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I owned the original Samsung Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note 2. I skipped the Note 3 mostly because I didn't have any available upgrades on my family plan ;-). Plus I figured I'd skip a generation and get a much better Note. I purchased the Note 4, thought it was great, and then promptly returned it. "Why", do you ask? The answer is simple... ================================================= THE DROID TURBO IS THE BEST PHONE KNOWN TO MAN! ================================================= Before you kill me for saying this, hear me out. I'm not a fan boy. I don't work for Motorola. I've tried a number of the current flagship phones before deciding on the Turbo. Here are some of my thoughts on the other phones: - I tried the Note 4, thought it was great, and returned it. - I have the iPhone 6 Plus, loved it, planned to keep it, tried the Turbo, and now I'm looking to sell the 6 Plus. - I also owned the HTC ONE M8 for Windows, thought it was cool, was pleasantly surprised when it started reading text messages to me automatically while I was driving, but I returned it as I was worried about the ecosystem. - I briefly got my hands on the Nexus 6. Thought it was great. Was happy to see that it was made by Motorola, and was then quickly disappointed that it was missing the Motorola Apps and features found on the Moto X and Droid Turbo. In my opinion, the combination of great specs, a great screen, blistering performance, slap your momma long battery life, and most importantly, the unique suite of Moto Apps firmly places the Droid Turbo ahead of all other smartphones. ✔ PROS: - Very nice screen - Fast Performance - Good (not great) camera - Double twist your wrist to launch the camera - The mother of all batteries (MOAB) - Trusted Devices: Keep your phone unlocked when it's near a trusted device (headset, fitness band, etc.) - Moto Voice: The Turbo is always listening for your commands, allowing you to use your phone without touching it - Moto Assist: The Turbo knows when you are home and allows you to accept/reject phone calls via verbal commands. When you are home or when you are driving, the Turbo allows you to hear and respond to text messages via verbal commands. The Turbo will also silence your phone during meetings - Moto Actions: Sensors detect hand gestures to let you activate your phone's screen without touching it. You can use this to see the current time, preview notifications, or wave off incoming calls - Moto Display: See notifications on your phone without touching the phone. You can preview and act on notification from the lock screen - Customizable "Hello Google", hands free voice command phrase. - Accurate voice recognition courtesy of an included secondary chip dedicated to natural language processing - Qi wireless charging support. Just buy a $20 wireless charger and you're set. - Turbo Charger support (get 8 hours of charge in only 15 minutes) - Very close to stock Android 4.4. In the past, Motorola has provided quick Android OS updates to its phones. - Cheaper than a Note 4 or iPhone 6 Plus (sans incentives, trade-in offers, etc.) - Solid, sturdy build. There won't be an iPhone 6 Plus type "Bend-Gate" for the Turbo. ✔ CONS: - You won't get the advertised 48 hours of battery life - Camera has slow autofocus (after you use the iPhone 6 Plus, you notice slow autofocus much more) - Camera doesn't have optical image stabilization (WHY???!?!?!?!?1?ONE!?) - There's a slight delay between when the Turbo hears your hands-free voice command and when it performas the action - Volumes button are a tad flush to the body and takes a wee bit more effort to local them - Only one speaker - Phone can get warm to the touch - No available option for a larger screen that includes Moto Apps and the dedicated natural language chip - No SD Card slot - No fitness tracking related sensors - Mobile hotspot didn't work for a couple days after launch but it works now. - Simultaneous voice and data doesn't work at the time of this writing but should be added in a month or so. ✔ OTHER - The Turbo was incorrectly reporting my location initially. It was saying I was in Washington, DC when I was actually in Virginia. I changed a setting (I don't remember which) and now it's fixed. - I like the nylon cover, although I suspect some people might not - It has dedicated capacitive buttons, not on screen buttons. I prefer dedicated buttons, but I wish the home button was a physical button, like on the Note 4. - The phone is water resistant, (NOT WATERPROOF!). - It's only available on Verizon (for now). We'll have to see if the rumored Droid Maxx and Moto X Play have the same specs and features. - Some users complain about call volume. I haven't experienced this issue. ✔ USING THE DROID TURBO Here are some of the things I've done with the Turbo and why I think it's cool: - I can initiate a voice search without touching the Turbo. Yes, you can do this with many Android phones but on the Turbo, you can customize the command. For example, my launch phrase is "Eagle One, come in!" Since the Turbo has a dedicated, low power natural language processing chip, the launch command works more reliably on the Turbo that any other non-Motorola phone. Since the Turbo has a huge battery, you can leave this feature on and still get over a day of battery life. - Turbo knows when I am home. If I'm home when a call comes in, Turbo will say the name of the caller and ask me if I want to take the call. If I say "listen", Turbo will answer the call on speaker phone. If I say "ignore", Turbo will end the call. If the ignored caller has a mobile number in my contact list, Turbo will ask if I want to send the caller a text message. I can then speak my message to Turbo and Turbo will send it. I can do all of this without touching the Turbo. - Turbo will also announce incoming text messages when I'm home. I can listen to and reply to text messages without touching Turbo. - Turbo knows when I'm driving (or on a bus or train) and will also announce incoming text messages when I'm on the move. - A few times in the past couple of weeks I have taken calls from bed without getting out of bed. The Turbo can hear commands from across a room. - I've taken calls from the Turbo while sitting down, with the phone in my pocket. - I've participated in long text message threads with people while cooking dinner, all without touching my Turbo. The dedicated natural language processing chip rarely misunderstands what I am saying. - Need to take a quick photo? Twist your wrist twice while holding the Turbo to launch the camera app. You don't even have to unlock your phone. - Hate having to unlock your phone all the time? Feeling envious of Apple's fast and accurate Touch ID? Use Trusted Devices on the Turbo. With this functionality, you can keep your Turbo unlocked whenever it's connected to a trusted Bluetooth device you designate. This can be a BT headset, your car, or even your BT equipped home computer. I use my Microsoft Band as my trusted device. Yes, using Trusted Devices is a bit risky as someone can access your phone if your trusted device is nearby. - The big battery allows me to no longer do anything to preserve battery life. No more battery saving apps, no more turning apps off, no more turning off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Just leave everything on, bro. And since the Turbo has wireless charging built-in, if buy a couple of $20 wireless charging pads for the home, the car, and the office, your Turbo will never run out of power. ✔ DROID TURBO vs SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 4 The Note 4 has a better camera that includes OIS, a larger screen, and stylus pen support (a great advantage if you actually learn to use the pen). The Turbo has a turbo charger, built-in wireless charging, and a larger battery. The Turbo also has Moto Apps. I think more people will use the Moto Apps than they will use the Note 4 stylus pen. ✔ DROID TURBO vs IPHONE 6 PLUS The iPhone 6 Plus has the best total camera experience on any smartphone, plus a larger screen. The 6 Plus also has the best ecosystem (apps, accessories, iTunes, enterprise support, desktop integration, mind share, etc.). Unless you are heavily invested in iTunes purchases or need the best smartphone camera, I think you should switch platforms. Moto Apps are just that good. Plus the 6 Plus lacks the big battery, turbo charging, and wireless charging. ✔ DROID TURBO vs GOOGLE NEXUS 6 The Nexus 6 ships with Android 5.0 and can expect to get Android OS updates the quickest. The N6 has a larger screen and dual speakers. Its camera features a ring flash, OIS, and HDR+. If Motorola's past performance is an indicator, the Turbo can expected to get Android updates pretty quick, nerfing one of the N6's big advantages. Since Motorola makes both the N6 and the Turbo, I don't anticipate the Turbo will get updates much later than the N6. If the N6 had Moto Apps, the dedicated voice chip, and a bigger battery, I would get the N6. The N6 doesn't have these things so, to me, it loses to the Turbo. ✔ BOTTOM LINE The Droid Turbo is the best phone available. Period. It has a great screen, blistering performance, and the best battery life. Its suite of Moto Apps destroys everything running on any other phone. While it's true that its camera is not as good as the Big 3 (Note 4, Nexus 6, iPhone 6 Plus), the camera isn't bad. It's actually pretty good, just not as good as the Big 3 cameras. I know I'm not crazy in writing this review. Several tech journalist have already suggested that the Moto X is the best Android phone available. Google "moto x best phone ever" and see for yourself. The Droid Turbo is a Moto X with a bigger battery, better camera, faster CPU, better screen, and more RAM. Thus, The Turbo is better than the "best Android phone ever". ;-) Rarely have I enjoyed using a phone so much that I would recommend people to switch platforms and even switch carriers to get the phone! The Turbo is that good. While other flagship phones provide largely the same user experience, the Turbo gives you a whole lot more. Of course, if you don't think you will make great use of the Moto Apps and the big battery, or if you need a bigger screen, you can't go wrong with the Note 4, Nexus 6, or iPhone 6 Plus. At the end of the day, these are all great phones. Tech Ranker . net