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Motorola Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx for Verizon hands-on (video)
Like clockwork, Motorola and Verizon have refreshed their joint Droid lineup, and we're here to check out all three devices. The two more premium handsets, the Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx, are the most promising of the bunch for advanced users, replacing last year's Droid RAZR HD and RAZR Maxx HD and offering the requisite 4G LTE connectivity. Both of those smartphones were at the top of their game in 2012, and that trend appears to continue here -- the Ultra and Maxx are very similar, with the latter boosting the battery capacity, enabling power users to make it through a full day. Like its predecessors, the Ultra and Droid Maxx (pictured above) sport Kevlar bodies, both of which look sleek and feel sturdy. The Ultra we saw has a glossy red finish, which Motorola helpfully suggested is "a lot like a sports car." The Maxx, on the other hand, has a soft-touch black finish. At any rate, we prefer the Maxx's look; as we've said about Samsung's Galaxy lineup, a glossy, plasticky finish tends to look cheaper. Both phones feature a 10-megapixel camera with a f/2.4 lens; we'll have to wait for our review units to test the shooter's mettle. What the Ultra's design does have going for it, though, is an extra-thin profile. At 7.18mm, it's already being touted as the "thinnest 4G LTE smartphone available." At 4.94 ounces, it feels very light, and though it sports the Droid family's usual boxy form factor, the edges are gently curved to make for a nice fit in the hand. It packs a 5-inch, 720p Super AMOLED display, which, while not quite as pixel-dense as the Mini's 4.3-inch TFT panel, offers crisp images, vibrant colors and wider-than-average viewing angles. The Ultra is priced at $199, 100 bucks higher than the Mini and 100 lower than the Maxx.
Droid Ultra surfaces in leaked photo, model number hints at Maxx variant
If the signs of Motorola's upcoming Droid refresh weren't clear enough already, an in-the-flesh photo of what's said to be the Droid Ultra XT1080 has surfaced on the XDA Developers forum, courtesy of xavierk75. Not only do an FCC filing and accompanying rumors peg the XT1080 as a Maxx variant with a beefier battery, but the picture lines up with the kevlar enclosure and trio of capacitive buttons shown in a press shot posted by @evleaks. Thanks to the device's examination by Uncle Sam, we know that it carries radios for Verizon-friendly LTE, EV-DO Rev. A and WCDMA (850/900/1900/2100), in addition to NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi 802.11ac, to boot. Once again, specs are still MIA, but they -- or an official reveal -- can't be far off at this point.
