Bear in mind: not a world phone and battery March 20, 2012

Reviewer:  SiBlade 

Overall the phone is a good performer - good speed, good processor, apps work well and memory good. Looks are good and screen good. Two things you must be aware of - battery life rapidly declines and the battery is non-changeable so get used to carrying the charger for midday recharging (and I'm a low/moderate user) and I'm only 2 months in
- this isnt a world friendly phone outside the US (I should have double checked the specs as I know wireless well) this phone is billed as 3G/4G but it really means CDMA/LTE. Which sadly means no use outside the USA because the rest of the world hasnt put LTE in place (not until March 2013) and almost nobody has CDMA networks. So this is effectively a brick when abroad... J

Motorola Droid Razr, Don't Believe the Ads March 18, 2012

Reviewer:  R. Russell Fritsch 

Despite all of the reviews of this phone being one tough puppy, Motorola and Verizon only have it half right. It is a puppy alright, a little toy poodle of a puppy, too fragile to carry around on your hip in a case, a padded case, a fairly nice padded case.

Apparently sometime today after removing it from the charger, my Droid Razr died. I took it to the local Verizon Corporate store to have them take a look at it they showed me a very tiny crack in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and told me "sorry sir tough luck, you must have bumped your phone and it's damaged and we can't repair it or warranty damaged phones". The guy calls his manager over to confirm his diagnosis and the manager says, "see, you can really damage these by just pressing down on the phone like this", and he starts pressing down on the face of my phone. "Really dude, stop that, I don't care if you are the manager". I guess he thought that is was already dead, he could do whatever he wanted.

There is not a single scratch on the outside of this phone and they are telling me it is damaged and can not be warrantied. Of course right over this guy's shoulder, Verizon is advertising this as a near bullet-proof phone with cracks in the "Gorilla Glass" and Kevlar case still working away like some kind of commando phone used by Navy Seals during beach assaults.

This thing is as fragile as a rose in the hot August sun. I don't even know when or where I may have bumped my phone to cause this catastrophic failure. One minute is was working and after a trip to Home Depot, nada, is is as dead as a hammer.

Moto wants $179 to fix this precious little tea cup of a phone. To be clear, there is not so much as a single scratch on this phone and the Verizon guy is telling me he can replace it with a new one for $600. Yeah, right. Instead, I am going to another provider and get another phone on a new line. To heck with Verizon.

So, I cancelled my data plan and went back to my old LG Envy 3 that is a better phone just without all the bells and whistles of a smart phone. Should I decide to stay with Verizon I guess I can wait for 20 more months to get another Verizon smart phone. But whatever I replace this with , it will NOT be a Moto Droid Razr and most likely, not a Motorola product at all.

Seriously, this phone is very fragile, and if your are looking for a durable smart phone, look elsewhere. This one is not for you if you are one of those likely to stick your phone in your pocket or in a padded case as in my case, this one may not be for you. It really is not up to the challenge of normal everyday use.

Good phone, sometimes battery drains fast March 5, 2012

Reviewer:  j 

Good phone, sometimes battery drains fast when phone is actively used for an extended period of time. Takes a bit to learn all the features (especially when upgrading from a non-smart phone). Still glad I chose razr over the droid 4. Only wish was I had the Maxx.

Zip Zip March 5, 2012

Reviewer:  M. Gerrish 

My previous phone was a 1st generation Motorola Droid and I thought it served me well until it didn't. Time to upgrade, and at this point, taking on a 2-year contract for a phone with 3G technology is a no-go. I got the Droid Razr from from the local Verizon store, not Amazon. It's a 4G LTE model with 32gb's of roomy-room and an exterior slot for a mini-SD card to add more room, should you need it. It's not the absolute latest model, so it's currently offered at a reasonable deal. The latest model in this line offers more battery power, but we'll get to that.

As it happens, the air space surrounding our house is 3G airspace. 4G is available in the backyard, front yard, up the street, down the street, all over the neighborhood, but not at our house. Not via Verizon (my provider) or AT&T (my husband's cell provider). Hopefully they'll get around to filling in the blank spots soon, but that said, even while operating on a 3G network, this phone uploads and downloads much more quickly than the former. MUCH more quickly.

The screen is so clear that by comparison, the former Droid seems muddy. (It isn't, but COMPARATIVELY, it is.) It isn't a tablet by any means, but if someone is on the fence about investing in a tablet, this might fill the niche. The crisp display is large enough for goofing around or catching up, but the phone itself is surprisingly comfortable for actual phone work. The current trend in the cell industry is to create ever larger phones. This one is large enough without being cumbersome.

Between Amazon and the Verizon Market, there are lots of apps for the choosing. It's easy to customize your screen and easy to operate with no discernible lag when sweeping or initiating an app, as used to occur with the 1st gen Droid.

The battery? Well, this phone is a heavy user, so for someone who would take advantage of all the phone can do -- including watching movies -- but wouldn't necessarily have a power source readily available, definitely get the Droid Razr MAXX. It's the very same phone, but with more battery power. One way or another, I'm always near a power source, so there wasn't a reason to spend the extra money.

Side note: this phone's charging plug inserts into an outlet, then attaches to the phone with a USB/micro-USB cord. The charging plug itself has double input, meaning, while you're charging the phone you can also charge other USB-style electronics via the same outlet. I'm modestly impressed by the thoughtfulness. Thank you, Motorola.

I thought the 1st generation Droid was excellent, so improving dramatically on that -- and it is a dramatic upgrade -- makes this phone outstanding.

Very poor battery life. February 8, 2012

Reviewer:  Katrina M. Brown "Mabelino"  (Crofton, Maryland) -

I wish I had read all the reviews here before I bought the phone because a number of users have noted the poor battery life. My Droid was a great phone, could go a couple of days without being charged, but the download speeds were not that great. personally, I think Motorola should have put a better battery in before they marketed this product. I am going to try to get my money back, i have only had it about a week.

RAZR Fast January 27, 2012

Reviewer:  Richard Bellinger "Camaro SS-2012"  (Texas) -

Here is my two cents. I had this phone since it has launced in November 2011. I love it. The people who has rated very low are not very competent or not savvy with droid phones. I had the Droid X, X2, and Bionic. And now the Razr. My only choice back then was black and 32GB total. 16GB (internal) and 16GB (MicroSD. Now you can get the Razr in White, Purple, & Black. With 32GB option or 16GB option. Battery life is actually good. Yes the battery will drain quicker than some phones but you are dealing with a 4G phone. Also for a quick note. The phone is splash / spill proof. The screen colors are amazing. The quality of the HD recording looks great during play back or on your tv. This phone has a lot to offer for new droid users and experienced users.

FEATURES:
3G / 4G Network
Body Dimensions 130.7 x 68.9 x 7.1 mm
Weight 127 g
Display Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 540 x 960 pixels, 4.3 inches (~256 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass
Sound Alert types Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
Memory Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 16GB card included, buy memory
Internal: 16 GB storage, 1GB RAM
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth: Yes, v4.0 with LE+EDR
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
Camera: Primary 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Features Touch-focus, geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization
Video: Yes, 1080p@30fps, 480p@120fps
Secondary: Yes, 2MP, 720p videos
Features: OS Android OS, v2.3.5 (Gingerbread)
Chipset: TI OMAP 4430
CPU: Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9
GPU: PowerVR SGX540
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, compass
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser HTML, Adobe Flash
Radio No
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support
Java: Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors: Black, White, Purple
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- Splash resistant
- HDMI port
- SNS integration
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail
- YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player
- MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player
- Organizer
- Document viewer/editor
- Voice memo/dial/commands
- Predictive text input
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1780 mAh
Stand-by Up to 204 h
Talk time Up to 12 h 30 min

Travels Well January 19, 2012

Reviewer:  Dennis "DTz"  (MD) -

One thing I didn't like about the original Droid was the size and shape. It always fell sideways in my pocket and it's heavy. Since I didn't use the keyboard much, thinner and lighter was a plus for the RAZR. Also, the RAZR display is crisper and larger than the Droid and much easier on the eye. I expected the RAZR apps to be much the same as Droid; however, that isn't the case. Some of the basic features like loading more than the most recent email just isn't there. Same for FaceBook - just the threads and no menu. The original Droid's features were better. Even the desktop falls short. Turn it sideways and the orientation doesn't change unless you select 'APPS'. Once everything is loaded, landscape mode works fine.

Battery life is an issue with the RAZR. If you use it, the battery won't last very long. It'll be discharged in a workday. Using USB connection to charge it is another problem. Make sure your drives are mapped before plugging in the RAZR as it will map two drives even if USB is set to charge only. The drive letters will be mapped but not connected. That creates problems with other network resources. Also, the battery is not removable or replacable.

The RAZR is a two-handed phone. That was easy enough to get used to but for some, it may not be desirable. Not the best choice for one-handers.

Signal strength is better with the RAZR. One complaint with the Droid is that people can't connect to anything in my area (all Verizon customers). Razr is able to connect at some level although, 4G is not available in many locations. Same for 3G - used to seeing a bar or two and '1X'. But the phone works much better and can actually receive a call without 100% chance that it'll be dropped.

I don't know why the 8 Mpix camera delivers such poor quality photos but, the 5 Mpix Droid was better. Some daylight photos are pretty good but I wouldn't call it a camera. It also seems that the fixed lens field is not as wide so, treat it like telephoto and move back. If there's room. One feature the RAZR has that wasn't part of the Droid platform is a front facing camera. Skype users may appreciate that feature but I don't use it.

There are plenty of free apps for the Android OS so, no problem getting what I want. Although, the $9.95 Verizon Navigation app can't be uninstalled even though the free Google Navigation app is installed and works great. Bunch of pre-installed stuff on there that I don't have a use for.

I like the phone even with its shortcomings. I haven't used the HDMI port but, it's there if I ever care to get a cable and play with it. Some glitchy stuff to look out for is deleting FB friends from the phone directory as it links them. Once you remove the contacts, even though they don't have phone numbers listed, they are no longer identified on FB. Posts from an unknown friend. Contacts were transferred in triplicate by the store so, maybe they also caused some other config problems. Actually, they took about 90 minutes to configure it and were on hold with Verizon Support for a good while. They were selling a lot of Apple's latest but only a few RAZR's. Perhaps they weren't up on the learning curve yet - it was only on the market two weeks when I bought mine which wasn't even stocked yet (one week delivery at the time).

My original Droid never had to have the battery pulled and that isn't possible on the RAZR which did freeze on me once. Just have to hold the power and both volume buttons together to re-boot. Speaking of volume, the ringer isn't very loud. Neither is the mp3 player. And one strange glitch is that it forgets my ringtones now-and-then and defaults to one of the pre-installed tones.

It's a nice phone but still has some bugs that need to be worked out.

Awesome Smart Phone! January 13, 2012

Reviewer:  BattleSoul 

This is the first smartphone I've ever owned. I was locked in a battle choosing between the iPhone and the Razr, but in the end I went with the Razr. What influenced my decision was the large 4.3 inch screen, longer 12.5 hour battery life and the ability to use the faster 4G network. Although the iPhone has Siri, but the Razr can use about 5 or 6 different talking assistant apps of it's own. One of which is ironically called Iris which is Siri spelled backwards. There's another one called Speak To It that's pretty impressive. You can even customize the look and voice of the virtual assistant. So these apps will satisfy those who might envy iPhone's Siri.

The Razr is beautiful. It has a very sleek, clean and high tech design. The screen is awesome. It's very detailed and the colors are beautiful. It's very pleasing to look at. The features are great. The phone has all kinds of bells and whistles that I don't even know where to begin. I've had no problems with it. Some have complained about the battery. So far the battery life has held up pretty well. I'm not a heavy user though. There are apps like Juice Defender that automatically adjusts certain settings in the phone to conserve battery life.

If you're a power user and you're concerned about the battery life then maybe you might consider waiting for the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx that's supposed to come out in a few months. It's almost exactly identical to the Razr except that it's a little thicker, but the upshot is that the Razr Maxx has got twice the battery life as the Razr. I had no idea about the Razr Maxx and wish that Motorola would've came out with both phones at the same time to allow consumers a choice between the thinner Razr or the thicker Razr Maxx with more battery power, but like I said I'm not really a heavy user and I'm more than happy with the Razr. I think it's awesome and I think you will too. :-)

Best phone I ever bought for a penny December 4, 2011

Reviewer:  STEVEARENO 

I just want to simply state now that I have owned the phone for about a week, I am finally understanding better how it works and why people complain about battery life. When you get the phone it has most apps running for you -to impress, but that really drains battery life. Once I figured out how to remove the generic apps that I will "never use" (note: some you can only hide), I then set the battery saver mode to automatically turn things off in certain situations like the GPS, it is a real battery killer when you don't have it plugged into your car charger. I then downloaded the free app "AP2SD" and moved as many programs and apps to the SD card to free up the phone's operating system as much as possible. This phone is really fast for most things the average person needs to use it for on a daily basis. The only thing that I would say could use a little work is the camera. -But since I bought it for a penny on Thanksgiving Day, I really can't complain about anything!

Wow- Super Fast December 3, 2011

Reviewer:  accuratereviewer 

I had a Samsung Epic from Sprint, I have switched to Verizon. This phone is way faster, thinner and has a longer battery life (you need to adjust the settings.) Screen is nice a big yet not overly big. Its processing is super fast (part of this is also Verizon's network and coverage) Color and screen is nice and bright. Use a lot for work and it has helped me be more productive on the road. Highly recommend this phone, got it during the penny pincher sale for $.01 It was practically free. Highly recommend.

AWESOME, except for battery and pentile display December 2, 2011

Reviewer:  A. Ciccone 

I came from an OG Motorola Droid and was pleasantly refreshed by the speed of execution on tasks this phone reflected.

A major annoyance is the pentile display causing certain images to appear grainy i.e. red on black. Super AMOLED PLUS looks MUCH better than just Supoer AMOLED Advanced. Unfortunately they decided to take the power saving route over the visual quality one.

This leads right into the gripe about battery life. Just this morning I found my phone on my dresser nearly dead before having to go to work because I forgot to charge it overnight last night (I charge it overnight every night) and I do not even use the phone heavily.

The Kevlar on the back has almost a grippy yet silky touch to it which is a plus while holding the phone.

The phone is the thinnest on the market and very light. I was worried I would have troubles sticking it in my pocket the way I did with my OG Droid but it turns out this phone is extremely easy to take in and out of ones pocket.

I could not imagine it lasting more than 4-5 hours if I was actually using it for GPS or to watch videos etc.

I will still give this phone 4 stars as it is great and very responsive. Overall I am happy with the purchase.

one of the best around November 28, 2011

Reviewer:  Ean Gable 

Seems like you are either an android guy or a iphone person. Once you get locked in- dang hard to move- as one friend said- droid makes iphone look like 1990s. I am a big fan of the razr- fast, simple and super powerful- i add my thumbs up to the pile

Great Phone ... for awesome price November 23, 2011

Reviewer:  laksinu 

This is my first DROID phone and I am really loving it ... thanks amazon for giving this great price , the ordering process from amazon is really smooth and had NO issues. I received the phone in 1 day .... great job and great phone .. from Motorola.

tip.. if u are about to use internet a lot ... battery may consume fast so ... buy a extra charger .. that is sold in amazon for 5 bucks ..

Awsome November 21, 2011

Reviewer:  Laura 

This phone is 1 word.AWSOME!!!I ordered it for a penny and verizon charges you $300&you get a $100 amazon gift card for the hotspot feature(which i really needed!!)i couldnt pass this deal up!!

Great Phone!! November 21, 2011

Reviewer:  V. Kebeli "Flogator"  (Nebraska, USA) -

This is is an excellent phone. Fast, beautiful screen, smart actions, superb hardware, and many more. The overall design is amazing. I am coming from Iphone 3,3GS, and 4. We also have Iphone 4S. This beats down Iphone 4s easily on all aspects except for camera. RAZR camera is fine, but Iphone 4s has abetter camera.

Nice phone, not great battery life January 14, 2012

Reviewer:  Maximillion  (Indiana, USA) -

This is a great phone in most respects. Nice touch screen (even for fat fingers), good speed and function.
However, my major complaint is battery life. The spec states "up to 8 days in standby". When I'm working on a job site, that's how I use it, just for a few calls. The battery only lasts 24 to 36 hours. Yes I have turned off WiFi and most updates. The battery information says the main users of power are Android operating system and the cell standby.

Terrible Battery December 7, 2011

Reviewer:  Kevin M. Hyder "Hnyvek"  (Newport Beach, CA) -

Ok, so this phone is beautiful, light, and pretty easy to use. That being said, the battery life is the worst of any phone I have ever owned. I talk on the thing maybe 10 minutes a day, keep it on standby with the display off, and might listen to 2 or 3 songs. That's it. No video, no bluetooth, no nothing else and the battery won't even last a full 24 hours. I find I'm charging it about every 15 hours, and it takes a full 3 hours to reach a full charge from 10-20%. I am incredibly disappointed as this makes the phone pretty much useless if you are going to be out and about for a full day. I wouldn't recommend buying it.

Loving this phone November 11, 2011

Reviewer:  Book crazy  (Tennessee) -

I have only had this for a day, so I'll add to this if any major glitches show up, but right now its the best thing since sliced bread. The screen is amazing. Bright, crisp, and big! The camera seems awesome. I love that it has several shooting modes and fast shutter speed. The sport shot is super quick. Panorama mode doesn't require any button pushes after the first frame. Stitches seemlessly. As you can tell, the camera was very important to me. Sound seems good on the speakers. The screen is so awesome. Can't stop talking about it. So think, so light, yet feels great in the hand. I'll add more after I have played some games and tested out the rest of the speed and call quality over the next several days. Bummer for me, I preordered and paid full price from Verizon.

Droid Razr - Best 4G Phone Yet! November 12, 2011

Reviewer:  T. A Battaglia "Earthling"  (Chicago, Illinois) -

This phone is simply amazing. It is fast with it's 1.2Ghz processor & 1GB DDR2 ram. THe 4.3" Super AMOLED screen is just amazing, and with all the features this phones have, I can't think of anything else I would need. Stream netflix movies on the go, listin to music, check ur email, do anything you want right from the palm of your hand.

And, if you want a little extra 'size' - look into the Motorola Lapdock 100 or 500. They offer a laptop type solution that you plug your phone into for a larger view and more options!

Really Veriozon and Motorola have stepped it up!

Check out my review of the Razr!
[...]

bad screen in dark rooms November 27, 2011

Reviewer:  Kevin 

The screen has highly visible dark blotches all over the place that are very apparent in low light/ dark rooms. It affects any view of the phone where the background is black on the display. Motorola claims that this is an "aspect' of their phone that is part of their (cheap/effort to save money) manufacturing process and that it does not affect "general use".... so they have left it at that and just want their customers to "deal with it"

I would not get this phone just based on Motorola's handling of this issue. It is very unprofessional and quite ridiculous to claim that a major defect only apparent in dark light should be looked over and not considered an issue.

I will return mine as soon as possible, and will not deal with Motorola because of how they have brushed off this really quite major concern about their display defect.