Motorola Droid RAZR review: The new Android king?
Laptop Magazine
By Mark Spoonauer
Laptop Magazine
If you’re going to revitalise a princely RAZR code for an Android phone, we had improved move it. And Motorola unequivocally does for a Droid RAZR, that sports a thinnest form of any smartphone and a pleasing Super AMOLED Advanced screen. Priced during $299, this slim stunner for Verizon Wireless also boasts critical speed in a form of a dual-core processor and 4G LTE connectivity.
Sorry, a Droid Bionic is strictly archaic (yes, already), yet is this a new aristocrat of a Android hill?
Design
The Droid RAZR is equal tools super thin, tough, and elegant. Measuring 0.3 inches during a thinnest point, this 4.5-ounce device has a lowest form of any handset on a market. The Samsung Galaxy S II and iPhone 4S measure 0.4 inches. The Droid Bionic slim from 0.4 to 0.5 inches, creation that phone demeanour definitely magisterial in comparison. However, like a Bionic, a Droid RAZR has a gush that protrudes during a tip that houses a orator and camera. Although a 4.3-inch shade gives a Droid RAZR a sincerely vast footprint, we hardly beheld it in a pocket.
Thanks to a Kevlar Fiber back, a scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass screen, and even a water-repellent coating, Motorola has crafted a unequivocally durable device. It felt unequivocally plain in a palm and not a slightest bit slippery. The Droid RAZR is also utterly a looker, interjection to diamond-cut accents (such as a Motorola trademark above a screen) and pointed corners. We generally like a soft-touch finish on a back, that has a cold zig-zag pattern.
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Display
Motorola calls a 4.3-inch arrangement on a Droid RAZR Super AMOLED Advanced, as against to a Super AMOLED Plus screens on a Samsung Galaxy S II line. “Advanced stands” for a additional resolution, as a row on this phone packs in some-more pixels (960 x 540) than a Samsung (800 x 480).
When we put a dual handsets side by side, a Droid RAZR fit some-more headlines from The New York Times website on a screen, yet a S II delivered a somewhat brighter pattern when we played The Avengers trailer on YouTube. We also like that Samsung squeezed a incomparable 4.5-inch arrangement into a pattern that’s scarcely as thin, during slightest for a Sprint and T-Mobile versions of a S II.
Regardless, either we were enjoying photos, videos, or games, a Droid RAZR‘s row delivered high-contrast and abounding colors, such as a confidant red in Thor’s cape. Plus, we get fantastically far-reaching observation angles. Just keep in mind that this shade isn’t as splendid as normal LCDs. We had some-more difficulty creation out a dialpad in approach object on this phone than on a Droid Bionic when we reason them adult together, and a Droid RAZR had some-more problems with glare.
Some competence wish to wait for a crook and bigger 4.7-inch 720p shade on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, yet a Droid RAZR‘s arrangement is positively one of a best that Motorola has ever put in a phone.
Still wish more? Read Laptop’s uncondensed review, including additional sum and exam results
Audio
You competence pattern such a skinny smartphone to furnish diseased sound. And you’d be wrong. The Droid RAZR‘s back-mounted orator got surprisingly shrill when we cranked Linkin Park’s “New Divide” on Slacker. We also had no problem conference a womanlike voice in Google Maps Navigation when we got oral directions from Brooklyn to New Jersey.
Performance
Like a Droid Bionic, a Droid RAZR is powered by a 1.2-GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor and 1GB of RAM, nonetheless we found a RAZR to be a swifter performer both anecdotally and in benchmark tests. For instance, a Droid RAZR notched a CPU measure of 3,802 in a Benchmark app, compared to 2955 for a Bionic. That’s also improved than a Galaxy S II (3,341).
Everyday use corroborated adult these results. The Bionic was a step behind a Droid RAZR on some tasks. It took a half second some-more for a Bionic to open a app menu and to uncover all apps when we pulpy and reason a home button. In addition, a Droid RAZR took 2 seconds reduction to bucket a same Google homepage over Wi-Fi.
However, while a RAZR let us crack by home screens quickly, it took longer for this phone to launch a app menu and uncover all open apps.
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4G speeds and Web browsing
The good news is that a Droid RAZR is means of illusory 4G speeds. In one Brooklyn location, a phone averaged 12.3 Mbps downloads and 5.8 Mbps uploads, somewhat above Verizon’s claims of 5 to 12 Mbps down and 2 to 5 up, respectively. Our problem with a device is that it took a phone longer than a Bionic to fasten onto a 4G vigilance when roving out of a 3G area. Still, that’s improved than a Bionic’s bent to dump both 3G and 4G information altogether during times.
The dual phones were flattering many neck and neck when downloading websites, with a slight corner going to a Droid RAZR. The RAZR took between 3 and 7 seconds to bucket a mobile versions of NYTimes.com, ESPN.com, CNN, and Yahoo, compared to 6 and 7 seconds for a Bionic in a same location. Both handsets took 10 seconds to lift down a full desktop chronicle of NYTimes.com, that is fast.
MotoCast
One of a many singular facilities of a Droid RAZR is MotoCast, a module that lets we tide or download files from a PC over a web to a smartphone. The underlying technology is identical to what Motorola supposing on a Bionic, yet this device takes things a step serve by integrating a functionality into mixed apps.
For example, we could tide iTunes marks from a mechanism right to a handset usually by banishment adult a Music app and drumming My Library. Provided your PC is powered on and connected to a web, we can listen to your tunes remotely. We also desired that we could lift adult any one of thousands of photos from a mechanism from within a Gallery app — neatly orderly by date in a carousel interface. Downloading any print took a few seconds, however, even over a Wi-Fi connection.
MotoCast also let us open papers such as Word docs within a Files app. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play a iTunes videos since they’re stable with DRM. Early adopter forms competence cite cloud services such as Dropbox and iCloud, yet altogether MotoCast is a useful and well-designed app.
Apps
If you’re going to spend time tinkering with any of a RAZR‘s pre-loaded apps, make it Smart Action, that lets we emanate manners to automatically adjust a Droid RAZR‘s settings. For instance, we can have a phone spin off a ringer when we go to bed (based on your plcae and time of day) or we can spin on a Workout Smart Action to automatically play song when we block in headphones.
Smart Actions comes with 10 representation manners we can tweak, or we can emanate manners form scratch, many of that can save battery life. We combined a order that incited off Bluetooth and mobile information when we got home, since we usually wanted to use Wi-Fi.
The Droid RAZR has copiousness of party options on board, too, such as Amazon Kindle, Blockbuster, Netflix, and Slacker, and trials of both Let’s Golf 2 and Madden NFL 12.
Camera and camcorder
It looks like Motorola took a complaints about a Droid Bionic‘s loiter to heart, since a 8-megapixel camera on a Droid Bionic is many faster from shot to shot. Although it takes a second or dual for a camera’s concentration to close on, we were means to constraint additional images quickly.
Outdoors, a Droid RAZR‘s camera took some pointy photos with appreciative tone balance, such as a section masquerade of an unit complex’s entranceway. Indoors, however, a Samsung Galaxy S II took crook pictures. We could unequivocally tell a disproportion when we zoomed in on some flowers; a Droid RAZR‘s picture looked hairy and indistinct, while a S II’s picture was brighter and sharper.
The 1080p footage we prisoner with a Droid RAZR‘s 1080p camcorder delivered copiousness of detail — we could simply make out cracks in cement from several feet away. We also appreciated a transparent and shrill audio. Our usually nitpick is that a camera had a bit of difficulty adjusting from lighter to darker objects.
Video calling
The Droid RAZR‘s front 1.3-MP camera supports Google Talk video chat, so we supposed a call from a crony regulating a MacBook Pro (running Windows) regulating Wi-Fi. He remarkable that a face looked unequivocally clear, and we could simply make out stubble on his face. Audio was shrill and transparent in both directions, and it usually fell out of sync for a few seconds during a finish of a call. This was one of a improved video job practice we’ve had on a smartphone.
Call peculiarity and battery life
We’ve beheld that a Bionic will infrequently furnish a rattling sound when creation calls by a earpiece. Thankfully, that wasn’t a box with a Droid RAZR, that delivered purify audio in both directions. We usually wish there was a small some-more volume by a earpiece. Still, a speakerphone was copiousness loud.
The Droid RAZR packs a comparatively vast 1780 mAh battery inside a slim frame, yet we weren’t blown divided by a staying power. When regulating a phone frequently (to run benchmarks, roller a web, and download apps), we were down to usually 30-percent extract after 3.5 hours. To be fair, though, we had a phone’s shade set to 100-percent brightness. In another real-world test, a Droid RAZR‘s battery was down to 40 percent after an hour of mobile hotspot usage.
Verdict
The Motorola Droid RAZR is simply one of a best smartphones on any network, interjection to a ultra-thin yet clever pattern and pleasing Super AMOLED Advanced display. The smartphone is also noticeably faster than a Droid Bionic, and it creates a many of a blazing 4G speeds with useful apps such as MotoCast. However, while a RAZR‘s camera is quicker on a pull than a Bionic’s, it’s not utterly as pointy or as good in low light as a iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S II’s. We also wish a Droid RAZR switched from 3G to 4G networks faster.
Many will wish to wait to see usually how juicy a Samsung Galaxy Nexus — which will run a newer Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS on a incomparable and crook 720p screen — is when it arrives on Verizon after this month. And those who cite HTC’s Sense program competence wish to reason out for a Beats Audio-packin’ Rezound. But a Droid RAZR is positively Motorola’s best smartphone yet — and one of a best Android inclination on a market.
Still wish more? Read Laptop’s uncondensed review, including additional sum and exam results
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