Today Verizon held an event in New York City and, to the surprise of almost no one, pulled a trio of new Motorola DROID smartphones out of its big red hat. The new devices are dubbed the DROID Mini, DROID Ultra, and DROID MAXX, and each unit has a defining characteristic that sets it apart from its robotic siblings.
The DROID Mini is the smallest of the bunch, packing a 4.3-inch 720p display that Motorola and Verizon describe as "edge-to-edge." Also included with the DROID Mini is 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, 2,000mAh battery, wireless charging support, NFC, and a high-gloss black paint job. The DROID Mini comes preloaded with Android 4.2.2.
The DROID Ultra steps things up in the size department with a 5-inch 720p AMOLED screen and a body that measures 7.2mm thick. Packed inside that 7.2mm frame is 16GB storage, 2GB RAM, a 2,130mAh battery, and Android 4.2.2. The DROID Ultra will be offered high-gloss black, white, and red variants.
Finally, the new DROID MAXX packs in a beefy 3,500mAh battery that is quoted as having 48 hours of battery life. That big battery makes the DROID MAXX a bit thicker than the DROID Ultra, coming in at 8.5mm thick. Also included on the DROID MAXX's spec sheet is a 5-inch 720p display, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, wireless charging support, Android 4.2.2, and a soft touch black frame.
When it comes to the processor that's powering these new DROIDs, it's been revealed that Motorola has placed its own "X8" system on a chip inside the devices. The X8 consists of a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, 400MHz quad-core GPU, 1 contextual computing core, and 1 core dedicated to natural language processing.
Motorola and Verizon also detailed a few other features that are present in all of the new DROIDs shown today. Each device features a unibody design with Kevlar coating. The phones come with the DROID Command Center home screen widget for quick access to alerts, battery level, and weather, and Active Display will allow users to preview their notifications without touching their device.
When it comes to actually using the phone, Touchless Controls let users do things like make calls, send messages, and get directions simply by saying "Ok Google Now." A new Quick Gesture feature allows users to jump into their phone's camera by shaking the phone twice, and then they can share those photos using the DROID Zap sharing feature that sends images to other DROIDs with a swipe up. Each of the new DROID models sports a 10-megapixel rear camera as well as a 2-megapixel shooter around front.
The Motorola DROID Ultra and DROID MAXX are slated to launch on Verizon on August 20 for $199 and $299, respectively, while the DROID Mini will land on August 29 for $99. Interested customers can reserve a unit to call their very own starting today by pre-ordering at droiddoes.com. Every customer that buys a new DROID will score a beta invite to the game Ingress as well as a free 6-month subscription to Google Music All Access.
UPDATE: In other Motorola-Verizon news, CNET has been told by Verizon VP of Marketing Jeff Dietel that Motorola will be the only company that produces DROID-branded phones going forward. The DROID line was already dominated by Motorola, but there were a few HTC models sprinkled in, like the DROID DNA and the DROID Incredible line.
