Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX Review

Introduction:

When Verizon introduced the Motorola DROID RAZR last November, we were impressed with its design, build quality and features, including a 4.3” display and dual-core processor – all wrapped up in a body that is only 0.28” thick. The only caveat being the 1780 mAh non-removable battery, as it may not provide long enough power for heavy users. Motorola hopes to alleviate this with the new Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX, as it comes with a higher capacity 3300 mAh battery, which Motorola says increases the talk time from 12 hours to 21 hours.

Design:

Overall, there is very little cosmetic difference between the DROID RAZR MAXX and the original DROID RAZR. Both are constructed out of premium materials, including a stainless steel body, Kevlar fiber on the back cover for reinforcement, and water repellent nano-coating on the inside to help protect the phone from accidental contact with liquids.



You can compare the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

In fact, when looking at both of the smartphones head-on, they appear nearly identical, though the Motorola logo on the DROID RAZR MAXX is a charcoal gray, and the one on the original RAZR is silver. There is more of a noticeable when viewed from their sides, as the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX is slightly thicker at 0.35”, which is only 0.07” more than its slimmer sibling. Cosmetically, we like this bit of extra thickness, as it helps to smooth-out the “camera hump” that is quite noticeable on the DROID RAZR. Not only that, but the MAXX feels more comfortable in our hand as there’s more surface area to grab on to. There is also a difference in weight of 0.62 oz, but it doesn’t make the DROID RAZR MAXX feel overly heavy.


We remain pleased with the 4.3” Super AMOLED Advanced display, as colors are saturated and viewing angles are good, even though its qHD resolution of 540x960 doesn’t allow for as much fine detail as the HD displays found on the HTC Rezound and Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Typical for an Android, we find the same set of capacitive buttons sitting beneath its display – with the microphone situated very close to the home button. Meanwhile, the front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera and narrow earpiece are all located directly above the display. Furthermore, to profoundly exhibit its premium taste, the Motorola name is etched into the diamond-cut aluminum accent. On the left side of the phone sits a plastic flap that hides away the handset’s microSIM 4G card slot and microSDHC card slot – the latter of which is occupied by a pre-installed 16GB memory card.

The power/lock button is positioned on the right edge along with the volume rocker. Between the two, the power button is slightly more raised versus the flat feel of the volume rocker – still, they exhibit a good response when they're pressed. Finally, the 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and the speakerphone grill are all stuffed into the handset's hump, though as we mentioned earlier, it’s much less pronounced on the DROID RAZR MAXX.