Design
Based on its slim and seductively stylish construction, you would never guess the Motorola Droid Razr M costs a mere $99. The first thing that hit me when I picked up the device is its sizeable 4.3-inch screen. Thanks to a bezel that’s practically nonexistent, the display extends almost to the phone’s left and right edges. This helps fool the eye, giving the illusion that the screen is larger than it actually is. The display also sits flush with the phone’s front face, and there are no physical buttons here, either, which further heightens the sleekness of the handset’s facade. It’s all part of a design tactic Motorola refers to as the Droid Razr M’s "edge-to-edge" display and certainly gives the device a sophistication not many handsets can match.
In fact the only tangible buttons, a power key and volume rocker, sit on the Razr M’s left side. Other design elements include Motorola’s signature Kevlar fiber coating that has graced its Droid Razr handsets for years. It helps resist the phone’s back from scratches and scrapes. Also on back is the phone’s 8-megapixel camera with LED flash; the camera and flash are encased under a glossy plastic panel, which, unfortunately, is a fingerprint magnet.
A Kevlar fiber coating resists scratches and scuffs.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Display
The Droid Razr M’s 4.3-inch qHD (960x540-pixel) AMOLED screen packs plenty of visual impact. Despite its low resolution -- compared with the HD displays you’ll see on competing devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S III (4.8-inch, 1,280x720 pixels) and Motorola’s own upcoming Droid Razr HD (4.7-inch, 1,280x720 pixels), the Droid Razr M’s screen serves up eye-popping colors and deep blacks in high-contrast. For example, watching the HQ YouTube movie trailer for "Resident Evil Retribution" was more fun than I’d like to admit. Detail in 720p video files was also sharp, and like many AMOLED screens, viewing angles were nice and wide, allowing me to see the display well from off-center angles.
The screen offers high contrast, wide viewing angles, and colors that pop.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the Motorola Droid Razr M comes infused with a modern version of Google’s mobile operating system. While it may not be Android’s freshest flavor, 4.1 Jelly Bean, the phone’s software is current and very capable. The company said the handset will receive a Jelly Bean update by the end of the year. Motorola also has placed its own interface on top of Android, which offers its own enhancements. Like many Ice Cream Sandwich phones, the Droid Razr M’s lock screen displays the time and date in a clean font on the upper left. A sliding button to toggle phone volume sits opposite to the right.
The lock screen lets you jump directly to many phone functions.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
The Quick Settings screen give fast access to often-used functions.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Instead of physical buttons, there are three virtual Android keys running along the bottom edge of the screen. They’re spelled out in icons representing back, home, and recent applications. Above this are four shortcuts to launch the same functions found on the Droid Razr M’s lock screen, though you can swap them for others if you’d like.
Features and apps
One of the nice abilities of Android 4.0 is its native support for folders. Just drag app shortcuts on top of one another to create custom folders and help beat back home screen clutter. I suggest doing this, too, since as an Android device, the Razr M has access to more than 600,000 apps and counting in the Google Play store.
Create folders to save space on the home screen.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Sadly there’s a decent amount of bloatware on the phone, including Verizon’s curated app store, NFL Mobile, VZ Navigator, and the Viewdini entertainment search app. There’s Amazon’s own Appstore, too, plus a smattering of questionable software including Color video for sharing and Zappos to shop for shoes.
Motorola adds its Smartactions application, too, a solution designed to automate phone functions to improve usability and performance. With it you can have the phone shut down its data connection at night to conserve battery life or, say, automatically connect to Wi-Fi when its GPS sensor realizes you’ve arrived home. It’s a nice idea but honestly I’d rather control my smartphone settings myself, thank you very much.
Camera
Like my experience with the Atrix HD, the Motorola Droid Razr M’s 8-megapixel camera at first seems like a winner. It has plenty of scene settings, special filters, and shooting modes such as Panorama, Multishot, HDR, and Timer. You can even adjust the exposure manually. The phone takes more than a second, sometimes two, to cycle through shots, which makes nabbing fast-paced action tough.
The camera app features lots of scene options and shooting modes.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Still-life shots were dark and colors bland.
(Credit:
Brian Bennett/CNET)
Shooting fast-moving subjects under low light was tricky.
(Credit:
Brian Bennett/CNET)
Colors outside improved, especially in bright sunlight.
(Credit:
Brian Bennett/CNET)
The HDR mode added more detail to shadows but created halo effects.
(Credit:
Brian Bennett/CNET)
Street scenes in bright sun were acceptable.
(Credit:
Brian Bennett/CNET)
Motorola chose wisely to equip the Droid Razr M with its robust 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor. Joined by 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, the phone turned in a high Linpack score of 182.2 MFLOPs (multi-thread). That’s almost as fast as superphones such as the HTC One X, HTC Evo 4G LTE, and Samsung Galaxy S III.
Connecting to Verizon’s swift 4G LTE network, the Razr M also notched impressively quick data speeds. I clocked download throughput at an average of 18Mbps, with uploads often exceeding a blistering 16Mbps. As I expected, call quality was rock solid on Verizon’s CDMA network. Callers described my voice as clear and easy to hear with no distortion. They did detect a slight background hiss, so they knew I spoke to them from a mobile line. On my end callers came through loud and clear through the earpiece, and the speakerphone has enough volume to fill a medium-size conference room.
The 4G LTE data speeds were very fast.
(Credit:
Brian Bennett/CNET)
Conclusion
I haven't been this excited about a compact Android smartphone for quite some time. The $99 Motorola Droid Razr M is not only fast, thanks to its premium processor, but it has generous battery life to match. Throw in this phone's gorgeous 4.3-inch AMOLED display, sleek styling, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, and you're looking at one of the best deals to hit Verizon in ages. If you plan to take lots of photos on the go, though, this device isn't for you. Sadly, even while the Droid Razr M's camera boasts lots of features and settings, it's a slow shooter with lackluster image quality. For shoppers looking for a phone that takes excellent pictures, then I suggest springing for the more expensive $199.99 Samsung Galaxy S III. Motorola's upcoming Droid Razr HD and Droid Razr Maxx HD due out by the end of the year will offer bigger, sharper screens and larger batteries but likely higher sticker prices. Still, the Droid Razr M's unique blend of high-class looks, premium features and performance, and low cost of entry are hard to pass up.
Source : reviews.cnet.com
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