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It's a situation too many Android users are intimately familiar with. You get a shiny new phone, and you love it. Then the days turn to weeks, the weeks to months, and suddenly a new version of your phone is released. Oh sure, at first you think it will be fine. The new phone is faster and thinner, but you like your smartphone. Then the updates dry up like a puddle in the unforgiving desert sun, and your phone slides slowly into complete obsolescence. Well, unless you have a Droid X, which Verizon just decided to update after not touching it for a year and a half.
Droid X OTA Update (Build 4.5.621) Rolling Out Now, Brings Bug Fixes A-Plenty
Droid X OTA Update (Build 4.5.621) Rolling Out Now
Droid X users, Motorola and Verizon haven't forgotten about you; not completely, at least. You may not be getting Ice Cream Sandwich (officially, anyway), but Big Red is pushing one hell of a bug-fix update (we spotted it last week) to your device right now.
Owners of Motorola's Droid X should be expecting an OTA update "soon," which will bring the device's build up to version 4.5.621.MB810. Despite the fact that Verizon's announcement page says "Droid X2" in the title, the update will in fact bring its bevy of enhancements to the original Droid X. Among these are improvements to the OTA process itself, browser security (a la Google's 2.3.6 security patch), and various stability and bug fixes. Verizon's announcement document lists the full set of enhancements, for those interested:
Netflix this evening appears to have quietly unleashed the Android app on 16 more previously unsupported devices, all without updating the application at all.
This week has definitely been the week of the Droid X - after about a year of being on the market, the magic of the "2nd init" hack allowed for the first ever unofficial build of CyanogenMod 7 on this popular U.S. device. Only days after the momentous announcement, the Droid X CyanogenMod, led by the great cvpcs, is now part of the official CM source tree and served nightly from the CM mirror network.
Gingerbread-using DROID X owners, your handsets are excluded from the elite ranks of Netflix-compatible devices no more; a recent update to the official Netflix application added support for your 2.3-running phones. Unfortunately, the DROID X is the only Gingerbread handset (with the exception of the Nexus phones) currently compatible with the movie rental service - my EVO 4G, which received its official 2.3 update a few weeks ago, still can't access the app. Additionally, those DROID X users still running Froyo are left out of the fun. Bummer.
Even though it's only been two days since cvpcs first unveiled CyanogenMod 7 running on the Droid X, it seems that he has already worked out enough of the kinks to release the first beta/RC version to the masses. The flashing process is a bit more complex compared to other phone/ROM combos, but well worth the added trouble if you ask me. Everything you're seeing here today would have been impossible without the "2nd init" hack, which cvpcs explains in detail here.
Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that cvpcs has achieved the impossible: he's thrown together (but not yet publicized) a build of CyanogenMod 7 that works on the Motorola DROID X!
Horrific battery life on Android phones is nothing new, and neither is the mind-blowing shattering frailty of said handsets. We've seen - and reviewed - solutions to both of these issues, but for those who want a convenient, all-in-one product, nothing beats XPAL's "PowerSkins."
In typical speedy fashion, the official Gingerbread update for the Motorola Droid X has already been rooted and mirrored for mass consumption. Two versions are available, as is usual for releases of this nature: odexed and deodexed. The instructions aren't exactly simple, and you have to know what ROM and version you're currently running in order to properly update (then again, chances are that if you're rooted and ROMed in the first place, you probably already know those details).
UPDATE: According to Droid Life, the update should start tonight, but it may just be a "soak test", for users that signed up via Motorola's support forums. That's not entirely confirmed at this point, so if you happen to get the update, drop us a line.
It looks like it's Android season in Alltel country, because four new handsets have just dropped on the regional provider's network. As of right now, Alltel customers can choose between the Motorola Milestone X - most of us know this one as the Droid X, the LG Axis - a low-end phone with a full slide-out QWERTY, the Samsung Gem - a tiny Froyo starter phone, and the HTC Merge - a mid-range Froyo device with a slide-out QWERTY.
TeamBlackHat has publicly released a leaked official Gingerbread (Android 2.3.3) software update build for the Motorola DROID X. To install the update, you must have the DROID X Bootstrapper by Koush. Instructions and download links below:
Based on the press release and official video, Verizon's new VZ Navigator VX is awesome. Really awesome. Potentially better than Google Maps 5/Google Navigation - and yes, I can hardly believe I'm saying that either, since the new GMaps combo provides a hell of a punch. But check out the short (just over two minutes) promo video, and you'll see what I mean:
With the cheapest one costing $149.99, Verizon's Droids aren't exactly stocking stuffers, but at least the price comes with double the value now. That's right - the infamous BOGO (buy one, get one free) deal has now been extended to the carrier's flagship Android devices... all except the Droid Pro, that is. Additionally, the original Droid 2 is excluded from the ad despite being part of the deal, most likely because its global brethren already appears in the ad. However, why the Droid Pro is being left out of the fun is anyone's guess.
Wow... that's the only word I have to describe what Amazon Wireless pulled this morning. Amazon and Wirefly oftentimes offer killer deals compared to the carriers (like yesterday's $50 Droid Pro Wirefly deal), but this one is just ridiculous. All of the Droid phones, including the newly released Droid Pro, are exactly 1 penny over at Amazon Wireless for new Verizon customers: