Motorola Droid Razr Review: Thin and Fast, but Short on Battery Life

IT's baaaack: Motorola has resurrected the Razr brand with the Droid Razr ($300 with a new two-yr contract with Verizon; price as of 11/7/11). With its 4.3-in video display, LTE connectivity, and dual-core processor, the Droid Razr is a far cry from the original riffle-style Motorola Razr. What information technology does possess in familiar with the original Razr, however, is a superthin, tough innovation. It is an almost perfect phone, but the general feel for is marred aside its improvident stamp battery life.

(Editor's Bank note: This inspection has now been updated to let in formal battery test results)

Difficult, Thin Design

More years agone, I owned a hot pink Motorola Razr phone. I admired information technology–maybe a little too overmuch–because I put that thing through a allot. I dropped IT, got IT wet, carelessly threw it into my bag, and somehow, it still held up despite my torture.

Motorola has carried over that toughness to the Droid Razr, but without compromising its looks (or thickness). The front of the phone is all Corning Gorilla Spyglass with a diamond-cut Motorola nameplate. When I met with Motorola product managers back when the original Razr launched, they informed me that its design had been inspired away elements ground in overflowing-end watches.

The soft-touch plunk for is ready-made out of Kevlar, a material found in high-end speedboats, bulletproof jackets, and bicycle tires. According to Motorola, Kevlar is five times stronger than steel. Using Kevlar on a phone seems a bit, well, weird, but I was surprised with how half-hardy it felt and how attractive it looked. It feels solid, but non bulky–it measures 5.5-aside-2.71-by-0.28 inches thick. For equivalence, the iPhone 4S is 0.37 inches thick, patc the Galax urceolata Nexus is 0.35 inches thick. The Droid Razr weighs a manipulable 4.48 ounces.

The solid palpate comes from the Droid Razr's stainless steel heart. It also has splashguard technology, which will protect it if you happen to get caught in the rain or spill something on your phone.

Big AMOLED Show

We've knocked other Motorola smartphones, such Eastern Samoa the Photon (Dash) and the Droid Bionic (Verizon) in the ancient for its PenTile displays. The Droid Razr, however, ships with a 4.3-inch qHD (Quarter High Definition), 960-by-540-pixel Super AMOLED display. According the Motorola, the Super AMOLED technology should solve some of the bombardment issues associated with LTE phones. This engineering has lower current consumption, which helps to preserve battery life.

The Droid Razr's display has excellent showing angles and visibility outdoors, two trademarks of Super AMOLED engineering science. Blacks are very deep and whites are bright, only colours look a bit oversaturated (another hallmark of Super AMOLED display engineering science.

I did a side-by-sidelong comparison of the Droid Razr against the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S has a slightly higher resolution at 960-by-640, with a pixel density of 330 pixels per in (I could not find any pixel density information for the Razr). While I rewarding the extra screen real landed estate on the Razr, the iPhone 4S's 3.5-inch show looked sharper, with better tinge truth.

Software

The Droid Razr runs Android 2.3.5. It isn't a pure version of Android, but it isn't Motorola's busy (and often annoyance) custom overlay/service, MotoBlur. Information technology does retain some of the MotoBlur widgets. The interface is almost identical to it of the Droid Applied science, just with a some tweaks. The widgets are resizable, and you can scroll through them; in the calendar widget, e.g., you can curl through a whole Day's worth of events rather than viewing one event at a clock.

Like the Bionic, you get the ZumoCast app/help, though here it has been renamed MotoCast. MotoCast lets you access outside files on your PC without having to upload OR sync your files. You can access code everything from PowerPoint files to your iTunes playlists along your Razr. Even though the Razr has plenty of capacity (1GB of RAM, 16GB of on-get on storage, and a preinstalled 16GB MicroSD card), I find information technology courteous to be fit to access videos, documents, photos, and other media files without having to download them to the device Oregon upload them to a dapple service.

Motorola is determined to solve the LTE battery life situation. Smart Actions, a new app, lets you set reminders to notify you when you should recharge your phone (for instance, when you go to bed). If you forget to plug your ring in, you can set a Smartness Action called "Nighttime Shelling Saver," which adjusts your phone's network and screen settings to make your battery last longer the next day.

Smart Actions aren't just about saving electric battery life. You can make opposite profiles (Work, Home, Workout, and then on) and coiffur rules for each scenario. If you preceptor't want your phone to ring aloud when you're at work, you stern place a rule called Quiesce Emplacemen so your phone automatically goes into silent mode during work hours. Gross, Smart Actions is an smooth-to-use of goods and services, clever app. Although you'll have to spend a bit of time stage setting up the rules for apiece profile, once that's done, Smart Actions volition produce completely the adjustments for you.

Camera

The Razr has an 8-megapixel camera, a 1.3-megapixel frontmost-veneer photographic camera, and 1080p video capture. The photographic camera's interface is much cleaner than those on previous Motorola smartphones.

Motorola claims that the tv camera has almost zero shutter fall behind. This is pretty much true; images are processed a split-irregular after you take them.

Unfortunately, the touch-to-focal point feature takes a little of time to process, and I ended up with a few blurry photos during my tests. This is an issue if you're trying to capture fast-moving subjects care kids or dogs.

Boilers suit, my photos looked sound, but not undefiled. All of them seemed to have a trifle of a coloured cast to them–even off photos embezzled in earthy light. Inside information weren't as knifelike as I would own liked, either. The flash tends to blow out colours and details quite a morsel, so use it only utterly needed.

In our subjective lab tests of video timber, Motorola phones have always done quite well. The Razr is no exception, producing smooth videos captured at 1080p resolution.

Carrying out: Fast, But Bombardment Life Is Sad

We already know Verizon's 4G LTE network is superfast when you have connectivity. Luckily, we have good coverage in San Francisco (where PCWorld is located), and the Droid Razr got some pretty fast speeds. Using the FCC-approved Ookla app in various parts of the metropolis, I found that the Droid Razr achieved an average of 1.98 MBps for download speeds and 3.01 MBps for upload speeds.

The 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor was similarly impressive. I ran the Vellamo mechanized benchmarking app for Android (an app made by Qualcomm) happening the Droid Razr and was surprised by the results. The Droid Razr got a grievance of 1040, putting it above the Samsung Galaxy S II and the HTC Evo 3D. Apps launched speedily and ran smoothly. Scrolling through apps and menus was fluid, and no apps crashed during my hands-not delayed.

In our formal bombardment tests, the Droid Razr got 6 hours and 49 proceedings of battery life. This is actually quite an good compared to other phones we've tested. It is important to note, nevertheless that our battery tests are conducted with the phones connected to our Wi-Fi network. In my work force-on use, piece I was affined to Verizon's 4G network, I felt care the battery life drained apace. Games like Minecraft killed the battery, and when I streamed a video trot yearner than 5 minutes, I noticed fundamental loss. I too detected that it took quite a age to recharge the Razr.

Call caliber was very good concluded Verizon's network in San Francisco. I got coverage almost everywhere I went and never skilled any born calls. My friends and family measured earthshaking and clear, with no static operating room distortion. They reported likewise pleasurable experiences on their end.

Accessories Galore

Like the Droid Bionic and the Photon, the Droid Razr is compatible with a heap of accessories, much as the LapDock 500 Pro, a laptop-like portal for the phone. The LapDock 500 Favoring has a 14-inch expose and a front-facing camera. When you connect to the Webtop dock, you can access the full Firefox browser as well as lots of specially successful productivity apps. Other accessories include an HD Station, a vehicle navigation bobtail, and a standard dock.

Bottom Contrast

The Droid Razr is Motorola's best Humanoid phone to date. The Si OMAP 1.2GHz processor paired with Verizon's blazing LTE speeds makes for an incredibly powerful phone. Its unique design, reminiscent of the unconventional Razr, is also a success, and the A-one AMOLED display is a step up from the PenTile displays of other Motorola phones. Battery lifespan is a big issue, though, as it is for almost every dual-core LTE phones. In our assault and battery life lab tests of other Android phones, just about all phone we proved did poorly. One exception was the Samsung Galaxy S II, however. If you're disagreeable to decide between the Droid Razr and the impendent Galaxy Nexus, battery life might comprise a deciding factor. We don't yet possess a Galaxy Nexus in-house, but if its shelling life is on a par with the Galaxy S 2, it might be the winner in the great Android arms race.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/478047/motorola_droid_razr_review_thin_and_fast_but_short_on_battery_life.html

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