US number one operator Verizon Wireless updated its Droid-brand smartphone line, with the addition of three new devices from Motorola Mobility, powered by a new processor platform from the company.

The three are Droid Mini, a compact device with 4.3-inch display; Droid Ultra (pictured), said to be the thinnest LTE smartphone available at 7.2mm deep, with a 5-inch screen; and Droid Maxx, which has a high-capacity 3500mAh battery to be “the longest lasting 4G LTE smartphone available”.

The new devices feature the Droid Command Center, an exclusive homescreen widget to provide users with access to notifications for text messages, missed calls, battery level and weather. It also provides access to features including the wireless sharing of content to a compatible HDTV.

It also said that the devices feature a 10-megapixel camera, and support hands-free operation.

According to Engadget, Droid Maxx has a 1.7GHz dual-core processor a 2GB of RAM, with 32GB of storage.

Verizon launched its first Droid device in November 2009, at a point where it needed a smartphone proposition to rival the iPhone – at that time an AT&T exclusive in the US.

Motorola is not the only vendor to have offered Droid-branded devices, with Samsung and HTC also having contributed to the range.

The three new aditions to the range will be made available in the coming weeks. Droid Mini will cost $99.99, Droid Ultra $199.99 and Droid Maxx $299.99, in each case with a new two-year contract.

X8 “Mobile Computing System”

The devices are powered by Motorola’s X8 Mobile Computing System, an integrated silicon platform with 8 cores filling different roles.

Two cores are for the application processor, four are for graphics processing, and there are two “unique cores”, which reports state are for natural language processing and sensor monitoring when the device is in standby mode.

The silicon is expected to be used in Motorola’s anticipated Moto X flagship, which is expected to be unveiled imminently.

According to SlashGear, Motorola has worked with Qualcomm on the technology.