Skip to main content

Verizon's Droid Maxx 2 is a Moto X Play for the US

Verizon's Droid Maxx 2 is a Moto X Play for the US

/

Familiar specs and a two-day battery

Share this story

The Droid Maxx 2 is officially here. Verizon just announced the phone at an event in New York City, and it was exactly what we expected it to be: a US carrier-branded version of the Moto X Play, which — until now — was only available in Europe, Latin America, and Canada. The rebranding makes sense, though, as the most prominent feature on the Droid Maxx 2 is the 48-hour battery life, and epic battery life was the hallmark of previous Maxx phones.

To do this, Motorola packed a massive 3,630 mAh battery inside the phone, one that can also gain 8 hours worth of charge in just 15 minutes. The other specs are laudable, too, considering that this is a mid-range phone that slots into Motorola's lineup between the high-end Moto X Style and the Moto G. The Maxx 2 has the same 5.5-inch, 1080p screen found on the Play, and it has 2GB of RAM, but the phone is only available with 16GB of storage. (It also comes with a microSD slot that can expand that another 128GB.) The whole thing is powered by a Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor.

All day battery? How about two days' worth?

The phone also has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera as well as the same 21-megapixel rear camera that impressed us a bunch on the new Moto X devices earlier this year. It's a big deal for Motorola fans, because the company's phones have lagged behind in image quality for years. And considering how good most premium smartphone cameras have become, it's a corner that phone makers just can't afford to cut these days.

The outside of the phone is ringed with the same type of metal found on the Play, and the back is the same scaly slab of plastic — though this time around it's been branded with the Verizon and Droid logos, and it's customizable. Stereo speakers line the top and bottom of the front of the device.

The phone will be available this Thursday. Verizon is offering it on a 24-month plan for $16 per month, which works out to $384 over the life of the contract.