Overall and Final Verdict
The Droid MAXX is one of those devices that I had such high hopes for when I got it in, that I didn’t think there was any way it could live up to my expectations. Surprisingly, it actually did live up to what I expected. Battery life was great in both benchmarks as well as in real life use. Just as impressive was the performance in the 3DMark benchmark where the MAXX pulled away from the other devices. The 1,7 GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 Pro chip performed well but when put up against some of the quad cores it wasn’t mind blowing, the Adreno 320 GPU and two extra cores slipped in for language processing and contextual computing did make the difference in 3DMark.
My list of complaints about the MAXX are fairly small but each is important to different people individually. For example, if you are looking for a phone with industry leading camera performance, this isn’t going to be the phone for you. It performed well, most of the time. But the inconsistency was frustrating at times. Those of you who want the best screen, the 720p resolution might be a deal breaker. That leads me to my main issue, with the on contract price of $300 right now, you really should expect the MAXX to be a flagship in all of those areas. In the end you are paying a premium for the MAXX due to its extended battery life, and having dealt with a dead battery in the worse situations that $100 might not be a bad deal. But if battery life isn’t a worry for you, you might save the money and go with the Droid Ultra.
Having said all of that, I am completely in love with the phone. Battery life IS an issue for me when traveling and after having the MAXX I don’t know how I will live without it. The design is durable and sharp with its rubbery carbon fiber weave design. On top of it all, they packed in a kick butt speaker that was louder than any other phone I have ever tested. Those two features alone put the MAXX at the top of my wish list, but you will have to consider your needs before picking one up.
