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.Vi
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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.
