Droid X Hotspot WiFi: A Balance Sheet

It hasn’t yet been two weeks since the launch of the Motorola Droid X and the frenzy over the phone is at an all new level. Of course with amazing features such as WiFi hotspot, this had to happen. And this remarkable integration in a smart phone, is something which even the iPhone 4 lacks!

For those who are not in the know, the hotspot WiFi feature of the Motorola Droid X allows you set up a wireless internet hotspot, similar to the ones you use at malls and cafes. Though it will not provide as fast a browsing experience as a DSL cable or T1 hot spot, but the network created is private nonetheless.

This remarkable feature is a first for mobile phones and is possible due to the 1GHz OMAP processor from Texas Instruments along with a silicon chip to support a Wi-Fi hot spot. But is it all good for the Droid X which can double up as a Wi-Fi router for your laptop, anytime, anywhere?

Perhaps not; because this feature, along with a truckload of others, is causing a severe strain on the Droid X battery.

The Droid X is packed to the hilt with powerful audio, video, connectivity, call and other features much like a Swiss knife. So, it would be a nit unfair to blame the battery drainage on the Wi-Fi alone. But it is true that the battery wears down quicker when you use the Droid X as a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Moreover, this hotspot wifi feature on Droid X is not free. In addition to your regular data plan, you have to pay Verizon $20 each month to use the Wi-Fi hot spot feature. And now that the service has become really popular, despite the added charge, Verizon is saying that Droid X users are eating up five times more bandwidth than others.

This is definitely related to the hot spot feature, but then Verizon had claimed earlier that it can handle any kind of usage spike. It is not known yet whether the data usage spikes are affecting overall connectivity adversely, but if Verizon harbors dreams of carrying the iPhone one day, it better not. This is because the iPhone data usage is more than that on all Android devices combined and definitely much more than that on the Droid X.

The Wi-Fi feature will surely become more popular when 4G networks become the order of the day, thus giving faster speeds and better connectivity from everywhere! So, despite the minor downsides, Droid X has a winning feature for sure!

Written by Jay Shah on July 28th, 2010

Nurturing a lifelong love affair with machines, Jay simply loves any tech that can make life easier, better, faster and more enjoyable. And with hundreds if not thousands of Gadgets, Apps, Games being launched everyday, there's more than enough out there to keep this hardcore techie occupied and obsessed!