Motorola DROID MAXX Pro Reviews

It’s the longest-lasting Android phone on the market. Great speed, great quality, and the lifespan to get you through anything.

In our review of the Droid Ultra, we concluded that the device didn't need to exist in Verizon's lineup, not with the Moto X also on sale, anyway. We can't say the same of the Droid Maxx, though: its larger battery, superior build quality, wireless charging functionality and increased storage make it a worthier purchase. Really, the Maxx is exactly what the Ultra should have been in the first place, and it's proof that you can fit a huge battery in a thin chassis. The only thing we can't swallow is the price. At $300, there's only one group of people that will choose this over $200 flagships: heavy users who absolutely need the epic runtime and prefer not to carry an external backup battery. This device will suit that demographic perfectly, but even then, we can think of at least one device that offers battery life and better components for $100 less. So, while the Maxx's existence is at least justified, the price is not.

The HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, and iPhone 5 made me believe that the days of phone manufacturers kow-towing to the whims of carriers were over. Those devices represent the beliefs of their makers, and are offered to users with only a few Verizon-induced blemishes. The Droid Ultra, on the other hand, appears to have been designed by a committee so large it was bled of every one of its assets. What’s left is as bland as it is ugly, without a single noteworthy flourish or feature. It’s the Moto X minus its design team, the Droid Maxx minus its battery engineers. In all my time with it, I’ve found nothing about it that makes it worth your $199. The Droid Maxx almost avoids the same fate, if only because Motorola changed fewer things about the device from last year's model. It’s a better, slightly more premium-feeling device, but that doesn’t make it worth $299 on a two-year contract. Neither does its battery life, which doesn’t live up to last year’s model, and qualifies as something closer to “very good” than “epic.” Building a spectacularly thin phone could have been a winning formula for Motorola; so could building one with genuinely worry-free battery life. Motorola did neither, and in trying sacrificed nearly everything else that could have made these phones great. When the X offers every one of the Droid’s other features, I’m without a single reason to recommend either the Droid Ultra or the Droid Maxx. Not when Verizon offers the iPhone 5, the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S4, and virtually every other major smartphone on the market as well. The Moto X is clearly Motorola's future, and it’s said as much; the Droid lineup seems like nothing more than fulfillment of a contract to Verizon. They're all on shelves, but Motorola would rather you buy the Moto X, and believe me – I'm happy to oblige.

The Motorola Droid Maxx has a big battery and a nice build, but it loses some of the Moto X's hand-friendliness.

Coming in at $300 with a 2-year Verizon contract, the Motorola DROID MAXX is the most expensive of the three DROID models. It combines all the features of the DROID Ultra, but increases the battery to 3500mAh, doubles the internal memory to 32GB, and looks higher end with the soft-touch woven backing. Still, $300 with contract is a lot for a smartphone, and we’re not really sure that the Motorola DROID MAXX can command that premium price, especially with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and LG G2 coming out soon.

In the DROID Maxx is Motorola’s vision for longest-lasting battery life in a device that’s part of a very close-knit family of smartphones all released in the same generation. There’s a DROID Maxx, a DROID Ultra, a DROID Mini, and the Moto X. These devices deliver essentially the same experience as one another, with only minor differences between each of them. The DROID Maxx provides the most premium experience of the series.