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Verizon and Motorola just announced the DROID Turbo (hands-on), a powerful device with specs that can match the Nexus 6. These two devices are similar in almost every way, except for one key difference: size. The slightly more petite Motorola DROID Turbo will be very attractive to Verizon fans who want the Nexus 6, but just can’t stomach the gigantic size. Let’s compare the two even further.
Cut from the same cloth
As you can see in the chart above, these devices are identical when it comes to specs, except for display size, rear camera, and battery. The displays have the same 2560×1440 resolution, both are powered by the Snapdragon 805, both have 3GB of RAM, and both come in 32 and 64GB varieties. Of course they look different on the outside, but in terms of specs you can consider the Turbo a smaller variant of the Nexus 6.
Battery prowess
Besides the sheer size of these devices, the next major difference is battery life. Motorola and Verizon talked a lot about the battery during their presentation. They claim the 3900 mAh battery can last 48 hours, and can be charged for 8 hours of use in just 15 minutes with the Turbo Charger. Battery life may not be the most sexy feature of a smartphone, but it’s often overlooked. Two days of battery life is an awesome thing to have.
Who wins?
The camera on the Turbo has more megapixels, but as we know that doesn’t mean a whole lot. We’ll have to wait and see what photos look like before we can give the Turbo the edge. The Turbo comes in the standard DROID red and black, while the Nexus 6 comes in white and dark blue. If you’re on Verizon this is a tough decision to make. The Turbo will be available on the 30th, while the Nexus 6 goes up for pre-order on the 29th. Which do you prefer?
[polldaddy poll=8406949]
Does Turbo have a microSD?
VERY good question…
No SD card slot. But the versions come in 32GB and 64GB for memory.
There were rumors that it would have, but I’m not holding my breath. I’d be pleasantly surprised if it did, and that’d make it the clear choice between the two for me if that turns out to be the case.
Nope.
I think the Droid Turbo will be a more attractive option for people who dislike the new navigation buttons on Lollipop. I assume that the turbo will be receiving an update to Android 5.0 at some point and when that happens those people won’t have to worry about getting used to the new icons.
…I’m on the other end of the spectrum though. I kinda wish it had the new ones, I don’t mind them and think they look nice.
For me, I absolutely cannot stand hardware keys so I’d choose the Nexus. It’s nice to have options :)
is your dislike for hardware keys a purely style conscious opinion? or is there some sort of usability advantage for having on-screen buttons?
Turbo and it’s not close. Better battery life, better camera, and not big of a screen.
The both have the same resolution too. So with the smaller screen the turbo will have a higher pixel density. :)
But 6″ is too big for many people.
That’s what she said.
Said no woman ever.
Well, we don’t know if it’s a better camera or not. It’s all about the sensor. The Nexus 6 uses a IMX214 sensor. We’ll need to wait and see what the Turbo has in it.
I thought it had a Sony sensor?
When you cram that many pixels onto a small sensor, it doesn’t matter who the manufacturer is — your pictures are going to be a disaster.
There’s a reason many professional-level cameras have 16 megapixels.
Actually, that’s not exactly true about the professional cameras only having 16MP. Most are above that now, starting around 24 and going up to 50.
Nexus love
I will always pick pure Android over anything. It’s been proven over and over and over again that nothing is better than stock Android. I also refuse to ever root my phone again. I have been rooting every phone I ever had until I got the Nexus 5. So I don’t care so much about number and bla bla bla, Nexus will always be better.
turbo but im on TMO
Tough choice if you’re on verizon for sure. I think most will go with the turbo but I’d lean nexus 6. Cleaner out of the box with no bloatware, though I read that Lollipop will allow you to uninstall that bloatware now as long as the carriers don’t install the app into the system partition. Lollipop is also including a lot of the moto features built in so that allows an even cleaner OS. Of course the committed will hope for unlocked bootloaders and clean all of that up. For me I’m tired of carrying around my tablet (n7) so nexus 6 will close that gap for me.
Wow surprised to see the Turbo take the lead
it took the lead with 2 things by having better camera megapixel and battery size. However, the Nexus6 regained the lead with 3 THINGS because bigger screen, front facing speakers, and PURE stock unadulterated android. 3>2. Nexus6 FTW!
Nexus 6. Can’t stand hardware keys
im surprised you all don’t think the turbo is ugo, cause it pretty much is
Droid Turbo out of the box seems nice….except for the Verizon bloat. And if 5.0 is unrootable (or extremely difficult) like is being rumored, your going to be stuck with it. Also, Verizon’s track record for updates is still worrisome, even though it has gotten better. So, I’m still on the nexus 6 overall.
verizon bloat has been minimal since the razr maxx. truly nitpicky
Hate to disagree but my LG G2 came preinstalled with all the Amazon and Verizon apps as well, as a few other that are not removable. Now it get alerts daily from Zappos about shoe sales. Who in the hell buys shoes every day?
Disable them
I love the way that 32gb is becoming the smallest storage capacity for some, I want it to be the standard.
I want the standard to be to ALWAYS allow me to use my own SD card, so when I travel I can continue to load up my 128GB microSD card with HD movies to watch in the hotel room.
Even if the phone can’t be opened, it would be great to have an SD slot somewhere.
Soon enough……. 128GB will become the standard size for phones……. you just wait and see…
is the nexus 6 64 bit compatible? all 805 chips are correct?
The snapdragon 805 is a 32 bit processor
Android 5.0 is 64-bit compatible, but on a 32-bit processor, then yea, the phone will be forced to stay 32bit.
Nope, that’ll be the Snapdragon 410, 808 and 810.
having 64 bit wont be noticeable.. plus you need apps that can take advantage of that and also, its not the same as it is with Windows
yea, i was just wondering about it to see how future proof this phone is. i still want it.
The nexus has DUAL front speakers…turbo has one. Nexus will have all radios to work on all carriers…Turbo only verizon as its a verizon exclusive.
Its a personal preference game at this point. Bigger screen or bigger battery. I think the nexus 6 will have at least an all day battery. Which is good enough for me. And i prefer the bigger screen and extra speaker.
What’s the point of it working on all carriers when you will only be able to use it on one CDMA carrier? Meaning you won’t be able to take a Verizon Nexus 6 to Sprint or US Cellular.
If you get an unlocked one direct from Google, you should be able to go from Verizon to Sprint.
Wasn’t that way with the Nexus 5. If you didn’t buy it from Sprint, you couldn’t use it on Sprint. You had to buy the Nexus 5 from Sprint to use it on Sprint. I have a feeling it will be the same with the Nexus 6. If you want to use it on that CDMA carrier (for example, Verizon) then you will have to purchase it from that carrier. Unless you get clarification from Google, I am going to assume it will be the same this go around with the Nexus 6.
Incorrect. I bought my Nexus 5 from Google Play Store and it works fine on Sprint. The first couple days, Sprint didn’t setup their system to accept the Nexus 5 from the Play Store and didn’t have the SIM card ready… but within 2 days, you could order the SIM card and get it activated over the phone.
Then you should Google cause there are stories of people not being able to activate the device months later.
I may be wrong, but if it has all bands compatible with all US carriers, it doesn’t matter to which carrier you go to and when, as it should work on any of them when you switch. But CDMA sucks anyway.
Incorrect, you can very much indeed take a Verizon Nexus 6 to Sprint and use it on Sprint. they are the same phone, made and created to be compatible with many carriers. You can even bring the Nexus6 to Italy and put an Italian sim card in there, and it’ll work on their 3G/4G/LTE network just fine. Nexus phones are SIM-unlocked by default.
Have fun trying to get Sprint to authorize that phone on their network and vice versa. Yeah, I’ve head its been done, usually via illegal means of burning a different esn, or knowing someone in the right place that will do it.
Just because a phone is manufactured the same, doesn’t mean they are fused the same. Some settings (like radios) are not adjustable in software.
This is why the iPhone 5 had multiple models for regions & carriers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_5#Network_compatibility
The turbo has cap buttons on the chin. This will make the size difference much less noticeable (in the Nexus 6’s favor)… I’d like to see whats up with the Camera though sensor and speed to focus.
such a minimal differential. a nice trade off to having the entire screen on all the time
When do you need that small amount of space that the onscreen buttons take up? Oh, when you go into full screen mode? Hmm, that’s funny, they disappear when you go into full screen mode. The amount of space they take up on a 5.2″ display is minimal. There is no longer any need for capacitive buttons anymore.
Give it up, seriously.
A ton of software does not disappear. It’s awkward so I’ll take my full screen, all of the time. That’s what the screen is there for, to show me everything, thank you very much
That’s a developer problem if they don’t disappear. The buttons are far more awkward. Plus with 5.0 it’ll flow much better. The buttons are outdated technology that only use more space and draw extra power.
doesnt’ matter if it’s a dev problem or not, it’s there, and for a lot of software.
There is absolutely nothing awkward about capacitive buttons. You’re just plain ridiculous in saying so. power drain, my god man, get ahold of yourself. Outdated tech? again, purely ridiculous. So thanks once again, I will take my full screen all of the time.
So angry… Clearly you have your preference and i have mine. Nothing awkward about the capacitive buttons? Well the turbo doesn’t have the new lollipop buttons. I find that awkward, myself. And the buttons always showing is ugly. At least Samsung has then turn off after a bit.
Arguing that you need that extra however many rows of pixels is quite a bit more ridiculous when you’re talking about a 5.2″ screen. It’s big enough even with the on screen buttons. I’d rather have smaller bezels than have permanently fixed buttons. Plus when the keyboard is out the back button changes to a down arrow and I like that. Can’t have that feature with capacitive buttons. And I like that I can customize the buttons how I want if I am rooted. So much more freedom than with capacitive buttons.
Nice diatribe. Try not to kick your cat when you, undoubtedly, respond with more useless piss and vinegar.
It’s not more ridiculous to want to actually see the entire phone screen all of the time. Arguing that it’s outdated or awkward, now there you have ridiculous.
So clean out your sandy vag. The turbo has got capacitive buttons and it’s great.
Enjoy your bloat, locked bootloader, and capacitive buttons. It is not a bad phone, i just do not want any of that on my phone.
I bet you felt so good writing that post, congrats, you owned me with your amazing vocabulary and metaphors… I can’t get all this sand out, can you help me since it seems like you have a lot of experience with yours? It won’t be awkward for me, seriously.
I’d rather have a new Moto X over either of these since I can almost use it with one hand and it still runs stock Android, will get fast updates along with having OLED and software keys.
I can use a Note 4 one handed.. you must have small girly hands if you cant do it one handed
I don’t think the new Moto X is much (if any) shorter/narrower than this Turbo.
no mention of micro SD slots eh? WTF?
They both don’t have microSD slots…
If you’re on Verizon it sounds like you want the Xperia Z3v
I wouldnt have this cause its Verizon only, plus that means you have to wait a lifetime for new updates plus all the crap they put on there.. give a stock android with Android L on it.. no verizon or other carriers crap to slow it down and take up space for nothing important
nexus >
Should’ve shown some more proportionately accurate pictures of the devices in that chart! :)
The Nexus 6 is better, simply because it runs pure stock Android, and having a high megapixel camera means absolutely nothing, because the iPhone 6 only has an 8 megapixel camera, and still takes better pictures than most smartphones with megapixels that are twice that of the iPhone’s, so the only way to tell which camera is better is by comparing each a picture taken by each phone, side by side. Also the Droid Turbo is on Verizon, which means it has every God damn fucking bloatware app ever created on it, plus 7,000 more by Motorola loaded onto it. The only thing that is more appealing, about the Droid Turbo, is the smaller screen, and even with the smaller screen I wouldn’t buy it, because I don’t want to carry around a tablet in my pocket, not a phablet, a tablet, because any screen size above 4 inches is completely unnecessary, maybe 4.7 inches, but that’s a stretch ( literally and figuratively). Overall, both phones are terrible because of their unnecessary, huge, screens and I will not consider buying either because of this.
The Droid Turbo is stock genius
judging by the messaging icon, its not stock. its ‘near’ stock, as the moto x was. But it is tweaked, and it does run on VZW which means updates will likely be slow and poorly handled.
Exactly what I meant. Joe, you’re stupid.
No phone takes decent pictures. Stop being delusional.
Actually, they can. I’ve floated a few photos from a Note 2 and 3 past photo curators, dealers and gallery owners. I’ve seen some really good shows put up by iPhone users. I know of a few very acclaimed photographers that will pull out a phone or P&S with a barely larger sensor and knock out images that are then sold on the market. In the end, give a decent phone camera to a decent photographer and you or anyone else won’t know the difference.
Any camera in the hands of a real photographer can turn wonders. Photographers make the picture happen.
I am referring to real world Joe Schmoe and cameras. Phone cameras do nothing. I’ve seen people try to take shots with their phones and then pull out the DSLR.
DSLR’so don’t accidentally take gorgeous shots in the hands of beginners. They take in and process so much information they turn out beautiful of their own accord.
That is their design, until they design phone cameras with that goal, they will be an also ran technology.
You need to look your comment back over. It doesn’t make sense. DSLRs do not turn out beautiful shots on their own accord. The same skill and sense of composition is needed for a DSLR as is needed for a camera phone. DSLRs don’t apply some magical processing unless you’re using one of the idiot modes…. which coincidentally exists on pretty much any camera phone these days in spades. (Not to mention all the apps that can be used which don’t exist on DSLRs.) Even then, the magical processing still needs some guidance by the user. So DSLRs and camera phones are still on the level there.
i would have liked a turbo on att with dual speakers…sorry but htc got me spoiled wtih them loud speakers…. but dam….that battery life tho on the turbo
Bigger IS better ;) #Nexsix
The speed of android phones release is nuts. Nexus 6 isn’t even out yet and there is already something out spec(ing) it. 565 ppi….Lord have mercy.
As long as it uses the same all-band radio at the Nexus 6, I’m in.
No SD card, no removable battery and no IR blaster. Fail for both. Note 4 is still the king.
Oh…no removable battery, glad you mentioned that, it might be a dealbreaker for me.
but the phone can get 8 hours of charge in 15 minutes using the moto turbo charger. removable battery shouldnt be a worry anymore
As long as you have access to an outlet you may be able to make it through the day. I’m just not willing to compromise on this option until the day when, well never really. We all have our own priorities and battery is one of mine. With my Note 4 I never plug in I just swap pre charged batteries from my separate charger. It’s a way of life for me now and no way I could go back.
I’m the proud owner of the droid turbo’s grandpa the droid Maxx. Before that I had the Droid Razr Maxx. With all of these phones so far I’ve had more than one day of charge. If you plug your Note in any more than once every 24 hours you’re far behind the competition. In general, just to give you an idea, i get about 36.5 hours before I need to plug in again. That’s on a more typical day. I’ve used it for Netflix and streamed the majority of a season and also played a few games and still managed to stretch my battery life out to almost 21 hours. If you respect your battery give it a few charge cycles from time to time and get a phone with a good internal its really not an issue. Over the summer I went on a five day camping trip without a charger and just went on to airplane mode other than when making calls and using GPS. I came back with more than 30 percent of my battery. Unless you have a lot of extra batteries you’re not going to touch that functionality.
Moto lgg3 note 4 nexus wait what was this about:)
Man this is a lame bunch
Am I the only one that wanted an infrared sensor ?
Why did they skip it? Thought google wanted to be in TV business
Yes, they want to be involved with the future of TV, not some 1950s IR technology
I am sure the Turbo is clogged with all manor of Verizon crapware.
Turbo has the exact same apps the Moto X has, except it also has Droid Zapp, and Amazon’s suite of apps.
nternational GPE edition of the droid turbo please and I’ll have over my hard earned cash in a heartbeat!
vanilla Android carries Nexus 6 along way!! I’m all in for the N6.
for me it depends on the price of the droid turbo. If is less expensive I would go for it. But if it’s the same price I would go for the nexus 6 because I like phablets.
It’s on Verizon, so never. Now if they had a Blue and White Death Star version…
The Droid Turbo has more logos so it wins.
it’s like Ferrari just released a car that runs on water but only costs 4 billion dollars.
This is hard I’m Motorola fan but I’m not Verizon fan so I’m going for n6.
Verizon? No thanks! I’ll keep my N5 for another year.
2560X1440 in a 5.2 ” screen is beyond overkill, a 1080p resolution at that size would make more sense and likely add a good bit of battery life.
The Droid Turbo sounds like a great phone, too bad it’s Verizon.