In general, the Droid Maxx is very similar to the Motorola Droid Ultra, but with a larger battery. Go read my Motorola Droid Ultra review for a rundown of the major features. I'll focus on the differences between the phones here.
The first major difference, of course, is the design. The Droid Maxx, with its five-inch screen, is noticeably wider than the Moto X 5.41 by 2.8 by 0.33 inches (HWD) and 5.9 ounces. The difference between 2.57 and 2.8 inches wide it is a strong deal; While X is comfortable to use with one hand, it is more difficult for your thumb to reach full Maxx.
Motorola gets things spot-on with Kevlar casing the phone, though. Why not feel the other Droids like this? The Maxx back is soft touch, black patterned Kevlar actually feel like Kevlar, not the nasty, greasy stuff that used to Droid and Droid Mini Ultra. It is even nicer, and feel the phone more stable than polycarbonate Moto X-not to mention the flimsy plastic Samsung Galaxy S4.
You have to buy the Maxx if you are at all concerned about storage space, as the Droid / X line is no memory card slot. The Maxx has 32GB of storage available total 25.48GB (25.48GB available) to Droids '11-or-so of 16GB. The real disappointment here is a 32GB Moto X exists, but it is an AT & T exclusive.
Call Quality and Battery Life
Voice quality Droid Maxx is similar to other Droids. The earpiece is loud and a bit trebly, but it does not distort. Call audio wobbled a bit, but that seems like a network problem than a handset issue, as the speed test also showed the Verizon Wireless network is pretty congested near our offices. There is a pleasant amount of sidetone in the earpiece and the speakerphone is terrific.
Shipping via mic in a noisy place robotic sound; Motorola's CrystalTalk noise cancellation turned off the noise, but at the expense of the rich tone of voice. Shipping via speakerphone is very clear, although there was very little background noise cancellation.
Battery 3,500mAh The Droid Maxx is the largest built-in battery with a one-handed smartphone available today. It is significantly more capacious battery 2,200mAh the Moto X's. But the giant battery does not translate to a gigantic increase in talk time, there is increasing talk time from only 14 hours, 15 minutes to 19 hours, 56 minutes when tested in the same location.
I do not want to minimize the advantage of the larger battery, but I would expect more from such a capacious power cell. Because of this, the Droid Maxx should last for two days of moderate use without problems, and it is the only smartphone I can say that about.
conclusion
Verizon will make things very confusing by bringing $ 99 Droid Mini, $ 199 Ultra and Moto Droid X, and the $ 299 Droid Maxx. The Moto X is still the best; It is made from the nicest material body, slimmest range of bloatware, and 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, not quite hits the sweet spot that X does; Mini slips up in his body fingerprint magnets and misanthropic Droid branding, and the Maxx loses hand, being easily the X with its 2.8-inch width.
Our selection of general editor for the smartphone is still the Samsung Galaxy S 4, being more things to more people. It is no wider than the Droid Maxx, but it is slimmer and lighter, with a better screen, better camera, and removable memory. While the Droid Maxx is a good smartphone, it does not quite as good as it could be.