Motorola RAZR maxx Ve Review

The all-black construction of the Maxx is reminiscent of the StarTac phones from years past. It is defiantly not a stylish eye-catcher like the brushed metal LG VX8700, which we recently reviewed. Despite this, the Maxx is well built and feels like it should hold up over time. The back of the phone (where the battery cover is located) has a rubberized texture to it. This makes holding the Maxx easier than the slippery VX8600 and Chocolate. The flip opens easily, but does require both hands. With the Maxx placed in your pants pocket, you will hardly notice it there, but the weight and height is still slightly more than we would of liked.

From left to right and top to bottom: LG VX8700, Motorola maxx Ve, LG enV

Located on the front flip of the Maxx is an impressive 120x160 Pixel 65K Color Display, which is capable of showing wallpaper, date & time, signal strength, battery level, and message alerts. Despite the size of the external display, we were dissatisfied that Text Messages cannot be viewed on it, while the 2-year-old VX8000 can. There is no reason we can think of as to why this feature was not included on the Maxx.
On the top part of the flip is the 2MP AutoFocus Camera with Flash, and on the bottom is the Touch-Sensitive music control buttons. All of this is located under a piece of clear plastic that loves to show off fingerprints.







Located on the left side of the phone is the Volume Up/Down buttons and “Smart” multi-function button, as well as the Mini-USB Data & Charging port. On the right side is the Voice Command button.



Removing the battery cover can be tricky, since there is no release-button to press. Instead you must slide the battery cover off and on. Once the cover is removed, you can access the MicroSD card slot. Even though the battery cover must be removed to gain access to the memory card, this is still easier than the VX8700, which also requires the removal the battery. Still, we prefer having the memory card accessible from the side of the phone, without having to remove battery covers, which may wear-down and possibly break over time.


When opening the phone, the hinge works smoothly, without any sound or loose feeling in the hinge. The inside of the flip houses the 240x320 Pixel QVGA 65K Color Internal Display. At first, we were surprised to learn that the display was only 65K Color, where most other phones in this price range are 262K Color. However, after using it side-by-side with the VX8700, we can say that there is no noticeable loss in color when viewing the same images and wallpapers on both phones. In fact, we were more impressed with the Display on the Maxx, since it allows 6 different levels of brightness. With it turned up to the highest level, the display is much easier to see outside in direct sunlight than most other phones, and due to it being QVGA, images and text are clear and defined, with no jagged edges.

Located on the hinge below the display, is an innovative 2-step AutoFocus button for the camera. It functions in the same way the a real digital camera works, that you press the button down half-way to focus on the subject, then press all the way down to capture the image.

	Backlight On

On the bottom flip is the black plastic keypad with teal blue backlighting, which automatically turns on or off depending on the surrounding light level. The 5-way Navigational Pad is located at the top and is a comfortable size to use with your thumb. By default, it provides one-touch access to the Main Menu, Mobile Web, V Cast, Get it Now, and Calendar, but the software allows you to choose from 18 choices for these shortcut keys. On either side of the navigational pad is the Left & Right soft key, Camera, Clear, Send, and End keys. On the bottom is the numeric keypad. The numbers are large and are well spaced out. We were glad to see this keypad design, since it is easy to use for dialing and text messaging. All of the buttons have raised plastic lettering; so it provides an excellent textile feel over the VX8600 and VX8700.