Gadgetblurb

I admit it, I was super excited to hear about the return of the RAZR brand.  I also will proudly admit that I was the owner of more than a few RAZR’s in my day and, at the time, thought it was the coolest phone to ever come out.  So, with a flagship brand name like RAZR, I felt like we might be in for a treat.

THIN!!!

My experience with the Motorola brand and design has brought the following words to mind:  Angled, cluncky, thick, hard edged, industrial.  Anything but sleek.  When the first photos of the RAZR started to appear, it was a shock.  The industrial look and hard lines are still there but boy is the RAZR thin!  The kevlar back is a nice novelty, although stop bullets it won’t.  The glass is nice and has the same tapered feel as the Bionic.  Also, like the Droid X(2), it has the fat upper lip where the camera and connectors reside.  You are either going to love how thin RAZR is or hate it.  I suggest you go into your local VZW store and hold one before making the purchase.

Battery

I think the biggest knock on the RAZR, certainly in the forums and in the Android community at large is the lack of removable battery.  I know there are many of you out there that swear by carrying an extra battery and wouldn’t own a phone without one.  I have owned every iPhone made and none have had a removable battery.  It’s all about your routine, access to a charger and what your days are like.  If you are away from a wall charger for more than 10 hours a day, this may not be a good choice for you.  For me, the lack of removable battery isn’t an issue.  Speaking of battery life, it is just ok.  I got about 8-10 hours of use out of it with my normal usage and that is about on par with other 4g units I’ve tried.

Motoblur

If you read back to my review of the original Droid X, I pretty much slaughtered Motorola and their half-assed attempt at a skin in motoblur.  The Motorola skin that comes on the RAZR is a different animal and when I say different, I mean better.  It’s far less obtrusive, less in your face and actually has some useful features.  I don’t absolutely hate the skin anymore and it is something that I didnt even feel the need to install Launcherpro.  And, that is saying something!

Screen

The screen is a 4.3″ Super AMOLED qHD, and is a vast improvement from the Bionic.  The Bionic is a pentile screen that creates a pixel pattern when you look at it a certain way.  I am told not everyone sees it, but I sure as heck do.  I hated the Bionic display and was glad to see the improvement on the RAZR.  It still isnt as nice as the  GS2 or the upcoming Galaxy Nexus, but it is a bit better.

Calls

One thing that Motorola is absolutely known for is their build and call quality.  The RAZR is no exception.  Calls were crystal clear, didn’t drop and sounded like a landline.  This may be one of the best sounding phones I have ever used.  That fact alone is why I would recommend this phone.

Smart Actions

A new feature to the Motoblur for the RAZR is what they call smart actions.  These are like system macros that allow you to totally customize how your phone behaves based on day, time, location, battery guage, etc.  It is like Automator for the Mac!  You can set up something like:

1) If battery is below 20%,

2) Then shut of GPS, background data, lower brightness, disable cellular data, activate WIFI, etc.

You can also set up location-based triggers like:

1) If at work,

2) Raise volume, turn on wifi, raise brightness, etc.

You just need to tell the phone where work is and it will trigger these actions when you arrive at work via the GPS.  Very cool!!!!

Zumocast

While I didn’t really get a chance to play with this new feature, it seems cool for those without a cloud solution for media.  Essentially, it allows you to stream music, videos and share files with your phone.   You just need to download the software to your mac/pc and let it communicate through your zumocast.com account.  I personally use both Google and Amazon for most of my cloud storage solutions so this really wasn’t all that appealing to me.

Feel

While I was amazed at the phone for its sleek design and thin stature, I am not a huge fan.  It felt a bit out of balance or top heavy in my hands.  I had to think about how to handle it to create the most comfortable hold.  I want to just pick up a phone and have it naturally cradle in my hand.  The RAZR didn’t do that for me, but it might for you.  I suggest you go hold one and see for yourself.  The kevlar back was cool and had a nice feel to it though.

Camera

I wasn’t overly impressed with the camera, but the pics I took and the ones I have seen online put it at par with most of the other 8mps cameras.  Video was amazing, shooting in 720p.

Conclusion

Would I buy the RAZR?  Yes, it is the fastest, sleekest phone on the market today.  For the call quality, updated software, camera, speed, and build quality, I would say that the RAZR is a winner.  I would just urge buyers to go hold one first and see for themselves.  My sense is that you will love the RAZR, especially with ICS coming to the RAZR early next year.   If the Galazy Nexus weren’t coming out in the (rumored) next couple of weeks, I would get the RAZR.

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