TL;DR: If you like Verizon and you're upgrade eligible or out of contract, get the Droid Turbo. Do it now. Don't even think about it. And go through telesales for the loyalty smartphone single line plan if it applies or explore loyalty family options.
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I loved my Droid RAZR MAXX from January 2012. Even after it committed suicide within weeks of me getting it and having to shell out another $700 for a new device, I still loved it. I ditched the included memory card for a 32 GB class 10 card that made things go swimmingly, and even though there were bigger and faster phones out there, having come from a Droid X, the experience worked for me. After about a year and a half, the device started to get sluggish, and I wiped it and did a factory reset on Christmas Day 2013. That made things better for a while, but within a few months, it was a struggle even to receive or make phone calls. The BF's RAZR MAXX is in a similar condition now too.
A friend gave me a very lightly used Samsung S3 in early June, and after setting it up, I thought it would have been a huge upgrade over the RAZR MAXX, released maybe a couple months earlier. After experiencing both of them, the S3 was a lot speedier, and had the larger and better display, but I enjoyed the battery life, astounding call quality (The S3 has a horrible, horrible radio, and is basically unusable at home), and user experience more with the RAZR MAXX, though some of TouchWiz's touches were useful. (I ditched the app drawer and home screens for Nova Launcher, just as I had on the RAZR MAXX, and was pleased with the result. But that battery life was absolutely unforgivable. I got the ZeroLemon 7000 mAh battery pack (yes, you read that right), that would get me through 3 days without a charge, but damn if that thing wasn't heavy as all get out. I think I've developed wrist issues from having to deal with battery. But man, that display and that processing power, and of course, the handy SD card slot.
The Droid Turbo for me, is the best of everything that Samsung and Motorola had to offer, and clearly, Motorola took some notes:
Latest Snapdragon Qualcomm processor (805, Quad Core at 2.7 MHz)? Check.
A whopping 3 GB of RAM? Check.
Quad HD (1440x2560) display at 565 dpi? Check.
5.2" screen? Check.
Near stock Kit Kat Android with promised timely update to 5.0 Lollipop? Check.
64 GB on board NAND? Check.
Huge 3900 mAh battery? Check.
Included turbo charger (a $34.99 value)? Check.
Legendary sound quality and RF connectivity? Check.
LED notification? Nope, but the active display makes up for it, and takes a little getting used to.
SD card slot? Oops.
The battery life is real. I had the phone plugged in to move stuff to memory from my PC, and I've had it unplugged 6 hours 30 minutes. The battery's now at 60%. I'll be training it over the next several days, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the battery time holds up.
I thought the SD card slot would be a deal breaker. It connects to my Win 7 laptop as a true USB drive, and had zero problems moving files to it. It worked all in one shot.
Although I'm in love with the red kevlar, the 64 GB ballistic black nylon is absolutely the way to go. Order your phone through telesales at 800-922-0204, ask for the loyalty smartphone plans (unlimited voice and text, 2GB data, $10/GB overage, $60 per month), and get the Droid Turbo 64 GB. You'll get it Fed Ex overnight, no upgrade fee, no activation charge, and in five days of activation (I just activated mine today, so I don't have it yet), you'll get instruction on how to trade in an old device for a $100 gift card.
So let's sum it up:
* The best Android phone available right now, zero question.
* For net cost of $149.
* On the cheapest post-paid plan you can get on the network with the best coverage.
Get this puppy NOW.
