Sense UI absolutely sucks. It’s laggy as hell. At least Samsung TouchWiz runs fast. I dumped Sense for Launcher Pro, which is dramatically faster.
Vanilla Android runs the best and fastest. All these overlays suck and wreck the “google experience” and play a big part in why we don’t get updates like the Nexus line.
Droid X is the shit…
I love my Droid X. It’s been a great phone. My wife has the Samsung Fascinate (or whatever the Galaxy phone on Verizon is) and it’s a great phone as well. The X and the Samsung are practically the exact same size. If size is an issue, the Incredible is also an awesome phone.
If you type a ton and want the physical keyboard my personal suggestion is the Droid 2 over the Pro due to screen size. The smaller screen size on the Pro can really harm the multi media experience. But in reality, the screen based keyboards are plenty good.
Some other random observations:
For all intents and purposes, the premier Android phones on Verizon (Fascinate, Droid X, Droid Pro, Droid 2, Incredible) are about the same performance wise. I believe only the Droid Pro and Droid 2 can work internationally though.
The screen on the X is awesome, but the Fascinate screen seems more colorful and vibrant. But the Fascinate image quality suffers pretty bad when a screen protector is used. Don’t know why.
I prefer the optical touch buttons on the Fascinate and Incredible versus the physical buttons on the Motorola handsets.
The insurance is worthwhile. My buddy dropped his Evo and had to pay close to $600 to replace it. You don’t pay another $200 to get a replacement handset, you pay the off plan price which is well over $500. This also makes cases worth it even though they add bulk.
The Motorblur OS has been significantly reduced on the newer Droids versus the original. All of them still come with bloatware unfortunately, but at least you can keep them off your home screens.
If you can, buy the phones two at a time (meaning get your wife/girlfriend/other to get one too). Verizon has had a buy-one-get-another-of-equal-or-lesser-value deal going for almost six months.
Personally, if I had to decide again today, I’d still get the Droid X over a Verizon iPhone. I’m very happy with the Droid X, Verizon, and the Android system. A close second for me would be the Fascinate. But after CES it appears there is some awesome stuff heading this way like the Droid Bionic and others if you can wait a few months.
+1 Samsung Fascinate / Galaxy. Wife and I both have the T-Mobile Galaxy. Had G1’s prior, like night and day difference, longer battery life too.
coming soon if you are in a 4G LTE area:
Bionic is sick. Dual core is going to change a lot in terms of performance. The GPU will make it an xbox 360 in your pocket.
The Bionic is what will most likely replace my Droid X when 4G/LTE becomes available in my area. Just can’t go back to iPhone.
FYI, Verizon just announced they are killing their “New Every 2” program (LINK) and they are killing the early upgrade for existing customers.
Existing customers get one more shot to use their new every two and then its kaput for them.
checked the Verizon 4G LTE website, 4G is available in my area 
It will be awhile before LTE gets to my area, but that’s OK, it will be awhile before the iPhone supports LTE. In the meantime, 3G meets my needs. I’d be more interested it LTE speeds for the iPad - don’t really need it for my phone.
Why aren’t people using the Nexus?
T-Mobile, already outdated by a huge margin, phone made by Samsung
Based on this thread and what was available, I picked up a Droid X and set my mother up with a Droid 2 Global.
The DroidX is fantastic, the huge screen works extremely well for me, and once the crapware got punted battery life is a pretty acceptable 2 days.
The camera has a great CCD, but the glass is a big limitation: obviously a point and shoot camera will take better pictures with half the rated megapixel CCD.
I didn’t like the Droid2G, but it’s ability to take a RUIM/SIM is what my mother needed, and the slide-out keyboard works for her. I wouldn’t recommend it, but that’s because it is such a thick phone with a small screen, and seems to run slower despite having a faster processor than my X.
Since I don’t live in an NFL city, I’m not expecting any significant 700MHz LTE rollout until early 2012, and realistically I don’t expect that backbone to reach out into my neck of suburbia until my next contract is coming up anyway.
I am still actively waiting for the first 7" tablet (presumably LTE protocol along with 802.11.n) that can be used along with an external hard drive and full size keyboard (with dock, or however). This would allow my wife to run it as a standalone tablet, as well as use a portable USB hard drive to store classwork, reference material, and more mainstream: media and documents.
Verizon has done a brilliant job with their LTE rollout - capping actual usage to keep the network fast, and allowing the phones to hyperband with their 850MHz to keep data transfer rates high - early adopters can bankroll their new hardware.
The new every 20mo is also well used - dangling a new phone 4 months of any alternative will help minimize outgoing churn on their end, so if they keep this up after the million or so subscribers move over just to get an iPhone-CDMA2k unit they’ll be set.