The Droid DNA has the same black and red color scheme as many Verizon Droids before it. It looks very nice and slick, but not everything has to be black and red. It would be nice for Verizon to offer up more colors with its phones than black or black and red. On the left and right sides of the DNA there are these red, aluminum, grille-like bar accents that are said, by HTC, to mimic a "sports car". While these do not make us think of a sports car, these accents are well appreciated and add a nice splash of color to the mostly black phone. Like the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, the DNA also has a pillow-esque design with its tapering sides. These sides help the DNA fit more naturally in your hand and make the phone feel less bulky. The narrow design and small bezel also help to make the DNA fit better in your hand. Even though the DNA has a large five inch display, it only has a slightly larger footprint than the Galaxy S III and is only slightly wider and taller than the HTC One X. The hand friendly design of the DNA makes it feel more like a phone than a phablet or small tablet. The back of the DNA is made of a grippy, matte black plolycarbonate which helps to hold the DNA securely in your hand. Verizon and HTC did a very fantastic job on the design of the Droid DNA with its aluminum accents, matte polycarbonate, and hand friendly design. The only thing we would like to see is a few more color options. Dear HTC and Verizon, take a look at Nokia. They offer a bunch of bright colors of their flagships.
The main feature of the HTC Droid DNA is its five inch, 1080p Super LCD 3 display. This is obviously the successor to the One X's 720p Super LCD 2. The Super LCD 2 was already fantastic and the best display on the market but somehow, someway, HTC improved upon perfect. The new 1080p screen has superb color reproduction, incredibly crisp text, and renders whites less harsh than the Super LCD 2. This new display is only a iterative update, so there's no need to scoff at your 720p display yet. Overall the HTC Droid DNA has the best smartphone display on the market, and the 1080p Super LCD 3 is our new favorite smartphone screen.
Performance wise, the Droid DNA is an absolute powerhouse. The DNA has a 1.5GHZ quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor accompanied by 2GB of RAM, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This equates to surreal performance and a butter smooth experience. In benchmarks, the DNA is a very strong performer with a Quadrant score of over 8,000. Just months ago, the flagship phones were seeing Quadrant scores of 5,000. A high Quadrant score does not always mean great performance, but it usually does, and it is not how you should compare the performance of phones. Look for how the phone handles real world tasks rather than its benchmark scores. Software wise, HTC had done a very nice job with Sense 4+. It is very light, does not hinder performance that much, and it is pleasing to look at. Like Sense 4.0, Sense 4+ ads many new features to Android and is incredibly useful. Sense is much better than TouchWiz, UI 3.0, and every other skin on the market. The Droid DNA is one of the fastest phones on the market, if not the fastest, and combines the best of processing power and software.
The HTC Droid DNA is an amazing device. The DNA is practically the definition of a super phone. HTC has fulfilled every wish we would ever have for a smartphone; the best display on a smartphone ever, the best processor on the market, almost the newest version of Android, and a comfortable design. This is clearly the best phone on Verizon and quite possibly the best phone available today. What keeps it from being the best phone is the fact that it has a relatively bland design and the high resolution of the display makes some apps and programs misbehave. This phone is amazing now and is what we think most phones of 2013 will look like. If you are on Verizon and have been itching to use that upgrade, we think that this is the opportunity to use it. If you are not on Verizon or don't have an upcoming upgrade, we suggest waiting until next year. While the DNA is a nice phone, we can see that it is not thoroughly refined and that there are better things to come. We'll probably see more super phones like the DNA at CES and MWC next year. Would we buy the DNA ourselves? Yes, absolutely. Personally, HTC is our favorite handset manufacturer, we are an Android fanboy, we love Sense, and the display is fantastic. Want more information on HTC's latest Verizon flagship? Check out the source links below for more information on the HTC Droid DNA.
Sources: Engadget Hands-On With the HTC Droid DNA, Engadget Review of the HTC Droid DNA, Engadget Announcement of the HTC Droid DNA
Pictures from the source links above
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