Motorola Droid Maxx 2 officially announced: everything you need to know

If you happen to be a Verizon customer and have been itching to upgrade to a newer Android device, the day has finally come. After a seemingly endless amount of leaks, rumors and speculation, Motorola has just officially unveiled its newest Verizon-exclusive device, the Droid Maxx 2.

Featuring a big Full HD display, a 21MP rear-facing camera and a big 3630mAh battery that should be able to last all day, the Droid Maxx 2 is turning out to be one heck of a smartphone. So, without any further ado, let’s take a look at the new Droid Maxx 2.

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Motorola Droid Maxx 2 design

The Droid Maxx 2 features a design that’s quite similar to the newly-announced Droid Turbo 2 and the Moto X Play. It has what looks to be a grippy plastic back plate, which you’ll be able to swap out with five different colors if you’d like.

Unlike the Moto X Style (Pure Edition), Moto X Play or Droid Turbo 2, you won’t be able to customize the Maxx 2 through Moto Maker. This is unfortunate, considering the praise everyone has given the Moto Maker program over the years. Still, though, if you aren’t satisfied with the standard colors, you’ll at least be able to swap out the back plates if you choose.

Motorola Droid Maxx 2 specs and features

When it comes to the new Droid devices announced today, the Turbo 2 is definitely the flagship device here, while the Maxx 2 aims to offer similar specs and features for a lower price point. It comes with a big 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Even though the Maxx 2 only comes with a Full HD panel, we’d say that will be A-OK for some users, as the lower screen resolution will definitely help out in the battery department. And even though the device doesn’t come with the same “shatterproof” display as the Turbo 2, the panel is covered in Gorilla Glass 3, which should help protect it from small drops and bumps.

The Maxx 2 comes with a non-removable 3630mAh battery, which Motorola says will give users up to 48 hours of use on a single charge. It also comes with Motorola’s TurboPower charging technology that can give the phone 8 hours of use in just 15 minutes on the charger.

The Maxx 2 is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 405 GPU. Basically this phone is identical to the Moto X Play, which we actually found to be quite great in the performance department. No, the 615 isn’t the most powerful processor on the market, but it will likely do just fine with performing everyday tasks.

The device also comes with a 21MP rear-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The camera can be activated by performing a simple wrist twist gesture, similar to what we’ve seen on the Moto X line. Additional specs include 16GB of on-board storage (no 32GB option here), and microSD expansion up to 128GB. So if you’re constantly struggling with storage issues on your current phone, the Maxx 2 might not be the phone for you.

It also runs a near-vanilla version of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with a few unique Motorola customizations thrown on top. It would have been wonderful to see the device launch with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but Motorola at least says a software update is coming in the future.

Motorola Droid Maxx 2 pricing and availability

The Motorola Droid Maxx 2 will be available in all Verizon retail locations and online at verizonwireless.com this Thursday, October 29th for $16 per month. If you’d like to purchase the device without a contract, the Droid Maxx 2 will cost you $384. Verizon will also let you trade in your current smartphone for up to $300 off the price of one of these new Droids. The carrier is also accepting phones with cracked screens for this limited-time promotion.

We’re still finding out all of the details about the Droid Maxx 2, so we’ll be sure to update this post as we learn more.