Motorola Droid Mini review: Small, speedy, but not a bargain
If you’re a Verizon customer looking for an affordable yet compact Android smartphone, the $99.99 Motorola Droid Mini sure sounds tempting. And on the whole it delivers just what you’d expect from a $99.99 phone. It has the same fast processor as the Droid Ultra and the Droid Maxx, battery life is long, and call quality is excellent. Of course, you’ll notice that Motorola did cut corners, but the company had to do something to knock the Mini’s price down under $100.
In my book, though, those corners, specifically the cheap build quality and the unimpressive display, don’t add up to a bargain. Sure, the phone is small, but unless you absolutely can’t pay more than $99 for a phone, I strongly advise resisting the Mini’s low price. You’re much better off saving up for the handsome $199.99 Motorola Moto X. The X is almost as small yet packs essentially the same slick Android features into a beautifully crafted chassis. It even boasts a bigger screen with superior image quality.
Design
Besides being very affordable, the main selling point for the Motorola Droid Mini is its extremely pocket-friendly size. Measuring 4.8 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide and a mere 0.35 inch thick, the Mini’s moniker is certainly fitting. The device is tiny enough to slip hassle-free into tight jeans and is so small it disappears in large bags.
The Mini is tiny enough to squeeze into tight places. Sarah Tew/CNET
As a matter of fact, the Droid Mini takes up less space than Motorola’s own pint-size flagship, the Moto X (5.1 inches tall by 2.5 inches). That said, the Moto X sports a roomier 4.7-inch screen despite weighing the same 4.6 ounces. I also prefer the Moto X’s design, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the Mini’s in terms of both quality and comfort.
The Moto X uses a handsomely curved back with a premium soft-touch finish that fits my hand like a glove. By contrast, the Droid Mini’s back side is relatively flat.
That shape coupled with rounded corners and an extremely smooth surface give the Mini a cheap mass-produced feel that’s far from ergonomic. Worse, the Mini’s plastic texture is so glossy it’s downright slippery causing me to fumble the phone a few times. Also distasteful is how the handset smudges with unsightly streaks and fingerprints within minutes of picking it up.
The back side is smooth, glossy, and a fingerprint magnet. Sarah Tew/CNET
Above the display is a 2MP front-facing camera, while below sit three capacitive buttons for basic Android control.The only physical keys are on the right edge: a volume rocker and power button. They’re both cross-hatched, contoured, and raised well above the phone’s surface, making them a cinch to operate by feel. Interestingly, pulling the volume buttons out reveals that they double as the device’s nano-SIM card tray.
The volume buttons double as the phone’s SIM card slot. Sarah Tew/CNET
The bottom lip of the Mini holds a Micro-USB port and up top is the Mini’s 3.
5 mm headphone jack. Around back is the phone’s main 10MP camera with LED flash. Encircling the camera lens is a large speaker which like the Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx pumps out a remarkable amount of volume.
Display
It’s plain to see that another area where the Motorola Droid Mini cuts corners is in its mediocre LCD screen. Measuring 4.3 inches, the phone’s display may be bigger than the iPhone’s (4 inches) but is relatively small compared with most high-end Android phones, including the Droid Ultra and the Droid Maxx (5 inches, 720p).
The Mini’s screen lacks high contrast or accurate colors. Sarah Tew/CNET
Indeed, its more expensive Droid siblings have screens that are not only bigger, their AMOLED displays have much higher contrast, more lively colors, and deeper blacks. That makes a significant difference when viewing photos, movies, or other visual content.
I also noticed that the Mini’s screen had uniformity issues with light distractingly bleeding along its edges, a problem that plagues budget LCDs.
Colors, especially fleshtones, looked unnatural as well, with a reddish almost orange tinge.
The Droid Mini’s screen even pales when viewed side-by-side with the compact Moto X. The X also boasts AMOLED technology and at a more sizable 4.7 inches across. As a result it delivers superior image quality similar to Motorola’s step-up handsets.
Additionally, the Mini’s display also has a lower 720p HD resolution (1,280×720 pixels) than competing Verizon devices, namely the Samsung Galaxy S4 (5-inch AMOLED, 1920×1080), and HTC One (4.7-inch LCD, 1,920×1,080), That said, the Droid Mini’s screen does get pretty bright and has vibrant (if inaccurate) colors.
Core components
Inside the Droid Mini is the same exact hardware you’ll find driving the Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx, the X8 Mobile Computing System. Constructed around a dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, on paper it lacks the sheer processing prowess of true quad-core chips, the likes of which propel the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 (Snapdragon 600).
Don’t be disheartened though since the X8 is designed to be efficient rather than screamingly swift. As it happens the X8’s main dual-core application CPU is backed by potent quad-core Adreno graphics, along with two additional «cores»: a natural language processor and one for contextual computing.
Helping this hardware is a healthy 2GB allotment of RAM but like the Droid Ultra the Mini has only 16GB of internal storage. If you want more, consider splurging on the Droid Maxx, which boasts a roomy 32GB of storage. In keeping with all the new Droid handsets, however, there’s no SD card slot on the Mini for increasing storage.
Software and interface
If you’re a fan of stock Android, the Droid Mini’s software probably won’t irritate you all that much. Motorola took a similar hands-on approach as it did with its other Droids and the Moto X. The phone runs the same Android operating system (version 4.2.2) as those devices, an essentially vanilla version of Google’s OS./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12798767/droidrazrhdmaxx.1419973373.jpg)
You unlock the Mini in typical Android fashion, by sliding a padlock icon outside of a virtual ring on the phone’s screen. After this you’ll immediately see the main home screen along with four additional panels to populate with app shortcuts and widgets.
Those who have used Motorola’s smartphones from last year, namely the Droid Razr and Atrix handset lines will certainly recognize the Circles widget. It’s smack dab in the middle of the central home screen, and I’m happy to see this tool, because in addition to providing a quick way to check the time, it also displays weather, and is a shortcut for system settings, too.
Wireless Display technology can send screen content to compatible TVs and monitors. Sarah Tew/CNET
You’ll find a few new tricks tucked inside this widget as well. Swiping the largest clock circle uncovers fresh functions such as Droid Zap and Wireless Display. Droid Zap lets you share images and video with other Android phone users nearby; Wireless Display will duplicate the Ultra’s screen to compatible HDTVs and monitors.
Thanks to its Android pedigree, right out of the box the Mini has all the major Google apps and services already installed. You can always peruse the large Google Play online store library for additional titles to download. Be advised, though, that as an officially Verizon-branded Droid phone, the wireless provider did its best to stuff the Mini with permanent bloatware. Forgettable and unremovable examples include NFL Mobile, VZ Navigator, VZ Security, and Verizon Tones.
Active display and touchless control
Another carryover from Motorola’s and Google’s new phones is Active Display. This useful feature has found a home on all the new Droids and is also integrated into the Moto X. Motorola envisions Active Display to serve in place of a separate physical notification light, though oddly enough the Droid Mini still has one. Essentially, the Mini’s screen will pulse from time to time with alerts for incoming e-mail, text messages, and calls. Touching and holding your finger on the associated icon in the center of the screen causes the device to display additional information.
Pulling the icon upward to the top of the screen wakes up the phone and opens the linked application and alert.
The Droid Mini listens for your spoken commands. Sarah Tew/CNET
Like the Droid Ultra, Droid Maxx, and Moto X, the Droid Mini takes full advantage of the X8 computing platform to flaunt impressive voice control abilities. Billed by Motorola as Touchless Control, speaking a specific phrase will cause the Mini to perk up from sleep or push other apps its handling aside then wait for your vocal command. Simply say the words «OK, Google Now» and follow up with directions like «Where am I?» or «Remind me to stop by the supermarket today,» and the Mini will strive to do your bidding.
Performance
Pound for pound, the Droid Mini and its X8 platform can’t outpunch heavyweight contenders with souped-up quad-core processors. Even so, the compact device felt as nimble as a roadster.
The phone zipped through menus and opened applications with promptness.
I also observed no delays or hiccups when manipulating widgets. Throwing my typical battery of benchmark tests at the Droid Mini confirmed my anecdotal experience with the handset.
Quadrant confirmed the Mini’s X8 chip has some pep. Brian Bennett/CNET
The phone pushed through Quadrant, notching a solid 8,905 on the test. That’s a hair higher than what the big, bad Droid Maxx managed (8,804), enough to trump the Moto X (8,519), yet not quite enough to catch the slim Droid Ultra. Of course all these results are in the same ballpark, understandable since all Motorola’s 2013 handsets feature identical X8 processing. If it’s brute number-crunching strength you seek, the Snapdragon 600-touting HTC One (12,194) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (11,381) are more your speed.
| Average LTE download speeds (Verizon) | 10.1 Mbps |
| Average LTE upload speed (Verizon) | 5.6 Mbps |
| App download (CNET) | 3.72MB in 7.8 seconds |
| CNET mobile site load | 4. 2 seconds |
| CNET desktop site load | 10.1 seconds |
| Boot time | 22.3 seconds |
| Camera boot time | 1.7 seconds |
Call quality
I tested the Droid Mini on Verizon’s CDMA network in New York City, and mirroring my experience with the Droid Maxx, the Mini demonstrated crystal clear call quality during my conversations. Callers I chatted with immediately commented on the cleanness of the line and had difficulty telling that I spoke from a cellular connection. They did detect, however, a slight flatness to audio when they paid closer attention. Through the Mini’s earpiece, voices came through loud and clear as well.
Due to the phone’s large rear speaker, the Mini’s speakerphone also gets plenty loud. People I called said audio quality through the speakerphone was also clean, even if my voice sounded slightly more distant.
Motorola Droid Mini call quality sampleListen now:
Camera
Motorola smartphone cameras have traditionally not wowed me.
As recently as last year’s Droid Razrs snapped photos too sluggishly and also lacked important shooting modes its competition, specifically Samsung and HTC phones, offered.
Indoor shots were clear and well exposed. Brian Bennett/CNET
My what what a difference a year makes, and having Google as your new parent company I’m sure doesn’t hurt either. Motorola’s fresh Flagship the Moto X and its new Droid handsets boast redesigned the imaging systems and camera apps. The Droid Mini is no exception and its 10-megapixel sensor nabbed great photos both inside and out in the wild. Indoor images of my studio still life exhibited crisp detail with accurate colors, and were properly exposed.
Colors were vivid and details clear in sunlight. Brian Bennett/CNET
Outside in daylight, the greens of trees and leaves were vibrant, along with the colors of flowers, blue skies and white clouds. Details were clear too and thanks to the automatic HDR mode the same was true of scenes with tricky backlighting.
That said, the Mini’s autofocus wasn’t jackrabbit-quick as the HTC One’s or the Galaxy S4’s. Shot-to-shot time on those phones is essentially instant, while the Droid Mini had a delay of about half a second. Another minor annoyance is the Mini’s (and that of the Maxx and the Ultra, for that matter) narrow field of view. It made including all the objects in my still-life in the camera’s frame quite a challenge.
The Mini’s camera can capture images of moving kids. Brian Bennett/CNET
I do like Motorola’s Quick Capture feature, which fires up the camera app, even when the Mini is asleep, when you twist the phone twice in your wrist. Since I’m the kind of guy who tends to juggle way too many items at once, I find it extremely helpful. Trust me, don’t stand close or you’ll find yourself functioning as my mobile coffee table.
Like the Moto X and Droid Ultra, the Mini’s pared-down camera app is breathtakingly simple to use. Sure, the settings are as light as they can get; for instance there’s no way to choose image or video size (the Mini picks the largest possible).
Swiping from left to right opens a virtual wheel with various settings such as HDR and Panorama modes. Dragging your finger up and down zooms in and out, while sliding from right to left launches the gallery.
Data speeds
Like all of Verizon’s new smartphones, the Motorola Droid Mini can link to the carrier’s 4G LTE network for fast data access. Testing the handset in New York City, I clocked a swift average overall download speed of 10.1Mbps. Upload throughput was slower, at an average speed of 5.6Mbps.
Data speeds on Verizon’s 4G LTE was fast. Brian Bennett/CNET
Battery life
The Droid Mini certainly doesn’t pack a massive high-capacity battery like its big brother, the Droid Maxx. Even so, the Mini’s 2,000mAh power source had enough juice to run the CNET Labs video playback battery drain benchmark for almost a full 10 hours (9 hours and 59 minutes).
That said, the Moto X persevered for a slightly longer 10 hours and 9 minutes while the Droid Ultra hung on for 10 hours and 47 minutes.
The tenacious Droid Maxx, though, played our HD video file for an astonishing 15 hours and 50 minutes before calling it quits.
Conclusion
I admit I was initially intrigued by the $99.99 Droid Mini when I first learned about Motorola’s most compact handset. After all, it has the same speedy X8 mobile processor that you get on the Moto X ($199.99), Droid Ultra ($199.99), and Droid Maxx ($299.99), and it tackles the same nifty voice control tricks and notification skills of Motorola’s more expensive models.
By all means, it will serve you well if price is your primary concern, but remember that you’ll be making some serious design compromises to get that bargain price. The screen that produces low-contrast images in kooky colors is hard to swallow by itself, but the real deal breaker for me is the Mini’s slippery, fingerprint-prone chassis. That’s why I can’t in good faith recommend the Droid Mini over the Moto X if you have a bit more room in your budget.
For $100 extra it has the same impressive features packed into a device of comparable size and far higher build quality. The final cherry on top is the Moto X’s larger AMOLED screen with superior imagery.
Motorola Droid Turbo (Verizon Wireless) review: Powerful Droid with an enduring battery, at the right price
Although the Motorola Droid Turbo’s main draw is its battery life, that is only one part of its story. The bigger picture here is the value you get from a phone that’s positively jammed with high-end specs and some useful software conveniences.
Like a lot of top-of-the-line phones these days, it has an eye-watering 1,440p HD display and all the specs to impress. Motorola’s excellent software is always listening for your command, and a fast-charging 3,900mAh battery is icing on the cake. However, the Turbo is heavy, and it’s unsettling how quickly it overheats. The 21-megapixel camera menu also takes some getting used to if you’re new to the stock Android controls.
Compared with other top-of-the-line handsets on Verizon, the phone (which is exclusive to the carrier) scores high, though there’s something about the design we just don’t love. Those looking for long-life battery on a «smaller» screen find it here, but buyers seeking a more ergonomic handhold should look to a phone like the Moto X instead.
The Droid Turbo starts out at $200 on-contract with Verizon, or $25 per month with Verizon Edge. You can buy it off-contract for its $600 full retail price.
Design: Hot ‘n’ heavy, and cheap
We’ve come to expect phones from Motorola that pair a sturdy design with a certain ergonomic flair. The Droid Turbo definitely introduces a new material in the black model that we haven’t seen before in a phone: a tightly woven cloth backing made of ballistic nylon. It’s good to try new things, but this one could have been executed a little better.
To some it may feel tactile, but to us the material felt a little cheap, and instantly made us conscious of the state of grime on our fingers.
How do you clean the black Turbo; will snack grease seep into the stitching? Meanwhile, the phone’s rubberized sides add contrast, though we found the abrupt transition from textiles to soft-touch plastic a little jarring.
The back of the black variant (left) feels cheap, while the red version looks flashy. James Martin/CNET
On the other hand, the cherry red Droid Turbo has a smooth, almost slippery Kevlar backing with a flashy holographic stitch pattern that echoes the black model. Its sides and the chin below the screen are the same plastic material.
Speaking of the chin, it forms a sharp peak beneath the screen, with just a small flattened area large enough for the Micro-USB charging port. This jutting ridge makes the grip uncomfortable for anyone who uses this area to hold the phone one-handed, as we do.
On the right spine, the power/lock and volume buttons are notched to give fingers extra purchase. A headset jack up top gives way to the rounded, nonremovable backing.
On both finishes, the 20.7-megapixel camera sits between two LED flashes and above the telltale Motorola insignia on the back. This time it’s almost flush with the backplate, rather than indented as on other Moto models.
One other item to note: the phone gets hot fast, emanating heat even through the black Turbo’s cloth material. This is an especially eerie feeling when you tote a warm phone in your back pocket.
Display: Raw pixel power
In the numbers game, the Droid Turbo brings us the highest-resolution image on a phone screen yet, with its 5.2-inch AMOLED display and 2,560-by-1,440-pixel resolution. That works out to a pixel density of 565ppi, or pixels per inch.
The handset has 5.2 inches of ultrasharp, quad HD goodness. James Martin/CNET
In real life, everything is as sharp and bright and wonderful with the display as you’d hope for and expect; the only question that remains is if there’s much of an advantage to the sky-high ppi over other phones. Beyond a certain level, the gains of such densely populated pixels on such a small screen blur together.
You’d have to search really, really hard to notice much of a difference in superfine details hidden away in ultra-HD images.
Below the screen are touch-sensitive navigation buttons to go back, go home, pull up Google Now, and see recent apps. Motorola provides a few quick-access controls when you pull down the navigation shade with two fingers, like toggles for airplane mode and Wi-Fi. Pulling down with just one digit lists your notifications. An on-screen button lets you toggle between the two views.
OS and apps
Android 4.4.4 brings with it the now-standard suite of Google apps and services, including Google Search with Google Now. Motorola keeps add-ons like gestures and extra note-taking tools to a minimum, focusing instead on a few unique hands-free tools.
Our favorite is the voice-control functionality that lets you command your phone to do just about anything, even when the screen is turned off. It works best if you program a longer phrase than a short one, say «OK, Droid Turbo,» though it’s just as easy to make your tag line something like «Phone slave, do my bidding.
«
Here’s a sample of what you can ask it to do, beyond the usual information retrieval and voice dialing, so long as you’re about 3 feet away from the device:
- Find my phone
- Talk to me
- Take a selfie (you get a three-second countdown)
- What’s up
The Turbo also includes Motorola staples like Moto Display, which surfaces the time and missed notifications when you wave your hand over the locked display; and Moto Actions, which enables users to dismiss a ringing phone with a wave of the hand. Twisting your wrist opens the camera app.
Another app designed to help you out is the Motorola Connect Chrome extension, which gives you a portal for viewing and sending messages from your desktop or laptop in addition to your phone. It’ll surface other notifications as well.
Motorola’s baked-in software goodies (left) and Droid Zap. Lynn La/CNET
Then there’s Droid Zap, a sort of localized social network for other Zap users. The app wirelessly shares photos and video with nearby friends, almost automatically if you’d prefer.
It uses your Google account to find contacts in the vicinity, and lets you choose to zap new or existing content. The short-term share broadcasts your multimedia to all nearby Zap-using contacts for 2 minutes (in Snapchat style), then disappears. It’s clearly intended for anyone who likes to share their goings on with groups, but likely has limited audience and appeal.
A more useful Motorola hallmark is the combine clock widget on the top of the home screen. You’ll see the time, weather, and battery meter in a glance. Press the clock to set an alarm, and the weather portion for an extended forecast. Similarly, you can open the battery tracker to see what’s sucking down your battery life. Tapping the ellipses on either side gives you the high and low for the day, and a calendar shortcut.
Other preloaded apps run the gamut from Google services and Verizon account controls to partner apps. You’ll find Quickoffice and Amazon music, NFL Mobile and Slacker Radio, and Softcard, a Verizon mobile payment app, to name a few.
Camera and video: Sharp and nimble
Like other Motorola devices including the Google Nexus 6 and Moto X , the Droid Turbo’s thinly skinned user interface means the camera controls are kept to a minimum. Users who are accustomed to stock Android since its KitKat iteration will find the UI familiar, but for those who arrive new to the scene, it does take time to get used to. Camera tools are laid out on a wheel and don’t appear directly on the display. Rather, users have to swipe from the right to call it up, requiring an extra step if you want to quickly toggle options like the flash. The camera also lacks photo editing software. For those features, like filters, rotating, and exposure adjustments, you’ll need to go to the Gallery app.
As for features the camera does have, you can flick the handset to launch the app, and there are options for HDR shooting, 4X digital zoom, geotagging, and tap focus (which also controls for exposure). Photo resolutions for the rear-camera are either shot at a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio (with 15.
5 megapixels), or a standard 4:3 ratio with 21 megapixels. As for video, users have a choice of 1080pHD, slow-motion video shot at 720p, or Ultra HD 4K video.
The camera operates quickly and takes crisp, in-focus photos. Pictures are large when offloaded, which is great for anyone who wants scaled-up images that keep their sharpness when zoomed in. Objects had well-defined edges, and we were impressed with how true-to-life colors looked. Most photos taken in poor lighting conditions are hazy, with colored pixels produced instead of blacks. But there are degrees. With the flash turned off, the Droid Turbo’s camera made scenes brighter and more discernible than those of some other cameras, like Samsung’s Galaxy S5 .
For more on the phone’s camera quality, check out some of our photos below.
In this outdoor photo, the grass and foliage are sharp, and even the moving water in the midground is in focus. Click to enlarge. Lynn La/CNET
For this closeup shot, the flower petals are well-defined and their colors are accurate.
In addition, the soft focus in the background makes this image more compelling. Click to enlarge. Lynn La/CNET In this well-lit indoor shot, HDR mode is turned off (hence the blown-out background). However, the flowers are contrasted evenly against one another and look great. Click to enlarge. Lynn La/CNET As expected, low-light photos are hazy, but the Droid Turbo’s camera fared pretty decently. Click to enlarge. Jessica Dolcourt/CNET For our standard studio shot, you can see that objects look refined and clear. Click to enlarge. James Martin/CNET
Shooting in both 4K and 1080p HD video yielded similar results. We filmed next to a busy roadway with plenty of foot and car traffic. Objects, both moving and still, looked sharp, and the camera’s focus adjusted quickly and smoothly to lighting and different distances of focus. Colors were accurate, and nearby and distant audio picked up well without any distortion.
The 2-megapixel front-facing camera takes photos in both widescreen and standard aspect ratios, and can record up to 1080p video.
Performance: Call quality
We tested the Droid Turbo in our San Francisco offices, and call quality was good. None of our calls dropped, audio remained continuous without clipping in and out, and we didn’t hear any extraneous noises or buzzing. Our calling partner’s voice sounded full and accurate, without much static or distortion. In-ear call volume, however, could have been louder. Although we could hear our partner’s voice well, it was a bit low compared to other devices we’ve tested in the past.
Podcast
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Volume levels on audio speaker, however, were satisfactory. Our partner came off loud, and unlike other speakers that render voices thin and sharp, hers sounded robust and with depth. As for her line, we were told our voices came through clearly, without much noise or muffling.
Data speeds, processing speed and battery life
4G LTE data speeds on Verizon’s network were fast, though at times inconsistent.
On average, the handset showed download and upload rates on Ookla’s speedtest app at 16.26 and 10.88Mbps, respectively. But there were a couple of times when these rates would dip down to about 4 or 2Mbps. In addition, it was able to download and install the 43.70MB game Temple Run 2 within 41 seconds on average, but it took more than 2 minutes on one trial. Of course, data speeds depend on many factors like location and time of day, so users might have vastly different experiences.
In general though, Internet browsing was swift. It took 5 and 7 seconds to load CNET’s mobile and desktop sites, respectively. The New York Times’ mobile page finished loading after 7 seconds and its desktop version loaded in 11. The mobile site for ESPN clocked in at 4 seconds, while 7 seconds passed for the full Web page.
Motorola Droid Turbo (Verizon Wireless) performance times
| Average 4G LTE download speed | 16. 26Mbps |
|---|---|
| Average 4G LTE upload speed | 10.88Mbps |
| Temple Run 2 app download (43.70MB) | 41 seconds |
| CNET mobile site load | 5 seconds |
| CNET desktop site load | 7 seconds |
| Restart time | 31 seconds |
| Camera boot time | 1.72 seconds |
The phone’s 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 processor from Qualcomm is powerful and lightning fast. We didn’t notice any lag when it came to daily and repetitive tasks like opening up the app browser, launching the keyboard, and returning to the homescreen. Thanks to its Adreno 420 GPU, frame rates and graphics rendering are high and smooth, and games like Kill Shot and Riptide GP 2 looked great and never stalled or stuttered.
Benchmark tests mirrored our findings as well. The Droid Turbo’s best Quadrant score was 22,642 — on par with its flagship competitors like the Galaxy S5 (which scored 23,707), LG G3 (23,103) and the HTC One M8 (24,593).
Its highest Linpack multi-thread score was 878.472 MFLOPs in 0.19-second, which is one of the best results we’ve seen all year. In addition, it took about 31 seconds to restart the device and 1.72 seconds to launch the camera.
Some of the phone’s data times on Verizon (left) and its best Quadrant result. Screenshots by Lynn La/CNET
The Turbo’s battery is a big deal on paper, 3,900mAh, and Motorola has a reputation for making long-lasting phones. The handset also powers up ridiculously quickly, well on its way to replenishing depleted stores in 30, or even 15 minutes. The Turbo — and other phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge — owe the zero-to-sixty power sprint to Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0. In other words, the Turbo gets its titular power from the chip, not the vendor.
Anecdotal observation for that massive battery have been solid so far, and during our first preliminary round of battery drain testing, the handset lasted an impressive 14 hours and 43 minutes of continuous video playback.
And though it hit below the 48 hour mark that Motorola touts, the phone still lasted a whopping 34 hours and 8 minutes for talk time. Charging a the drained battery with the Turbo charger took almost exactly 2 hours. Additional tests will take place, so be sure to check back with this review for more details. According to FCC radiation measurements, the device has a SAR rating on 0.39W/kg.
Conclusion
If you like the Motorola Droid Turbo’s software offerings, but its $200 (32GB)/$250 (64GB) price tag is out of your budget, the Moto X is a good alternative — it’s reliable, customizable, and its scaled-down specs mean a lower starting price.
However, if you’re in the market for a premium device, the Droid Turbo should rank high for Verizon users. Sure, its questionable design definitely doesn’t have universal appeal. Both the Sony Xperia Z3v and the Galaxy S5 are in the same price range, look better, and are water resistant.
The Droid has a high-capacity battery that features quick-charge technology as well. James Martin/CNET
But if you put aside its aesthetic, the Turbo still has a capable 21-megapixel camera and bright display, which together offer a solid shooting and media experience. Fans of stock Android will also like the phone’s barely skinned UI, and it’s one of the most powerful handsets on the market. (Its bleeding-edge Snapdragon 805 processor for example, is lightning fast and only available in a few devices so far.)
Perhaps the Turbo’s ace in the hole though, is its monster battery capacity. Continuing the Droid family’s legacy of phones that keep going and going and going, the handset promises a battery that not only charges fast, but one that offers more hours of juice than its competitors.
Verizon Motorola Droid 4 available Feb 10 for $199 under contract
Motorola Droid 4 will be available on Verizon starting Feb 10.
It will cost $199 with a two-year contract.
The Droid 4, as you’ll remember from our hands-on work at CES, takes the design of the Droid RAZR MAXX and adds a redesigned five-row keyboard for good measure. Those keys are «laser cut» (for what it’s worth), and Motorola backlit them, which is nice. They treat them well and are well placed. Pair that with all the tweaks Motorola has added in Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread (the phone promised an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich), and add 4G LTE data (it’s the first system in the original Droid lineup with LTE) and you’re thanks to some state-level encryption. , we’ve got everything that should be a popular business device, and Citrix is also preloaded.
Other notable features include a 4-inch QHD display and an 8-megapixel rear camera. One thing to keep in mind is that the Droid 4 has a 1785 mAh battery — but like the original Droid RAZR, you can’t remove it. Bet now if we’ll see a Droid 4 MAXX with a monster battery in the coming weeks.
(We are a child, we are a child. Maybe.)
We have a full Verizon clamp after the break.
YouTube link for mobile viewing
BASKING RIDGE, NJ, Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Motorola’s award-winning DROID 4 will be available to even the most demanding lifestyles starting Feb. 10 at Verizon wireless stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com. Unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the DROID 4 is the thinnest and most powerful 4G QWERTY smartphone at less than half an inch thin. DROID 4 features not only a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, but also a five-row QWERTY keyboard with a PC-style layout and backlit keys for fast and accurate typing even in the dark. Backed by the fastest, most reliable 4G network in America, DROID 4 customers will have access to 4G LTE coverage for 195 markets covering over 200 million people.
Additional Features
- Verizon Wireless 4G LTE — Customers can expect high download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G LTE mobile broadband coverage areas
- Android™ 2.
3.5 Gingerbread to upgrade to Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich - 4.0″ QHD display with scratch and scratch resistant glass
- Government Encryption (FIPS 140-2) for email, calendar, and contacts; preinstalled with Citrix® Receiver™ for Android (available at webtop) for virtualization and desktop access
- 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video capture
- Front camera for video chat
- 4G LTE mobile hotspot supporting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices
- Ready business
DROID 4 is designed to help customers get more done. Business professionals can impress their audience by presenting a conference room full of potential clients in an instant by connecting DROID 4 to an HDTV and presenting directly from their phone. Professionals can also combine the DROID 4 with the Lapdock 500 and its 14-inch display to create a fully functional mobile office. They can upload documents, make changes using the full Lapdock keyboard, and email updated documents to colleagues or clients.
The laptop even has a built-in webcam so customers can attend virtual meetings and manage their business face-to-face.
The Smart Actions app on DROID 4 helps automate everyday tasks and optimizes battery efficiency by allowing customers to create rules such as automatically setting the phone to vibrate during work hours or dimming the display at a certain battery level.
Business professionals can leave their laptops behind and use the MotoCast™ app to remotely stream documents, videos, music and pictures from their work or home computers to their mobile phones. Remote access to MotoCast eliminates the need to store documents on the phone as everything is stored on their office laptop.
Pricing and Availability
Motorola’s DROID 4 will be available February 10 at Verizon Wireless Communications stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. The
Lapdock 500 is available at Verizon Wireless Stores and online for $299.
97.
Customers purchasing DROID 4 will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan starting with monthly access at 39$.99 and a smartphone data package starting at $30 per month for 2GB of data.
For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit the Verizon Wireless Communications store, call 1-800-2 JOIN, or visit www.verizonwireless.com. Follow Verizon Wireless on @VZWnews on Twitter.
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Motorola Droid Turbo Review — Android Reviews
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Motorola Droid
Motorola Droid Turbo Review
Motorola Droid
By Android1Pro Team
Roughly five years ago, Motorola introduced the first Droid specifically designed for Android use. Verizon networks. Since then, the Motorola Droid has continued to be popular with Verizon users and is recognized as one of the best phones offered exclusively for that network.
In this review, we take a closer look at this latest version of this line of Motorola Droid Turbo phones.
Design
- Motorola Droid Turbo stand measures 143.5 x 73.3 x 11.2 mm. The device weighs about 176 grams.
- Motorola Droid Turbo comes in three different colors: metallic black, ballistic nylon black, metallic red.
- The color you choose also determines what material the back of the device will be made of. If you opt for the metal back or red, you get the Droid Turbo with a traditional Kevlar backing. On the other hand, ballistic nylon is a newer option.
- Ballistic nylon is a new material that feels much more durable than Kevlar backing. Although it adds another weight of 10 to the weight of the device, it doesn’t affect performance or handling.
- The front of the Droid Turbo has three capacitive keys located below the display. These keys correspond to the on-screen key layout, which is typical for devices running Android 4.4 Kitkat.
- The power button and volume control are located on the right side of the device.
Come in a textured feel for good tactile feedback. - There is a headphone socket on the top of the device.
- The microUSB charging port is located on the bottom of the Droid Turbo.
- Droid Turbo is IP67 rated for dust and water resistance.
- Droid Turbo has a prominent rear curve that helps keep users gripped. Overall, this device feels great in the user’s hand.
The
Monitor
- Droid Turbo uses a 5.2-inch display with AMOLED technology.
- This display is Quad HD and has a resolution of 1440 x 2560 for a pixel density of 565 ppi.
- Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is used to protect the display.
- AMOLED technology ensures colors and viewing angles are good. The screen can be easily seen even on the street.
- Text is easy to read.
- Provides a good experience for playing games and watching videos.
Performance and hardware
- Droid Turbo uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core that runs at 2.
7 GHz supported by an Adreno 420 GPU with 3GB of RAM. This is the best processing package currently available and using it allows Droid Turbo to complete tasks with ease.
- Multitasking is fast and easy, and apps run smoothly.
- The device can run graphic games.
storage
- Droid Turbo does not have expandable storage.
- The phone comes in two versions with different built-in storage options: 32 GB and 64 GB. However, if you go for the Droid Turbo version of Ballistic Nylon, this is only available with 64 GB.
Battery
- Motorola Droid Turbo has a 3,900 mAh battery.
- Motorola claims that the Droid Turbo has about 48 hours of battery life.
- When we tested it, we were able to get past 29 hours and screen time around 4 hours. The
- Droid Turbo also has a Motorola Turbo charger that can give you 8 hours of battery life after just 15 minutes of charging.
It also has wireless charging which is compatible with all Qi wireless chargers.
camera
- Motorola Droid Turbo has a 21MP camera with dual LED flash and an af/2.0 aftermarket on the back. Before us is a 2MP camera.
- The camera application is very simple and simple, with multiple shooting modes such as panorama and HDR.
- The camera can be accessed by twisting the wrist several times while on any screen.
- Despite its simple setup, pictures from this camera have good detail and color reproduction.
GPR software
- Supports Motorola’s minimalist software philosophy.
- Droid Turbo comes with Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, but Android 5.0 Lollipop update is expected soon.
- Has Droid Zap and built in Chromecast support as well as Moto Assist and active notifications.
Pricing and closing thoughts
- You can only get the Motorola Droid Turbo from Verizon Wireless on a 2 contract for $199.
99 for $24.99/month on the Edge program or the full retail price of $599.99 with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Google Nexus 6. With a solid build quality, along with a long battery life and a great display, the Droid Turbo is a great device to have. . The only downside would be the fact that this is exclusive to Verizon, which can be a disappointment for those using other networks.
What do you think? Is Droid Turbo right for you?
JR
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Android1Pro Team
A 100% independent, unbiased, user-centric Android website with Android hardware, software, app reviews, and simple, accurate, exhaustive step by step instructions written by a team of technical experts who live and breathe Android.