Motorola Moto G named 2013 TrustedReviews Product of the Year

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AppId is over the quota

The Motorola Moto G has been crowned Product of the Year at the 2013 TrustedReviews Awards as the full list of winners is announced.

A handset that looks set to change the face of the smartphone scene for good, the Motorola Moto G paired a moderate array of specs with a truly bargain price point. A phone that could help spell the end for costly two year deals, the Motorola Moto G launched with a SIM-free price of just £135.

For this minimal fee, the phone partners a solid 1.2GHz quad-core processor with a 4.5-inch 720p HD display and a 5-megapixel rear-mounted camera.

Although not as specs impressive as say the Google Nexus 5 or the 2013 TrustedReviews Phone of the Year, the HTC One, the Motorola Moto G offers an affordable package for the everyman smartphone owner. Powered by Google’s Android 4.3 Jelly BeanOS, the Moto G brings a mid-range spec that includes 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage to an entry-level price point.

“The Motorola Moto G was a bolt from the blue,” TrustedReviews Editor Evan Kypreos said of the phone. “An almost flagship spec phone for £135. It is almost inconceivable.”

He added: “Aside from the iPad Air it’s the only mobile product that scored 10/10 this year and you can’t really argue with that.

“A phone this good with a price this unbelievably low will challenge the status quo of network operators and expensive 24-month contracts.”

As well as being announced the 2013 TrustedReviews Product of the Year, the Motorola Moto G has walked away with a second price, claiming the accolade of Best Phone Under £250.

With the PS4 having beaten the Xbox One to be announced as the 2013 TrustedReviews Console of the Year earlier this week, we can now announce the full list of winners.

Phone of the Year – HTC One
Best Phone Under £250 – Motorola Moto G
Tablet of the Year – Apple iPad Air
Laptop of the Year – Apple MacBook Air

Console of the Year – Sony PS4
Game of the Year – GTA 5
Innovation of the Year – LG G Flex
Camera of the Year – Panasonic Lumix GX7

Best TV over £750 – Sony Bravia KD-65X9005A
Best TV Under £750 – Samsung UE40F6400
Projector of the Year - Sony VPL-VW500ES
Streaming Service of the Year – Netflix

Sat-nav of the Year – TomTom Go 500
Monitor of the Year – Samsung S24C650
Networking Product of the Year – Linksys EA6900 AC1900 802.11ac router
Printer of the Year – Samsung Xpress M2070W
Headphones of the Year – Sennheiser Momentum

Brand of the Year – Sony
Product of the Year – Motorola Moto G

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Motorola Moto G

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AppId is over the quota

If your priority is to get your hands on the cheapest Android phone deal around, the new Motorola Moto G can’t be beat. Starting at just $179, the unlocked and unsubsidized Moto G flaunts a big 4.5-inch screen plus all the power of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. That's a lot of smartphone with no strings attached. Even so, Motorola made some big compromises to help the Moto G reach its extremely low price, specifically a slow processor, an unimpressive camera, no 4G LTE, and a screen that won’t wow anybody.

To me, many of these flaws are deal-breakers on their own, let alone when piled into one device. Sure, the Moto G’s low impact on your bank account sounds tempting, and if $200 is all you can spare it'll serve you well. But if you’re willing to spend extra cash, the Nexus 5, or even Motorola’s own Moto X, are more capable and faster.

Editors' Note: I tested two versions of the Moto G for this review. The first was a Global GSM model connected to T-Mobile's cellular network. The second was a US GSM model linked to AT&T's cellular network. Motorola also plans to sell a CDMA model of the Moto G optimized for US wireless networks, which will likely be sold by Verizon.

Design
For a phone with such a low unlocked price, I admit I expected the Moto G to feel cheaper than it does. My prejudices were quickly assuaged the moment I picked up the device. The Moto G feels almost as good in the hand as its more expensive sibling, the Moto X. That’s because the newer handset has many of the handsome design elements I love in Motorola’s current flagship model.

The Moto G has a large 4.5-inch 720p resolution LCD screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

These include a compact chassis that’s easy to manipulate one-handed, along with a curved back intelligently designed to fit comfortably in your palm. Measuring 5.1 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.46 of an inch at its thickest point, the Moto G shares an almost identical footprint to the Moto X (which only differs in thickness, at 0.41 inch). Believe me, it’s a good thing, since both gadgets are svelte enough to slip into tight pockets and tote around with ease.

And while the Moto G isn’t sculpted out of luxurious materials such as aluminum or polished steel, its plastic body is reassuringly solid and radiates quality craftsmanship. Even so, I definitely prefer the soft-touch back surface of Moto X to the G’s matte finish as it does a better job of repelling fingerprints and grease. That’s why I strongly suggest buying one of the Moto G’s shell backings for an extra $14.99, which feature a soft-touch texture and come in a choice of six snazzy colors.

The back side of the Moto G has a matte finish that smudges easily.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

There are other small physical differences between the phones, such as the Moto G’s slightly heftier weight (5 ounces), and thicker profile. Besides that, thanks to an identical button layout, the Moto G could easily be mistaken for the Moto X. A tiny power key and trim volume bar sit on the right side, while a 3.5mm headphone jack occupies the top edge.

Around back is the G’s main 5-megapixel camera and LED flash. The phone even has a little circular dimple (matching the Moto X) placed just below the camera lens -- right where your index naturally falls. Here, too, is the Moto G's speaker, which I can confirm gets pretty darn loud without distorting.

The back is curved for a comfortable grip, and has a dimple great for resting index fingers.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Unlike the Moto X’s sealed chassis, the Moto G has a removable back plate. Don’t get your hopes up though, because underneath the phone’s back cover isn’t an SD Card slot, but merely an embedded 2,070mAh battery (2,200mAh on the X), and spring-loaded micro-SIM receptacle.

You can remove the back panel, but the battery is embedded and there's no SD Card expansion slot.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Screen
To meet the Moto G’s rock bottom price Motorola had to make some sacrifices and a major one was the handset’s display. At 4.5 inches across, the G’s screen is certainly big, especially considering the phone’s small footprint. Its 720p resolution (1,280x720 pixels) is also acceptably crisp. Sadly, however, the Moto’s G’s display is neither bright, nor has a high contrast.

In fact, when viewed side-by-side against the Moto X (with both devices set at maximum brightness), the G’s LCD panel literally pales in comparison. Not only is the Moto X significantly brighter, its OLED screen technology produces very wide viewing angles with deep blacks and vibrant (if oversaturated) colors.

The Moto G's screen is big but not very bright.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Core components
Motorola dialed back the Moto G’s processing power as well. Under the phone’s hood is a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor paired with Adreno 305 graphics and 1GB of RAM. It’s less muscular than Motorola’s X8 processing platform tucked inside the Moto X, which consists of a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro (dual-core Krait) backed up by 2GB of RAM and quad-core Adreno 320 graphics.

The Moto G’s standard 8GB allotment of internal storage (16GB on premium versions) is less impressive compared with the Moto X’s base 16GB and 32GB options. The handset’s CPU is a far cry from true powerhouse devices such as the Nexus 5 and Galaxy Note 3, both powered by 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chips, Qualcomm’s finest slice of mobile silicon to date.

Software and interface
With Motorola now owned and operated by Google, I’m not surprised the Moto G’s real draw is its modern Android software. Similar to the Moto X, the G comes running mostly stock Android 4.3 Jelly Bean right out of the box. Even better, Motorola has officially said the Moto G will soon enjoy an update to Google’s most recent flavor of Android, version 4.4 KitKat (though exact timing remains unclear).

The Moto G mostly runs a stock version of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

Along with Jelly Bean comes the Moto G’s native support of Google’s vast stable of popular services, including Gmail, Google Plus, the Chrome browser, and the Play digital media storefronts (music, movies, TV shows, and books). Of course, as with any Android smartphone, the Moto G also offers access to over 700,000 third-party apps (and growing) for instant download.

Another solution built into Android Jelly Bean, is Google Now advanced search. Google Now does its best to serve up timely information, such as weather forecasts, sports scores, and even how long your commute to and from the office will likely take. Other ambitious skills in the Google Now arsenal include status of flights in real-time, meeting appointments and other reminders, tracking package shipments, and keeping tabs on restaurant reservations.

Google Now serves up personal alerts.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

Relevant notifications appear in the Android notification shade, and within an optional home screen widget, but you can also launch Google Now quickly by swiping your finger up from the bottom of the screen. In my experience using Google Now on the Moto G plus numerous Android phones, I’ve only consistently gotten alerts for weather, my daily commute, and appointments.

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Motorola Moto G Phone Review

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The Motorola Moto G is an important phone, for Motorola at least. It’s the first new Motorola phone to be released in the UK in ages, and the first we’ve seen since Google bought Motorola back in 2012. It’s also superb. Thanks to its 720p screen and solid Snapdragon 400 processor, it offers far better specs than any other big-name a phone selling for under £150. If you want a sub-£150 phone, get this one. It's that simple.

ROUNDUP: 10 best cheap phones you can buy

The Moto G is a plastic phone, with a curved back that cares more about feeling good in the hand than being terribly thin or light. At 143g and 11.6mm thick, it’s significantly thicker and heavier than most phones with similar specs. However, for the average buyer this won’t be much of a sacrifice.

The back is smooth and comfy, and as the 4.5-inch screen is smaller than many high-spec Androids (if quite large at the pice), the Motorola Moto G is easy to use one-handed. It might lack the recognisable design of the Razr-series phones, but it offers a level of customisation thanks to an array of available body shells.

Thought removable phone fascias were dead? The Motorola Moto G is trying to bring them back. 19 different backs are available for the phone, coming in all sorts of different colours, and three main types.

There’s the normal one, bundled as standard, flip-style cases like those you can get for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and a back that gives a bit more protection, with chunkier sides and a slight protrusion of around a millimetre in front of the screen. This ensures the glass front of the screen doesn't take the brunt of any drop impact. 

The idea is that the Moto G is not a phone you need a separate case for. We used the phone with the standard black plastic back, and there’s thankfully no hint that the back is meant to be switched.

There’s an inoffensive ordinariness to the Moto G that we think is the right move to make at this price. It’s what rivals like the Samsung Galaxy Ace phones go for, too. There's just one issue: the black case is a magnet for greasy finger marks.

One of the most notable things about the design is something that has no function at all. The Motorola logo sits on the back of the phone sits in a concave indent that just wills you to stroke the thing’s back as if it’s a miaow’ing pet. Completely pointless as it may be, but like the Moto G’s alternative to a comfort blanket it’s an oddly reassuring presence.

ROUNDUP: 10 best Android phones you can buy

Although the Moto G doesn’t quite have the aesthetic purity of the Nexus 5, with both matt and gloss finishes on show and non-colour-matched buttons, it still looks more expensive than it is. This looks like a £250 phone, not a £130 one.

Motorola has employed a water-resistant ‘nano’ layer inside the phone, designed to protect it from light splashes. The design also keeps any power connections away from water, by sealing in the battery. It’s non-removable, which some of you may not like, but finishing touches like mild water resistance are the last things we expect at this price.

There are features missing you’ll often find in more expensive phones, though.  There’s no microSD memory card slot (Motorola says this is not a price issue, though), no NFC, no 4G and no integrated support for wireless screen mirroring.

These are the sacrifices the Moto G has had to make in order to offer such a high-spec screen at such a low price. But they're the right ones. They're features that are relatively little-used by the vast majority of people.

With the entry-level £135 model you get 8GB of internal memory, around 5GB of which is accessible, and there’s a 16GB version that costs £160. While some may complain about not having expandable memory, we’re nevertheless impressed by what Motorola has managed to cram in. Some phones at the price only offer 4GB of internal memory.

The Motorola Moto G is a phone that proves how cheaply a high-quality phone can be made with a bit of aggressiveness and the right decisions. It stands out among its peers as the new 'phone to beat'.

ROUNDUP: 10 best phones you can buy

The Motorola Moto G’s most impressive feature is its screen. This is the first time we’ve seen a 720p screen on a phone that costs less than £140.

This gives the phone the sort of ultra-sharp text and images that we’ve only seen in much more expensive phones to date. 720p resolution stretched across a 4.5-inch display gives a pixel density rating of 329 pixels per inch (ppi). Higher-end Androids may offer 1080p screens these days, but that’s still higher than the ppi rating of the iPhone 5S (326ppi).

Such a sharp screen makes small text easily readable in the browser. It makes 3D games look a lot less ‘jaggy’ than they would on most rivals, too, which tend to have 800 x 480 pixel screens at this price.

Resolution is not everything, but general image quality is good too. The Motorola Moto G uses an IPS display, the same type used in both the HTC One and iPhone 5S, and it's a good one.

Performance is stellar for the price. Colours are well-saturated and vivid, contrast is strong and the evenness of the backlight is on-par with phones costing several times the price. It doesn’t look quite as natural as a top £500 phone’s screen, especially at top brightness, but this is undoubtedly the best phone screen we’ve seen at the price from a major manufacturer.

What’s also seriously impressive is that Motorola has used Gorilla Glass 3 as the screen covering. This toughened glass layer means the phone is less prone to flexing under pressure and scratching than most low-cost phones. Gorilla Glass is not unheard of in the sub-£200 market, though – the LG L7 II and Huawei Ascend G510 have it, although others tend to use ‘unbranded’ toughened glass.

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Motorola Moto G press picture leaks before November 13 launch event

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The first official-looking press picture of the Motorola Moto G smartphone has been leaked online.

Ahead of the Moto G’s official launch on November 13, an apparently official press image of the upcoming mid-range handset has appeared.

The press picture comes courtesy of notorious tipster @evleaks and bears the tagline “Almost here.”

Motorola issued a formal save the date notice for the Moto G launch event earlier this month, but offered no further details regarding its supposedly mid-range handset.

It will be the cheaper alternative to the innovative flagship Motorola Moto X, which sadly is a US exclusive and won’t be making its way to UK shores.

From the pictures it seems the Moto G will launch in pink, green, blue and white. It will also feature a smooth contour design with angular detailing at the top.

Motorola Moto G Specs
Motorola Moto G specs leaked at the start of this month, revealing that the smartphone will have a 4.7-inch 720p HD display.

It will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz, rather than the top end Snapdragon 800 CPU to keep costs lower.

There will be a choice of 8GB or 16GB of internal storage, which is another indicator of the Moto G’s more budget conscious price tag.

The Moto G will also have an 8-megapixel camera in the rear, but we’re unsure of the forward-facing snapper’s specs as yet.

Battery-wise, there’s a 1,950mAh unit, which should offer a fairly average standby time.

Motorola intends to make sure the Moto G is offered for free on a monthly contract basis to make it appealing to consumers.

The Moto X launched in August with DIY cover options and a focus on innovative features and solid design rather than the top-end specs. Some of the Moto X features have made their way into the Google Nexus 5 with Android 4.4 KitKat.

Next, read our Google Nexus 5 vs Nexus 4 comparison.

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Motorola Droid Mini

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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.

(Credit: 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.

(Credit: 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.

(Credit: 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.

(Credit: 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 (1,280x720 pixels) than competing Verizon devices, namely the Samsung Galaxy S4 (5-inch AMOLED, 1920x1080), and HTC One (4.7-inch LCD, 1,920x1,080), 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.

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.

(Credit: 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.

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Motorola Droid Maxx

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Sitting at the top of Motorola's new Droid lineup, the $299.99 Droid Maxx is more than just a capable device -- it's also a hair from being the best smartphone Verizon has ever sold. It boasts the biggest battery available in a handset, a full 32GB of internal storage, not to mention Google's impressive list of futuristic Android extras. The Maxx's build quality is also light years superior to the thinner Motorola Droid Ultra.

That said, the Maxx's sky-high sticker price and quirky battery-charging snafus give me pause to recommend it just yet over its rivals the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Design
Aesthetically speaking, the differences between the Motorola Droid Maxx and its more svelte sibling, the Droid Ultra, are huge, though you won't notice them at first. At 5.4 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide thick, the Maxx is just as tall and as wide as the Ultra, but also a bit thicker (0.34 inch vs. 0.22 inch).

The Maxx's big size makes it a lot of smartphone to hold.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Still, you don't notice the change in girth when the phones are side by side on a table. It's only when you pick them up that you'll notice that the Maxx packs some serious heavy hardware. Tipping the scales at almost 6 ounces (5.9 to be exact), the Droid Maxx has more heft and feels way more substantial than the Ultra (4.8 ounces). In fact, the Maxx is about an ounce heavier than the all-metal HTC One (5.04 ounces) and certainly heavier still than the svelte Samsung Galaxy S4 (4.6 ounces).

Moto gets big points for giving the Maxx a back surface coated in Kevlar fiber -- similar to the previous generation of Droid handsets. I dug that treatment then and I dig it now. Smooth to the touch and possessing a soft matte finish, it repels smudges and streaks while simultaneously protecting against scratches. I certainly prefer it to the Ultra’s glossy and slippery backside, which accumulates greasy fingerprints.

The Maxx's back is coated in soft-touch but tough Kevlar fiber.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

The only physical buttons on the Maxx are located on the phone's right edge, a power key and a thin volume bar. Both are contoured and cross-hatched for easy manipulation by feel alone.

The Maxx only has physical controls on its right side, a volume bar plus a power key.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Above the screen is a 2-megapixel front camera and below it sit three capacitive buttons for basic Android control. Around back is the Droid Maxx’s 10-megapixel main camera and LED flash. There's a big speaker here, too, which pumps out a huge amount of volume. Just as I found out on the Droid Ultra, this speaker serves up bigger audio than the HTC One and its hyped BoomSound technology.

Take self portraits with the 2-megapixel camera.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

Display
The Droid Maxx boasts the same exact big, bright 5-inch HD OLED screen as the Droid Ultra. Its 720p resolution (1,280x720 pixels) doesn’t pack the same pixel density as the HTC One (4.7-inch, 1080p LCD) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (5-inch, 1080p OLED), its primary competition. That said, the Maxx's high-contrast display has lusciously saturated colors and impressively dark black levels.

Detail in photos, Web sites, or documents with lots of text wasn’t any less sharp to my eyes on the Maxx than the same content viewed on phones with full 1080p screens. For instance, the Maxx's 720p display didn't negatively affect my serious mobile Netflix streaming habit. The same goes for losing myself in a random HD YouTube movie trailer. Yes, I'm still strangely drawn to that "Riddick" flick since I checked it out on the Droid Ultra.

Core components
For internal electronics, Motorola has made a very unconventional move with its 2013 smartphone lineup. Instead of engaging in the brutal processor arms race like practically every other handset maker, the company decided to sidestep the issue completely. All the new Droids, including the Droid Maxx, are powered by a proprietary processing solution Motorola calls the X8 Mobile Computing System.

You'll find the same collection of cores and specialized processors in the new Motorola flagship, the Moto X. To be blunt, the X8 is a dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU and doesn't have the raw horsepower of true quad-core processors, which drive the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 (Snapdragon 600).

As it turns out, however, this is less of a factor than you might think. Designed to be efficient rather than blazingly fast, the X8's main dual-core application CPU is backed by muscular quad-core Adreno graphics, plus two additional "cores": a natural language processor and one for contextual computing.

Helping this hardware is a healthy 2GB allotment of RAM. Also, unlike the Droid Ultra, which has only 16GB of internal memory, the Droid Maxx comes with 32GB to play with. That said, there's no SD card slot for increasing storage.

The Maxx runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Software and interface
Thankfully, Motorola didn't mess with the Droid Maxx's software that much, a similar tactic it did with the Moto X and Droid Ultra. Running the same Android operating system (version 4.2.2) as both devices, the Ultra's OS is practically stock Jelly Bean. I have a feeling the fact that Google now owns Motorola has something to do with this.

You unlock the Maxx by sliding a padlock icon outside of a virtual ring on the phone's screen. After that, you're greeted to the central home screen plus four other panels to populate with app shortcuts and widgets as you see fit.

If you're familiar with Motorola smartphones of the last few generations, you'll recognize the Circles settings widget. Sitting at the center of the main home screen, it's left over from the company's previous Droid Razr and Atrix handsets. Personally, I'm glad this tool is here since besides a quick way to check the time, it also displays weather, and is a shortcut for system settings.

The widget flaunts a few new tricks, too. For instance, 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.

As an Android device, the Maxx comes preloaded with all the major Google apps and services. Of course you can delve into the vast Google Play online store for more to download. Unfortunately, because this is a Verizon-branded Droid device, the carrier couldn't say no to filling the Max with unremovable bloatware. Highlights include NFL Mobile, VZ Navigator, Verizon Mobile Security, and Verizon Tones, to list a few.

Active Display lets you view alerts without waking up the screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

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Motorola Ultra Droid

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The Droid Ultra's $199.99 price and even its very existence baffles me. Standing smack dab in between the affordable $99.99 Droid Mini and pricey $299.99 Droid Maxx, the only reason to choose the Ultra is either because you value trimness above all else, or don't care to spend $100 more for the Maxx's massive battery and 32GB of storage. The Ultra's limited 16GB of internal memory also makes it less enticing than other superphones such as the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Design
Up until the Droid Ultra landed on my desk, my most recent mobile companion was the compact Moto X. And since I've become accustomed to its petite build, when I first picked up the Ultra I was immediately struck by its large, wide frame.

Measuring 2.8 inches wide by 5.4 inches tall, the phone seemed positively gargantuan. By comparison the Moto X is a narrower 2.6 inches wide and a shorter 5.1 inches tall.

The Droid Ultra is certainly a handful.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

That said, while the curved edges of the X begin at a very thin 0.22 inch, at its thickest point the pint-size phone swells to 0.4 inch thick. That's a lot fatter than the Droid Ultra's flat chassis, which is a uniform 0.28 inch in thickness. At 4.8 ounces, the Droid Ultra is also relatively light considering its size.

The Ultra is under a third of an inch thick.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Of course being superthin doesn't automatically make a phone ergonomically superior. As I've learned from handling the smoothly tapered backs of the HTC One and Moto X, what matters most is how a handset fits in the palm.

Both devices may be thicker and heavier (4.6 and 5 ounces, respectively) but are a joy to hold. That's because they possess a solid feel and natural shape that's extremely comfortable to grip. Just imagine a river rock honed by millennia of flowing water and you get the idea.

Compared with these gadgets, the Droid Ultra is another story altogether. It is so trim is almost feels two-dimensional, and comes close to being too wide to hold in one hand. Like the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Ultra does sport smooth, rounded edges and corners, a tactic other wafer-thin devices would do well to adopt. Case in point: the Sony Xperia Z, which has a classy all-glass chassis but also painfully sharp corners and straight right angles.

Like Sony's latest flagship, the Droid Ultra's glossy surfaces make it a fingerprint magnet. Just a few minutes were enough for me to cover the Ultra's screen and back panel in slimy streaks and prints.

Another design detractor is that the phone feels downright slippery, almost like a bar of wet soap -- not exactly a quality I seek in a smartphone. Motorola does claim that the Ultra uses Kevlar unibody construction for greater strength so hopefully it'll survive If you drop the device by accident.

Glossy surfaces act as a print magnet.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

The Droid Ultra doesn't have many physical buttons, just a power key and volume rocker on the device's right edge. There are three capacitive buttons below the screen to control basic Android functions. Above the display is the earpiece and 2MP camera for vanity shots and self portraits.

Around back you'll find the Droid Ultra's main 10-megapixel camera lens and LED flash. Ringing this imaging array is a sizable rectangular speaker grille. It belts out a surprising amount of volume, even more than the HTC One with its vaunted BoomSound -- quite a feat for a handset so thin.

Capacitive buttons sit under the screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Display
Undoubtedly the Droid Ultra's star attraction is its big, bright 5-inch HD OLED screen. With a 720p resolution (1,280x720 pixels) it may not boast the same amount of pixels as its competition, namely the HTC One (4.7-inch, 1080p LCD) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (5-inch, 1080p OLED). Even so, the Ultra's high-contrast display produces vibrant colors that pop and deep, dark black levels.

I honestly didn't notice any absent detail in photos, Web sites, or text-heavy documents. I also enjoyed viewing my typical choices for mobile entertainment on the device, a copious amount of Netflix movies sprinkled with the odd HD YouTube trailer. By the way, that new "Riddick" flick looks mighty tempting.

Movie trailers are fun to watch on the Ultra's big screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Core components
In terms of internal electronics, Motorola has made a very unconventional move with its 2013 smartphone lineup. Instead of engaging in the brutal processor arms race like practically every other handset maker, the company decided to sidestep the issue completely. All the new Droids, including the Droid Ultra, are powered by a homegrown processing solution Motorola calls the X8 Mobile Computing System.

The same silicon engine pushing the new Motorola flagship along (the Moto X) at its heart, the X8 is a dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU. It doesn't have the raw horsepower of the true quad-core processors ticking inside the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 (Snapdragon 600).

What the X8 lacks in brawn, it makes up for by being efficient. The main dual-core application CPU is backed by muscular quad-core Adreno graphics, plus two additional "cores": a natural language processor and one for contextual computing.

Aiding this hardware is a healthy 2GB allotment of RAM. Internal memory, though, is the Droid Ultra's weakness. As with the Moto X and Galaxy S4, the Ultra comes with just 16GB of storage space. There's no SD card slot for upping your storage options, either, which is huge bummer. Keep in mind that the Ultra's big brother, the Droid Maxx, features a full 32GB of internal storage.

Software and interface
Motorola took a similarly light-handed approach with the Droid Ultra's software as it did with the Moto X. Running the same Android operating system (version 4.2.2), the Ultra's OS is essentially stock Jelly Bean. That's understandable given Motorola's recent acquisition by Google, the technology wizards behind Android.

You slide a padlock icon outside of a virtual ring on the phone's screen to unlock the device. With that accomplished you're greeted to the central home screen plus four other panels to populate with app shortcuts and widgets as you see fit.

The Circles widget finds new life in the Ultra.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Motorola managed to hold on to the Circles settings widget, placed at the center of the main home screen, a leftover from the company's previous Droid Razr handsets. Aside from offering quick access to time, weather, and system settings, the tool flaunts a few new tricks.

View the original article here

Motorola Ultra Droid

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The Droid Ultra's $199.99 price and even its very existence baffles me. Standing smack dab in between the affordable $99.99 Droid Mini and pricey $299.99 Droid Maxx, the only reason to choose the Ultra is either because you value trimness above all else, or don't care to spend $100 more for the Maxx's massive battery and 32GB of storage. The Ultra's limited 16GB of internal memory also makes it less enticing than other superphones such as the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Design
Up until the Droid Ultra landed on my desk, my most recent mobile companion was the compact Moto X. And since I've become accustomed to its petite build, when I first picked up the Ultra I was immediately struck by its large, wide frame.

Measuring 2.8 inches wide by 5.4 inches tall, the phone seemed positively gargantuan. By comparison the Moto X is a narrower 2.6 inches wide and a shorter 5.1 inches tall.

The Droid Ultra is certainly a handful.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

That said, while the curved edges of the X begin at a very thin 0.22 inch, at its thickest point the pint-size phone swells to 0.4 inch thick. That's a lot fatter than the Droid Ultra's flat chassis, which is a uniform 0.28 inch in thickness. At 4.8 ounces, the Droid Ultra is also relatively light considering its size.

The Ultra is under a third of an inch thick.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Of course being superthin doesn't automatically make a phone ergonomically superior. As I've learned from handling the smoothly tapered backs of the HTC One and Moto X, what matters most is how a handset fits in the palm.

Both devices may be thicker and heavier (4.6 and 5 ounces, respectively) but are a joy to hold. That's because they possess a solid feel and natural shape that's extremely comfortable to grip. Just imagine a river rock honed by millennia of flowing water and you get the idea.

Compared with these gadgets, the Droid Ultra is another story altogether. It is so trim is almost feels two-dimensional, and comes close to being too wide to hold in one hand. Like the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Ultra does sport smooth, rounded edges and corners, a tactic other wafer-thin devices would do well to adopt. Case in point: the Sony Xperia Z, which has a classy all-glass chassis but also painfully sharp corners and straight right angles.

Like Sony's latest flagship, the Droid Ultra's glossy surfaces make it a fingerprint magnet. Just a few minutes were enough for me to cover the Ultra's screen and back panel in slimy streaks and prints.

Another design detractor is that the phone feels downright slippery, almost like a bar of wet soap -- not exactly a quality I seek in a smartphone. Motorola does claim that the Ultra uses Kevlar unibody construction for greater strength so hopefully it'll survive If you drop the device by accident.

Glossy surfaces act as a print magnet.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

The Droid Ultra doesn't have many physical buttons, just a power key and volume rocker on the device's right edge. There are three capacitive buttons below the screen to control basic Android functions. Above the display is the earpiece and 2MP camera for vanity shots and self portraits.

Around back you'll find the Droid Ultra's main 10-megapixel camera lens and LED flash. Ringing this imaging array is a sizable rectangular speaker grille. It belts out a surprising amount of volume, even more than the HTC One with its vaunted BoomSound -- quite a feat for a handset so thin.

Capacitive buttons sit under the screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Display
Undoubtedly the Droid Ultra's star attraction is its big, bright 5-inch HD OLED screen. With a 720p resolution (1,280x720 pixels) it may not boast the same amount of pixels as its competition, namely the HTC One (4.7-inch, 1080p LCD) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (5-inch, 1080p OLED). Even so, the Ultra's high-contrast display produces vibrant colors that pop and deep, dark black levels.

I honestly didn't notice any absent detail in photos, Web sites, or text-heavy documents. I also enjoyed viewing my typical choices for mobile entertainment on the device, a copious amount of Netflix movies sprinkled with the odd HD YouTube trailer. By the way, that new "Riddick" flick looks mighty tempting.

Movie trailers are fun to watch on the Ultra's big screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Core components
In terms of internal electronics, Motorola has made a very unconventional move with its 2013 smartphone lineup. Instead of engaging in the brutal processor arms race like practically every other handset maker, the company decided to sidestep the issue completely. All the new Droids, including the Droid Ultra, are powered by a homegrown processing solution Motorola calls the X8 Mobile Computing System.

The same silicon engine pushing the new Motorola flagship along (the Moto X) at its heart, the X8 is a dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU. It doesn't have the raw horsepower of the true quad-core processors ticking inside the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 (Snapdragon 600).

What the X8 lacks in brawn, it makes up for by being efficient. The main dual-core application CPU is backed by muscular quad-core Adreno graphics, plus two additional "cores": a natural language processor and one for contextual computing.

Aiding this hardware is a healthy 2GB allotment of RAM. Internal memory, though, is the Droid Ultra's weakness. As with the Moto X and Galaxy S4, the Ultra comes with just 16GB of storage space. There's no SD card slot for upping your storage options, either, which is huge bummer. Keep in mind that the Ultra's big brother, the Droid Maxx, features a full 32GB of internal storage.

Software and interface
Motorola took a similarly light-handed approach with the Droid Ultra's software as it did with the Moto X. Running the same Android operating system (version 4.2.2), the Ultra's OS is essentially stock Jelly Bean. That's understandable given Motorola's recent acquisition by Google, the technology wizards behind Android.

You slide a padlock icon outside of a virtual ring on the phone's screen to unlock the device. With that accomplished you're greeted to the central home screen plus four other panels to populate with app shortcuts and widgets as you see fit.

The Circles widget finds new life in the Ultra.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Motorola managed to hold on to the Circles settings widget, placed at the center of the main home screen, a leftover from the company's previous Droid Razr handsets. Aside from offering quick access to time, weather, and system settings, the tool flaunts a few new tricks.

View the original article here