Gadgetory

Samsung and Motorola AT&T and Verizon Galaxy Android active versus turbo I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow and if you need a phone that'll take some abuse without sacrificing performance odds are you've wait at least one of these which one is better for you let's find out well first off the network is going to make a lot of the difference here the galaxy s6 active is exclusive to AT&T the Droid turbo is exclusive to Verizon Wireless and for the most part neither will work on the other so if you're already beholden to or have a strong preference for a one carrier over the other congratulations your choice is made but if you're a free agent and either operator will do the phone makes all the difference it should be noted that these are separated by about a half a cycle the turbo launched in November while the Essex active just hit the scene in June but each represents the zenith of durable phones in its respective lineup so let's see how they stack up let's talk durability first both of these look pretty mean purple accents notwithstanding but on the page the Galaxy s6 active wins the spec battle to be sure the Motorola phone can take a beating with the ballistic nylon cover Gorilla Glass 3 display protection and water-repellent nano coating protecting its internals but the Samsung edges it out with mil standard 810g resistant to shock vibration and temperature extremes along with Gorilla Glass 4 and an ip68 rating for total immersion in fresh water Verizon meanwhile only guarantees the turbo will stand up to everyday spills unexpected downpours and the like the Samsung phone also brings more in the way of physical controls it features hard buttons instead of Motorola's capacitive tap targets and it's got a dedicated activity key as well that leads to a special active zone and you can reassign it to something more useful too if you want all those keys by the way also offer much more satisfying click and travel than their mushy Motorola equivalents that's not to say the droid turbo straight-up loses on the hardware side if first of all while it's thicker than the active it's smaller in every other dimension giving it a svelte err feel in the hand to go with it's less ostentatious design while it can't get as bright or dim as the Super AMOLED panel on the Samsung Motorola's AMOLED screen is slightly larger and warmer and then behind it sits up to 64 gigs of internal storage while the active makes do with 32 also motorola knows its speakers not just how to build them but where to put them the turbo speaker phone sits up front where it belongs while Samsung's is tucked away around back moving into software the turbo still got some impressive aspects a Motorola's custom interface is about as thin as it gets just a few custom features atop and almost perfectly pure build of Android that makes it lean and pretty slick and it also probably makes the turbo easier to update notice this device is already running android 5.1 while the active is still on 5.0 - plus the features Motorola's added our if not always perfect at least very useful moto display shows waiting notifications when you pass a hand over the screen or pull the phone from a pocket turning the flashlight on is just a chop-chop gesture away also the turbo can dictate incoming text messages to you when you're driving silence your alerts when you're in a meeting or asleep and let you give it voice commands without even touching it what is the current distance to Norfolk Virginia and drive from your location to Norfolk in 458 point four miles greeting the galaxy Samsung will let you do some of that but not as well and plus you have to deal with s voice and her interesting delivery ting galaxy greetings galaxy greetings galaxy what is the current distance to Norfolk Virginia three hundred forty six point three miles you've got a much different experience on the Samsung as a whole this is the TouchWiz user interface and while it's been slimmed down a lot since last year it's still unmistakeably Samsung with its bright solid colors and elementary icons thankfully it's much more responsive than in years past and it also packs its own share of useful add-ons like the S health fitness tracking application that ties into the heart rate sensor on the back there's also an IR port on the active with the pre-installed peel Smart Remote app if you want to control your TV with your smartphone you can run multiple apps side by side on the screen if you really need to multitask and if you don't like the cartoony look of the UI you can reskin it with a few button presses thanks to the Samsung theme store both of these phones offer quick launch shortcuts to the camera on the moto it's a quick twist of the wrist and on the galaxy it's a DoubleTap of the HOME key while Motorola's camera is higher in resolution impacts double the flash it's also got a smaller aperture and less effective stabilization than Samsung's offering what does that mean out in the real world in daylight not much the active tends to produce brighter shots on the whole while the turbo usually kicks out warmer photos but they're pretty damn similar HDR is much more subtle on the Samsung phone while Motorola has proved in this regard it's still a little overdone also Motorola's camera is much easier to trip up and wash out because of its too sensitive exposure controls at nighttime Motorola's output tends to be warmer still which sometimes makes photos look even better here you can see the galaxy s6 actives larger aperture and OIS at work letting in more light than the turbo does with less noise to boot that said I kind of prefer the turbos increased contrast which makes for a moody or photo also like all Samsung's the active has a tendency to err on the vibrant side while the turbo produces more realistic colors more of the time where the turbo really loses out is in its ability to cope to adapt to maintain focus and take a shot quickly Samsung excels at this usually managing to catch a usable photo even in very quickly changing conditions while the turbo usually needs a few beats to catch up that probably won't matter most of the time but a faster camera could mean the difference between getting the shot and missing it and besides faster the active is also crisper it just brings that little bit of added detail color and contrast that makes for a more dramatic more memorable photo if you like a more subdued picture you'll probably prefer the Motorola and that's fine it actually holds up better to the active than I expected it to but when you factor in Samsung's available manual controls its optical image stabilization and the ability to take photos underwater well I think it's pretty clear which is the more capable camera here as we said in our droid turbo after the buzz video last week this phone packs a hell of a battery but it doesn't live up to its potential despite its larger power pack the turbo is routinely beaten by the active weather it's normal day to day use or heavy gaming and we're talking a big difference over an hour and screen on time whether that's thanks to Motorola's special features Verizon's bloatware or the differences in processor and network technology here it's really disappointing and a big blow to the turbo in this comparison also while they're both packing quick recharge capability and qi wireless charging the active also brings integrated PMA support so you can wirelessly top-up in more places the turbo manages a few late punches here it comes with Verizon's screen assurance so if you crack your display in the first two years of ownership the carrier will replace your phone at no charge as we mentioned before it comes in an available 64 gig trim though you may have to get it used and at the 32 gig level it's much cheaper a hundred bucks less expensive on a contract and nearly $200 less at full retail but really you should be paying less for the turbo because it's the less capable phone on the whole from its durability rating to its technical capabilities that's partially because it's older over half a year older which is a long time in mobile but while I prefer the turbos convenient software features and it's feel in hand that's just not enough with the galaxy s6 active Samsung has built a rugged powerhouse that's really tough to beat if you're shopping for a durable phone and even with its new paint job the Droid turbo doesn't quite measure up and maybe the tables will turn when Motorola releases its new Droid offerings later this year stay tuned to find out for more on the Droid turbo and the Galaxy s6 active check out our related coverage here on YouTube and see our full reviews of each at pocketnow.com also subscribe and give us a thumbs up if you did enjoy this video till next time this has been michael fisher captain two phones on twitter reminding you to keep your nylon ballistic and your speakerphone dry see you next time