Motorola Droid mini (smartphone).

Motorola Droid mini.

AT a press event  in a NEW YORK Motorola and Verizon announced motorola Droid Mini phone.

The Droid Mini measures 4.8 inches tall, and has a 4.3-inch TFT 720p display with a Gorilla Glass screen. Inside, it has a 1.7GHz proprietary dual-core X8 mobile computing system, 2GB of RAM, and a 2,000mAh battery that has a reported usage time of 28 hours. Despite its pint-size chassis, the device ships with the modern Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system. 

The Droid Mini comes with the same 10-megapixel rear-facing camera you'll find in the Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx which is capable 1080p HD recording. Motorola also claims that the camera uses a sensor with pixels that are larger than your typical smartphone, resulting in better low light performance. We'll withhold judgement until we take a review unit for a test drive. A 2-megapixel front-facing camera sits above the Mini's screen for vanity shots and self portraits. The gadget also features wireless charging, a skill we wish more phones had in their toolkit.

Lastly, like the Droid Maxx and Droid Ultra, the Mini comes with Touchless Control, a feature that lets you place calls or ask for directions by talking to your phone instead of tapping the screen. All you have to say is, "OK, Google Now," followed by a command, such as, "Call Mom." Essentially the device has at least one ear continually trained on you and is eager to jump into action when you utter a command

The Mini will sell for $99.99 with a new contract or qualifying upgrade on Verizon. The device is available for preorder now and will ship on August 29.