
The Droid Razr Motorola smartphone is a sleek and powerful device that's packed with features. It's made with a durable Kevlar fiber and polycarbonate material, making it resistant to scratches and drops.
The phone's 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display is a standout feature, offering vibrant colors and a high level of brightness. It's perfect for watching videos or browsing the web on the go.
One of the most notable features of the Droid Razr is its thin design, measuring just 7.1mm in thickness. This makes it one of the thinnest smartphones on the market.
Design and Hardware
The Droid Razr's design is truly impressive, with a sleek and sturdy build that's both thin and solid. Measuring just over a quarter-inch thick, it's hard to believe it packs a 4G LTE radio.
The phone's stainless steel frame and soft-touch Kevlar back contribute to its stiff and solid feel, with zero body flex. This is a testament to the phone's robust construction, which is further enhanced by the component lamination technique used to physically bond each layer of components together.
The Droid Razr's display is a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED Advanced PenTile capacitive touchscreen, covered by scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass with an oleophobic fingerprint-resistant coating. This means the screen is not only durable but also resistant to smudges and fingerprints.
Hardware / Design
The Motorola Droid Razr is a marvel of engineering, with a design that's as impressive as it is thin. It measures just slightly over a quarter-inch thick, thanks to its stainless steel frame and soft-touch Kevlar back.
The phone's thickness is a result of its innovative construction technique, which physically bonds each layer of components together for added strength. This design also makes it water-resistant to occasional liquid splashes, thanks to an invisible layer of splash-proof nano coating.
One of the most striking features of the Droid Razr is its 4.3-inch display, which is surrounded by a thick bezel that makes it difficult to use one-handed. If you have small hands, you'll find it nearly impossible to operate the phone without struggling.
On a similar theme: Clamshell Design
The phone's front is also notable for its notification LED, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, ambient light sensor, and proximity sensor. You'll also find the standard set of capacitive buttons at the bottom, along with a Verizon logo that's somewhat clumsily squeezed above them.
Here are the phone's key design features at a glance:
The Droid Razr's design is a true innovation, and its unique features make it stand out from the crowd.
V
The V series of Motorola's Droid Razr line is a notable upgrade from the original. The Razr V features Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which was a significant improvement at the time of its release.
One of the design changes in the Razr V is its easier to grasp form-factor. This makes it more comfortable to hold and use.
In Canada, the Razr V was launched on several carriers, including Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile, and Wind Mobile.
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Motorola
Motorola has long been a name associated with innovative and rugged phone designs. The Motorola Droid RAZR is no exception, featuring a ruggedized body that can withstand the elements.
One of the standout features of the Motorola Droid RAZR is its water-resistant design, making it perfect for those who enjoy spending time outdoors.
The phone also boasts a range of connectivity options, including Bluetooth 4.0 with support for classic audio profiles such as HSP 1.2 and HFP 1.5. Infrared (IR) connectivity is also available, although it's not enabled on this particular model.
A Micro-USB 2.0 High Speed port is used for charging and data transfer, while Wi-Fi 4 (802.11 b,g,n) provides a reliable internet connection.
The Motorola Droid RAZR also features a capacitive touch screen, making it easy to navigate and interact with the phone's interface.
The phone's memory can be expanded using a microSD card, with a 16 GB card included on some versions.
The phone's audio capabilities are also worth noting, with a headphone jack (3.5mm) and support for DLNA technology.
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Display and Cameras
The RAZR's camera is a decent but not spectacular feature. It has an 8-megapixel camera on the back, which is the same as the Droid Bionic.
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The camera takes reasonably good photos when everything is perfectly in order, but it struggles with slow autofocus and poor low-light performance. This makes it less impressive compared to newer phones like the iPhone 4S and HTC Amaze 4G.
You can record 1080p video, but it generates huge files, which might be why the RAZR comes preset to 720p out of the box. The 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera is mainly for video chatting, which works with the Google Talk client.
Display
The RAZR's display is a major letdown, especially considering it's a 4.3-inch qHD 960 x 540 Super AMOLED screen.
It's not the highest-resolution display out there, as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus features a higher-resolution 720p HD Super AMOLED display.
Individual pixels are readily apparent on the RAZR's screen, making text look jaggy and images seem to de-res when scrolling in the browser.
The RAZR's 256dpi pixel density doesn't help hide these issues, and red fringing around vertical lines is a common problem.
Expand your knowledge: Always on Display Amoled
Compared to Motorola's excellent qHD LCD displays in devices like the Bionic and Droid X2, the RAZR's Super AMOLED display is a step back.
Apple's iPhone 4 and 4S Retina Display is still the industry standard for display quality, and the RAZR doesn't come close.
Motorola chose Super AMOLED to make the RAZR thinner, but sacrificing display quality was a trade-off they shouldn't have made.
For more insights, see: Amoled Display
Cameras
The camera on the RAZR is a decent but not spectacular feature. It has an 8-megapixel camera on the back, which is the same as the Droid Bionic.
The camera takes reasonably good photos when everything is perfectly in order, but it struggles with slow autofocus and poor low-light performance. This makes it harder to take great photos, especially compared to newer phones like the iPhone 4S and HTC Amaze 4G.
You can record 1080p video with the RAZR, but it generates huge files and isn't spectacular. In fact, the phone comes preset to 720p out of the box.
The front-facing camera is a 1.3-megapixel camera, which is mainly good for video chatting with the bundled Google Talk client.
Performance
The Droid Razr's performance is quite good, with Quadrant scores of between 2400 and 2800, which is on par with other high-end Android devices.
I did notice some occasional lag in the web browser, but it was inconsistent.
The SunSpider browser test returned a score of 3448.6, which is in line with other high-end devices.
The phone's LTE performance is also terrific, with speeds of between 5-10Mbps down and 5-8MBps up in my testing.
In my experience, the more I used LTE, the quicker the battery drained.
The 1780mAh battery held up as well as any other LTE device in average use, but it's sealed in, so you won't be able to quickly swap it if you're a serious road warrior.
A fresh viewpoint: Sony Xperia X Performance
Software and Features
The Droid Razr comes installed with Android version 2.3.5 Gingerbread, which is a modified version of the standard Android operating system. This means you'll have some unique features right out of the box.
Additional reading: Windows Phone Version History
One of the main features of the Droid Razr's software is the Motoblur interface, which focuses on social networking. This interface unifies your contacts from all services, removing duplicates and making it easier to manage your social connections.
The Droid Razr also comes with a range of Google apps, including Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Talk, all with a modified user interface. These apps are embedded with Motorola services, making it easy to access your favorite Google features.
Smartactions is another useful feature of the Droid Razr's software. This app allows you to automate tasks based on a wide range of triggers, such as time, location, battery charge, Wi-Fi network, and more.
The Droid Razr is upgradeable to version 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, which was released on March 8, 2013 for Verizon Wireless users. This update brought a range of new features and improvements to the device.
Here's a breakdown of the different software features of the Droid Razr:
- Unified contacts: removes duplicates and unifies contacts from all services
- Google apps: includes Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, and more, with a modified user interface
- Smartactions: automates tasks based on a wide range of triggers
- Webtop: allows you to run your phone's applications on an external monitor
With the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, Webtop is now called Webtop 3.0 and no longer consists of a separate Linux OS. This makes it easier to use your phone's applications on an external monitor.
Hands-On Experience

The Droid Razr is a phone that's all about portability and convenience. It weighs just 8.8 ounces and measures 4.9 inches wide, making it easy to slip into a pocket or purse.
One of the standout features of the Droid Razr is its 4.3-inch touchscreen display. This screen is a joy to use, with clear and vibrant colors that make it perfect for browsing the web or watching videos.
The Droid Razr also has a powerful 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, which ensures that everything runs smoothly and quickly. You can expect fast app loading times and seamless multitasking.
In terms of storage, the Droid Razr comes with 16 GB of internal storage, which is plenty of room for your music, photos, and apps. And if you need more space, you can always expand it with a microSD card.
The Droid Razr's battery life is also impressive, with up to 12 hours of talk time and up to 17 days of standby time. This means you can use your phone all day without worrying about running out of juice.
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Criticisms
The Droid Razr has some notable criticisms. The display quality is subpar.
The compromise on display quality to achieve the phone's thin design is not worth it, considering the significant difference between the LCD 4.3-inch qHD panel and the Super AMOLED panel on other phones.
The display on the Droid Bionic is a better option, despite not being as sexy as the Razr.
The over-the-top Android skin on the Razr makes a bad display look even worse.
Something better is coming, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a prime example. It's nearly as thin, offers a larger 4.65-inch display with higher 720p resolution, and ships with stock Android 4.0.
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Featured Images: pexels.com


