Introduction
This a strange comparison, I will admit that, but we wanted you to see the difference in last year’s Motorola hardware to the new and improved – but it does make it easy to pic a winner in this rodeo, so there is no pressure here. The Motorola Droid Ultra was a stab at the thinnest smartphone and at only 7.2mm, it came pretty close – but like all thin smartphones, it is the battery life that suffers…and the Droid Ultra is no exception. When Motorola launched the Droid Maxx and Droid Ultra, the main differences were internal storage – 16GB for the Ultra and 32GB for the Maxx – and the battery size – 2130mAh for the Ultra and 3500mAh for the Maxx). The Droid Ultra quickly became known at the ‘expensive thin phone’ with much better buys all around – the Droid Maxx, included. From the looks of things, the Droid Turbo will end up replacing the Droid previous Droid lineup.
Both the Motorola Droid Turbo and Droid Ultra are the well made devices we have come to expect from Motorola – the Droid Turbo being a little more stylish and easier to hold…although some what heavier due to the battery. Other than the Motorola Droid part of their name and the 2MP front-facing cameras (FFC), the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, DLNA, microUSB 2.0 port, and both having Android 4.4.4 KitKat – there no similarities. Okay, they are almost identical in size and they are both only sold exclusively Verizon, but that is all.
Please take a look over the detailed specification sheet below and compare them closely and the we will look at each individual device to determine a winner (I typed that with a straight face).
Specifications
Motorola Droid Turbo
Motorola has really eaten their Wheaties lately and come out with some true flagship devices and the Droid Turbo is a perfect example. Rather than going back and forth between the two devices, let us set the record straight right here and now – ALL the specs of the Droid Turbo are better…much better. If you want to compare, you can glance up to the specification sheet to see just how much better they are.
It has a 5.2-inch QHD AMOLED display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and a whopping 565 pixels-per-inch (PPI). It uses the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor clocked at 2.7GHz with 3GB of RAM and either a 32GB model or 64GB model. The 32GB can be had in the Kelvar black or red, while the 64GB model comes in the black ballistic nylon covered back and the Droid Turbo has no room for memory expansion. A mammoth 3900mAh battery powers this beast and Motorola is claiming up to 48 hours of usage before a charge is needed.
The camera is knocking on Sony’s door with a 21MP auto-focus and dual-LED flash main camera, although there is nothing special about the 2MP FFC for video chatting or selfies. The Droid Turbo has a great menu of features – a single, but large, front-facing speaker, nano-coating for water resistance, wireless charging, Motorola’s Turbo Charger, as well as VoLTE capabilities after an OTA upgrade. The Turbo is still arriving with Android 4.4.4 KitKat, but hopefully (he says) will be upgraded to 5.0 Lollipop soon after it is released. Because it is a Droid, the Turbo is a Verizon exclusive, but priced competitively at $199 on a two-year contract.
Motorola Droid Ultra
The Motorola Droid Ultra was a nice device, and I do not mean to make it sound less than it is – but when compared to the Droid Turbo, there just is no comparison. The Droid Ultra comes with a 5-inch HD AMOLED display, which means it has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels with 294 PPI…but it really is a nice looking display for 720p. It uses a Snapdragon S4 Pro dual-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage and no way to expand that meager amount…can we say “cloud.”
The camera is a decent 10MP picture ‘taker’ with auto-focus and LED Flash…again nothing special with the 2MP FFC for selfies or video chatting. It has a small, 2130mAh battery to power the device, so plan on plugging it in at the end of the day, and the small rear speaker will positively blow you away – it is amazing how much sound comes out of the Ultra. It does have a nano-coating for repelling dust and water and the Ultra has been upgraded to Android 4.4.4 KitKat. When the Droid Ultra came out on Verizon, they wanted $199 on a two-year contract…now it is not even offered any more online. It comes in black, white and red.
…And the Winner Is…
Summary
Gee, this was a tough one, but I had to go with the new Droid Turbo – the Droid Ultra was a device that never needed to be made, other than contractually with Verizon. The Droid Turbo is simply superior in all areas from display to specs to design. Yes, it even costs the same as the Droid Ultra did when it first came out and look how much more you are getting for your money. The nearly-stock software of the Droid Ultra is fantastic, and shows hints of greatness in Touchless Control and Active Notifications, but the hardware side is minimal and the shiny plastic shell, while study, is a fingerprint magnet and not that comfortable to use.
The Droid Turbo has the best of everything – except the ability to expand storage – where you really can have a great display, fast processor, good camera and great battery life. Please hit us up on our Goggle+ Page and let us know if you still own a Droid Ultra and how you like it…as always, we would love to hear from you.