Motorola Droid Maxx review: Superb battery life for a high price

The good: The Motorola Droid Maxx delivers astonishingly long battery life, a big, colorful screen, and a durable, attractive design. The camera takes pleasing pictures and performs inventive tricks such as responding to voice commands, giving screen-based notifications, and quick-launching the camera.

The bad: The Motorola Droid Maxx is expensive.

The bottom line: If you can get past its steep price, the massive-screened Motorola Droid Maxx is currently Verizon’s best Android smartphone.

Design
Aesthetically speaking, the differences between the Motorola Droid Maxx and its svelter sibling, the Droid Ultra, are huge, though you won't notice them at first. At 5.4 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide, the Maxx is just as tall and as wide as the Ultra, but also a bit thicker (0.34 inch versus 0.22 inch).

The Maxx's big size makes it a lot of smartphone to hold.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Still, you don't notice the change in girth when the phones are side by side on a table. It's only when you pick them up that you'll notice that the Maxx packs some serious heavy hardware. Tipping the scales at almost 6 ounces (5.9 to be exact), the Droid Maxx has more heft and feels way more substantial than the Ultra (4.8 ounces). In fact, the Maxx is about an ounce heavier than the all-metal HTC One (5.04 ounces) and heavier still than the svelte Samsung Galaxy S4 (4.6 ounces).

Moto gets big points for giving the Maxx a back surface coated in Kevlar fiber -- similar to the previous generation of Droid handsets. I dug that treatment then and I dig it now. Smooth to the touch and possessing a soft matte finish, it repels smudges and streaks while simultaneously protecting against scratches. I certainly prefer it to the Ultra's glossy and slippery back, which accumulates greasy fingerprints.

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