The stand-out feature of Motorola’s new Droid phone – the brand name for phones produced with Verizon – is its ‘shatterproof’ display. The company is so confident that the display cannot be damaged, in fact, that it is offering a four year warranty against shattering or cracking (although not scratches and other damage).
Motorola’s new display technology is called Shattershield and protects the 5.4″ (2560 x 1440) AMOLED screen. It took three years to develop, and consists of an exterior protective lens; an interior lens; a dual touch layer; the flexible AMOLED display itself; and a rigid aluminium chassis.
The Droid Turbo 2 is the first Droid smartphone to be available through the Moto Maker programme, which can be used to customise the device. The 64GB version (32GB is standard) will be available exclusively through Moto Maker. Owners of the 64GB model can choose to redesign the phone’s appearance once within two years of purchase, using the Moto Maker tool.
Android 5.1.1 runs on the 2GHz Snapdragon 810 SoC (3GB of RAM), although an update to 6.0 will apparently be released in the coming months. The battery, a 3,760mAh unit, will last for up to two days. Quick charging (up to 13 hours in 15 minutes) is supported, as well as the PMA and Qi wireless specifications.
The Droid Turbo 2 will go on sale on the 29th October, starting at $625 off-contract.
Another phone was announced at the same time, although is really just a rebranded version of the Moto X Play (Fast Charging Defines Motorola’s 2015 Phones), for the US market. The Droid Maxx 2 is slightly larger, with a 5.5″ display, although has lower resolution: 1920 x 1080. Rather than Shattershield, the LCD screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
An octa-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 615 processor runs Android 5.1.1, with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. A 3,630mAh battery will last for up to two days.
Motorola will launch the Maxx 2 at the same time as the Turbo 2, for $385 off-contract.
Analyst Comment
It’s a rare pleasure to see a phone with a focus on the display, past simply slapping more pixels in and calling it a day. (TA)
