Motorola DROID X Hands-On

Motorola, Google and Verizon have just officially announced the DROID X at their launch event in NYC this afternoon, and it may just be enough to tempt you away from that Apple Store queue.  Built around a 4.3-inch 854 x 480 capacitive touchscreen and a 1GHz processor, the DROID X lacks the QWERTY keyboard of the original DROID but updates the camera to an 8-megapixel unit supporting 720p HD video recording and unique feature of a mechanical shutter .

While you might expect text entry to be slowed what with no hardware 'board, thanks to Swype being preloaded and support for multitouch text entry we were soon even faster on the DROID X than we were on its predecessor.  Android 2.1 is also swifter, with a new MOTOBLUR UI – codenamed "Ninjablur" that feels a little more refined and grown-up than the first iteration of the social networking system.

DROID X Unboxing and demo of new UI

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It's obviously not a small handset, but taking on the HTC EVO 4G demands a big screen and some powerful optics.  We'll have to wait until getting our hands on a review unit to see how the 720p video performance holds up, but the HDMI connection means that getting content off the phone should be straightforward.  There's also DLNA wireless streaming support, if your HDTV is set up to take advantage of it.  The DROID X will go on sale on July 15th, priced at $199.99 with a new, two-year agreement.

DROID Car & Home Dock demo

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We'll be answering all outstanding questions in our full review; for now, enjoy the hands-on gallery and the video demo of the new Verizon Wireless Motorola DROID X!