Motorola DROID Ultra vs Motorola Moto X

This is comparison review between the Motorola DROID Ultra and Moto X. We encourage you to read our full in-depth review of the Motorola DROID Ultra and Moto X.

Introduction

This year we’ve seen Motorola trying to retake ground that has been lost in recent years to other companies, as they’ve released several new Android smartphones. The Motorola DROID Ultra is a Verizon exclusive, as it continues the “DROID” branding with a thin and stylish design. While the Motorola Moto X (which is available from multiple carriers) is unique since it’s the only smartphone manufactured right here in the USA. As of now, both of these carry the same price of $200 with a 2-year Verizon contract, or $600 full retail, so in this review we’re going to look at some of the similarities and differences between them.

Design

Each of these smartphones has its own individual design. The Motorola DROID Ultra is available in black or red, made from Kevlar, and is the largest of the two with a height of 5.41”, but conversely is also the thinnest at 0.28”. Even though it fits well in the hand, some may find it too big – keeping in mind there is also the DROID Mini. Meanwhile, the Moto X is larger than the DROID Mini, yet smaller than the DROID Ultra, and it fits “just right” in our hand. The back of the Moto X is slightly curved, for a more natural feel, and we like the soft-touch texturing that is used instead of the glossy back on the DROID Ultra. As of now, Verizon is only selling the Moto X in a black and white color, but does plan to have Moto Maker up and running before the end of the year, which allows you to color customize pretty much all the parts of the phone and have it custom made.

Display

Both the Motorola DROID Ultra and Moto X are using Super AMOLED technology for their displays with 720x1280 resolution, which provide highly saturated colors and excellent viewing angles. The key difference here is that the display on the DROID Ultra is larger at 5” with a pixel-per-inch count of 294, while the display on the Moto X is slightly smaller at 4.7”, but this also increases the pixel-per-inch count to 316. In daily use, the difference between 294ppi and 316ppi hardly even noticeable, though the larger display on the DROID Ultra is nice for viewing web pages, pictures, and watching videos. We should also point out that the DROID Ultra uses capacitive control buttons under the display, but the Moto X uses the standard Android on-screen softkeys.

Included with the DROID Ultra and Moto X is the Active Display notification feature. Basically what it does it allows you to nudge the phone, and only the center of the display will turn on showing the date and time. Then if you get any notifications, such as a new message or a missed call, only that part of the display will turn on. This way, the device will conserve power since it does not have to turn on the entire display.