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Droid cubed: Google unveils the Motorola Maxx, Ultra, and Mini

The Droid Maxx, the Droid Mini, and the Droid Ultra were introduced at a Motorola Mobility press event in New York on Tuesday. 

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Reuters
Rick Osterloh, a VP at Motorola Mobility, speaks during the Verizon Wireless media event in New York on July 23, 2013
  • By Matthew Shaer

Motorola Mobility, the phone manufacturer acquired last year by Google, unveiled a trio of new phones: The Droid Ultra, the Droid Maxx, and the Droid Mini. 

What are the differences between the three devices? Well, as the name indicates, the Droid Mini is a compact smart phone, with a 4.3-inch HD display and a $100 price tag (assuming you sign a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless, of course). The chief selling point on the $299 Droid Maxx, on the other hand, is the gigantic 3500mAh battery, which Motorola says can power the Maxx for two days on a single charge. 

Then there's the $199 Droid Ultra – an 0.28-inch thick device that Motorola is calling the slimmest smart phone in history.

All three phones share the same design cues and also sleek DuPont Kevlar fiber unibodies. Pre-orders for the devices start Tuesday; the Ultra and the Maxx will officially go on sale on Aug. 20, while the Mini won't be out until Aug. 29. 

At some point in the next few days, of course, Google and Motorola Mobility are expected to unveil a new, marquee phone called the Moto X (release date seems to be pegged for late August). In the meantime, we're stuck with the new Droids. Are they any good? Yes, says David Pierce of The Verge – with one big caveat. 

"These phones feel transitional, from what we've seen," Mr. Pierce wrote today in a hands-on test of the three Droids. "They're more Google-infused than anything Motorola has done before, but from a hardware standpoint little appears to have changed. It's Motorola, through and through. We're hoping the Moto X brings something a little newer to the table when we see it next week." 

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut.

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