The Motorola Droid RAZR seems to have it all; it's the perfect date in the phone world. It's slim, has a hard body, a dazzling Super AMOLED smile and it's smart too thanks to a 1.2GHz dual core CPU. That all makes for a glorious first date, but you know how it is... a week later and you notice the body is a little out of proportion and that your date just doesn't have what it takes to stay up late. The Droid RAZR is Motorola's first attempt to create a truly iconic device, just as the original RAZR flip phone was in the last decade. It's exquisitely thin, unique looking in a world of look-alike black Android slab smartphones, and it's got LTE 4G on America's largest LTE network. The Droid RAZR is powerful, has top specs and a marketing machine that's in top gear. But is it really Verizon Wireless' best smartphone?
If you want a stunning handset with a color saturated 4.3" qHD Super AMOLED display, Android OS 2.3.5 Gingerbread and insane robustness (Gorilla Glass on the front with Kevlar on the back), it just might be. The phone benchmarks well, feels fast in use and is fascinating to look at thanks to the eye-catching design and vibrant display. But it's a bit of an oddball too: though insanely thin at 7.1mm, it's a wide and tall phone, as if the guts were squashed flat to fit them into such a thin phone. There's still a camera hump just like past Moto Droids, though Motorola miniaturized it and did an excellent job of making it a fluid design element. The ample 1870 mAh battery is sealed inside--- and those of you who've used Verizon LTE phones know that's a scary proposition given Big Red's LTE phones' thirst for power. If you're a busy person on the go, you'll need an arsenal of backup power: office charger, car charger and external battery packs.
Design and Ergonomics
The Droid RAZR gets a big win for esthetics and a minor loss for ergonomics. We wish it were as comfortable to hold as it is good looking. Even if you don't like the looks, you've got to admit it's a striking phone. The curved Kevlar back with that distinctive pattern (fingerprint resistant), the uber-thin gunmetal sides and tapered ends make for good looks. The front is dominated by the 4.3" display though the bezel is a tad big. The four front capacitive buttons are backlit, but are close to the bottom edge and are thus a little too easy to accidentally trigger when handling the phone.
The small camera hump at the top actually makes the phone easier to pick up from a desk and provides a more robust grip-point. That's important because a device can be too thin to hold easily, and the RAZR is just that. Though it's not much wider than the easily one-handed Motorola Droid Bionic, it feels lots wider and is harder to comfortably operate one-handed (and I have large hands). The skinny edges dig into the palm and crossing the device feels like a trek across the Mojave Desert.
The Droid RAZR gets a big win for esthetics and a minor loss for ergonomics. We wish it were as comfortable to hold as it is good looking. Even if you don't like the looks, you've got to admit it's a striking phone. The curved Kevlar back with that distinctive pattern (fingerprint resistant), the uber-thin gunmetal sides and tapered ends make for good looks. The front is dominated by the 4.3" display though the bezel is a tad big. The four front capacitive buttons are backlit, but are close to the bottom edge and are thus a little too easy to accidentally trigger when handling the phone.
The small camera hump at the top actually makes the phone easier to pick up from a desk and provides a more robust grip-point. That's important because a device can be too thin to hold easily, and the RAZR is just that. Though it's not much wider than the easily one-handed Motorola Droid Bionic, it feels lots wider and is harder to comfortably operate one-handed (and I have large hands). The skinny edges dig into the palm and crossing the device feels like a trek across the Mojave Desert.
The two ports, micro USB and micro HDMI, are up top on the only thick edge (if you can call 10mm thick). They're exposed for ease of use and it looks cool in a techno sort of way. The power button is on the right and works easily, but it's prone to accidental presses like Samsung Galaxy S II phones. The volume buttons are below the power button, and are too small and low to easily operate. A door on the lower left hides the LTE micro SIM card and included 16 gig microSD card. The headphone jack is up top and the speaker fires from the rear.
