’t come with any upgraded software, like the Droid 2, the Droid 2 Global comes with Android 2.2 (Froyo). Like the original Droid 2, the Droid 2 Global has a “lite” version of MotoBLUR overlayed on top. It’s not as intrusive as MotoBLUR and is actually somewhat helpful.

User Interface (4 out of 5)

The Motorola Droid 2 Global, like all other Android handsets is pretty easy to pick up and understand. Touch the screen to interact with it, or flip out the keyboard to type on a physical keyboard. People of all ages can actually use this smartphone but the Motorola Droid 2 Global is most targeted towards business users. The Motorola Droid 2 Global has some office interaction capabilities like the Motorola Droid Pro, as well as applications to help secure connections such as an IP VPN. In conjunction, as it’s a global phone, business users who travel the world can use their smartphone in various different countries, a huge plus.

The MotoBLUR-lite is not as intrusive as the original BLUR that came with phones such as the Motorola Charm. Li

MotoBLUR… Lite

ke on the original Droid 2, the Droid 2 Global has a more professional feeling version of MotoBLUR, with re-sizable widgets and its own social networking applications and messaging systems. Typing on the Motorola Droid 2 Global is easy thanks to the virtual keyboard, Swype and the physical QWERTY keyboard. Like on the Samsung Epic 4G, the keyboard may be a make or break factor for some users. Overall the user interface is professional, easy to use and extremely fast and responsive.

Features (4 out of 5)

The Motorola Droid 2 Global is a powerful and amazing professional smartphone. For world travelers, this phone is quite a welcome addition. From a features standpoint, the Motorola Droid 2 Global comes with a 5 megapixel camera, which takes some fairly high quality pictures. The camera can, of course, also be used to capture video recordings up to 30 frames per second.

Briefly touched on, the Motorola Droid 2 Global has taken some of the features shown on the Motorola Droid Pro. Catering to business users, the Motorola Droid 2 Global also has remote wipe of not only the device but also of the SD card that’s within it. That’s a huge load of stress relieved if you ever lose your phone. The Droid 2 Global supports password complexity and VPN integration, 2 key features that really draw in business users who want to protect their smartphone.

The Final Verdict (4 out of 5)

Motorola Droid 2 Global Review

Overall the Motorola Droid 2 Global ranks in at the upper tier of the ‘Good’ rating. Motorola has released 3 versions of the Droid 2 now, the original Droid 2, the R2D2 variant and now the Droid 2 Global, and there’s good reason for it. The design is a solid design, the display is not the largest but it’s good enough for most users and the keyboard is a solid piece of hardware added on. The Motorola Droid 2 Global gets to upgrade its insides with the 1.2 GHz TI OMAP processor with dedicated GPU, and applications catering to business users such as remote wipe, office integration and VPN connections. And of course, the dual band CDMA/GSM antenna, allowing you to take the Droid 2 Global across the world and be able to use it, that’s a huge plus for any smartphone. If you’re a business user who travels a lot, be sure to highlight the Motorola Droid 2 Global as a possible phone for the company to get you. It’s about time to drop that BlackBerry and switch to Motorola.