NEW YORK, July 23(Reuters) - Verizon Wireless, the biggestU.S. mobile service provider, on Tuesday announced three newphones under its Droid smartphone brand from Google Inc's Motorola.
The phones, the Droid Mini, Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx willgo on sale for $99, $199 and $299 for customers who sign a twoyear contract and will be available in Verizon stores August 20,according to Verizon Wireless.
The lowest price phone the Mini is a compact device with a4.3 inch display screen. Motorola boasts that its mid-pricedphone in the range, the Ultra, is the skinniest smartphone thatcan run on high-speed Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks.
It claimed that its Maxx phone has the best battery life ofany LTE phone on the market. It can be used for as long as 48hours without being charged, compared with a previous version ofthe device which boasted 32 hours of battery life.
Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.
Verizon Wireless and Motorola launched the first phonesunder the Droid brand for phones based on Google Androidsoftware in 2009, at a time when rival AT&T Inc still hadexclusive rights to sell the Apple Inc iPhone.
Verizon said the full retail price would be $499 for theMini, $599 for the Ultra and $699 for the Maxx.
Vodafone (VOD)
