How many of you are getting this because..

[docprego]

Quoting: AnandTech: Understanding the iPhone 3GS
"At the same clock speed and with the same L2 cache sizes, ARM shows the Cortex A8 as being able to execute 40% more instructions per second than the ARM11. That’s a generational performance improvement, something that can’t be delivered by clock speed alone, but the comparison is conservative. Cortex A8 designs won’t ship at the same clock speed and cache configurations as ARM11 chips; as far as I can tell, none of the major ARM11 based smartphones even had a L2 cache while Cortex A8 designs are expected to have one."

Excepting the L2 cache (unknown benefit and unknown what the difference is between Moment and Droid) and 3D improvements... a 550 MHz A8 (Droid) ought to perform pretty close to the same as an 800 MHz Arm11 (Moment) according to Arm.

I'm quite curious as to why BGR's experience with the Droid was so much better than other reviewers' experiences with the Moment performance-wise. The most probable explanation I can think of is Android 2.0, such as the new scheduler (same as cyanogenmod's). Another is that the flash/RAM in the Droid could be faster than the Moment's. If you look at the next page of Anand's iPhone 3GS review, it shows some pretty large differences, but the iPhone 3GS had much more RAM and faster flash than the iPhone 3G, which certainly contributed to the gains.

It's because the Droid's chip architecture is far more advanced. It's like comparing a Pentium IV at the same clock speed as a Core-i7, same speed numerically but no comparison in actual performance.

The other major factor is that the Droid has a graphics processing chip built in separate from the main CPU.

These two factors Combined, the Moment has a serious horsepower disadvantage relative to the Droid.

 

[Anonimac]

it's what you REALLY want and how many would really rather have the Xperia, Acer or HTC Dragon, but since this will be the best Android on the market you're jumping in because you can't wait any longer for the others?

I ask that because from what I know of the others, which really isn't that much, I'd rather have the HTC Dragon. But, there's no telling when it will come out and what carrier it will be with and how much it will cost and all that stuff, so I MIGHT just jump in on this one. I don't care about a keyboard, but if I tried it out and really liked having a keyboard maybe I could be convinced. As far as looks, it's not the best looking phone, but it's definitely not bad. In fact, I would say the only one that really looks better than it would be the Touch HD2, which if that was an Android phone I would be ON IT! The Droid looks better than any other Android phone out there, and from the pics of the Dragon would say just as good as it, if not better. My biggest reluctance is probably the fact it's on Verizon and would have to jump ship from sprint after about 5-6 years and give up the good pricing. I guess the payoff to that would be knowing that I'm on the best network available. I live in Houston and every now and again we have to deal with Hurricane situations where power goes out and the cell towers get flooded with cell phone calls and phone service can become an issue. Also, I have to travel to the surrounding areas once in a while for work and sometimes in to little hick towns and I'm assuming Verizon would be more reliable in those situations, as well.

I'm really glad you posted this...
I'm also in Houston, with Verizon, and currently on a 4 year old phone because it's been that long since Verizon has had a compeling phone (IMO). I'm also very eager to get something new and was 100% (scratch that, 110%) sold on the Droid until i read all the rumors about the HTC Passion and possibilities of it not only coming to Verizon, but coming soon!

What i'm waiting on is to see any real-world benchmarks that compare the OMAP processor in the Droid to the Snapdragon processor in the HTC Passion. I don't want to hear any more lame conjecture from forum knowitalls, i want to see real benchmarks of the two phones/processors (or any other two phones running the same os and processor) to know what the real difference is between the two. Some sites are also reporting that the Passion may not have a Qualcomm processor at all, but rather a faster OMAP (3640...also 1 Ghz).

If anyone is aware of any benchmarks comparisons between the Snapdragon (on any phone, Acer, HD2, etc...) and any OMAP 3x processor it would be a start, but i'd love to see a benchmark of both on Android, preferrably Android 2.0.

 

[JoeFresco]

It's because the Droid's chip architecture is far more advanced. It's like comparing a Pentium IV at the same clock speed as a Core-i7, same speed numerically but no comparison in actual performance.

You know... this exact same thing (P4 vs. Core i7) is stated constantly here and is FUD. It doesn't mean anything other than "clockspeed doesn't automatically make something faster", which I'd hope you'd have realized that my linking to that Anandtech article means I already know that. I find that comparison over the top anyway since the i7 is 2-5x faster at the same clock speed as a dual core P4.

The fact is that you can compare CPUs head to head and just because one has an architectural advantage doesn't mean it's always going to be the fastest. When ARM themselves say that the Cortex A8 is about 40% faster at the same clock speed, that's useful information, especially when you couple it with the iPhone 3G (ARM11) vs iPhone 3GS (A8) benchmarks on the next page of the AnandTech article.

So I do think it deserves some deeper digging rather than stating the platitude that it's like P4 vs. Core i7. I've gone through numerous 50% CPU boosts in my time (Moment vs. non-Droid competition), and it's always very noticeable, yet that's not the experience that the reviewers describe.

 

[kmacewan]

i'm picking one up because i'm sick of the lack of consumer apps for my crackberry. I (at times) miss having a keyboard (I use a Storm atm) and I'm really psyched about the Flash support on the Droid. I've been quietly following Android for a while and it seems like it's a really slick phone OS also.

Pretty much my only hope is that I'll be able to use the phone as a MiFi hotspot. I would love to have the ability to tether some of my devices to the 3G connection, preferably without paying the $15/mo fee Verizon tries to charge. I just wouldn't use that feature often enough to pay for it.

 

[gadgetmom88]

I'm with the original poster - I'm getting this because it's the best thing out for right now, but I haven't even bought it yet and I've already got buyers remorse. I've been reading the reviews and while this phone does many things well, there are equally as many things it doesn't do well. To me it's ugly, and though I want a hardware keyboard, the Droid's is getting raked in reviews. I have to switch to something because I can't continue to drop calls on AT&T's network with the iPhone. I just wish the Android phone makers would step up the game a little and get the hardware where it needs to be: onboard memory so that we can store big apps, and lots of them, a good keyboard, TETHERING!!! (I can't believe the Droid can't tether), and a decent camera, and really great and consistent call quality.

 

[docprego]

I'm with the original poster - I'm getting this because it's the best thing out for right now, but I haven't even bought it yet and I've already got buyers remorse. I've been reading the reviews and while this phone does many things well, there are equally as many things it doesn't do well. To me it's ugly, and though I want a hardware keyboard, the Droid's is getting raked in reviews. I have to switch to something because I can't continue to drop calls on AT&T's network with the iPhone. I just wish the Android phone makers would step up the game a little and get the hardware where it needs to be: onboard memory so that we can store big apps, and lots of them, a good keyboard, TETHERING!!! (I can't believe the Droid can't tether), and a decent camera, and really great and consistent call quality.

The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. For every review I have read critical of the keyboard, there is another praising it or at least saying it is the best Android keyboard yet. Listen, people got used to the G1 keyboard so anything is possible. For me t he reviews are taken with a grain of salt, these are done by people that breathe mobile devices on a daily basis. They tend to be a LOT more critical of devices than the typical consumer. I am confident that the Droid will exceed my expectations in every way.

 

[DrDroid]

I chose the Moto Droid over the other ones because the Moto Droid feels very rigid and well made, not cheap plastics that I have seen on majority of others. Secondly the screen size is awesome. The Sony Ericcson one is nice too, but a hefty price tag, steers me away.

 

[gadgetmom88]

I chose the Moto Droid over the other ones because the Moto Droid feels very rigid and well made, not cheap plastics that I have seen on majority of others. Secondly the screen size is awesome. The Sony Ericcson one is nice too, but a hefty price tag, steers me away.

I was curious about the Sony Ericcson Rachael, but saw that it's screen is resistive. Too bad.

 

[Mykpfsu]

The Droid just isnt quite there. Physical keyboard should have been dropped because alot of people dont seem to like it. Still Camera seems as bad as my BB Storm. Just no quite right. I hope more info on the Passion comes out before the 6th. HTC seems to use better cameras, very possible the Passion will clean up whats holding the Droid back.

 

[Wakey]

(*I can't believe the Droid can't tether)

No tethering???

Say it ain't so!