Another year means another release for Motorola's Droid smartphone.  The Droid name helped put Android on the map even though many would forget that the G1 was the 1st Android device.  Over the past several years, Motorola + Verizon's Droid partnership haven't been much a big deal.  Not so great camera, good body, great battery life and only on VZW.  

Enter 2014 as we now have the Droid Turbo.  This is the latest from their partnership as they appear to bring their best foot forward this time.  This isn't just some random device w/ a Droid brand.  This packed w/ some top tier specs to make the Droid experience better than it has been in years.  We'll let you know if this should be worthy of your attention and let you know if Droid is back.  After handling it for a few weeks, here is our review. 



droid turbo

droid turbo review

Design

For the Turbo, VZW opted for not one but 3 different styles to choose from.  One made of kevlar, one w/ a rear comprised of ballistic nylon (similar to what you see on backpacks + luggage), or one w/ a metallized glass rear.  We chose the ballistic nylon one as it had the maximum storage of 64GB.   All of this to continue the industrial-look Droids have had throughout the past few years.  And like previous Droids, the Turbo is made to be quite durable.  Sporting a nano-coating inside + out to ensure its water-resistance claims along w/ Kevlar underneath the outer build + Gorilla Glass 3 in the front.  So while the look may have slightly changed, the new Droid is just as durable as before, if not more so. 
Note: if you're screen cracks, VZW will replace the 1st one for free.
droid turbo review

Display

Motorola continues to utilize a Super AMOLED display for its battery-saving + Moto Display (formerly Active Display) abilities.   Moto + Verizon made sure to futureproof it w/ a higher-res panel.  The Turbo sports a 5.2inch 2K (2560 x 1440) AMOLED display w/ 565ppi.  Offering a super-crisp images w/ bright + warm colors as the more recent AMOLED panels (Turbo, Nexus 6, Note 4) are getting better at color reproduction as a whole.  On paper the Turbo's display sounds like the best display on earth.  While it is not, it is still a really good one.  

Performance/Battery Life

Motorola wanted to make sure that the Turbo lived up to its name by providing it w/ the necessary internals.  Inside lies a 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 CPU coupled w/ 3GB of RAM.  After spending several weeks w/ it, I have yet to come across any notable signs of hiccups or lag.  With it running damn-near stock Android, it handles everything from multitasking to simple processes like a breeze.  Easily a top Android performer amongst the rest of the pack.

Powerful and the best battery on the market right now. 

d turbo battery

Motorola is known for equipping their Droids w/ some massive all-day batteries.   Since they only released one Droid this year instead of 3, they made sure to put a huge one within this one.  The Droid Turbo has a 3900 mAh battery that Moto quoted for a 48-hour battery life based on mixed usage.  While I didn't exactly that I did manage to get just over 20 hours on heavy usage of streaming on Google Play, YouTube, navigating via Google Maps, a few phone calls, and tons of back-and-forth via Hangouts.  Moderate use got just under 40 hours.  You can always count on Moto to provide a great battery.  

Cameras

Instead of using the same 13MP shooter seen on the new Moto X + the Nexus 6, they decided to further step things up a bit.  On the rear of the Turbo lies a 21MP rear-facing shooter w/ dual LED flash.  The performance of its rear-shooter is great like really great but it appears that software is stopping it from being great.  Slow shutter times between actually pressing the screen to capture and the actual capture.  When there were no issues I got amazing shots.  You would never think some of these photos came from a Motorola device.  Then other times you do get the grainy, noisy mess of a photo.  These problems spills over to the video side of things as well even though this can shoot in 4K.  I hope a software update can fix this ASAP.  Other than that, it behaves on par w/ the latest Moto X + Nexus 6 despite having more megapixels.  

droid turbo review

Software

Like all Motorola devices, it runs stock Android more or less.  Other than some custom Moto apps + a clock/weather widget dubbed the Command Center.  So starting off its like a Nexus alternative as the Google Launcher + Keyboard are already pre-loaded.  But lets talk about all that Moto brings to the software side of things.  

For starters, Active Display is now called Moto Display making good use of the AMOLED display.  It is improved as it now shows off any notifications on the screen when you pick the device up, thanks to on-board infrared sensors.  So when a new notification arrives, you still have the option to choose to open the notification or just unlock your device.   I rarely used the Power button to unlock it.

d turbo software

Moto Assist is still present as driving mode (that reads out text + directions), pretty much created the Do Not Disturb mode for everyone, and Home mode which are all better than ever.  Moto Voice now adds the ability to create a custom keyword like instead of saying "OK, Moto" you can say "OK, Alfred" or whatever word of your choosing.  Moto Actions which allows you to wave your hand over the device while receiving an incoming phone call to mute it.  You still have the Quick Capture gesture that allows you to flick your wrist twice w/ the device in-hand to wake it up to the camera.  Droid Zap is back as well.   You can send files + photos to other devices for a short time as you can now send them to Chromecast too.  Glad to see that this has moved to the Play Store as more users outside of Droids can utilize the app.  However, there are plenty of alternatives out there already.  All of the Droid extras aren't huge as it feels like a standard device running pure Android but adds better elements to it.
d turbo review grade

The Turbo brings the Droid brand back from the smartphone graveyard.

TG 2 Cents

With the Turbo, this is the 1st powerful Droid we've seen in years.  It kind of revitalizes the Droid brand w/ a true competitor.  It is easily one of the better Android devices on Verizon.  For some, they might have wished that this became the Nexus 6.  While others may have desired a better-looking + less industrial-looking hardware to make it the ideal choice.  Either way its a great device all-the-around.  

To Buy Or Not To Buy

This is a no-brainer.  If you're on Verizon and you think the Nexus 6 is too big but still want a skinless Android experience + stellar battery life, this is for you.  If not, seek out the Moto X.  
Categories: Review