Motorola Droid Turbo 2 And Droid Maxx 2 Review: Shatterproof And Value Android
Display, User Experience and Software
The Motorola Droid Turbo 2 and Maxx 2 aren’t equipped for heavy gaming, but outside of video games, the user experience is very good. When it came to installing apps and performing typical tasks, the Turbo 2 was sometimes noticeably faster than the Maxx 2, but neither device ever came off as slow.
The Turbo 2’s display is downright gorgeous, but we also found the Maxx 2’s display to be quite good, despite having a lower resolution. Both phones are bright and produce crisp, clear text and images. They may not be up to the brightness and saturation levels found on some of the AMOLED displays in other recent flagship devices but they're both still fairly impressive.
Motorola Droid Turbo 2
The Droid Turbo 2 in the drop area, before being dropped.
Our drops were from shoulder height and included dropping the phone directly on its face and putting a little English on it.
Post-drop damage inspection. The edges are a little chewed, but the screen is fine.
As it turned out, the ShatterShield display lived up to its name and there wasn’t any destruction. The screen held up without a noticeable scratch. The only part of the Droid Turbo 2 to take any noticeable damage was the edge of the phone, which was a little scuffed once we were done with it. Even so, a drop from that height to concrete would spell the end for most phones. The Droid Turbo 2 is one of the toughest mainstream smartphones on the market.
Software
Enough with the praise: it’s time to take a look at the software on the Motorola’s latest Droids. Motorola appealed to many purists with the mostly-unadulterated version of Android that appears on the Moto X Pure Edition, but Verizon had no such intentions for the Droid line.
Both phones have a bunch of Verizon apps, as well as plenty of bloatware. Some of the apps are less annoying than others. Including some Amazon apps, for example, makes a certain amount of sense but gunking up the works with games like Cookie Jam and Panda Pop is the sort of move that can drive customers away.
Motorola Droid Turbo 2 screenshots
Verizon’s apps aren’t problematic, but there are nine of them. Combine those with the other truly unnecessary apps, and you’re starting off with a very (needlessly) full menu.
We like Verizon’s VZ Protect app, which gives the phone malware protection and can monitor for potentially harmful websites. It also has a lock-and-erase that lets you nuke your data from afar if the phone falls into the wrong hands.
Motorola Droid Maxx 2 screenshots
Just in case the Verizon apps and bloatware aren’t enough, Motorola also tosses in a few Moto apps. Moto Loop is handy if you need to keep tabs on family members, while Moto gives the phone some extra capabilities. For example, with Moto enabled, you can flick your wrist (with the phone in hand) to trigger the camera. Or, you can make a chopping motion to activate the flashlight. It also has some voice-activated hands-free features worth checking out as well, which are integrated with Google Now and Google Maps integration, as well as a driving mode, which will read incoming texts for you and let you respond, hands-free.
The Turbo 2’s display is downright gorgeous, but we also found the Maxx 2’s display to be quite good, despite having a lower resolution. Both phones are bright and produce crisp, clear text and images. They may not be up to the brightness and saturation levels found on some of the AMOLED displays in other recent flagship devices but they're both still fairly impressive.
Motorola Droid Turbo 2
Droid Turbo 2 Drop Test
It’s not often that a smartphone maker encourages you to drop your phone. Motorola has a lot of confidence in the ShatterShield display and executives have demonstrated the Droid Turbo 2’s toughness by dropping it on concrete in front of journalists. When the Droid Turbo 2 was finally in our hands, it only seemed fitting that we let it go. To be honest, we actually dropped it several times, because hey – consequence-free durability testing.
The Droid Turbo 2 in the drop area, before being dropped.
Our drops were from shoulder height and included dropping the phone directly on its face and putting a little English on it.
Post-drop damage inspection. The edges are a little chewed, but the screen is fine.
As it turned out, the ShatterShield display lived up to its name and there wasn’t any destruction. The screen held up without a noticeable scratch. The only part of the Droid Turbo 2 to take any noticeable damage was the edge of the phone, which was a little scuffed once we were done with it. Even so, a drop from that height to concrete would spell the end for most phones. The Droid Turbo 2 is one of the toughest mainstream smartphones on the market.
Software
Enough with the praise: it’s time to take a look at the software on the Motorola’s latest Droids. Motorola appealed to many purists with the mostly-unadulterated version of Android that appears on the Moto X Pure Edition, but Verizon had no such intentions for the Droid line.
Both phones have a bunch of Verizon apps, as well as plenty of bloatware. Some of the apps are less annoying than others. Including some Amazon apps, for example, makes a certain amount of sense but gunking up the works with games like Cookie Jam and Panda Pop is the sort of move that can drive customers away.
Motorola Droid Turbo 2 screenshots
Verizon’s apps aren’t problematic, but there are nine of them. Combine those with the other truly unnecessary apps, and you’re starting off with a very (needlessly) full menu.
We like Verizon’s VZ Protect app, which gives the phone malware protection and can monitor for potentially harmful websites. It also has a lock-and-erase that lets you nuke your data from afar if the phone falls into the wrong hands.
Motorola Droid Maxx 2 screenshots
Just in case the Verizon apps and bloatware aren’t enough, Motorola also tosses in a few Moto apps. Moto Loop is handy if you need to keep tabs on family members, while Moto gives the phone some extra capabilities. For example, with Moto enabled, you can flick your wrist (with the phone in hand) to trigger the camera. Or, you can make a chopping motion to activate the flashlight. It also has some voice-activated hands-free features worth checking out as well, which are integrated with Google Now and Google Maps integration, as well as a driving mode, which will read incoming texts for you and let you respond, hands-free.
