Motorola has unveiled their new X8 Mobile Computing System in the new Droid Mini, Droid Ultra and Droid MAXX smartphones it released on Verizon on August 23. The Ultra is ultra-skinny, the MAXX delivers incredible battery power, and the Mini is both slim and long-lasting, but in a much smaller and more compact form factor. Not everyone’s hands are built for a large 5.0 inch smartphone display and bulky body, but everyone wants excellent battery life and great features, and that is what the Motorola Droid Mini delivers.
The Motorola Droid Mini is available for pre-ordering at online retailers at a reduced sale price starting at $49.99 (A savings of up to $50 over carrier prices). Or you can purchase the phone directly from Verizon starting at $99.
You have probably heard about 8-core central processors, and though the Motorola Droid Mini employs a full eight cores to handle different operations and applications, this is not the typical octa-core set up. The quad core graphics processor can also handle some operations typically reserved for a smartphone’s central processor. This allows the dual core 1.7 GHz CPU on board the Droid Mini to operate quicker and in a more efficient fashion, and also helps preserve battery power.
There are also two more individual cores, one for handling voice commands and language processing, and a second core for contextual operations. The unique language core on the Droid Mini actually allows you to communicate with your handset even when it is standby mode, using voice commands. This “touchless control” provides a truly hands-free experience, and the active display feature provides you notifications without illuminating the entire display, further extending the handset’s run time.
Despite its compact and slim form factor, the Droid Mini 4G running on Verizon can offer up to a full 28 hours of talk time after a full battery charge. The phone’s dimensions run 4.77 x 2.41 x 0.35 inches (121.25 x 61.3 x 8.9 mm), and the handset weighs just 4.59 ounces (130 g). Android’s Jelly Bean 4.2.2 operating system runs the show, and the display is a 4.3 inch LCD touchscreen with an extremely high pixel density of 342 pixels per inch. That True HD screen offers a resolution of 720 by 1,280 pixels.
The Droid Mini also delivers ample RAM memory at 2.0 GB, 16 GB of built-in data storage, and a rear facing camcorder of 10.0 megapixels. That rear snapper is capable of recording video in 1,080P HD resolution and at the rate of 60 frames per second, and a front facing chat cam is on board with a 2.0 megapixel sensor. YouTube and Picasa applications are supported, and the Motorola Droid Mini 4G is NFC capable out-of-the-box. You can pre-order the Motorola Droid Mini at a discounted price tag starting at $49.99 at select online retailers. You can also purchase the phone directly from Verizon starting at $99.99.
