Handsets

New DROID Turbo gets 48 hours of battery life, launches October 30th on Verizon

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Talk about the Motorola DROID Turbo at AndroidForums.com!

droid turbo hands 6

Verizon has finally officially revealed the Motorola DROID Turbo. The company made it quite obvious that this is what they were announcing over the past few weeks. Earlier rumors told us to expect a phone that exceeded all expectations, and we’re happy to say that it totally does.

The phone should be heralded as the beast of all beasts right now. It sports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 805 chipset, 3GB of RAM, a 5.2-inch 2560 x 1440 display, an insane 21 megapixel camera that can shoot 4K video, a 3,900mAh battery that delivers 48 hours of battery life and can be charged for 8 hours of use in 15 minutes with Motorola’s Turbo Charger.

droid turbo event 3

While it’ll be coming with Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, Motorola and Verizon promise a guaranteed upgrade to Lollipop at some point after release (though we didn’t really need a promise to assume that would be the case).

The duo were quite proud to announce that this would be a “pure” Android phone that doesn’t make use of any bloated user interface customizations or a ridiculous amount of pre-installed apps. This should make for faster upgrades to new software versions down the line as the Moto X and the DROID phones of yesteryear enjoyed. With that, you can expect Motorola’s light coat of paint in the form of Motorola Assist, Touchless Controls, Active Display and all the other useful software features they’ve become known for in the past year.

In typical Verizon fashion, the device will be available just two days after today’s announcement — that’s Thursday, October 30th if your calendar is broken. You’ll be able to choose from a 32GB option for $200 on a two-year agreement or get stepped up to a whopping 64GB of storage for just $50 more. The former can be had in either Metallic Black, Metallic Red or a new premium ballistic nylon material Motorola is using. Those opting for the $250 version will only have the option of going with ballistic nylon.

Oh, and one more quick perk Verizon’s throwing in — you’ll get one free replacement/repair for a broken display in your contract period. Not a bad deal if you hate having to pay a hefty deductible because your phone took an unfortunate tumble one day. Sound off with your thoughts on this beast in the comments below and stay tuned for more coverage from Verizon’s announcement event, including hands-on video right from the shindig!

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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56 Comments

  1. It is between the Z3v and the Turbo for me. Both are out now so this weekend I decide.

    If it is the Turbo, I plan to do the 64gb for sure as I have only 5gb left on a current 32gb phone and have a ton of gb’s on an SD card, so no way a 32gb can work for me for 2+ years.

    Why oh why is the 64gb limited to the 1 color?? WTF is up with that?

    1. I checked out the Z3v the other day and it was a letdown for me. Too big and thick for the screen size.

    2. I was really excited about the Z3, but like Chris I was very disappointed when the Verizon version came out. I’m ordering the Droid Turbo asap!

  2. Wow, Motorola nailed it with this phone. Wishing I had an upgrade to use on it. The only down side is I’m sure this will be locked down tighter than Area 51.

    1. But I have been able to root every Moto phone I have had, my wife has had and buddies have had so as long as we get a root exploit, I would be satisfied. And I bet we will.

  3. I will be in the store on the 30th.

  4. Im still throwing my money at the Nexus 6….

    1. It is a tough choice. I prefer Droid Turbo because the Nexus 6 is a bit too big, although they have both very good specs:

      http://versus.com/en/motorola-droid-turbo-vs-motorola-nexus-6

      In my opinion, a 5.2″ screen is easier to use. The screen on Nexus 6 has almost 6″ and no stylus, which would be useful for a device this big.

  5. Will this (or a re-badged clone) be coming to AT&T?

  6. I’m VERY impressed Moto. I bet when El Goog sold Moto to Lenovo they made a clause that all Moto android phones had to be near “Pure” experience phones.

    1. Technically, Google still owns Lenovo. And even if they didn’t, phones are generally a year or more planned out in advance. We won’t seen any Lenovo influence for a year or more.

      1. I think you meant Google still own Motorola.

      2. Yea I guess you’re right about the development pipeline, but Google only owns about 6% of Lenovo.
        http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/07/us-google-lenovo-idUSBREA1606B20140207
        Or yea maybe you meant Google still technically owns Motorola?

  7. 1 free screen replacement during a contract period makes this probably the best option for verizon customers. That battery! Too bad the 2014 moto x doesn’t come with a bigger battery.

  8. Am I the only one noticing that the Verizon logo isn’t on the Nylon version?

    1. Unfortunately, the ugly logo and “DROID” is on the back of each version.

      1. Im not seing it on the black nylon one. Perhaps I’m just imagining things. But yes, the DROID logo is definitely there.

        1. The Verizon Wireless website shows all three versions next to each other with their ugly logo on each one. At least they didn’t put them on the front though.

  9. Front facing speakers???

    1. Front facing mono speaker.

      1. Damn.

  10. Can’t wait for it to be in Canada!

  11. US only again moto? then I don’t care.

    Also 1440p on a 5.2″ display, what a waste. At 5.7″ and 6.0″ I can sort of see a point just about, but not at this size.

    Nobody will be able to tell the difference, they should have stuck with 1080p.

    1. If the name is “Droid _____”, it’s not just US-only, but Verizon-only. Any shock or surprise over that is surprising to me.

      1. So you assume users outside the US will know this? either way it’s US only as far I’m concerned.

        Your arrogance is impressive.

        1. Given that DROID has been a Verizon exclusive trademark for nearly 6 years? I figure it’s common enough knowledge to anyone who would be on Phandroid.

          1. The thing is Chad, the distinction between US and Verizon exclusive doesn’t mean anything to me and probably a lot of users outside the US.

            The result is the same, I can’t purchase this device, not that i’d want too. :)

          2. For anyone non-US the result is the same, true. But again, it’s been the case for anything DROID for 6 years, whether you make the finer (carrier) distinction or not.

    2. You think anyone cares if you care?

      Your arrogance is impressive.

      1. So original. come up with that all by yourself did you. :-)

      2. These are comments, they are to express individual thoughts. You use the word “anyone” as if you know what more than just yourself thinks, now that’s arrogance.

  12. droids r back!

  13. All kinds of kind of cool things happening with this phone. Then there is that one crippling feature….

    The DROID Turbo Screen Assurance program provides peace of mind for Motorola
    DROID Turbo customers at no additional cost. DROID Turbo Screen Assurance is not
    a replacement of insurance coverage, but is a supplemental program that provides
    customers with one free CLNR within their initial contract term for cracked,
    scratched, or broken screens.

    Customers can receive a minimum of $100 trade-in value of their recycled
    smart phone when they trade it in and activate a new Motorola DROID Turbo on
    Edge or a 2-year contract. The traded device must be in good working condition. It does need to pass all of the device appraisal questions. Note: Any smartphone from any carrier is eligible.

    For a limited time, customers purchasing a DROID Turbo will not pay an
    activation fee or upgrade fee. Both the waived fees and trade-in promotions will expire on 12/31/2014.

    The DROID Turbo is Simultaneous Voice and Data – Update Ready which means it requires an
    Advanced Calling 1.0 software update that will be automatically sent to the
    Droid Turbo within 30-90 days of device launch to enable Simultaneous Voice and
    Data. Yes, to use VOICE and DATA at the same time you MUST be using Advanced Calling 1.0. /sigh

    1. the one crippling “feature” is that is a US only phone.

  14. despite the ugly design, I would prefer Droid turbo over Nexus 6

  15. I’m really happy that this is being released two days after announcement! Because my Galaxy S3 is barely holding on…

  16. Looks dope. Except for the capacitive nav buttons of course… Is it running Gingerbread? Lol

    1. Agree. Capacitive or ANY button on the screen surface for that matter, is not cool. I refuse to get a phone with these buttons no matter how awesome it is. Damn shame, this phone looks really good.

      1. I feel like with that massive battery there would’ve been extra space anyway. I originally thought like you but I think I’d rather have filled bezel space and all of the screen at my disposal…

        The battery alone pushed this over the new Moto X for my new phone in December when my contract expires, though I really wanted a leather back.

      2. You don’t want buttons on the screen surface? What does that even mean?
        Are you saying you want on-screen buttons?

        1. Here is what it means: software rendered buttons are the ONLY type of buttons i would want as far as nav and menus go. After all, this is actually how google intended Android to behave. Time to put capacitive buttons to rest. Hope this clears up your confusion.

          1. Still confused. You need those buttons in like all situations right? You always need a back button, home button, etc. So why would it matter whether it’s software rendered or not? Not only that, but I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that software buttons can become unresponsive in situations of apps freezing where hardware/capacitive buttons do not.

          2. Oh another one confused? lol Ok if software buttons become unresponsive because of app freezes then not even capacitive buttons can help you. The one problem capacitive buttons often face is their sensitivity, specially when these buttons are placed around surfaces where human appendages often rest when handling the phone. Personal experience: I used my gf’s Galaxy S3 for 1 day and it drove me crazy how many times i would activate the back button unintentionally. Hope that got fixed in later versions. Anyhow, rendered buttons, as stated previously, is how google intended Android to behave on phones.

          3. eh f their intentions, the buttons work fine, at least they do for me.

    2. No, its running Kit Kat. Didn’t you read the article?

  17. Man, this would probably be my next phone if it were on Sprint (even over the Nexus 6). Still, great news for you Verizon users!

  18. This might be relevant to my interests if it has a micro SD slot and doesn’t come loaded with VZW bloat and a locked boot loader.

    1. “The duo were quite proud to announce that this would be a “pure” Android phone that doesn’t make use of any bloated user interface customizations or a ridiculous amount of pre-installed apps.”

    2. 64GB version, so micro SD not so big of a deal.

  19. I’d like to point out some items that I gathered from another article – it’s splash resistant (not sure to what degree) and has wireless charging!

  20. Impressive battery!

  21. Anyone know where I can get the clock widget; and if it will install on my s4

  22. I cant make up my mind. I always wanted a Nexus, but the N6 is huge. The Moto X is beautiful, but is limited in storage and has sub par battery life. The Turbo looks the best on paper, but will stop being supported before the X.

    Theyre all Motorola phones too. I hate that Google has to let go of this company.

  23. Advanced Calling 1.0 will arrive in 90 days? sounds like so will Android L. count me in for an early adopter. Hopefully can get root access just for Titanium Backup atleast

  24. This is cool…but I have a Huawei Mediapad with a 5,000 mah battery (yes it’s a phablet). No turbo charge but it does charge really fast. No matter, nexus 6 is next :)

  25. Judging by the pictures, the “ballistic nylon” version doesn’t have the Verizon tramp stamp which I think will make it a hit with folks who don’t care for carrier branding on their devices.

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