Motorola Droid Maxx 2 Overview

Motorola and Verizon are now working together; their teamwork has brought us two new handsets this year Motorola Turbo 2 and Motorola Maxx 2. Maxx 2 belongs to the upper mid range market, its main focus is to deliver a handset that can last longer than any other handset in the market, will this feature be enough to make the device dear to everyone? Find out in this review.

DESCRIPTION

The description of Motorola Droid Maxx 2 includes:

 

• Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 Chipset system
• Quad-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53 processor
• Android OS, v5.1.1 (Lollipop) operating system
• Adreno 405 GPU
• 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage and an expansion slot for external memory
• 148mm length; 75mm width and 9mm thickness
• A screen of 5 inch and 1080 x 1920 pixels display resolution
• It weighs 169g
• 21 MP rear camera
• 5 MP front camera
• Price of $384.99

Build

• The design of the handset is very similar to Turbo 2; unfortunately Maxx 2 does not get the courtesy of Moto Maker.
• It is available in two colours of white and black.
• The physical material of the handset is plastic and metal.
• The build feels robust in hand.
• The back plate can be removed to be replaced by any of the 7 coloured flip shells available in the market.
• It has the same weight as Turbo 2; 169g which is still a little heavy in hand.
• The screen to body ratio of the handset is 74.4%.
• Measuring 10.9mm in thickness it feels chunky in hands.
• The navigation buttons for Maxx 2 are on the screen.
• Power and volume key can be found on the right edge of Maxx 2.
• Headphone jack can be found on the top edge.
• USB port is on the bottom edge.
• Micro SIM and microSD card slot is also on the top edge.
• The device has a Nano coat of water resistance, which is enough to protect it against small splashes.

          

Display

The good stuff:

• The handset has a 5.5 inch display screen.
• The display resolution of the screen is 1080 x 1920 pixels.
• The maximum brightness of the screen is 635nits which can be further increased to 722nits in automatic mode. This is record breaking brightness, much more than Moto X pure.
• Viewing the screen out in the sun is no problem at all.
• Viewing angles of the screen are also good.
• Text clarity is high, eBook reading is fun.
• All the details are sharp.

The bad stuff:

• The colour temperature of the screen is 8200 Kelvin which is very far from the reference temperature of 6500 Kelvin.
• The colours of the screen are very cold and unnatural.

Performance

The good stuff:

• Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 is the Chipset system
• The handset has Quad-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53 processor
• Adreno 405 is the graphic unit.
• The device has 2 GB RAM.
• The handset supports all the light tasks very easily.
• The processing is fast.
• Heavy apps show a bit strain on the processor.

Memory & Battery

The good stuff:

• The handset has 16 GB storage.
• The memory can be enhanced as there is a slot for microSD card.
• Maxx 2 has a 3630mAh battery; it is slightly smaller than the one in Turbo 2 which is 3760mAh.
• The battery of Maxx 2 scored 11 hours and 33 minutes of total screen on time which is more than any handset up till now.
• The battery will easily get you through two days of medium use.
• The total charging time of the device is 105 minutes.

The bad stuff:

• The 16 GB storage is clearly not sufficient for any one now a days.
• Maxx 2 does not support wireless charging.

Camera

The good stuff:

• The camera field of Maxx 2 is same as Turbo 2. On the back there is a 21 megapixels camera.
• The camera has f/2.0 aperture.
• On the front there is a 5 megapixel camera.
• The front camera has a wide angle view.
• The features of dual LED flash and phase detection are present.
• The images are very detailed and sharp.
• The colours of the images are natural looking.
• Videos can be recorded at 1080p.
• The feature of slow motion video is also present.

The bad stuff:

• The camera app is very dull, other than the standard features like HDR and panorama there is nothing new.
• The HDR and panorama modes give “okay” shots; panoramic shots are not sharp enough while the HDR images seem dull.
• Images in lowlight conditions are also passable.
• Videos are not that great either.
• 4K videos cannot be recorded.

Features

The good stuff:

• The handset runs Android v5.1.1 (Lollipop) operating system.
• Moto apps like Moto Assist, Moto display, Moto Voice and Moto Actions are still present. They really come in handy.
• The interface is neatly design, not too overwhelming.
• The browsing experience is fantastic.
• All the browsing related tasks are smooth.
• The Moto Voce app can open websites even when we speak about them.
• The features of dual band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, aGPS and LTE are present.
• The call quality is good.
• Dual speakers are placed at the bottom of the screen.
• The sound quality is great, the speakers produce sound of 75.5 dB.
• The gallery app arranges all the things in alphabetical order.
• The video player accepts all sorts of video formats.

The not so good stuff:

• There are many preloaded apps.
• Some of the apps are completely ridiculous.

The box will contain:

• Motorola Droid Maxx 2
• Safety & Warranty information
• Start guide
• Turbo Charger
• SIM removal tool.

Verdict

Motorola Droid Maxx 2 is an interesting handset; it has nothing that we haven’t seen before. The display is large and bright, the performance is good, a slot for external memory is present and the biggest advantage of the device is that it’s battery can last two days. There are many options on the same price range but f you are looking for a battery that can last longer than the usual handsets then Maxx  2 might be worth your consideration.

Have a question or want to share your experience?
You can do so in the comment section box below

AK

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