387 of 408 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic phone, and is a great iPhone replacement so far, November 13, 2011
This review is from: Motorola DROID RAZR 4G Android Phone, Black 32GB (Verizon Wireless) (Wireless Phone)
I have been waiting for this phone for quite a while and have spanned the internet looking for reviews on this thing before i bought it. I have had this phone from 11/11/11 and since launch time.
Here are some key things i will review to help you make your decision (hopefully)
Let me first tell you WHY i got the droid razr. A midst the launch of many great cell phones i chose the droid razr because of a few reasons. First let me tell you i talk on the phone about 700 minutes a month, majority of my phone calls are to my family and taking care of business. The remainder i spend my time surfing the web, doing HW, downloading things etc. This means that i will be looking at this phone from both a productivity and multimedia standpoint. I am never home because i am always at school with projects involved in research etc. Thus whatever time i get to connect with family, i use this phone to do it, i have a newborn baby at home so i don't get to spend as much time with her as i wish, this phones front facing 1.3 MP camera does a fantastic job relaying my photo over, although i wish it had a wider mm lense, so it could produce a bit of a wider picture, same goes for the rear facing camera.
The 4g connectivity is what sets this phone apart from everything else, its fantastic, and especially if you're grandfathered in (as i am) to unlimited, the possibilities are quite endless. With that being said i will break down my review
Phone- As in voice calling, call quality
Call quality through the earpiece has been phenomenal, i have been very amazing how clear the phone calls have been and how well i can hear them.
As you make phone calls, the favorites starts putting contacts in this bar as you call your favorite people since those become your most frequently contacted within your favorites- Very intuitive feature, i really like it.
Speakerphone quality is not the best, i would give the best sounding speakerphone to the iPhone, it's very good in terms of producing natural sounding conversation, the Razr, not so much, at the highest volume you will notice crackling, though keep in mind we are talking about a phone call, not music playback.
- Productivity
I find the functionality of being able to pull up my research documents and homework assignments very quickly through the network and the phone. The phone handles pdf, doc, etc files very well, i have noticed no lag.
In addition, i love how i can edit a file on the phone itself, email it to whoever i want, OR upload it to my boxnet account and make it available to all of my colleagues through a link; i never have to touch a laptop.
-Web Experience
Here i have to add, i don't know why the heck Motorola decided to put in 2 steps in order to be able to bookmark a page, its stupid, i should be able to click add and ok. Not click bookmark, which takes me to another page, then click add, then name it then ok. That i think is a burden.
Websites load fantastic, there aren't any websites that have slowed this phone down, and I am very satisfied. Flash is not quite completely obsolete yet, and quite a few sites, important sites, utilize flash. Although i will agree with Steve jobs that flash is a piece of power hogging uselessness.
-Music
Phones does a great job with music, and when you lock the screen you can see what's playing, touch it, and it will allow you to stop, skip to the next track and skip back.
The speakerphone quality here is descent, not the best but descent, i watch a lot of Netflix and it gets the job done, nothing i would return the phone over with.
Battery life-
If you video chat on 4g, your batter will die in 30 minutes, from 100%-0%. It is not necessary to carry a portable charger, for the average user, (i am a Super power user) a day's worth of batter is something this phone can provide and more.
-Screen
The screen maybe pentile, but the only time it makes a difference is when your typing, the boxes around the letters just don't look right. I just love the display though. I know the HTC Rezound is coming out, but I used to have an EVO and the phone just started having issues after 1 year.
-Brand
Ok, Motorola, I used to work there, and by no means do I have a bias towards Motorola, infact quite the opposite can be said. However, Google bought Motorola mobility, and the thing is, in the future, moto and Google will be quite close, that to me puts everything at an advantage vs. the Samsung brand. I've always had a gripe about Samsung phones feeling too cheap, they just feel cheap.
-Speed
The phone is very zippy, only lag is Moto cast. There are absolutely no complaints in zippiness of the phone.
Quality and feel-
I don't notice in my pocket, and I love that. By no means does it feel cheap.
It is very wide so I have a bit smaller hands and had a hard time holding it, so I got a grippy silicone case and it has been great ever since.
-Camera
The camera is pretty damn good, I don't think its bad at all, it certainly is a step up from the bionic. I have found increasing exposure in all my pics gives me better results.
Overall-
I love this phone, and wouldn't trade it for the resound or the nexus galaxy. I think it does what it does really well. If you're considering it and you're just like I in use of the phone then this phone will suit you really well, I really like the thinness, the feel of the phone. Nano coating water repellant technology is great and removable batteries are of the past. It's time to carry back up batteries, no long spare batteries in our wallets.
I will update my review as time goes on.
*********UPDATE AS OF 11.25.2011******************
So far the phone has been really well behaved, no issues. Although i did have it crash because i went app crazy and one of the apps did harm the phone, no worries, reinstalled and am more careful about what i download.
If you have been getting the stupid spam notifications, for me it was the mp3 downloader app. Its been spamming me left and right.
- Battery Life note:
Its been 7 days of my 4g test, and i have gotten through the entire day with 4g on, my day starts at 10am- and ends at about 11pm and ive gotten through the entire day with moderate use with 20% battery life remaining. I will say, that this phone has been very reliable and i havent found the need to carry around a charger or an actual backup battery. I WILL SAY it is really good to utilize this app called "Notification Toggle" and you can use it to quickly turn on and off bluetooth, wifi, 4g etc. i use this when i know i will be having a heavy usage day.
Screen-
Really, pentile is not bad here, yea the HTC rezound screen is phenomenal and great and all, but remember what i said, Google and motorola are going to be the next big thing, have patience and fun little update packages will come to us Razr holders sooner than other phones.
I really love the color saturation as well.
Software-
HUGE HUGE HUGE POINT remember when i said my phone kept crashing? Well guess what it was, i was using task killers (not the one installed on the phone). When i stopped using task killers and uninstalled them entirely, i dont know why my battery life became prolonged, my phone didnt crash (when i had the task killers installed, the screen would randomly become unreponsive or something irritating like that) so when i factory reset it, i did not install ANY task killers and i have to say i have had a very pleasant experience since then. i have been using the onboard task killer and that does plenty.
I also have lookout mobile security installed, i always want to protect myself from phishing etc.
Music-
Really wish it had a stronger speaker. that is all. Other than that i really like the interface.
freedom-
I dont know why, but i have found the motorola is just more customizable than the HTC line, i bought my wife a thunderbolt and i just returned it and ordered the penny deal Razr 4g. We now own 2 razrs. I just feel they do a better job than the thunderbolt.
Video Chat-
I have found that the 1.3 MP HD Front facing camera on the razr is phenomenal in comparison to the front facing camera with the thunderbolt. I had my wife move the phone at a very fast pace with her thunderbolt and it did a REALLY BAD JOB with the FPS( it was very laggy like a crappy quality camera). The Razr on the other hand captured it all, and in addition it was brighter. Believe me i am NOT a motorola fanboy, so i was quite impressed with this. Remember i said video chatting was important to me.
Call Quality-
No Changes, still happy here.
Flash-
I was really impressed the other day, when i did my Flash/Java based homework (which is VERY VERY VERY CPU Consuming) on my razr. Since this was very resource intensive, it had a slight bit of lag, but nothing that irritated me. I was incredibly impressed that even this program ran, and i was able to finish the homework before the deadline. I will say, it is WISE to invest in a bluetooth mouse and bluetooth keyboard for this phone. The possibilities are quite endless.
I have uped my stars from a 4 star to a 5, for all the good this phone does, the bad is quite miniscule. I am very impressed.
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88 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So far the best 4G phone on Verizon (including Rezound), November 15, 2011
This review is from: Motorola DROID RAZR 4G Android Phone, Black 32GB (Verizon Wireless) (Wireless Phone)
I bought this phone on 11/11/11 after some serious back-and-forth about waiting for the Rezound and Galaxy Nexus. While I was in the store I was fortunate enough to get to play with the Rezound demo the staff had just received, and I still chose the Razr. And here's why:
Screen- the super AMOLED screen on the Razr blew me away. It just looked so sharp compared to the Rezound. I know the resolution on the Rezound is better (720p), but I still felt the Razr screen won.
Battery- the Razr has a larger battery (1780 mAH). I went on a road trip this weekend, and even with heavy usage (watching videos, playing games, taking pictures) and switching between wifi, 3g and 4g, the battery lasted me about 6 hours one day and 9 the other (from 100 to 10%). Then today for a "normal" work day of chatting, texting, some video/games, it has lasted me over 12 hours and is only at 20% battery now. Part of the reason are the "smart actions" and processor speeds, discussed below.
Processor- this has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, lower than the 1.5GHz dual-core of the Rezound. However I noticed very little difference between the two phones when switching between apps, and for loading web pages both will be super fast on Verizon's 4G network. Also, the lower processor probably contributes to the longer battery life.
Speaker- I was excited by the Rezound's beats audio, but the external speaker is not any more impressive than other phones; the key is the headphones. That being said, the speaker on the Razr is louder, but makes a crackling noise when someone is talking (in video or on speakerphone). This is a huge drawback for me as I use my speakerphone a lot. You can get around it by not using the full volume, but you shouldn't have to do that, imo.
Camera- Here the rezound wins, with a better, wide-angle lens, but the Razr's will still capture 1080p video, 8MP pictures, and is perfectly satisfactory for a phone.
Smart Actions - this is the coolest feature of the phone! You can set it to pretty much do anything from certain triggers. For instance, when the display is off, at night, it will switch to silent mode. Or when I am connected to my home wireless, it will turn off GPS and 4G data.
Some final thoughts: Gorilla Glass and Kevlar backing are a huge plus. Also, this phone is so thin and light! After playing with the Rezound and Razr for a few minutes, I just couldn't put the Razr down, it's weight and screen converted me!
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115 of 132 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Don't listen to the negative reviews based on price, November 11, 2011
This review is from: Motorola DROID RAZR 4G Android Phone, Black 32GB (Verizon Wireless) (Wireless Phone)
So far the negative reviews for this phone are based off of what Amazon is charging for it ($249 for upgrade customers, $111 for new customers)...the phone is $300 in Verizon and $300 with a ton of accessories over at Costco today.
Now, as for the actual phone itself...it's good. The screen is a new AMOLED Advanced which means it can use the same pixel density as other AMOLED screens but provide a better color saturation...while the Nexus and upcoming Rezound have higher pixel ratios the screen on this still looks great.
The operating system is android's kind of new Gingerbread with Motorola's overlay called Blur. It slows the device down a little bit but provides their own custom interface that creates a more flashy transition between apps, screens, etc.
Also Motorola's RAZR has Kevlar on the back for strength, a nano-coating on the outside and inside for splash protection, and gorilla glass 2.0 for the screen...this might be the first legit Droid where no case is required.
Call quality from MobileTechReview, Phonedog, CNET, and others all say this phone is excellent, as is the smoothness of the web browser and the gps.
The only negative is that the battery isn't removable so the battery in the phone is all you get...what that means for me is nothing though since I have a car charger and charger at the office, not to mention the docking station doubles as one and looks good on my desk.
For ANYONE who's been a fan of Motorola's old RAZR, their new Droids, or just needs a new phone, this is the best one that's out there right now...yes better than the iPhone, especially if you like to customize things...nothing competes with Android in that regard.
The camera and the videocamera so far got good reviews as well, with the Camera side of it getting higher marks, especially when showing off the videos to your friends on the big screen.
Cloud service is standard as well as a smart actions app that can customize how the phone works everywhere you go...for instance it uses gps to detect when you're at work, connecting you to the wi-fi there, making your phone ringer change to vibrate on days when u have a meeting, etc..it's a really cool idea.
Finally through Motorola you can sync your PC to the phone and transfer data instantly...take a note in word for class, the note appears in Word back on your dorm laptop, want to listen to your itunes, music can be streamed from your PC's playlist without you having to actually put the songs on your phone.
It's a great device and everyone who's negative about it just for the price is really stupid...either get it now for $249 like the sad sad people paid 2 months ago for the Bionic, like people did for the Thunderbolt, and like people did for the Revolution....or wait till Black Friday and/or Christmas when I'm sure some sort of sale will be happening...either way it's a good phone.
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