Motorola Droid Maxx The good: The Motorola Droid Maxx delivers astonishingly long battery life, a big, colorful screen, and a durable, attractive design. The camera takes pleasing pictures and performs inventive tricks such as responding to voice commands, giving screen-based notifications, and quick-launching the camera. The bad: The Motorola Droid Maxx is expensive. The bottom line: If you can get past its steep price, the massive-screened Motorola Droid Maxx is currently Verizon’s best Android smartphone. Editors Note: Our early Motorola Droid Maxx test model used unstable prerelease software. This review was updated based on our latest experience with a rock-solid production-level Droid Maxx device. Sitting at the top of Motorolas new Droid lineup, the $299.99 Droid Maxx is more than just a capable device -- its also the best smartphone Verizon has ever sold. It boasts the biggest battery available in a handset, and a full 32GB of internal storage, not to mention Googles impressive list of futuristic Android extras. The Maxxs build quality is also light-years superior to the thinner Motorola Droid Ultra. That said, the Maxxs sky-high sticker price might give you second thoughts, especially compared with its very compelling rivals the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4. That said, no other smartphone comes close to combining the same level of longevity, performance, design, and slick features on Big Red or perhaps anywhere else. Design Aesthetically speaking, the differences between the Motorola Droid Maxx and its svelter sibling, the Droid Ultra, are huge, though you wont notice them at first. At 5.4 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide, the Maxx is just as tall and as wide as the Ultra, but also a bit thicker (0.34 inch versus 0.22 inch). Still, you dont notice the change in girth when the phones are side by side on a table. Its only when you pick them up that youll 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 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 Ultras glossy and slippery back, which accumulates greasy fingerprints. The only physical buttons on the Maxx are located on the phones right edge, a power key and a thin volume bar. Both are contoured and cross-hatched for easy manipulation by feel alone. Above the screen is a 2-megapixel front camera and below it sit three capacitive buttons for basic Android control. Around back are the Droid Maxxs 10-megapixel main camera and LED flash. Theres 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. 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) doesnt pack the same pixel density as the HTC One (4.7-inch, 1080p LCD) or Samsung Galaxy S4 (5-inch, 1080p OLED), its primary competition. That said, the Maxxs high-contrast display has lusciously saturated colors and impressively dark black levels. Detail in photos, Web sites, or documents with lots of text wasnt any less sharp to my eyes on the Maxx than the same content viewed on phones with full 1080p screens. For instance, the Maxxs 720p display didnt negatively affect my serious mobile Netflix-streaming habit. The same goes for losing myself in a random HD YouTube movie trailer. Yes, Im 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. Youll 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 doesnt 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 X8s 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, theres no SD card slot for increasing storage. Software and interface Thankfully, Motorola didnt mess with the Droid Maxxs software that much, a similar tactic to what it did with the Moto X and Droid Ultra. Running the same Android operating system (version 4.2.2) as both devices, the Ultras 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 phones screen. After that, youre greeted by the central home screen plus four other panels to populate with app shortcuts and widgets as you see fit. If youre familiar with Motorola smartphones of the last few generations, youll recognize the Circles settings widget. Sitting at the center of the main home screen, its left over from the companys previous Droid Razr and Atrix handsets. Personally, Im glad this tool is here since besides being 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 Ultras 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 couldnt resist filling the Max with unremovable bloatware. Highlights include NFL Mobile, VZ Navigator, Verizon Mobile Security, and Verizon Tones, to list a few. Active display and touchless control Another fruit of Motorola and Googles union is Active Display, a useful feature that all the new Droid phones have. Also integrated into the Moto X, Active Display serves in place of a separate physical notification light. Essentially, the Droid Maxxs screen will flash softly with alerts for incoming e-mail, text messages, and calls. Touching and holding your finger on the associated icon in the center of the screen causes the device to display additional information. Pulling the icon upward to the top of the screen wakes up the phone and opens the linked application. The Droid Maxx also makes use of the X8 computing platform, like the Droid Ultra and Moto X, to perform nifty voice control tricks. Motorola calls the capability Touchless Control, and as its name implies, speaking a magic phrase will cause the Maxx to drop what its doing and await your vocal commands. Specifically, saying OK, Google Now and following up with phrases like, Where am I? or, Remind me to pick up milk today will tell the Maxx to leap into action. Performance Motorolas X8 platform may not have the sheer horsepower to stand up to full-blown quad-core processors toe-to-toe. It does have plenty of oomph, though, and I observed that on the Droid Maxx firsthand. The phone was very responsive, opening applications without hesitation. Navigating through settings menus and home screen was also silky-smooth. Lab tests backed up the experience I had with the Droid Maxx, and the phone garnered a respectable Quadrant score of 8,804. Oddly enough this showing wasnt quite as high as the Droid Ultra achieved on the same test (9,056). And thats nowhere near as impressive as the numbers turned in by the HTC One (12,194) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (11,381). Performance: Motorola Droid Maxx Average LTE download speeds (Verizon) 10.5Mbps Average LTE upload speed (Verizon) 6Mbps App download (CNET) 3.72MB in 14 seconds CNET mobile site load 5.8 seconds CNET desktop site load 12.1 seconds Boot time 15 seconds Camera boot time 1.6 seconds Call quality I tested the Droid Maxx on Verizons CDMA network both in New York City and Harpswell, Maine. Unlike my experience with the Droid Ultra, I found the Maxx delivered very clean call quality. In fact, callers I spoke to couldnt tell that I was chatting on a cellular connection. On my end, voices sounded rich, warm, and loud through the Maxxs earpiece. Motorola Droid Maxx call quality sample Listen now: Additionally, thanks to the phones large rear speaker, the Maxxs speakerphone can reach a high maximum volume. People I rang reported that there wasnt much difference in quality between speakerphone and standard calls except that my voice sounded slightly more distant over the speakerphone. Camera To say that Ive been let down by Motorola smartphone cameras in the past would be an understatement. Indeed, I found that not only did previous generations of Droid Razrs take photos much too slowly, but they lacked key shooting modes found on Samsung and HTC devices. Fortunately, Motorola, and its Google master, changed history completely on the Moto X and its new Droid handsets by revamping the imaging system and camera app. As a result, the Droid Maxxs 10-megapixel sensor is capable of capturing pleasing photos both inside and in the great outdoors. Indoor shots of my studio still life were crisp, had accurate colors, and were exposed well. Outdoors in daylight, verdant hues of trees and other foliage were lifelike and details were clear. I found the same true of blue skies, white clouds, and ocean waves. As with the Droid Ultra, though, the Maxxs autofocus wasnt as lightning-fast as the HTC Ones or the Galaxy S4s. Shot-to-shot time using those gadgets is practically instant, whereas the Droid Maxx took about half a second. Helping to speed up shooting is Motorolas Quick Capture feature. It fires up the camera app, even when asleep, when you twist the phone twice in your wrist. Honestly its one of the most valuable capabilities Ive seen on a smartphone in a while -- likely because Im often juggling multiple objects (from sippy cups and toys to other gadgets and coffee mugs). As with the Moto X and Droid Ultra, the Maxxs bare-bones camera app is astonishingly simple to operate. Settings are as basic as possible, so theres no way to select image or video size (the Maxx defaults to the largest available). Swiping from left to right opens a virtual wheel with various settings such as HDR and Panorama modes. Dragging your finger up and down zooms in and out, while sliding from right to left launches the gallery. Data speeds The Motorola Droid Maxx can access Verizons 4G LTE network for fast data access. My tests in New York were similar to those I ran on the Droid Ultra, with results varying widely by my location. Average overall download speed came in at a respectable 10.5Mbps, while out in quiet sections of Queens, N.Y., the phone sucked down information as swiftly as 17.8Mbps. Upload speeds spanned anywhere from 0.6Mbps to 14.7Mbps; average upload throughput, however, came in at 6Mbps. Battery life Toting a state-of-the-art high-capacity 3,500mAh battery, the main selling point for the Motorola Droid Maxx is its promised longevity. Indeed my initial tests with the handset vouch for the Maxxs considerable staying power. The phone was able to push through the CNET Labs Video Playback battery drain benchmark for 15 hours and 50 minutes. While far from the 48 hours of mixed use Motorola claims the Maxx is capable of, this showing is well ahead of the Droid Razr Maxx HD (14 hours, 53 minutes) and substantially longer than both the HTC One (9 hours, 37 minutes) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (10 hours, 30 minutes: average). With such a remarkable battery, however, I suppose I shouldnt be surprised that the Maxx demonstrated some quirky behavior regarding its mobile power source. For instance, my early test model refused to charge when the device was powered down, even though the phone said it was receiving a steady flow of electrons. Additionally, it wouldnt charge properly unless I first changed the USB computer connection mode to Camera and then unplugged and reconnected the USB cable. A recent Maxx replacement unit though exhibited no such problems, and in fact worked flawlessly. Motorola explained that some of the preproduction Maxx units used wonky software but shipping models shouldnt be affected. Indeed, this latest device consistently demonstrated the same ludicrously long run time, well over 14.5 hours playing HD video. It also charged swiftly, reaching full power from zero charge in under an hour. Another nice extra is the Droid Maxxs (and all the new Droids for that matter) support for wireless charging via the Qi standard. Conclusion When you lay it all out on paper, the Motorola Droid Maxx should crush many smartphone challengers into dust. It flaunts the biggest, baddest battery available on a cellular handset, which results in fabulously long run time. The Maxxs screen, while not as pixel-dense as its rivals, is big and vibrant. The phones speaker gets mighty loud, too, and the device even makes crystal-clear calls. After spending quality time with the Droid Maxx, especially a Maxx running solid retail software, I can say that the phone lives up to its sizable ambition. I cant argue that the Maxxs $299.99 price is anything but luxurious. That said, for all the Droid Maxx can do and for how good it looks getting it done, it earns my seal of approval and our CNET Editors Choice award. Of course if the Maxx is too rich for your blood, theres always the more affordable $199.99 HTC One and $199.99 Samsung Galaxy S4, two larger-than-life Android handsets that are still excellent buys. Image credit: clnet
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 10:52:25 +0000
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