More Phones Need To Be Like the Motorola DROID Turbo
Right up front, you need to know that I was given a Motorola DROID Turbo phone for free as part of the VZWBuzz Influencer Program. We get access to a variety of devices and it is always fun when I like one enough to write about it.
I made the switch to Android from iOS last year.
Being able to customize my phone, use widgets and direct integration with all things Google makes my life easier.
I've only had the phone for a week, so I can't do a full review, but what motivated me to write this post is several features that I'd love to see all phones have as soon as possible.
Turbo Charging
When I first heard about being able to "get 8 additional hours with only 15 minutes of charging" I was highly skeptical.
Battery life and recharging is certainly an area where all phone companies hype a lot and rarely deliver.
But, the marketing in this case was reality. With the Turbo Charger from Motorola, the phone does charge extremely fast. The lower the battery is, the faster it charges up to 80%
This only works with the specific charger, but talk about a huge help for those of us who plug in on the road for a quick hit of juice.
I need to order a second one of these chargers and permanently leave it in my bag so I'm never without it. Two weeks from now, I'll really put this to the test to see how it does at surviving SXSW.
It also has built in wireless recharging that I look forward to a standard being set on. It would be great to see cafes and other places of business being able to install tables, desks and stations where all we need to do is set down our phone and it recharges.
Drive Mode
I hate that it is still legal to text and drive in our country. Here in Massachusettes you get a whopping $100 fine if caught doing it.
Anyone who knows me, knows how much I appreciate and support the #ItCanWait campaign.
My phone now knows when I'm in the car and driving. It knows this because I told it which Bluetooth pairing is my car. As soon as it connects, it knows I'm driving and automatically turns on a few special features.
- Anyone who texts me gets an auto-reply that I've written. Mine currently says "Thanks for the text, but I'm currently driving. #ItCanWait"
- When a text message does arrive, it asks me if I want to hear it or not. I can say "listen" and it'll read it to me.
- When my wife texts me she also gets a link to Glympse that using the phone's GPS lets her know where I am. Great when I'm commuting home and she wants to see how far away I am.
The Glympse feature is optional and I get to pick who gets them ahead of time.
They need to update the reading of messages to play through the car audio since my phone is always on vibrate and the connection is already made so this should be an easy fix.
More Colors
This is a minor thing, but the team knows how much I like black and red so they made sure that was the color phone I received.
I'd love to see Motorola parter with (RED) to make this even more special, but for now I'd love to see more phone companies step up and allow more colors. Having to add a case to customize the look of my phone is something I don't want to do so I appreciate having options.
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If you are looking for more details, the full specs are online.
I'm looking forward to taking this phone on the road and seeing how it does. The camera has a lot of promise, but I have yet to fully put it through the paces.
What other features have you seen on phones that you wished were available on all?
