Great phone with a few tweaks April 24, 2012

Reviewer:  Tim Welch 

This is the first smartphone I've owned that has never run out of battery on me. As long as I charge it every night, I can leave bluetooth and GPS on all the time. There is no need for battery saving apps, finding that I can't get directions when I need them because GPS was off and I need to wait for a lock, or that the handsfree connection isn't working in my car when I get a call because bluetooth was shut off. The difference between this phone and other phones is that, with the larger battery, you can actually use all of the features that come with the phone, and not have to give it a second thought.

The included email application is great if you configure it the way that works. If you are adding a hotmail/live account, configure it as a corporate sync account - not as a hotmail account - and then you will get push email to work the way you want. Configuring it as a hotmail account doesn't work - you won't receive mail. Likewise, if you are adding a GMail account, configure it as an "other" account - not a GMail account - or else it will have the same problem.

Configuration quirks aside, this phone has one of the best email apps available on any phone, because it allows for both having all of your accounts in one app, and also supports push for Exchange subfolders. I don't know of any other mail app that does both.

With the Dolphin browser installed, and a custom keyboard, this is the first smartphone I've owned that was fast enough to not get in my way when browsing. I find myself sometimes preferring to browse on my phone over my desktop PC, which I never thought would happen.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this phone, especially after figuring out the email app configuration.

"Unbeatable strength" mitigated by slippery sides February 24, 2012

Reviewer:  SR  (Greensboro, NC USA) -

I bought two of these buy-one-get-one from Verizon for my wife and I. I've been using mine for a week and like it alot. Menu, game and data speeds are clearly superior to my old Droid X 3G, but be aware: this phone is slippery. Unlike the Droid X where the rubberized material extends onto the sides giving you good grip, the "Kevlar" fiber back is just on the back panel. The sides are high-gloss black plastic making the phone slick as hell when walking normally. After setting them up, I walked my wife's across the kitchen and it slipped from my hand; waist height on to the stone tile kitchen floor. The plastic and kevlar held up fine and the phone still functions, but the top layer of the "Gorilla Glass" screen shattered (technically crazed). Because the glass and display are integral, the repair is going to be $220. So my buy-one-get-one didn't really pan out. The obvious solution is an otterbox or skin, but I don't know how those will work with the cardock (which is about 65% of my usage). If I were Motorola, I wouldn;t be using "unbeatable strength" as a tagline for this phone.

Best Phone ... Ever February 11, 2012

Reviewer:  Michael A. Updike 

This phone is an Engineer's dream. Almost everything on it is intuitive for analytical types and the hardware and software are both beautiful.

If it were were a woman, I would ask it to Marry me.

highly recommended January 28, 2012

Reviewer:  believer 

I bought the origian Droid razr 3 weeks ago. great phone, no complaints. you know what you are getting with the android OS. no motoblur (as far as i can tell) to hog down your system; some apps which are un-installable but nothing atrocious. hardware feels very study, specs speak for themselves; no lag during screen changes, immediate responses to button presses; havent had it freeze on me

only gripe was original version was battery life. this Maxx fixes this and is as far as i can tell teh best true LTE device on teh market after talking to friends; they are always carrying cables / external batteries with them. no thank you.

lastly, a BIG BIG A+ to amazonwireless as a whole. customer service in swapping the old for the Maxx was as smooth as can be. would absolutely do business again.

Buyer Beware! Very Fragile Screen. October 15, 2012

Reviewer:  ProHomeDesign 

If you are considering a purchase of this phone, keep looking! Unfortunately, the Droid Razr Maxx has a very fragile screen. This issue is becoming more and more widespread as this phone hits the market. Search for it online and learn the details. Do not buy this phone! Verizon and Motorola will not stand behind this product. If you opt for the insurance coverage you will be charged $100 deductible for a replacement. Insurance is for replacing a phone from user damage - not for replacing a defective product. Again, do not buy this phone and get stuck with an inferior product. Motorolas' own website claims: "Seriously thin, DROID RAZR MAXX is the exact opposite of frail." This is absolutely not true.

Honestly by far the worst phone I've ever used...burnt pixel, frozen screen, horrible battery life (hours to charge). AVOID!!!!! July 9, 2012

Reviewer:  Tyen 

I've had this phone for over 2 months and it requires constant customization in order to maximize the battery life. Yes the battery life does appear to be almost as good as the iphone; however, it will need to be charged for hours if near empty. The iphone is much better in this space. The photo quality is horrible. Probably like a iphone 3.

It is f'n huge! I have a normal sized hand and it becomes difficult to navigate. For the size of the phone you would guess it would be easier to type...WRONG...after switching from an iphone...I couldnt get use to this typing system for over 2 months. Just a ton of typos and a lot of accidental spaces... This is pretty annoying.

My phone also froze from 2 months of normal usage. It freezes and needed to be restarted twice a day if you are using the apps. The last time it froze...it never restarted.

Bottom line for me is that I would suggest not switching to this phone after an iphone. I would highly recommend the iphone over this.

Would go back to HTC June 12, 2012

Reviewer:  C. Santiago  (Phoenix, AZ United States) -

My previous phone was HTC Incredible, and that it was.

The camera on the Razr Maxx, blah. IF, and I mean if, you can get a picture that isn't blurry then you will get a pretty good photo. I have several camera apps I use but if your hardware is substandard, then your photos will always be substandard. For the cost of this phone, they could've done better. A lot better. No excuse with the technology today. I am not saying it should shoot like a DSLR, but come on.

The battery life, I thought was pretty good. Check to see what else might be draining your battery, if you are not lasting long. I use my phone for everything (camera, lists, games, calendar, reading my kindle stuff, texting, voice recording, surfing the net and navigation) and get pretty good battery life. It does take FOREVER to charge 4-5 hours ridiculous!

My problem is constant home screen lag. What a pain in the @$$. Open the phone and takes several seconds for the icons to come up. I have tried several things as suggested by various users and sites including not using live wall papers, managing home screen app and deleting data with NO improvement. My icons are just calendar, 3 direct dial contacts, tasks and Dolphin browser. None are widgets. This is unacceptable.

Speaker is horrible. But, not with speakerphone, in my experience. I can have a convo and the other party can't tell I am on speakerphone (more of a mic thing, I guess) but I can hear them pretty well, too. Watching videos (HBO Go and Netflix) and listening to Pandora is crappy experience with sound on the Maxx. I feel like am listening to mono tape deck from the 80's. I have tried using equalizer apps, but it doesn't improve. Again, if the hardware is substandard, you will get a substandard experience. Great if I use external speakers, so it's def the phone.

What I do like is the battery life, speakerphone, clarity of the screen, (Very good!), amount of memory, HDMI port... hmmmm that's about it.

I will be going back to HTC on my next phone purchase. I had the iphone 4S, and although I loved Siri and the camera, everything else was not for me like paying for apps that were free on Android and no home screen customization, no voice nav unless you paid for subpar app, google integration not as smooth as with android and my life is completely googlized. I should buy stock. I love my Mac... iphone, not so much.

Questionable Screen Crack Issue May 14, 2012

Reviewer:  T. Meyer "Mr. Meyer"  (US) -

This is not really a review but a question out to the Maxx owner's out there in order to help us potential Maxx owner's. To maintain the positive reviews that this phone is getting, I put it at 5 stars, but it in no way reflexs my experience with the phone. My hope is that through comments this review will become helpful to those who are concerned about the Droid Razer Screen Cracking issue that seems to be growing.

I just ask that anyone out there that has the Maxx to please report through a comment to this review as to:
-How long they have owned the phone?
-What type of protection does the phone have? (case, screen protector, etc...)
-How rough is it handled?
-What type of weather does it normally operate in?
-Has the screen ever cracked?
-Anything else you feel might help us potential buyers.

Thank you in advance.

Don't wait to do this! February 14, 2012

Reviewer:  Joshua Simmonds  (Hudson, MA United States) -

Upgraded from the original Droid and am so glad I did! This is quite easily the best phone I have ever owned (and owned a few!) Battery life is superb and the display fantastic, but the best thing is the quantum leap in performance over the original. Don't hesitate this beast is awesome!

Ok phone but... January 26, 2013

Reviewer:  Chan 

My droid razr maxx is a extremely clear hd phone! It looks and feels great! But if u download a app the whole thing glitches! The touch screen..... ive had better BUT it never cracks no matter how much u drop it and its a hard to scratch it. It glitches a lot and sometimes doesnt work. If u cant afford the iphone 4s or 5 then get this phone.

Terrible purchase-if it could get zero it would December 18, 2012

Reviewer:  Zeedag 

I had the original Motorola droid from day one and loved, loved it. Obviously, when it came time to upgrade I knew Motorola droid would be my only choice. What a disaster! I purchased this in September. Purchased 2 phones. Was having problems from the get go. Some with Verizon, not fault of the phone, but mostly with the phone. First, one of the phones sold by AMAZON was clearly used before since it came all ready with no need to install nothing, really. This phone lasted until a week ago (literally only 3 months from activation) when it started beeping in my year, then froze and now it is dead. So, Amazon lied by selling a used phone as new which lasted 3 months. The other phone which at least looked new since you needed to install everything from scratch, had freezing trouble from the get go. So, is it the phone or is it Amazon wireless selling used phone as new? I don't know but obviously, these phones are a loss. Be careful what you buy at Amazon Wireless

Shoddy hardware December 5, 2012

Reviewer:  Jeremy Wright "locoulysses" 

As with many others, my glass screen broke. It dropped from 1 foot off the ground and shattered. Had to replace that on insurance. I dropped my HTC Incredible probably 50 times and the glass never so much as scratched.

I just got my replacement replaced again under warranty because the headphone jack started shorting out and then stopped working altogether. My replacement replacement has already started shorting out again; apparently this phone cannot handle me listening to music while I bike the mile to and from work everyday, the motion against the headphone plug seems to push the jack around inside the phone and short it out. This also never happened with my HTC, despite using it practically as an ipod.

Otherwise, phone is only okay. Apps are pretty fast. 4G is pretty fast. Clarity of phone calls is not great. A little too big to use with one hand. Battery life is good, lasts all day unless you're watching video in which case it dies very quickly. I wanted to install Cyanogenmod as I had with my old phone, but that's not possible/easy to do yet.

Awesome features August 11, 2012

Reviewer:  S. Sandell "sharonINchicago"  (Chicago, IL United States) -

My phone arrived in two days and was ready to go out of the box. It upgraded to ICS shortly after turning it on (permission required). Apparently some people who have had this phone for awhile have had difficulty with bugs since the ICS upgrade. I have not had a single one and suspect this is because I did not add apps until the update was completed. I have been using an HTC EVO 4G on Sprint for the past 18 months. Sprint changed the contract twice during that time period (giving less for the same price). One of the reasons I had chosen the EVO was the ability to add on the hotspot with unlimited data--Sprint severely restricted data in May and, despite giving three ways to find out your usage, there was no way to know usage until they send you a message that you had reached your maximum allowable (the message itself pushed you over the allowed data). In mid-June the Sprint network started dropping calls in downtown Chicago and, after many calls to Customer Service (also to restore 4G service which mysteriously would become unavailable without calling them--dropping calls requiring several tries to complete--only to have it revert to 3G shortly afterwards) and they eventually admitted to having two cell towers down. This problem persisted through all of July at which time I gave up on Sprint. The RAZR MAXX solves the hotspot problem without any extra charges. The ability to clear items from the notification screen is a great feature. The only criticism I have is that, so far, Verizon Wireless has not allowed customers to use Google Wallet's scanning feature to use in place of carrying credit cards around. Apparently Motorola built in the chip required for access at a later date and, from what I have been able to read on the subject, Verizon is waiting for Isis although there are also rumors that it will be allowing Google Wallet soon--it would be nice if Verizon clarified its position on its website--as of now, it appears that any access via this technology will have to wait until next year. That one issue aside, this smartphone is amazingly fast (4G LTE on Verizon far superior to 4G on Sprint) and has connectivity features that were not available on any other smartphone I've owned (including T-Mobile). Love it, love it, love it. Also purchased Lapdock 100 (had to return to Motorola for quick fix of screen problem on that)--recommend it.

"Web page not available" July 27, 2012

Reviewer:  David Short  (Seattle, WA) -

Wherever I go, the Droid Razr Maxx has a hard time showing webpages. This includes over 3G, 4G, and Wifi. I've tried everything. I noticed poor reception in my house, probably because my wireless router was downstairs and I'm usually upstairs. I installed a new wireless access point upstairs, and the Wifi connection now works great -- as long as I'm in the same room as the router. As soon as I go into the bedroom, which is the next room, I have trouble connecting to web pages, unless I hold my phone a certain way. This is clearly unacceptable.

But it's not limited to Wifi. If I'm out and about, I get poor data connections. I see "Web page not available" at least once a day. Mind you, I'm not out in the sticks; this happens when I'm in downtown Seattle. In the middle of a major city, I have trouble getting a data connection. This is also unacceptable. Typically, I can get a data connection again by completely restarting the phone. This does not make for an ideal browsing experience.

The phone does have some positive qualities. The interface is snappy, the camera is an upgrade over my old phone's, and when I do have a data connection, I can browse with ease. But if I take one wrong step, I'm suddenly without Internet access. The negative qualities of this phone far outweigh the positive ones.

great phone... not so fast downloading April 30, 2012

Reviewer:  Garrett 

I've had the phone for about 2 weeks now, its a Major upgrade from the Eris .. but I've been having trouble with watching videos on the internet. Its been pretty slow with A Lot of buffering.. cant even watch a whole video with out it stopping to buffer 3-6times and I'm on 4g.. my friends iPhone on at&t 3g didn't buffer half as much as my 4g Verizon.. so pretty disappointed with that..getting to a site is fast just don't expect to watch videos w/o it buffering Multiple times. The display is good, camera is decent, love the battery life. Did a lot of research before I bought this phone. Just wish somebody said something about the crappy buffering.. Blazingly fast .. O an there always a problem trying to watch HQ videos. FIX THE BUFFERING!!!!!!!¡!!¡! frustrating trying to wat h a video when it continuously BUFFERS

Best Phone Ever April 4, 2012

Reviewer:  Drew Justus  (Temple, GA USA) -

I have had this phone for about a month now. I read the specs and fell in love with it. I use it for everyday life as well as develop android applications. Very fast and have had 0 issues so far. The battery is amazing and it is super sleek. Hands down get this phone if you think you will like it.

Verizon Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX is Sharp! March 20, 2012

Reviewer:  DesMiller 

I'm not sure if the Motorola RAZR is named that because it's razor-thin or razor-sharp, but either way, it's named appropriately. As a previous EVO user, the RAZR performs like an entirely different animal. It's so much more than a phone, and I have to admit the camera/video capabilities are what impressed me most. You can store tons of photos and entire movies inside the phone, but also have the option of a removable card. There are special effects you can use for the pictures you take (I love going back and forth between black and white). And you can use apps like LiveStream to put out a live mobile streaming event. The phone also has better battery life than any other phone I've tried. The exterior is Kevlar strong, though I'm not going to try dropping mine to see how it holds up.
Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Ambassadors' Program and have been provided with a wireless device and three months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product. My opinions remain my own.[[ASIN:B0071G0KR4 Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX 4G Android Phone, Black 32GB (Verizon Wireless)]]
[...]

Not happy with this phone! November 11, 2012

Reviewer:  PamH 

I got my Razr Maxx in May of this year (not from Amazon.com). At first I thought it was a great phone, but in October I noticed the power button would not always work to turn the phone on. I would have to push it a second time in order for it to power up. The store I bought it from replaced the phone under the insurance plan I had purchased. Then about a week and a half ago the screen froze up so I could not even turn the phone off! I had to find out how to force shut-off the phone. The phone stayed hot for 5 hours, which meant the battery drained completely. After charging all night, it seemed to work okay, but a week later it froze up again and even after charging for 6 hours, it would not turn on. I took it back again and they got me another replacement, but now the phone shows no signal, even though it was fine when I left the store, and it just keeps rebooting!
I would not buy another Motorola product, after this experience. I am going to have to make another trip to the store and talk to the manager to see what, if anything, they can do for me besides give me another Droid Razr Maxx!!!!

Battery life not as advertised, still better than iPhone. November 8, 2012

Reviewer:  brewster lewster "brewsterlewster"  (USA) -

This is a decent phone. Everything is very fast, 4G and 3G on Verizon is fine. The screen is most excellent in resolution for movies. Skype is the best on this phone for sharp international video calls. However, the biggest compaint I have is that the battery life was never as advertised and gets worse like most batteries. I have had it about 9 months and it will last less than two days on stand by, using it very very little. Maybe I can get through one baseball game now after a full charge. Compare this experience to live tests on line where I saw it streaming video for 16 hours!!
Yes, this is still better than phones a few years ago, but not even close to what Motorola claims. This is why I bought the phone and that is why I am so dissapointed. Also, compared to my not so smart Quantico (which had its own issues, like texting) this call quality is really quite lousy with frequent drop outs on my end.
This is far superior to an iPhone, though: Screen, battery life, speed, camera.
Maybe the new Maxx is better, but I may look at Samsung.

Defective fragile glass. November 1, 2012

Reviewer:  Horban 

Great phone if you lock it in a safe and don't use it! Actually you still might have a broken glass when you open the safe!. Mine along with a growing number of others are experiencing the cheap gorilla glass breaking for no apparent reason (Mine cracked while on the charger!). Then Motorola charges you $100 each time. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE! I would actually give it 5 stars if I wasn't for this. I'm going back to my DroidX until I can upgrade (which I just did 1 month ago) then I will never buy Motorola again! That is how badly they have dealt with this problem.