RAZR Hands On Review - In Store - 11/7

[poooookah78]

Greetings all. I saw that the RAZR was possibly on display in stores so I ran down to my local store and they had the display along with a demo unit to play with. I was torn between the RAZR and the GNex and wanted to get my hands on this device. Mind you, I've still got my OG Droid from 2009 and my upgrade has been eligible for a while now.

I played with the phone and I have to say, I wasn't overly impressed. Before I get flamed here, let me explain.

I guess my biggest hang up was the display. While the display was huge and the colors were vivid, I have to be honest, I noticed more pixelation than on the OG Droid. I ran several comparisons such as running the same game on both device and pinching to zoom in browsers to see. I have to admit, the OG Droid still had a sharper image. The overall vividness of the Razr is phenomenal, but, actual pixelation was noticeable on the Razr.

The performance was great, however the fact that it still runs a familiar version of android will make this phone underwelming I'm afraid. I ran 2 benchmarks with quadrant in store (I know quadrant doesn't mean everything) and I received a 2113 and a 2303 on both. The CPU part flew, but the 3d graphics were similar to the performance in FPS of my OG droid.

The positives are this phone flies. With the apps loaded, it ran very smoothly and looked great (aside from the pixelation that many may not even notice). The phone is super thin. Even with the security cable attached to the unit, it was so thin and comfortable in my hands. The fact that the phone is 4g is also huge. I think the major disadvantage of the phone for new buyers is that it wont come with 4.0, rather a much more familiar vanilla feel that we're all used to. Will the GNex be leaps and bounds better? Probably not, but for now, I will hold off on using my upgrade on the Razr.

 

[guidot]

Good quick review thanks for that!

However the pixelization is no doubt due to the fact that the RAZR also has a qHD screen like the Bionic and D3, no?

Sent from my XT862, while on the move.

 

[poooookah78]

Good quick review thanks for that!

However the pixelization is no doubt due to the fact that the RAZR also has a qHD screen like the Bionic and D3, no?

Sent from my XT862, while on the move.

Yes, I guess I should have pointed that out. I had a bionic right beside it and it was comparable to the bionic in pixelation, however the pixelation on the bionic was just a tad more noticeable. Sorry guys, try not to flame, just my honest opinion. I have nothing to gain/lose by my post.

 

[DroidHoff]

Also went in store today for a hands on but had a completely different experience. While pentile seems here to stay (including gnex) I did not notice it all that much. Side by side with the bionic I pulled flat red , blue and green screen images and the razr was hands down bounds better display wise than the bionic. HD video playback was crisp and not blurry and overall I was very impressed with the image quality of the display. The most amazing part of this phone was by far it's weight. It weighed next to nothing at all and felt amazing in my hands. I also did side by side camera and shutter speed test with the bionic and the RAZR again was noticeably hands down more responsive. In average light conditions the image captured almost instantly with good resolution. I took a 15 second video of the camera app and responsiveness that I will upload later but be advised it was taken with the pos palm pixi I've had to sport after selling my tbolt a week ago. Thanks for sharing your experience though, I kind of find it odd that so far people seem to be having different experiences but I think that's mainly because peoples expectations vary wildly in these things.

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi using Forums

 

[anhanymouse]

Also had a hands on with it and just like everyone else so far wasn't too impressed. Please be forwarned that these were my impressions, so please don't flame me if you think differently^^

A few things I noticed that previous posters didn't mention. Not sure if it was the particular unit I played with but when scrolling in apps or the browser, I would have to use the tip of my nail or else the screen would bug out and zoom in/out sporadically. If I had fat fingers, then id attribute it to the screen reading two pressure points and thought I was pinching, but I'm asian so comparatively, I have small hands.

Another thing I noticed was it got hot fast. On 4g, and 3g, the top where the antenna is located which is understandable. But turned on the hotspot app, the entire screen got hot after about 2 minutes until I turned it off. Didn't want to set off the alrm by pulling out the charger to see how fast the battery dies but if it got that hot that fast, battery life doesn't look to good. I know hot is subjective, so to compare there was no tmep guage but it got hotter than my og overclocked to 1.1 Ghz when playing a movie.

Another thing to note, there may be some residual issues with the 4g/3g handoff from the bionic because I did lose connectivity after it switched bands a few times. Didn't come back for a few minutes. Could be just the towers, but since the device was tethered to the security device, I could roam too far, lol.

Screen did look better than the bionic since it was right next to it. Was brighter and more vibrant.

Camera was relatively quick but did suffer some focusing lag. You can manually focus by tapping on the screen then hit the shutter. Seemed faster then the autofocus by just hitting the shutter. Just a note as well, it would sometimes focus on the object under the shutter because it didn't recognize what I hit? Maybe I do have fat fingers but I doubt it, lol. The pics that came out were better than the bionic.

The sharp corners weren't as as sharp as they seemed to me in the picures. Kevlar backing looked nice. Didn't have any water on me so couldn't test the waterproof coating, lol. The cover for the sim/sdcard was tight fitting, but held on by two plastic/rubber pieces. I could see myself ripping it off by accident. I think after a while it defeats the purpose of the waterproof coating if that fell off though. The sim card seemed smaller than the one they use in the bionic. I didn't pull it out but seemed the same width as the mini sd card.

I think that is all I can remember right now. Wow, this got long fast.

Again your impressions may be different but these were mine^^

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[DroidHoff]

Here is the 15 sec clip I took. I wish I could've been more in depth in the recording but I had my 2 year old with me and she wasn't to patient!

[video=youtube;u6xs4D_dwBw]http://youtu.be/u6xs4D_dwBw[/video]

Please note I missed the camera button the first time on accident, but the second time i moved the focus to see how long it would take to refocus!

 

[vonfink13]

No flames at all..I love that you guys gave your reviews...thanks for doing em..this is why this is my favorite droid forum...

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[NoBloatware]

Here is the 15 sec clip I took. I wish I could've been more in depth in the recording but I had my 2 year old with me and she wasn't to patient!

[video=youtube;u6xs4D_dwBw]http://youtu.be/u6xs4D_dwBw[/video]

Please note I missed the camera button the first time on accident, but the second time i moved the focus to see how long it would take to refocus!

"This video is private."

 

[DroidHoff]

"This video is private."

Hahaha Sorry fixed!

 

[poooookah78]

No flames at all..I love that you guys gave your reviews...thanks for doing em..this is why this is my favorite droid forum...

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

And the fact that I don't get flamed for a post like that makes me want to post more.

 

[ghoticov]

I went to the local verizon store today and played around with it for about 30 minutes. I was impressed overall. Like others have said, it is VERY thin and I could see how a woman might not like holding it because it is thin and wide ("thats what she said")... but I really liked it. I cant decide if I should wait to compare the Gnex or just take the plunge on Friday and get it on Friday.

 

[spyder560]

Just to add my 2 cents. I too was contemplating getting the Razr so I stopped by VZ today to check it out. I'm a current Droid X owner which I love by the way. Am I going to get this phone? Not sure, I wasn't blown away and still curious about the Nex. Hope this helps.

Pros
- Screen colors were very vivid and rich. Websites were nice and vivid.
- 4G was super fast. Blazed through websites like nothing. It made my 3G X feel so slow and laggy.
- Overall swiping through apps and screens was snappy, wasn't buggy or anything.
- Kevlar backing is nice. It really makes the phone feel 'expensive'. Frame surrounding the kevlar is metal and the top where the HDMI ports are is rubbery which wraps around the corners. It's a very nice build.
- Super light. Current X owners, take out your battery and that's about how light it feels.
- Camera pics were good! Moto finally made a decent camera.
- Size is a tad wider than my X which is nice. Even though it's still a 4.3in screen, it makes it appear bigger.

Cons
- Similiar to previous postings about the grayish white tones. It was a bit disappointing. I noticed when scrolling quickly the whites would lighten then when I stopped it darkened a bit and turned gray and I made sure brightness was turned all the way up. There were no other settings for the display, at least not that I could find.
- Some apps like email had vignetting as well which is a bit strange. Those of you who aren't photographers this means the corners are a bit darkened vs the center of the screen.
- Lightness can be a con because it sort of takes away from the solid feeling of a bit heavier phone. It was almost too light. So is it a pro or con? Judgment call, definitely not a deal breaker though.
- Power button was recessed and a bit hard to push. I'm an X owner so I'm used to just hitting my Home button at the bottom to awake my phone. For me I know this would be hard to get used to. Again this may/may not be a con for you.

 

[SSHGuru]

Good review. Actual the frame around the Kevlar is plastic that looks like metal.. I asked. I tested the camera also and it was snappier - don't know how much better since I was in a well lit store. It did take pictures faster and seemed to try to focus even if I didn't have a green box.

Your cons are on the mark. I turned the brightness up an it improved everything. The only explanation of why it's not up that high on default is to save battery. Also the fact that it's so light and yet kind of sharp (no rounded edges) was a little of a turnoff.

None of those are terrible... Now we'll have to see the Nexus. I have a feeling it will be more rounded and easier to hold - it will be longer though and as far as I know no protective glass.

 

[Oaklands]

I stopped to look at it today. Not really long enough to review it. Of course anything is great compared to D1. I can confirm no lags moving around. A very impressive phone.