Motorola and Verizon Announce the Droid Turbo
by Brandon Chester on October 28, 2014 6:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Verizon
- Motorola
- Mobile
Verizon and Motorola have always had a close relationship. The smartphones in Motorola's Droid line are typically exclusive to the carrier, and they helped make Verizon a heavy supporter of Android devices during a time where AT&T was the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone. Today's announcement is no exception. The Droid Turbo is a Verizon exclusive smartphone made by Motorola, and seemingly their most powerful. Its biggest selling point is its battery life, but before getting into specifics I've given an overview by laying out all the specifications in the chart below.
Motorola Droid Turbo | Motorola Moto X (2014) | |
SoC | APQ8084 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 with 4 x Krait 450 + Adreno 420 | MSM8974 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 with 4 x Krait 400 + Adreno 330 |
RAM/NAND | 3 GB LPDDR3, 32/64GB NAND | 2GB LPDDR3, 16/32GB NAND |
Display | 5.2” 2560x1440 AMOLED at 565ppi | 5.2” 1080p Super AMOLED |
Network | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE Listed as Category 4 | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE Listed as Category 4 |
Dimensions | 143.5 x 73.3 x 11.2 mm, 176 grams (Black Nylon) 143.5 x 73.3 x 10.6mm, 169g (Metallic Red/Black) |
140.8 x 72.4 x 3.8-9.9 mm, 144 grams |
Camera | 21MP (5248x3936) Rear Camera with F/2.0 aperture, 2MP Front Camera | 13MP Rear Facing, 1/3.06" CMOS size (Sony IMX135), 2.1MP FFC |
Battery | 3900 mAh | 2300 mAh, 3.8V, 8.74 Whr |
OS | Android 4.4.4 KitKat | Android 4.4.4 KitKat |
Connectivity | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, DLNA, NFC | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, DLNA, NFC |
SIM Size | NanoSIM | NanoSIM |
It's interesting that this is a Verizon exclusive device, as it has significantly better specifications than the Moto X which is Motorola's current widely available flagship. Like many of the other recently released flagship phones, the Droid Turbo uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 with four Krait 450 cores at 2.7GHz and 3GB of LPDDR3 memory. The front of the device sports a 2560x1440 AMOLED display, which is also quickly becoming the norm for Android flagship smartphones. Above it is a 2MP front-facing camera capable of recording 1080p video, and below it lies three capacitive navigation buttons which is a departure from the on-screen buttons that Motorola has been using on their other devices for some time now.
The back of the device is home to the 21MP rear-facing camera which Motorola states is capable of recording 4K video at 24fps, with 1080p recording still topping out at 30fps. The design of the back is somewhat similar to the Moto X and Moto G, but it appears to be far less curvy. There's a great deal of branding, with a logo for Verizon, the Droid brand, and Motorola's. Even without those, it's would still be clear to anyone familiar with Motorola's style of hardware design that this is a Motorola device. The curved back, centered camera, and crosshatch pattern on the back are all reminiscent of past and current Motorola phones. However, there is no lip at the top for the 3.5mm headphone jack like on Motorola's other current devices.
The big point of differentiation is the battery capacity. Motorola has not stated the voltage of the battery, but states that it has a 3900mAh capacity and claims it will last up to 48 hours of usage. While there is always some degree of variance from a manufacturer's claims based on how a user uses their device, if the Droid Turbo approaches anywhere close to that claim in battery testing it will be very far ahead of competing smartphones with regards to battery life.
One possible issue I noticed with Motorola's listed specifications is in the network section which classifies the device as supporting category 4 LTE. This may be referring to Verizon's network certification, but the Droid Turbo should be rated for category 6 LTE.
The Droid Turbo will come with two choices of materials. There is a metallic finish which comes in black or red, and is the lighter and thinner of the two variants. These will all have a 32GB capacity. The 64GB version will only be available in the Nylon Ballistic Black finish which is slightly thicker and heavier. It will be launching this Thursday for $199 and $249 for the 32GB and 64GB variants respectively on a two year term.
Source: Official Motorola Blog
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Notmyusualid - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
Sorry, I can see it IS indeed heavy... hmm I dunno.Guess I'll pop into Fry's and see it in real life then. Its going to feel like a laptop in the pocket I'm expecting...
jvl - Thursday, October 30, 2014 - link
I hate the buttons :>Other than that, I only hate they didn't put enough of an effort into the Moto X...
chazzmatt - Thursday, October 30, 2014 - link
"Droid" may be "exclusive" to Verizon, but the same model under a different name often shows up at other carriers. So big deal.
"Droid Turbo" will be called the "Moto X Play" for AT&T.
Droid Turbo (Verizon: FCC ID IHDT56PK1)
Moto X Play (AT&T: FCC ID IHDT56PK2 )
Has AT&T bands, and the official statements say the new device "is electrically equivalent to the certified device carrying FCC ID IHDT56PK1."
What I'm REALLY waiting for is a "Pure Edition" of the "Moto X Play" -- like Motorola has done for the 2014 Moto X. No carrier branding, no bloatware, unlockable bootloader
Notmyusualid - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
"No carrier branding, no bloatware, unlockable bootloader".... could you send that message to Samsung?I bought my GS5 cash, no branding, no carrier, straight up 1st day out cash purchase, and it still required rooting, and I cannot update my OS, not EVER, as I have an 'unsupported os', or some error message like that.
Worse still, Cyangenmod went commerecial, and even if I jumped through hoops to load a version os CM, it doesn't support Touch Wiz, so no fingerprint reader etc.
Sh1te all over.
All marketing people should be drawn & quartered. Bill Hicks agreed. Look it up.
jdub_06 - Monday, November 3, 2014 - link
"Motorola has not stated the voltage of the battery" do you actually get paid to write these articles? arnt you supposed to have a basic understanding of electronics to be writing them in the first place? lithium ion nominal cell voltage is 3.7v. If you were to use 2 in the configuration to extend capacity (parallel) it would still be 3.7v.if it uses lithium ion and its a phone, its going to be 3.7 volts. Unless they are unveiling a new tech or special anode/cathode which 1) is unlikely 2) the phone with the higher mah is listed as being slightly thicker which suggests a larger lithium ion cell. 3) if they were using new tech they would likely brag about for marketing, "hey new supper good bat tech!" instead of the usual mAh rating
I dont know why you would even question the voltage.
flyguy29 - Sunday, December 14, 2014 - link
Motorola has clearly been sabotaged by Verizon industrial sales management. Restricting its best phones to limited distribution and just one carrier is the only explanation as to why Motorola choses to limit its sales of its best technologies to just one carrier. Years in the red is clear evidence of industrial sabotage. With a chance to take a lead in battery life, Motorola has once again chosen to "sell less, make le$$".