Verizon, Motorola unveil Droid Turbo
NEW YORK — The Droid has returned.
While Motorola has been busy with its new Moto X and Nexus 6 phones, on Tuesday it returned to New York to unveil the latest in its popular Droid collaboration with Verizon Wireless. Dubbed the Droid Turbo, the company's new device is designed to compete with those two new Motorola devices as well as the latest phones from Samsung, Apple and HTC.
Similar to recent Droid devices one of the most impressive features on the Droid Turbo is its battery life. Verizon and Motorola are touting that the phone will provide 48 hours of battery life. An included "Turbo Charger" accessory will allow the device to receive an 8-hour charge in 15 minutes. Other specs include an impressive high-resolution 5.2-inch Quad-HD display, 3GB of RAM and a 2.7 GHZ quad-core processor, in line with other top-tier smartphones. The device currently runs Android 4.4 Kit Kat but Verizon and Motorola are targeting to release an update to version 5.0 Lollipop "around the holiday season."
The new Droid also features a 21-megapixel-rear camera with the capability to shoot 4K video as well as a 2-megapixel, 1080p camera on the front for video chats and selfies. The device will come with either 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage, though there is no microSD card slot.
There are two variants of the Droid Turbo, one with a textured ballistic nylon back and another with a smooth metalized glass fiber. Both versions are water resistant and feature the latest version of Corning's Gorilla Glass. And in a move that is sure to please those who are prone to cracked screens or accidental drops, Verizon has also pledged to replace one cracked screen during the term of the contract.
With fierce competition in the smartphone space ahead of the holiday season Verizon and Motorola have enlisted the services of actor James Franco to help promote the new phone. Franco teased the device to his 2.5 million Twitter followers with a quick video Monday night prior to today's unveiling. The actor will also be starring in ads for the new phone.
The Droid Turbo will be available Thursday starting at $199.99 with a new 2-year contract for the 32GB version.
Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter@eliblumenthal.