Motorola Moto X (Sprint)

Pros Excellent size for one-handed use. Fast. Good voice activation. Easy to launch camera. You can text from your PC.

Cons Limited storage. Very limited camera settings. Case customization is an AT&T exclusive. Bottom Line The Moto X adds some useful, unique tricks to a fast Android smartphone that's comfortable to hold in one hand.

By Eugene Kim

Motorola doesn't overdo things with the Moto X ($99.99 with 2-year contract). The size conforms to the human hand, not the latest trends. The relatively small amount of new features are actually things you'll want to use, not just gimmicks you forget about after the first week. The focus is clearly on usability rather than marketability here. It's a shame the Moto Maker customization is still exclusive to the AT&T Moto X, but the Sprint version is still a thoughtfully designed Android smartphone worthy of its flagship designation. Our Editors' Choice remains the Galaxy S4 for its speed, high-resolution display, and features galore.

We've reviewed the Moto X on a few other carriers already, so we'll just focus on some of the Sprint-model differences here. For a more in-depth look at features, check out our review of the Moto X for Verizon Wireless.

Physical Design, Features, and Call Quality
If you're not on AT&T, you're out of luck—the Moto Maker customization options are an exclusive to that carrier. The Moto X is still an attractive device, regardless of customizations, but on Sprint you'll be limited to black or white. Otherwise you get the same hand friendly dimensions, 4.7-inch AMOLED screen, and soft-touch plastic body.

Note: The slideshow below is of the AT&T Moto X with Moto Maker customizations. It's physically identical to the Verizon model, but Moto Maker is not available on Verizon.

The Sprint Moto X supports CDMA on 800/850/1900MHz, GSM on 850/900/1800/1900MHz and 1900MHz LTE. It's a global-ready phone that can be unlocked for customers in good standing with an account that has been active for at least 90 days. Overall, call quality was good. Voices came through loud and clear in the earpiece, and speakerphone was easy to hear in my tests, if a little harsh at top volume. Noise cancellation was very good, as even very loud construction site noise was reduced to a faint hiss and occasional pop. Transmissions through the mic were clear and easy to understand for the majority of calls, though I did noticed some slight muffling on a few test calls. Battery life isn't quite as good here, as the Sprint model turned in just 10 hours, 11 minutes of talk time—well short of the Verizon Moto X's 14 hours, 15 minutes in the same test. The AT&T model lasted almost 13 hours.

Bloatware, Camera, and Conclusions
The 16GB phone we tested came with 10.59GB of internal storage out of the box. Sprint added a few preloads here, including four carrier-branded apps and four third-party apps. All but the Sprint Zone app are uninstallable, and the preloads include useful apps like Quickoffice and Lookout Security. It's a nice change over some bloatware-laden phones we've seen, but I still found the Sprint Zone and its frequent notifications pretty annoying.

You get the same 10-megapixel camera and Motorola's Quick Launch camera trick, which lets you fire up the camera with a quick double flip of your wrist. I found the motion a bit awkward at first, but it is useful for quickly firing up the camera at a moment's notice. Test images were a mixed bag. Some shots indoors looked surprisingly bright, but a tad too noisy. In good lighting images looked sharp, with vivid colors and impressive detail. The Moto X struggles a bit with more challenging light, with inconsistent dynamic range—some shots were properly exposed, but others showed blown out highlights or details lost in the shadows. Overall it's an above-average camera, but still not quite as good as the Galaxy S4 or Apple iPhone 5s.

The Motorola Moto X is one of the few flagship phones that shows some restraint in its design. That's a good thing, as it's becoming increasingly rare to find a well-equipped phone that actually fits comfortably in one hand. Sprint's version isn't the best, that'd be the AT&T X with Moto Maker, but it's still an excellent choice and it's more affordable here at only $99.99 to other carriers' $199.99 price. Our Editors' Choice, however, remains the Galaxy S4, for its superior camera, sharper display, and bevy of features that will appeal to a wider array of people. 

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Droid Maxx by Motorola (Verizon Wireless)

Pros Excellent build quality. Long talk time. Adequate storage. Quick camera launch feature. Powerful voice commands.

Cons Low-res screen for the size. Wide. Lots of bloatware. Bottom Line The Motorola Droid Maxx has a big battery and a nice build, but it loses some of the Moto X's hand-friendliness.

By Sascha Segan Is bigger better? The Motorola Droid Maxx packs a big battery and more memory into yet another phone with roughly the same features as the Moto X, which we love. But although the Maxx has more storage and better battery life than the X, it loses some of the friendly, human qualities which make the X so appealing.

In general, the Droid Maxx is extremely similar to the Motorola Droid Ultra, but with a bigger battery. Go read my Motorola Droid Ultra review for a rundown of the basic features. I'll focus on the differences between the phones here.

The first big difference, of course, is the design. The Droid Maxx, with its five-inch screen, is noticeably wider than the Moto X at 5.41 by 2.8 by .33 inches (HWD) and 5.9 ounces. The difference between 2.57 and 2.8 inches wide is a big deal; while the X is comfortable to use in one hand, it's harder for your thumb to reach across the Maxx. 

Motorola gets things spot-on with the Kevlar casing on this phone, though. Why don't the other Droids feel like this? The Maxx's back is soft-touch, patterned black Kevlar which actually feels like Kevlar, not the ugly, greasy stuff used on the Droid Mini and Droid Ultra. It's even nicer, and the phone feels more solid than the polycarbonate Moto X—not to mention the flimsy plastic Samsung Galaxy S4.

You'll have to buy a Maxx if you're at all worried about storage space, as the Droid/X line don't have memory card slots. The Maxx comes with 25.48GB available of 32GB total storage (25.48GB available) to the Droids' 11-or-so of 16GB. The real frustration here is that a 32GB Moto X exists, but it's an AT&T exclusive.

Call Quality and Battery Life
The Droid Maxx's voice quality is similar to the other Droids. The earpiece is loud and a bit trebly, but it doesn't distort. Call audio wobbled a bit, but that seemed like a network problem rather than a handset issue, as speed tests also showed the Verizon Wireless network was pretty congested near our offices. There's a pleasant amount of sidetone in the earpiece and the speakerphone is very powerful.

Transmissions through the mic in a noisy area sounded robotic; Motorola's CrystalTalk noise cancellation killed the noise, but at the cost of rich voice tone. Transmissions through the speakerphone were very clear, although there was very little background noise cancellation. 

The Droid Maxx's 3,500mAh battery is the largest built-in battery in a one-handed smartphone available today. It's significantly more capacious than the Moto X's 2,200mAh battery. But the giant battery didn't translate into a gigantic increase in talk time, with talk time rising only from 14 hours, 15 minutes to 19 hours, 56 minutes when tested in the same location.

I don't want to minimize the advantage of the bigger battery, but I had expected more from such a capacious power cell. That said, the Droid Maxx should last for two days of moderate use without a problem, and it's the only smartphone I can say that about.

Conclusions
Verizon has made things very confusing by carrying the $99 Droid Mini, the $199 Droid Ultra and Moto X, and the $299 Droid Maxx. The Moto X is still the best; it's made from the nicest body material, has the slimmest set of bloatware, and does away with the horrible death-robot Droid branding.

Both the Mini and the Maxx have their advantages. The Maxx has more memory and a bigger battery, and the Mini is even tighter and easier to hold than the Moto X. But in my mind, neither quite hits the sweet spot that the X does; the Mini slips up with its fingerprint-magnet body and misanthropic Droid branding, and the Maxx loses the X's hand-friendliness with its 2.8-inch width.

Our general Editor's Choice for smartphones is still the Samsung Galaxy S 4, for being more things to more people. It's no wider than the Droid Maxx, but it's slimmer and lighter, with a better screen, better camera, and removable memory. While the Droid Maxx is a good smartphone, it's not quite as good as it could be.

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Motorola Moto X (AT&T)

Pros Excellent overall performance. Customizable body colors. 32GB memory option. Good voice quality. Little bloatware.

Cons Inconsistent camera performance. Bottom Line AT&T's Moto X is the best version of a very good phone, thanks to the Moto Maker customization options.

By Sascha Segan Motorola saved its best for AT&T. This version of the Moto X is a unique, great-looking fashion phone that's more customizable than any other handset on the market. If you want a phone that tells everyone it's yours, this is the one to get.

The key difference is Moto Maker, Motorola's phone design Web site, which is currently an AT&T exclusive. Don't buy the simple black or white, 16GB version of the X from AT&T; you'll be losing out. Instead, go to Motorola's Web site and use the Moto Maker to choose from hundreds of color combinations, wallpapers and the secret power boost: a $50, 32GB memory add-on.

Under the hood, this Moto X is very similar to the Verizon Wireless model we reviewed a few weeks ago. I'll focus on the differences here.

Moto Maker and Physical Features
Using Moto Maker, you can give the phone 21 different back case colors, seven different "accent" colors (the Power button, Home button, and a ring around the camera) and two front colors (black or white). You can assign a greeting to pop up when you turn the phone on, pick black or white wall chargers, and get matching earbuds ($39.95).

A few other options are less useful. You can set the phone's wallpaper, auto-configure a Google account or buy a case, all of which are perfectly easy to do with any Android phone.

Two Moto Maker features aren't available yet. I got neat white custom text on the back just above the AT&T logo, a feature Motorola is still refining. The legendary wooden backs will only start showing up in December, so if you want a wooden phone, hang on a few months.

I got a brick-red phone with black accents and a white front, and it showed up in four days after I ordered it. The back is made of a lovely soft-touch matte polycarbonate that doesn't attract fingerprints, and the seam between the red back and white front is pretty much invisible. My Moto X attracted comments; when I brought it into a phone store, the salespeople crowded around oohing and aahing. And I know I won't mistake it for anyone else's phone. See the slideshow below for a closer look at Moto Maker.

Can you achieve the same look with a colored case or skin on an iPhone? Sure, to some extent. But there's a lot to be said for the design being integral to the phone. This isn't just an outfit; it's an overall look.

Motorola has clearly performed a little more quality control on this batch, than on the Verizon model I got a few weeks ago. The screen's pink tint was gone, and the 720p OLED panel was better-centered in the case.

Voice Quality, Networking, Software and Camera
Voice quality here was strikingly good. The earpiece is very loud, punchy and trebly but not harsh; the speakerphone is back-ported, but loud enough to be heard outdoors. Transmissions through the mic were slightly muffled but above average in terms of AT&T voice quality. Transmissions through the speakerphone were a bit tinny, but completely acceptable.

The AT&T Moto X is carefully banded to be completely global, but work poorly with T-Mobile. You get the usual four EDGE bands; 850/900/1900/2100Mhz HSPA+ 21; and 700/850/AWS/1900/2600 LTE. It's lacking HSPA+ 42 and 3G on AWS for T-Mobile, but is specced out properly for Rogers in Canada. In New York City, I got between 10Mbps and 25Mbps down and 4-7Mbps up, which jives with what we saw in our Fastest Mobile Networks tests. The GPS locked in quickly, and I didn't have any problems with Bluetooth connectivity.

I got 12 hours, 53 minutes of talk time on the AT&T Moto X, which is about on par with the AT&T HTC One and considerably better than the iPhone 5. Toting the phone around for the weekend, a day's worth of light usage was a breeze.

AT&T's build is nice and light: There aren't even any AT&T apps at all on the first page of the app tray. Flip to the second page, and only three bloatware apps pop up: My AT&T, Quickoffice, and Visual Voicemail, and they're all quite useful. This is a huge step forward for an AT&T phone—no undeletable Yellow Pages app!

The more I use the cameras on the various Moto X variants—and I've now handled five of them, two Moto Xs and three Verizon Droids—the more I'm struck by how crazily inconsistent they are. The camera here has serious problems in shots with wide dynamic range—a shadowy foreground backed by a bright sky, for instance. I saw white-outs and even lens flare on the sky, and oddly, turning on HDR mode didn't make a difference. The camera isn't awful, but it isn't as good as those found on the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the Apple iPhone 5, not by a long shot.

Conclusions
AT&T's Moto X, for now, is the best version of a very good phone. Moto Maker elevates the phone's design, and the 32GB option means you don't have to stress out about maxing out your capacity with music and photos. 

While the Editors' Choice Samsung Galaxy S4 outweighs the Moto X in features—with a better camera, a removable battery, a memory card slot, tuneable call audio, and a higher-resolution screen—the Moto X is a triumph of elegance, restraint, and human scale. The only thing holding the X back from a five-star rating is its camera, but even that isn't a deal breaker. I can easily recommend this phone.

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Droid Mini by Motorola (Verizon Wireless)

If 5-inch Mega-phones are just too big for your delicate hands, it's time to welcome the Motorola Droid Mini to your table. With the Droid Mini ($99.99 with contract), you save $100 over the very similar Moto X in exchange for suffering through some Verizon bloatware and slightly weaker signal strength. That could be a good deal.

Physical Features and Call Quality
Like the other new Droid phones, the Droid Mini is made of a very slick black Kevlar which looks and feels like plastic. It attracts some serious fingerprints on the back panel. The Droid Mini's slickness bothers me a lot less than the Motorola Droid Ultra's, because it's small enough to securely hold and operate with one hand.

At 4.77 by 2.41 by .35 inches (HWD) and 4.6 ounces, it's smaller and lighter than the Moto X and Verizon's other leading smartphones, but its 4.3-inch TFT LCD screen has the same 1280-by-720 resolution as the Moto X's 4.7-inch AMOLED panel does. That makes for a higher pixel density, at 341 pixels per inch. LCD screens also typically have cooler, less-saturated colors than AMOLED screens do, and the Droid Mini's screen is both a bit brighter and a bit better color-balanced than our Moto X.

Below the screen are always-visible back, home and multitasking buttons, which I prefer to Samsung's now-you-see-them-now-you-don't approach. On the back you find Droid, Verizon and Motorola logos, along with the camera and a sizeable speaker. Like all the other Droid phones, this phone has a sealed-in battery and lacks a memory card slot.

Tested side by side with the Motorola Droid Ultra and Moto X, I found that the Droid Mini had the weakest RF reception of the three phones; it also took the longest to trade from 3G up to LTE. The difference in recepton was only a few dBms, so you'll only see it at the very edges of Verizon's coverage.

The phone's earpiece is loud, even louder than the Droid Ultra's. It flirts with distortion at top volume, but fortunately doesn't quite get there. The speakerphone is louder and fuller, too, and quite useful outdoors. As with the other recent Motorola phones, though, the effective noise cancellation adds a robotic tinge to voices transmitted through the mic in noisy areas.

The Droid Mini paired just fine with my Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset . You can trigger Google's voice command system using the action button on your headset, although you can't just say "OK Google Now" into the headset to launch voice dialing, as you can with the phone itself.

The Droid Mini supports Verizon's CDMA network, the AT&T HSPA+ network (oddly enough), foreign HSPA+ networks on the 900 and 2100MHz (but not 1800MHz) bands at speeds up to HSPA+ 42, and Verizon's LTE network on 700MHz only—for now. A firmware update will bring support for Verizon's AWS LTE spectrum, which will improve LTE speeds where it's implemented. 

The Mini can hit Wi-Fi networks on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, including the new 802.11ac networks. All the usual other radios are here, too: Bluetooth 4.0 (which works very well for voice dialing and media playback), GPS, NFC and such. No, you can't have Google Wallet; Verizon blocks it.

I got 13 hours, 40 minutes of talk time with the Droid Mini, better than the Droid Ultra but not quite as good as the Moto X. The Mini has a 2000mAh battery, smaller than the other two phones, but its smaller screen size will help balance that out for comparable battery life.

Performance and Apps
The Droid Ultra, Droid Mini, Droid Maxx, and Moto X are all based on the same chipset, Motorola's X8. That's basically a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro dual-core Krait 300 processor running at 1.7GHz with an Adreno 320 GPU. On benchmarks, it holds its own with Snapdragon 600-based competitors, so banish all of those complaints about it being an "older part."

All of these phones have effectively the same performance, which is very good. The phone feels fast and responsive, with smooth scrolling and few delays. Like the Moto X, the Ultra is running Android 4.2.2; Motorola says an Android 4.3 update is coming.

The best way to think of the Droid Ultra's software is that it's the Moto X, with a bunch of Verizon preloads tacked on. Take a look at our Moto X review for a rundown of the thoughtful, useful things Motorola has added to Android: the twist-to-launch camera, the "touchless" Google Now voice controls, and Motorola Assist, for example.

Verizon had nothing useful to add here, but added things anyway. Droid Zap is yet another proprietary sharing protocol. Droid Command Center is a battery status widget. Then there's the undeletable niche-market content, like NFL Mobile and Ingress. Verizon should have saved its time and money here.

I'm also officially tired of Verizon's Eye of Sauron Droid graphics and sound set. It's grim and off-putting, in an era when HTC, Samsung, and even Motorola (with the Moto X) are paying more attention to the human factor in phone UI design. It's time to retire the killer robots.

Multimedia Storage and Playback
The Droid Mini comes with 11.03GB of available storage, down from the Moto X's 11.88GB because of the additional Verizon preloaded apps. There's no memory card slot. That's not a lot of free memory, but it's appropriate for the $100 price point.

Music and video playback do well on the powerful back-ported speaker. It's no HTC One Boomsound speaker, but it's higher quality than the Samsung Galaxy S4's.

The Droid Mini handled all of our music playback formats, but just like the Moto X, it struggled with WMV and Xvid video files; the WMV support topped out at VGA resolution, and one of my Xvid files lost lip sync when I scanned through it. Like on the Moto X, there's an equalizer buried in Settings, so you can adjust bass to your taste.

The 10-megapixel camera uses Motorola's new, very simple camera interface with few options. There's HDR, slow-motion video and a flash option, but not much else. Most annoyingly, you can't cut down on the photo or video resolution to save space. But I'm madly in love with Motorola's Quick Launch camera trick, which lets you wiggle the phone to launch the camera in about 2.7 seconds; after that, the shutter is instantaneous.

Accordingto Motorola, the Droid Mini has the same camera module as the Moto X and Droid Ultra, but I was startled by some differences between the three phones. The Droid Mini handled an outdoor HDR shot much better than the Ultra did, for instance, not leaving the foreground in shadow. The front camera really struggled with blur in dim lighting, whereas the Moto X's had a sharper but noisier picture. Overall, though, we continue with the good-but-not-great camera trend here, with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Apple iPhone 5 both generally turning in better images.

In my tests, both the front and rear cameras took 1080p videos at 30 frames per second indoors and out; as the lights went down, the color noise level went up.

The Droid Mini, like the rest of Motorola's recent phones, has no wired way to connect to a TV. Instead, you need to use a wireless Miracast adapter like the Netgear Push2TV ($59.99).

Conclusions
Are you shopping with your head, your heart, or your wallet here? The Droid Mini's greasy "Kevlar" body and Eye of Sauron graphics are much less emotionally appealing than the Moto X's soft curves and organic wallpapers. But if you're looking strictly at the numbers, you're getting a very similar phone here (minus a bit of RF reception, and a bit of storage) for $100 less. That's a good buy.

Smaller-phone aficionados should also take a close look at the Apple iPhone 5, of course, which provides excellent performance in an even smaller package. If you're willing to go larger, our Editor's Choice smartphone across all the major carriers remains the Samsung Galaxy S4, thanks to features like tuneable call audio, expandable memory, and a better camera.

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Droid Ultra by Motorola (Verizon Wireless)

The Motorola Droid Ultra ($199.99 with contract) has little reason to exist. While it's completely functional, it's the weak sibling in a litter of new Motorola phones, outclassed by competitors on all sides. We're giving it a surprisingly high rating for a phone we wouldn't recommend given the current smartphone landscape, but there you have it: Just because something works, doesn't mean it's your best bet when you consider the competition, like Motorola's own excellent Moto X, which is the same price.

Physical Features and Call Quality
The Droid Ultra's hallmark is its thinness, at 5.4 by 2.8 by .28 inches (HWD) and 4.83 ounces. For all intents and purposes, it feels about the same size as the Samsung Galaxy S4. That makes it a little too wide for my hand, but it'll fit fine in bigger paws. It's made from a hideously slick, black material which slides around in your hands and attracts fingerprints. Motorola says it's Kevlar, but it feels like polycarbonate. The battery is sealed in, and there's no memory card slot.

Most of the front panel is occupied up by a 5-inch, 720p, typically oversaturated AMOLED screen; at 293 ppi, it's lower-density than other similar-size competitors. The shiny back sports Motorola, Droid, and Verizon logos. There's a stark contrast in materials between this and the Moto X, which uses a less slippery, more matte polycarbonate back that's much more pleasant to hold.

The Droid Ultra's larger body allows better RF reception than the smaller Droid Mini, but I found that the Moto X was even better at hanging on to Verizon 4G LTE signals. The earpiece and speakerphone are surprisingly loud for such a slim phone, going to a relatively high volume without distortion. Transmissions through the mic, on the other hand, aren't perfect. I found that Motorola's noise cancellation added a noticeably robotic edge to my voice, although it canceled surrounding noise.

The Droid Ultra paired just fine with my Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset . You can trigger Google's voice command system using the action button on your headset, although you can't just say "OK Google Now" into the headset to launch voice dialing, as you can with the phone itself.

The Droid Ultra supports Verizon's CDMA network, the AT&T HSPA+ network (oddly enough), foreign HSPA+ networks on the 900 and 2100MHz (but not 1800MHz) bands at speeds up to HSPA+ 42, and Verizon's LTE network on 700MHz only—for now. A firmware update will bring support for Verizon's AWS LTE spectrum, which will improve LTE speeds where it's implemented. 

The Ultra can hit Wi-Fi networks on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, including the new 802.11ac variety. All the usual other radios are here, too: Bluetooth 4.0 (which works very well for voice dialing and media playback), GPS, NFC and such. Verizon blocks Google Wallet.

I got 12 hours, 28 minutes of talk time with the Droid Ultra, a fine result but one that fell short of the Moto X, which clocked in at more than 14 hours. The difference is in the battery: The slender Ultra has a 2130mAh battery, while the Moto X has a larger 2300mAh cell.

Performance and Apps
The Droid Ultra, Droid Mini, Droid Maxx, and Moto X are all based on the same chipset, Motorola's X8. That's basically a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro dual-core Krait 300 processor running at 1.7GHz with an Adreno 320 GPU. On benchmarks, it holds its own with Snapdragon 600-based competitors.

All of these handsets effectively show the same performance, which is very good. The phone feels fast and responsive, with smooth scrolling and few delays. Like the Moto X, the Ultra is running Android 4.2.2; Motorola says an Android 4.3 update is coming.

The best way to think of the Droid Ultra's software is that it's the Moto X, with a bunch of useless Verizon preloads tacked on. Take a look at our Moto X review for a rundown of the thoughtful, useful things Motorola has added to Android: the twist-to-launch camera, the "touchless" Google Now voice controls, and Motorola Assist, for example.

Verizon had nothing useful to add here, but added things anyway. Droid Zap is yet another proprietary sharing protocol. Droid Command Center is a battery status widget. Then there's the undeletable niche-market content, like NFL Mobile and Ingress.

I'm also officially tired of Verizon's Eye of Sauron Droid graphics and sound set. It's grim and off-putting, in an era when HTC, Samsung and even Motorola (with the Moto X) are paying more attention to the human factor in phone UI design. It's time to retire the killer robots.

Multimedia Storage and Playback
The Droid Ultra comes with 11.03GB of available storage, down from the Moto X's 11.88GB because of the additional Verizon preloaded apps. There's no memory card slot. I prefer more free memory on a flagship smartphone: The Droid Maxx delivers with an additional 16GB for another $100, making it a better choice. 

Music and video playback do well on the big, almost bezel-free screen with the surprisingly powerful back-ported speaker. It's no HTC One Boomsound speaker, but it's higher quality than the Samsung Galaxy S4's.

The Droid Ultra handled all of our music playback formats, but just like the Moto X, it struggled with WMV and Xvid video files; the WMV support topped out at VGA resolution, and one of my Xvid files lost lip sync when I scanned through it. Like on the Moto X, there's an equalizer buried in Settings so you can adjust bass to your taste.

The 10-megapixel camera uses Motorola's new, very simple camera interface with few options. There's HDR, slow-motion video and a flash option, but not much else. Most annoyingly, you can't cut down on the photo or video resolution to save space. But I really like Motorola's Quick Launch camera trick, which lets you wiggle the phone to launch the camera in about 2.7 seconds; after that, the shutter is instantaneous.

The Droid Ultra has the same camera module as the Moto X, but I had trouble coaxing consistently good pictures out of the camera. This feels like something a firmware update would handle. Some HDR images had a very dim foreground, showing a bug in the HDR algorithm, and images taken with bright light looked a little soft, and a little washed out. The 2-megapixel front camera got very soft in low light.

Both the front and rear cameras took 1080p videos at 30 frames per second indoors and out; as the lights went down, the color noise level went up.

The Droid Ultra, like the rest of Motorola's recent phones, has no wired way to connect to a TV. Instead, you need to use a wireless Miracast adapter like the Netgear Push2TV ($59.99).

Conclusions
There is no reason to buy the Motorola Droid Ultra. Period. The Moto X offers all of this phone's advantages in a more pleasant form factor, without the Eye of Sauron graphics and with a little more available storage space.

Want a 5-inch screen for your aging eyes? Go for the even more powerful, Editor's Choice Samsung Galaxy S4, with its 1080p screen and higher-quality camera, or the Droid Maxx, with its larger battery.

The Droid Ultra could even hurt consumers: Because this is a Verizon-branded phone, Verizon will market the heck out of the Ultra rather than the superior Moto X. The carrier should know when enough is enough and let this one go.

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