Today’s buzz is all about the Nexus 6 becoming available for pre-order, but at a sky high price of $649 for the 32GB version and $699 for 64GB, I’m not ready to take that plunge without trying one first. The DROID Turbo by Motorola, announced yesterday by Verizon Wireless and going on sale tomorrow, seems like it offers a couple advantages over the Nexus 6 (also made by Motorola) all while keeping a reasonable price of $199.99 on contract. The DROID Turbo features a 21MP camera vs. the 13MP on the Nexus 6. It also boasts 2 day battery life and super fast charging that will provide 8 hours of battery life after only a 15 minute charging session using the included turbo charger. The DROID Turbo is also going to be available in 3 styles / colors. There’s a black ballistic nylon version, and red and black metalized glass fiber versions. Other than the fact that the Nexus will have the latest and greatest version of Android 5.0 Lollipop instead of KitKat 4.4.4 on the Turbo, the Turbo only has a 5.2″ display vs. the 5.9″ display on the Nexus 6. The smaller screen has the same number of pixels as the giant Nexus 6, just in a smaller package. This might actually be more attractive to some people who may be afraid that the Nexus will be too large for them. So what do all of you think? If you were going to buy a brand new top of the line Android smartphone today, which one would it be? I’m still really happy with my LG G3, but with all the new phones coming out, I’m starting to get a bit antsy. 🙂
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Holding out for the DROID Turbo. Do you know an available date?
@1000 Acres It goes on sale tomorrow at Verizon and their site says “Available for purchase” not “pre-order”.
I just cancelled my order for the iPhone 6+, and will order the turbo tomorrow. I think the 6+ is a great phone but I’ve been a droid user for six years, and, after Julie’s review, began to wonder if I wouldn’t miss all to flexibility of android. Plus I like how durable it seems, the battery life potential, and its slightly smaller screen than the plus.
I can barely stomach staying with Verizon as I have to with my current phone. My next phone will not be unlocked and my next service provider will not be Verizon. Probably a Nexus phone that I’ll use with TMobile.
That should read, “will be unlocked”. I also want the unforked Android experience. I really like my wife’s Nexus 5 for that vs. my Galaxy S3 and it’s Samsung+Verizon patina.
I actually have a bit of a conundrum, I’m very interested in the Droid Turbo, but currently have three top tier Android phones in my possession. A rooted HTC One M8, which I love, but decided that I wanted to return to a larger screen, bence the purchase of a mint condition Note 3 from Swappa.com. In addition, I procured a Galaxy S5 for my wife, however she wasn’t mentally prepared for the transition from iOS to Android (to my dismay) so she chose to stay with her iPhone 5 until she upgrades to the iPhone 6 in the coming months.
The M8 is a wonderful phone and Sense 6 is a beautiful “skin”, but in the end my old eyes prefer a “phablet” sized device and the ability to have Qi Charging without eating up the micro usb port. The S5 is just a tad bit snappier than the Note 3, making it seem superfluous, especially with less storage space (16gb vs. 32gb) and a smaller screen.
All else being equal, I install Nova Launcher Prime on all of my Samsung devices (after removing all widgets in the native Touchwiz screens and turning off animations in Developer Mode as well as in Nova Launcher settings). The speed improvement is considerable and the ability to fine tune appearance via icon packs is a God-Send.
I think the S5 needs to go to my Dad and the M8 will end up on Swappa. I really do want to play with the Droid Turbo when I can, but for the interim the Note 3 with a San Disk 128gb microusb card, a Toast Bambo skin and a handful of strategically placed Tylt Vu charging cradles is working quite well. In a pinch the Son-of-a-Gun charges super fast with a UBS 3.0 cable and a nice 2.1a input..
I could use an Android 5.0 upgrade sooner than later, but I’ve been keeping up with the latest APK’s for Google’s Apps as the become available.
There I go rambling again!
@Julie,
Wait for the G3 Cat.6 to come to the US market.
@Alester Rambling can be a good thing 🙂 Having 3 high end Android smartphones is a “problem” most geeks would love, so you’re lucky. It sounds like we have a lot in common. I also love the TYLT VU charger and I use Nova Launcher Prime on all my devices.
@Fred nah, it’s not different enough from the LG G3 that I already have. I think a 6 inch device might actually work out for me so I can stop carrying around my Nexus 7 for those “just in case I need a bigger screen to do something” occasions.
I would prefer the “stock” google experience over the Verizonized version and with Lolipop out, I can’t imagine why they’d go KitKat – Your left with a top phone married to an “outdated” OS at verizons mercy for if and when they upgrade
One of my questions about the Nexus 6 is if I would get one from Verizon, would it then get updates as soon as a Nexus 6 purchased directly from Google? My guess is no.
@Julie,
Have you ever seen a Nexus with bloatware ?
@Fred No I haven’t, but isn’t this the first time that Nexus phones have been carried by Verizon, Sprint and T-mobile? The carriers are the ones that put on the bloatware…
Even if such a device exist, it wouldn’t be difficult to flash a stock ROM on it.
I would love to have the Verizon phone — it’s the right size and the camera is attractive. But I would need the ability to put in a sim card when travelling. The article didn’t say if this phone has a sim slot and that whether this is a locked or unlocked phone.
@PE yes it has a SIM slot.