We've consistently had a bendable atom with its acceptable performance, absorbing body and acceptable QWERTY keyboard. The fourth Droid has the best keyboard yet, and it's our admired keyboard a part of all smartphones. It's roomy, concrete and has superb backlighting. It's a texter's dream. The keyboard has a 5 row blueprint with a committed amount row, arrow division and a abundantly ample amplitude bar. The alone affair missing are committed Android adjustment keys.
The phone is no slouch in added areas, and it has the aforementioned specs as added contempo Motorola top end Android phones on Verizon Wireless. You get a 1.2GHz bifold amount TI processor with a gig of RAM and 16 gigs of centralized storage. There's a foreground video babble camera and a rear 8 megapixel camera able of cutting 1080p video. The phone has WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS that works with Google Maps and VZ Navigator, and a appropriate treat: 4G LTE. While the Droid 3 was a apple phone with 3G, this is the aboriginal QWERTY Moto Droid with LTE 4G, and it's harder not to adulation Verizon's 4G speeds.
The affectation is beneath enticing: it's a 4" qHD 960 x 540 pixel LCD of just boilerplate superior but aloft boilerplate brightness. If you've apparent the Droid Bionic's display, you've all but apparent the G18 Smartphone's, which is artlessly a brighter version. It's analytic aciculate and ablaze but it has just boilerplate blush assimilation and contrast. It's arresting outdoors acknowledgment to the air-conditioned ablaze panel. We can accept why Moto didn't go with 720p (1280 x 720) resolution accustomed the baby (by today's big phone standards) affectation and added affordable $199 with arrangement amount point.
Software and OS
The G18 Smartphone runs Android OS 2.3.6 Gingerbread, and Verizon promises an advancement to OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. That leaves the Samsung Galaxy Nexus as your alone best if you're dying to accept ICS now. It comes with the accepted Motorola software like MotoPrint, MotoActive, MotoCast and amusing networking software that integrates with Gallery. Business apps cover GoToMeeting and the abounding adaptation of QuickOffice (read, address and adapt MS Office docs). Verizon's accepted boatload of arranged software is actuality too: their abstracts adverse widget, VZ Navigator, Verizon Video (a pay-for alive video service), V Cast Tones, VideoSurf, Slacker, Slingbox, MOG Music, Let's Golf 2, Madden NFL 12 (demo), Blockbuster and Amazon Kindle. Honestly, we wouldn't apperception if Verizon cut aback on the amount of apps, aback one can download the non-Verizon apps from the Market for free. The phone has the abounding apartment of Google Android apps including the Google Search widget.
Design and Ergonomics
The sliding keyboard necessitates a thicker design, and the G18 Smartphone is about alert as blubbery as the keyboard-less Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX. At a bisected inch, it's still abbreviate for a QWERTY slider, and its ambit are added acquiescent aback it has a 4" affectation (height and amplitude are beneath than the Droid RAZR and RAZR MAXX). The 6.3 ounce G18 Smartphone has agnate curve to the RAZR family, but somehow still manages to attending a little dull.
The slider is annealed in a abating way, but the array aperture is chiffon plastic, clashing the college end metal and bendable blow abstracts acclimated on earlier Droid smartphones. Aback the microSD agenda aperture is amid beneath the array door, you'll apparently accept to dabble with that aerial aperture frequently, and one of our cover's tabs already bankrupt off. I candidly can't accept Moto put that awful aback on this contrarily acutely able-bodied fabricated phone.
It's not simple to abstain removing that back: we about resorted to a agenda clairvoyant for microSD agenda book alteration because the phone works with MotoCast software rather than ascent as a accumulation accumulator device. MotoCast has some air-conditioned appearance like limited admission to your Windows or Mac OS computer's files over the arrangement (USB works too), but you have to install the software on anniversary computer you wish to use with the G18 Smartphone. And the software down-converts college superior video afore appointment it to the phone, which isn't adorable accustomed the G18 Smartphone's adeptness to play 1080p agreeable via HDMI.
The headphone jack is up top if captivated in account approach with the keyboard closed, but that translates to the lower larboard bend if captivated in mural approach to watch video or use the keyboard. Your duke and the headphone bond will acceptable fight. The ability button is up top and there are mics at the top and bottom. The micro USB and Micro HDMI ports are on the larboard ancillary and the baby aggregate controls are on the right. The G18 Smartphone works with Motorola's latest Lapdock models, the 10.1" $249 Lapdock 100 and the 14" $349 Lapdock 500 Pro. These about-face the phone into a anthology of sorts. The Lapdock is a anthology carapace with a display, keyboard, trackpad, stereo speakers, SD agenda slot, Ethernet port, VGA anchorage and USB ports. The phone provides the brains.
Phone and Data
Like a lot of Motorola smartphones on Verizon, the G18 Smartphone has accomplished admission and approachable articulation quality. Articulation is clear, simple to accept and babble abridgement works able-bodied to abate accomplishments babble after distorting voice. The earpiece aggregate is boilerplate and the speakerphone is acceptable but not alarming like the aboriginal Droid Android A103.
The phone has EV-DO Rev. A 3G and 4G LTE. It comes with the accepted Mobile Hotspot affection so you can use the phone as a wireless top acceleration modem for a tablet, anthology or added WiFi accessory in charge of an Internet connection. On our aboriginal day with the G18 Smartphone, abstracts speeds on Verizon's ample 4G LTE arrangement were lower than accepted and were slower than the added Verizon phones on our desk, admitting a abiding signal. The next day things looked better, and we saw 10Mbps down and 3Mbps up with a 2 bar arresting and 15Mbps down/5Mbps up with a 4 bar signal.
We didn't acquaintance 3G-4G circumlocutory area the phone bounces amid the two networks if the 4G arresting is poor, and the G18 Smartphone pulls in a stronger LTE arresting than our Droid RAZR MAXX active on the aforementioned chipset. In fact, it's on par with the about bigger Qualcomm chipset based Android LTE phones on Verizon, the HTC Rezound and LG Spectrum.
Performance and Multimedia
The G18 Smartphone is a able aerialist acknowledgment to its 1.2GHz bifold amount TI OMAP CPU. That's adequately accompaniment of the art (we've yet to see a shipment cloister amount Android smartphone), and it's the aforementioned CPU acclimated in the Droid RAZR phones and the Galaxy Nexus. The phone feels acknowledging and apps run fluidly. 3D amateur play smoothly, as does locally stored 1080p MPEG4 agreeable and alive video (watch our video analysis to see these in action). Motorola doesn't blend abundant with the Android UI, so there's no abundant software bury to apathetic things down. The G18 Smartphone does able-bodied on benchmarks, and we begin it every bit as fast as added contempo college end Verizon Wireless Android smartphones.
The G18 Smartphone has a gig of RAM like all Lapdock-compatible Moto phones and 16 gigs of centralized accumulator that's disconnected amid appliance accumulator (2.7 gigs) and book accumulator (almost 8 gigs). There's a microSD agenda aperture beneath the array door, but no agenda is included.
Battery Life
Verizon and Motorola affirmation an absorbing 12.5 hours of 3G allocution time, and we managed 11 hours. The able-bodied 1785 mAh array has accomplished backbone on Verizon's 3G network, and appropriate array activity on 4G. It lasted 6.1 hours on LTE, which isn't bad at all a part of Verizon's 4G phones, admitting not absorbing compared to 3G runtimes. It won't outlive the boss Droid RAZR MAXX with its immense 3,300 mAh battery, but the RAZR phones abridgement that admirable accouterments keyboard. Oddly, you can attending at the array beneath the aback door, but it's labelled as not user accessible. A not actual adhesive characterization covers it, and we bald it aback to see what looks like a adequately accepted Lithium Ion array with a computer-guts appearance adapter rather than the accepted phone array connector.
Conclusion
If you're in charge of a top superior QWERTY Android smartphone, the fourth, but apparently not final access in the Droid band is a able choice. The G18 Smartphone is a solid change of the aboriginal Droid line, with LTE 4G, a fast bifold amount avant-garde CPU, accomplished articulation superior and the best keyboard in the business. It's not super-stylin', but it's analytic abbreviate at 0.5" and has accomplished body superior added than the abominable array aperture that's already falling afar on our unit. Reception is abiding and beats the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Droid RAZR and RAZR MAXX, while blockage on par with the HTC Rezound, HD9+ Smartphone and LG Spectrum.