Razr MAXX - TemptingReviews Boot Camp

[revelated]

It looks like I will have to do a video on this phone after all. I admit I was skeptical. But the phone has actually managed to surprise me. Both good and bad surprises, I'm afraid. And so I post my travel notes here for those who are curious.

The Issues

• I'm not sure what the deal is on this one. But I have the regular RAZR, and while it did experience the data drop issue, it was nowhere near as bad as with the MAXX. With the regular RAZR I could switch in and out of Airplane Mode and it would kick back on, but the MAXX seems to require a hard reboot for some reason. Annoying, but it only happened the one time.
• Phone calls MURDER the battery life on this phone. More details about the battery later, but I would estimate that a 1-hour phone call alone was responsible for nearly 30% of the battery loss. This is on par with how the Galaxy Nexus' battery behaves, but the original RAZR would have dropped maybe half that with the same phone call. It makes me wonder if they amplified the radio or something.
• Not the phone's fault, more Android, but it's really getting irritating trying to restore from Google only to find out that the majority of apps don't restore even though they were installed on a previous phone that was backed up. DroidForums is one such app. Also none of the Amazon apps reinstall themselves either. Pretty much any useful app, doesn't reinstall.
• I really was not impressed with the earpiece volume, but the same applied on the regular RAZR.
• The Alarm is a bit spotty. I had it set correctly, verified it was both the night before and the next morning, and it never did go off. It's sitting in an HD Dock so I can easily tell when the alarm goes off, it never did. It worked the next time I used it. Fortunately my internal body clock knows when it's time to wake up during the week - the alarm is just so I don't purposely lay in bed lazy for 20 minutes.
• Weight. No, it's not the Rezound, but the lightness of the RAZR was appealing to me, and I'm not a thin-phone kind of guy. But I like a phone to feel lighter, especially when making calls. I was in pain due to some pulled muscles and holding the phone up for extended periods was killing me more than it would have with the regular RAZR. Yes, it's that significant of a weight difference.

The Battery

• First "Smoke" Test - I used the battery in a "mixed" moderation mode. So no heavy use, and a bunch of varied tasks and actions. This is listed below. The phone achieved approximately 27 hours of battery life in this mode, from a full charge, no discharge. Color me impressed.
  • Screen brightness set to automatic
  • Bluetooth enabled
  • Full GPS w/Google Location enabled
  • Two different weather widgets with constant updates
  • Push corporate email
  • One 20 minute phone call
  • A little bit of web browsing
  • A little bit of music streaming
  • 700MB worth of Mobile Hotspot (I have unlimited)
  • Three YouTube videos in HD mode
  • Full 4G - NO WIFI AT ALL
  • No task killing, no app killing, no process killing, no third party managers, nothing
  • One tweet

• Second Test - Time to put this phone to the real test. This involved another "mixed" mode, but with less active use. So basically it involved everything above except for the Hotspot, the YouTube, the phone call and the tweet (used the Nexus to handle these tasks instead, so the MAXX stayed in the holster the whole time except for looking at corporate email). In this scenario - which emulates a phone that is left to its own vices and in the case of the standard RAZR would have still brought it to its knees - the phone was at 67% battery 14 hours later. If I do simple math that equals a battery life over 40 hours, and that's without WiFi, all mobile data and push. Again, color me impressed.

• Third Test - Here's where the rubber meets the road. In addition to the Smoke Test bullets, here's what other stuff I did. Also, I took only the MAXX to work and left the Nexus at home. The MAXX was my only mobile device today. I needed to know just how good the phone is under stress - and I did stress it. With all of the First Test bullets PLUS the below bullets, I type this now with my phone at 7%, 16 and a half hours later, with Advanced Clock Widget estimating another 2 hours (unlikely). I would say 17-18 hours of battery life under an extremely heavy workload.
  • 1 hour of 4G web browsing via both the built in browser and Opera Mobile (which is the only way I could get into an HTTPS site)
  • 1 hour of phone use across 6 phone calls, 3 of which were in a low signal shielded stairway
  • Downloaded 6 apps over 4G Market
  • Reviewed 3 PDF documents via OfficeToGo
  • Ordered stuff from AmazonFresh Mobile
  • Reviewed traffic and navigation on Google Maps
  • Performed banking tasks via Citibank Mobile
  • Ordered stuff from Amazon MP3
  • Responded to two work emails via Touchdown
  • Reviewed voicemails via Google Voice
  • Screen was set to max brightness and no timeout all day
  • Received two text messages via Google Voice which went to the phone's Messaging app
  • Reviewed weather conditions for 4 cities in the state

All told the MAXX's battery work was impressive. The only downer was just how much battery I lost with phone calling, compared to the regular RAZR where calls seemed to hardly faze it. I know it seems like a no-brainer being over 3000 mAh, but even the Bionic with extended battery could nowhere near touch what the MAXX can pull off under the same use cases. It seemed at times the Bionic's extended battery was what a standard battery should be.

 

[rlarson_mn]

Not an issue for me when switching in and out of airplane mode. My experience with calls relating to the battery was no more than what I had experienced with my Droid X. My battery experience is almost identical to your and it really is the ral deal. A fantastic phone that will only get better with Android 4 upgraded applied. BTW if your looking for a car dock for the Razr Maxx you can take a Droid X or X2 car dock and convert it to a car dock for the Razr Maxx by just removing the first slide in insert and removing the power cable inside the next insert which can be removed by taking out the four screws in the back and removing the second insert.

 

[FoxKat]

BTW if your looking for a car dock for the Razr Maxx you can take a Droid X or X2 car dock and convert it to a car dock for the Razr Maxx by just removing the first slide in insert and removing the power cable inside the next insert which can be removed by taking out the four screws in the back and removing the second insert.

Interesting and creative. I assume however that it would then be without power, correct? I wonder if a Dremel and some JB Weld could make the conversion complete.


Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[rlarson_mn]

Yes since the power cable was removed no power can be connected to the dock however all I did was connect my cable that I connected to my Droid X car dock to the top of my Raze Maxx. Works perfectly.

 

[FoxKat]

Rather than quote that thorough messaage, I'll say this. The apparently massive consumption of power while using the phone for calls may be a fluke (power showing 70% at start while actually at just 70% or 71%, and then showing 40% at finish while actually being 48% or 49% for instance), or you may have something going on there. The RAZR and RAZR MAZZ phones essentially the same phone, save for a different back cover, battery, and front cover where the SIM/SD door attaches, and some minor differences regarding the battery mounting inside. They both have the same motherboard, same radios, same ROM, and same other components. This means that other than size, weight, name, and battery life they should operate essentially identically if with the same apps installed.

It is however highly unlikely that you have mirrored the user profile of your ODR, so there are likely variances as a result of not being identical test subjects. You are obviously both intelligent and articulate so much if not all of what I've written may be second nature to you, but I also express this information for the benefit of others, so please don't take offense.

You may benefit however from running the phone in Safe Mode and putting it through the paces of more than one phone call over a period of time to get a better sample. Also, try Circle Battery to see battery levels in 1% increments.

I'm interested in your further testing results.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[revelated]

All you need to know is - quoted battery life IS using Circle Battery Widget/Advanced Clock Widget Pro (ACW Pro gives time remaining and is generally more accurate on the percentage than Circle Battery Widget).

The phone radios might be the same, but how much power they put out cannot be. There is nothing profile related that would cause a phone call to consume more battery. It's a phone call.

Case-in-point:

Today I basically did test three but without the phone call length, and in fact had more 4G web browsing and emails - more data usage than I normally would have due to what was going on. My phone call duration is just under 8 minutes, and according to ACW, my total estimated battery life will end around 20 hours. So between 2-3 hours additional battery JUST by not using the phone as much.

 

[FoxKat]

All you need to know is - quoted battery life IS using Circle Battery Widget/Advanced Clock Widget Pro (ACW Pro gives time remaining and is generally more accurate on the percentage than Circle Battery Widget).

The phone radios might be the same, but how much power they put out cannot be. There is nothing profile related that would cause a phone call to consume more battery. It's a phone call.

Case-in-point:

Today I basically did test three but without the phone call length, and in fact had more 4G web browsing and emails - more data usage than I normally would have due to what was going on. My phone call duration is just under 8 minutes, and according to ACW, my total estimated battery life will end around 20 hours. So between 2-3 hours additional battery JUST by not using the phone as much.

Maximum power output is the same for all CDMA phones in the USA, and is currently 0.6 watts limited by the government through the FCC. Back in the analog car phone day, where the transmitter was placed under the seat and the antenna was mounted either on the roof, or on a side, front or rear window 3 watts was the maximum. Still, most portable cellphones produce between 200mw & 500mw, typically 250mw. Since both Droid RAZR phones use the same radios and the same ROMS, they should then perform at least nearly identically in similar conditions.

There may be some differences in relative output power between the phones due to slightly different radiation patterns as a result of the different batteries. Also, even the way you hold one phone versus the other can have an impact on the average power consumption as the phone tries to maintain constant communication with the towers while having to deal with the output signal being attenuated by your hands.

Only proper testing in a controlled testing facility can prove one phone to be performing at a higher or lower level than another. Given these phones are mass produced with identical parts and in identical assembly lines, they will likely all perform at nearly the same capacity. And since they are all likely tested to insure they meet specifications, unless the unit you have is defective it will perform within a very narrow range of specified power.

Finally, since the FCC mandates that output power cannot exceed 600mw, I highly doubt any individual phone will produce beyond the maximum allowed, lest Motorola could be subject to heavy fines.



Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[revelated]

I accept partial blame for posting on a tech forum in the first place.

Some of you guys are thinking too hard. Consumers care about one thing. REAL. WORLD. USAGE. There is no controlled this and filtered this and holding this and whatever. It's as simple as a question: Under the same use case in a REAL WORLD SCENARIO, how does the thing perform?

My answer stays and should be considered by anyone who is curious. For some reason - WHATEVER REASON - the RAZR MAXX's battery gets chewed by phone calls, the original RAZR's battery is a lot less on the consumption. Period. I don't know why. Most consumers won't care "why". But it needs to be considered as it may be a dealbreaker for some.