Verizon Wireless made Android 2.2 Froyo available to the Motorola Droid X on Wednesday. Rather than stick to the over-the-air update, Verizon made the new software available to the Droid X via the device's on-board update tools. What was it like to update the Droid X, and what is the end result?

According to others with whom I've spoken, my updating experience was atypical. With the device powered on, I followed the steps given by Verizon Wireless to manually update the Droid X. Once the device determined that the update was available, it began to download the update from Verizon's servers.

Downloading the update took close to 30 minutes, despite a solid connection to Verizon's 3G network. Once the update was downloaded, it took the Droid X about 15 more minutes to complete the install. If you ask me, 45 minutes is a long time, but maybe I'm just picky.

Once the Droid X rebooted, I began testing it. To my dismay, I discovered that the Android Market no longer worked. It wouldn't open, and crashed. Despite several reboots, the Android Market problem didn't clear up.

I then chose to reset the Droid X to its factory settings. This process takes about 5 to 10 minutes. After the reset, I signed back into my Google account and let the Droid X take some time to ingest all my contact, email, and calendar data.

From start to finish, this process took nearly 90 minutes. Yuck.

However, once everything was complete, the Droid X was a brand new phone. All of the buggy software issues that have plagued the Droid X since launch are gone. The user interface no longer lags or stutters. Everything is fluid, and moves quickly. Further, using the keyboard is drastically improved. Everything about the device is quicker and less frustrating.

The update included the latest version of Gmail, which has new tools. I like the way the header bar within Gmail follows as you scroll down through a message. It makes it much faster to respond (or take other action) to emails.

Also included is the most up-to-date version of Flash Player Mobile 10.1. I was able to run some side-by-side comparison tests with a Motorola Droid, and the Droid X blows it out of the water. The original Motorola Droid has a 550MHz processor and the Droid X has a 1GHz processor. The Droid X is much more capable at playing Flash content than the original Droid (the added screen real estate doesn't hurt, either).

Videos loaded faster, played smoother, and didn't crash the Droid X's browser, which is something that happens with the Droid.

Bottom line, Android 2.2 Froyo with Adobe Flash Player Mobile 10.1 makes the Droid X a much better smartphone than it already was.