Released this week, Verizon’s Droid DNA by HTC is a phone that the internet has eagerly been anticipating. Codenamed “Big Red,” it’s an appropriate name for a 5 inch screen device that packs in impressive specifications into a very thin package.
First, let’s talk about the screen. Five full inches! When placed side-by-side with a 4.7 inch phone like the HTC One X, it’s definitely larger. But it doesn’t seem ridiculously large like those phone-tablet (aka Phablets) out there. In fact, it seems thinner than the HTC One X.
The Droid DNA comes with a front-facing 1080P HD camera for video conferencing and a rear-facing 8 megapixel camera with flash. The rear-facing camera design has been flattened out since previous HTC devices such as the HTC One X where the camera protruded from the thin phone body. The back of the phone has a rubbery feel, and the edges have a shiny red textured metallic stripe. The screen is made of Corning Gorilla Glass 2 which I think means it’s scratch resistant. Between the rubbery cover and the Gorilla Glass, there’s probably not much of a reason to put a chunky case on this beauty. Just use it as it was designed.
The micro-USB slot has a removable rubber cover to keep from getting debris inside it. While this seems like it might break off easily, I realized that the USB port may never get used because the phone supports wireless charging. Very cool! Of course, the wireless charging pad is sold separately and was not provided for review.
The phone features unibody design meaning that the battery is sealed in tight. The Droid DNA has a removable microSIM for use on Verizon’s LTE network. While there are 16GB of flash built into the phone, there is no SD card. The phone has near-field-communication capabilities so that you can touch phones to transfer data, or even pay with your phone at the store. Verizon won’t let you run Google Wallet on the phone, but it does come with Amex Serve which is a digital prepaid credit card. It doesn’t use the near-field-communication chip in your phone though.
The camera took pictures quickly and produced nice quality photos even in low light and when the flash was used. This is to be expected since crappy camera phone pictures are so 2010! With the giant screen and Beats Audio, it’s a great phone for watching videos or listening to music as well.
For processing power, the HTC Droid DNA packs a quad core processor and 2 GB of RAM which make the Android 4.1 and HTC Sense 4+ menus run quickly.
Whether you call it “Big Red”, the Droid DNA, or way cool, the Droid DNA is the latest entry in the Android phone arms race. This is a solid phone with great specs, usability, and features.
Others will certainly be envious.
The Droid DNA by HTC is $199 with 2 year contract from Verizon Wireless.
The Droid DNA was provided by HTC for review purposes. All opinions are my own. Images courtesy of HTC.
