I upgraded from a Droid RAZR that I owned for 2 years and I have no regrets. In fact, I am blown away by how smooth and responsive is the new Droid Mini, in addition to the display quality. Even though it is not a 1080 display, at 4.3 inches, the 720 resolution of the TFT LCD display on the Droid Mini gives it 342 pixels per inch (ppi). It has more ppi than its bigger brothers (the MAXX and Ultra) and even the iPhone 5! What this mean is that the display is very detailed and sharp. Even though the contrast may not be as good as an OLED or IPS display, the white balance is more accurate (instead of the yellowish tint typical of Pentile OLED)
Compared to the other "mini" phones on the market (i.e. HTC One Mini), this has the best overall processing capability and the largest RAM. The 2 GB RAM keeps the device snappy even when there are multiple apps running in the background. Even though it only has a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor, it's the fastest one out there (for now). In addition, the quad-core graphics processor allows it to keep up with higher-end flagship phones when running cutting edge games.
There are some cool features that are unique to the new Droids and Moto X: Active Notifications, Touchless Controls, and Quick Capture. Amazon has since included information about these features in the product description, so I'll provide supplemental details:
-Active Notifications: it works with any app that has push-notifications such as Facebook Messenger.
-Touchless Controls: If the phone is secured with face unlock, pattern unlock, PIN, or password, you will need to provide the necessary validation in order for Google Now to respond to you. So to keep it "Touchless," the screen lock setting needs to be set to "None" or "Slide". Supposedly the phone will only respond to my voice, but my co-worker was able to activate Touchless Controls after the third attempt.
-Quick Capture: I recommend the following camera settings to be "On", Quick Capture, HDR, and Tap to Focus.
All the above features are always on, which could significantly drain the battery if handled by the dual-core processor. To address this problem, Motorola designed two low-powered chips to process these new features. As a result, this phone can last a day under normal use. For me, the Droid Mini lasts about 16 hours under moderate use.
Since the phone is provided through Verizon and not directly from Google like the Moto X, there will be bloatware. Thankfully, you can disable the bloatware through the app settings menu, something I couldn't do on the Droid RAZR. There is one app that I actually find to be interesting and useful is Droid Zap. This app allows you to share pictures and videos with people around you (within 1,000 feet) by swiping up on a picture with two fingers. The recipients then open the Droid Zap app (free and only for Android devices) on their phones and two finger swipe down to download the shared picture (or video).
There are a couple things I don't like about my new Droid Mini, but they can be easily addressed. My first complaint is the construction. The Droid RAZR has an aluminum frame that gave it a solid feel, the Droid Mini does not. Also, the Kevlar back is now coated with a clear shiny resin. This causes the back of the phone to be covered in finger grease, to a point where I can't even see the Kevlar pattern! So I promptly got a case to cover up that ugliness and to give it better drop protection. Here is the link to the particular case I bought: Incipio MT-269 DualPro Dual Case for Motorola Droid Mini XT1030 White/Grey Retail Packing
My second complaint is that it does not have a micro SD slot. For some people, this would be a deal breaker. But thankfully, SanDisk has a wireless USB thumb drive that stores its content on micro SD cards. This is something I'll be getting to expand my Droid Mini's storage capability. Here is the link for those who are interested: SanDisk Connect 16GB Wireless Flash Drive (SDWS2-016G-E57)
Oh, and another thing I'll be getting is a Qi wireless charger, since this phone has a built-in wireless charger receiver. I'll update my review to let you know how well that works.
**UPDATE: 9/10/13**
The Qi Wireless Charger came in and it worked like a charm. It even charged my phone through its protective case. The Droid Mini had a neat on-screen prompt that helped me place the phone properly on the charger. However, it makes an loud notification sound (which I can't control) upon successful connection. This sound will definitely startle your significant other if the phone is placed on the charger in the middle of the night, so I'll be using this charger at work and not at home. Here is the link to the particular charger I bought: GMYLE (TM) Black White Wireless Mini Charging Pad Mat Qi-enabled Standard Charger (1000mA) for Nokia Lumia 920/920T/925/928/1020, LG Google Nexus 4/5/7 HD, Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5 (US Plug)
Compared to the other "mini" phones on the market (i.e. HTC One Mini), this has the best overall processing capability and the largest RAM. The 2 GB RAM keeps the device snappy even when there are multiple apps running in the background. Even though it only has a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor, it's the fastest one out there (for now). In addition, the quad-core graphics processor allows it to keep up with higher-end flagship phones when running cutting edge games.
There are some cool features that are unique to the new Droids and Moto X: Active Notifications, Touchless Controls, and Quick Capture. Amazon has since included information about these features in the product description, so I'll provide supplemental details:
-Active Notifications: it works with any app that has push-notifications such as Facebook Messenger.
-Touchless Controls: If the phone is secured with face unlock, pattern unlock, PIN, or password, you will need to provide the necessary validation in order for Google Now to respond to you. So to keep it "Touchless," the screen lock setting needs to be set to "None" or "Slide". Supposedly the phone will only respond to my voice, but my co-worker was able to activate Touchless Controls after the third attempt.
-Quick Capture: I recommend the following camera settings to be "On", Quick Capture, HDR, and Tap to Focus.
All the above features are always on, which could significantly drain the battery if handled by the dual-core processor. To address this problem, Motorola designed two low-powered chips to process these new features. As a result, this phone can last a day under normal use. For me, the Droid Mini lasts about 16 hours under moderate use.
Since the phone is provided through Verizon and not directly from Google like the Moto X, there will be bloatware. Thankfully, you can disable the bloatware through the app settings menu, something I couldn't do on the Droid RAZR. There is one app that I actually find to be interesting and useful is Droid Zap. This app allows you to share pictures and videos with people around you (within 1,000 feet) by swiping up on a picture with two fingers. The recipients then open the Droid Zap app (free and only for Android devices) on their phones and two finger swipe down to download the shared picture (or video).
There are a couple things I don't like about my new Droid Mini, but they can be easily addressed. My first complaint is the construction. The Droid RAZR has an aluminum frame that gave it a solid feel, the Droid Mini does not. Also, the Kevlar back is now coated with a clear shiny resin. This causes the back of the phone to be covered in finger grease, to a point where I can't even see the Kevlar pattern! So I promptly got a case to cover up that ugliness and to give it better drop protection. Here is the link to the particular case I bought: Incipio MT-269 DualPro Dual Case for Motorola Droid Mini XT1030 White/Grey Retail Packing
My second complaint is that it does not have a micro SD slot. For some people, this would be a deal breaker. But thankfully, SanDisk has a wireless USB thumb drive that stores its content on micro SD cards. This is something I'll be getting to expand my Droid Mini's storage capability. Here is the link for those who are interested: SanDisk Connect 16GB Wireless Flash Drive (SDWS2-016G-E57)
Oh, and another thing I'll be getting is a Qi wireless charger, since this phone has a built-in wireless charger receiver. I'll update my review to let you know how well that works.
**UPDATE: 9/10/13**
The Qi Wireless Charger came in and it worked like a charm. It even charged my phone through its protective case. The Droid Mini had a neat on-screen prompt that helped me place the phone properly on the charger. However, it makes an loud notification sound (which I can't control) upon successful connection. This sound will definitely startle your significant other if the phone is placed on the charger in the middle of the night, so I'll be using this charger at work and not at home. Here is the link to the particular charger I bought: GMYLE (TM) Black White Wireless Mini Charging Pad Mat Qi-enabled Standard Charger (1000mA) for Nokia Lumia 920/920T/925/928/1020, LG Google Nexus 4/5/7 HD, Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5 (US Plug)
