The Motorola Droid Ultra is one of the thinnest 4G LTE smartphones on the market today, but the big question: will it stand out amongst the Droid Maxx ($299) and the Droid Mini ($99)? Furthermore, how will Motorola's new Ultra stand against other competition on the market? The mid-tier Droid Ultra is set to release on August 27th for $199.99 and unlike the new Moto X the Droid Ultra will be exclusive to Verizon Wireless.
Droid Ultra's specs include:
Being a mid-range device, The Droid Ultra might be looked at as the prize fighter of the Droid family, expected to challenge the likes of the current Samsung Galaxy S 4 and the HTC One. While the spec sheet of the Ultra can't compare to those two devices, Motorola seems confident that the way they utilize their hardware and software alike will win over consumers after their late summer release.
The Ultra has an incredibly thin Kevlar body with a 5-inch 720p HD Super AMOLED display on the front, and a glossy finish on the back. On the inside, the 1.7 GHz dual-core CPU with Motorola's X8 system keeps the device running smooth. Users might be surprised by the performance of this revamped quad-core GPU system that Motorola has built from the ground up. The device also comes with a 2,130 mAh battery, 16 GB of internal storage (no microSD card slot), and 2GB or RAM.
While the hardware specs sheet may be an eyesore, the way that Motorola utilizes a nearly stock Android experience for this year Droid Ultra model might appeal to the masses. In comparison to the Moto X, the Droid Ultra's OS look and feel still seems tailored to the Verizon Wireless brand. Users shouldn't expect to be blown away by any new graphical change or look in comparison to last year's Droid models.
What you will find this year are features like Motorola Assist which lets you set actions and exceptions for notifications while you're driving, sleeping, or in a meeting. In addition, DROID Zap - a quick sharing function - has also made its way to the device. Droid Zap is an easy way for users to share photos with people around you by swiping up with two fingers on the display, while the people receiving the photo swipe down on the display. The newly incorporated feature resembles what we have seen from S Beam on the Galaxy series of devices and AirDrop on iOS 7 (and expected to come with the iPhone 5S). Overall, the new features are a welcome addition to a nearly stock Android 4.2.2 system that fans of the platform will certainly enjoy.
The Motorola DROID Ultra is going to be looked at as the leader of the DROID devices during this summer release, but will it stand out among the competition, or even among sister devices like the Moto X? Part 1 of 2.
Jake Christiansen contributed to this report.
