Motorola's Droid Turbo stands out for long battery life

The smartphone, which has a 5.2-inch screen, will offer 48 hours of battery life. It has a 3,900 milliamp-hour battery and a 15-minute recharge feature for eight hours of battery life.

The smartphone is also equipped with a 21-megapixel camera and a snappy Qualcomm processor that can handle high-resolution gaming.

It will be available starting Thursday in the U.S. through Verizon Wireless. A 32GB model will be priced at $199, while a 64GB version will be $249, based on two-year contracts. The smartphone won't be available outside of the U.S.

The Droid Turbo has a curvy back much like Moto X smartphones. It has a 2560 x 1440 pixel screen, similar to its Nexus 6. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor that can handle 4K graphics, so movies and games will look good and run fast on the smartphone.

The smartphone's durability comes from unique materials never before used in smartphones, said Jeff Miller, corporate vice president at Motorola, during the press event Tuesday where the smartphone was announced.

It is made from ballistic nylon, which is typically used to add durability to wallets and backpacks. It also has a patented nanocoating to protect the smartphone from spills. Metallized glass fiber will give it a good shine.

"All together, this is a phone with incredible strength," Miller said.

Motorola is being acquired by Lenovo in a transaction expected to be completed by the end of this year. Lenovo doesn't sell smartphones in the U.S. so plans to use Motorola's well-established brands to compete in that market.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com