Motorola DROID RAZR vs HTC Rezound

Introduction:

Inching closer to the busy holiday season, Verizon customers have a lot to be thankful for because they’ve been blessed with a handful of quality smartphones this year alone – and it doesn’t look like it’ll be slowing down anytime soon! Very recently, both the Motorola DROID RAZR and HTC Rezound launched to an awaiting audience that have been spoiled time after time with devices deemed to be the most cutting edge, but now they’re probably thrown a pickle in contemplating which one to side with. Obviously, the two Android powered smartphones are vying for supremacy, but in the end, there can only be one that can seemingly claim the coveted top spot.

Design:

Being one of the most crucial things for a smartphone, its appearance can really set the tone on whether or not it’ll have the allure to reel in consumers. Knowing that, there’s no arguing that the Motorola DROID RAZR essentially has all of the design characteristics to make it so beloved from everything else out there. Like seriously, looking at its razor thin construction is a marvel to behold on its own, and to complement its chic looks, it’s graced with a Kevlar coated back cover, stainless steel interior core, Gorilla Glass, and water repellant nanocoating. Well, it’s not to say that the HTC Rezound is ugly looking, rather, it looks like any other handset out there on the market, and it is bulky, almost twice as fat as the RAZR.

As we know, the HTC Rezound features a 4.3” S-LCD display that’s stupendously detailed thanks to its 720p resolution (720 x 1280). It’s unbelievably profound as we look at them up close and personal – or when fine text is displayed. Everything is so much more detailed, that it looks just way better. Conversely, the 4.3” Super AMOLED display on the DROID RAZR is compelling on its own, despite its lower qHD resolution (540 x 960), thanks to its higher contrast, saturated colors, and piercing brightness output. Yes, we absolutely love the detailed 720p display on the Rezound, but in terms of everyday practicality, our eyes are easily more attracted to the DROID RAZR as well. If you turn on both handsets in a dark room full of people, we’re confident that people will gravitate towards the DROID RAZR.


Indeed, the red glow found with the Rezound’s capacitive Android buttons are undoubtedly eye-catching, but thankfully enough, we didn’t experience any accidental presses with either smartphones.

Between the two, our fingers easily prefer the distinctive and responsive dedicated power button and volume rocker of the Motorola DROID RAZR – whereas, the Rezound’s buttons are simply indistinct.

Perched above their displays, we find their respective front-facing cameras. Specifically, it’s a 2-megapixel one on the Rezound and a 1.3-megapixel shooter on the DROID RAZR.

Lucky for all of us, they feature standard connection ports like a 3.5mm headset jack and microUSB port. With the Rezound, its microUSB port offers video-out functionality, which requires the aid of an optional MHL adapter. Meanwhile, the DROID RAZR has a separate microHDMI port to offer the same functionality very quickly.

Flipping the two over, they both feature 8-megapixel auto-focus cameras, but the Rezound’s camera is the juicier of the two for the fact that it packs a dual-LED flash, backside illumination, and a wide-angle F2.2 lens. Moreover, the Rezound’s back cover can be removed to gain access to its internal battery, SIM card slot, and microSD card slot. Well, in order to maintain its svelte waistline, the DROID RAZR’s battery is not something easily accessed by normal human beings, rather, it’s locked away inside its shell.

Interface and Functionality:

Completely modernized by their dual-core processors coupled with 1GB of RAM, the two Android powered smartphones exhibit enough responsive actions to complement their larger than life status. On one hand, it’s a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor on the Rezound, while the DROID RAZR is powered by none other than a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP4 CPU. Testing out their processing power by using graphically intensive wallpapers, we do notice the DROID RAZR displaying the smoother responses while navigating across its homescreen. Even though it’s not entirely detrimental, the choppiness seen on the Rezound does catch our eye, but it disappears when using a static wallpaper.

Of course, their respective customized Gingerbread experiences will vary across each individual, but to tell you the truth, HTC’s Sense UI continues to be the best one out there thanks to its deeper personalization aspects and refined functionality. Still, we do like the direction that Motorola is taking its latest  skin, but in comparison to Sense, it requires some elbow grease and polish to offer the organic appearance that makes Sense so undeniably lovable.


Internet and Connectivity:

Removing the Rezound’s detailed 720p display out of the equation, the overall web browsing experience is satisfying with both fully equipped handsets. Not surprisingly, their 4G LTE connections offer lightning fast data speeds to get our web site loaded in a jiffy, but their accompanying smooth navigational controls also supplements their top-notch performance. In fact, both deliver an astounding experience since they have no trouble handling heavy Flash content – thus, providing us that tangible desktop-like experience we so dearly adore. The high-res screen makes everything look better in terms of detail, especially in zoomed-out view, when you can actually read the smallest of text.

Bound for Verizon and all, there’s nothing that really separates the two in terms of connectivity. At their core, they’re meant to work with Big Red’s CDMA/EV-DO and 4G LTE networks, but beyond that, they won’t be compatible with domestic or international GSM networks. Regardless of that, they also pack aGPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and mobile hotspot functionality. With the latter, we find the Rezound’s Wi-Fi connection to be significantly stronger than what we see with the DROID RAZR.

Camera:

You’d imagine that the Rezound’s camera would dish up significantly better photos, right? But surprisingly enough, the two appear to be relatively close to one another because of their soft tones with fine details, which essentially makes them look average looking at best. However, it’s the Rezound that has the slight advantage thanks to its saturated color reproduction and modestly sharper low lighting shots. Sadly, the DROID RAZR’s photos suffer from extreme levels of washed out colors – plus, low lighting shots are filled with more noise. Thankfully, it seems that their flashes are able to potently light up the scenery.

Strangely, we actually have a close tie when it comes to shooting high-definition 1080p videos – mainly because of their similarities in outdoor sunny conditions. For starters, they continue to exhibit the same indistinct details that soften their overall appearance, which also doesn’t help when they’re tagged as being ‘high-definition’. Other similarities include their 30 frames per second capture, mostly distortion-free audio recording, and gradual exposure. Oppositely, with shots taken in low lighting, the DROID RAZR’s results are diminished extensively due to the excessive amount of noise cluttering up the video.

Motorola DROID RAZR Sample Video - Day:



HTC Rezound Sample Video - Day:



Motorola DROID RAZR Sample Video - Night:



HTC Rezound Sample Video - Night:



Multimedia:

Playing some music shouldn’t be a boring experience, so that’s why we prefer the interface on the Motorola DROID RAZR, thanks to its alluring 3D-like visuals and usefulness of displaying accompanying lyrics with each song. Listening to some tunes through their internal speakers, the results are close to one another as they produce the same strong and commanding pitches. However, seeing that the HTC Rezound offers Beats Audio when you plug in a pair of headphones, and excellent pair comes in the bundle, it’s astoundingly the better choice to obtain a more full-bodied audio experience.



One would expect the HTC Rezound to be the choice for watching high-definition videos because of its 720p display, but the Motorola DROID RAZR also has its strong sides, with the eye-catchy AMOLED screen- it is able to reel our eyes in with its deeper color production, midnight black color, and high-contrast. Furthermore, running the same video encoded in H.264 1920 x 1080 resolution, the DROID RAZR is able to play it swimmingly – though, we can’t say the same about the Rezound seeing that bouts of slowdown are evident with its playback.

Fortunately, storage doesn’t seem to be an issue with either smartphone since they’re preloaded with 16GB microSD cards. However, the Rezound supplements that offering with a generous 10.48 of internal storage and 2.1GB of space strictly reserved for apps. With the DROID RAZR, it sizes up with another 8GB of internal storage and 2.34GB reserved for apps.

Performance:

Chatterboxes out there will surely appreciate the calling quality performance with both smartphones, well, that’s because they’re nearly identical good. Thanks to their powerful earpieces, voices resonate with enough robust tones to make them easily heard on our end – and there is no background noise or static. Meanwhile, our callers are exposed to similar results as they’re greeted with clear and distinctive voices. Turning our attention to their speakerphones, they’re indeed powerful with their output, but there’s a subtle amount of crackling heard with the Rezound.

Additionally, signal strength is the same with both devices as they display an average amount of bars in high coverage areas. Still, it seems that 4G LTE penetration is rather weak indoors, which causes them to drop to 3G connectivity instead – albeit, it’s not a problem outdoors.

If we look at their spec sheets, one might be puzzled by the underwhelming 1,620 mAh battery packaged along with the HTC Rezound – whereas, the DROID RAZR is hiding away a larger 1,780 mAh one under its slim figure. Nonetheless, their battery life performance on an everyday basis seems to be similar to one another, as we’re able to get roughly 10 hours of juice on a single charge. However, it seems that the DROID RAZR’s tank is still left with a bit of juice left – though, it’s not that much. Despite that, they’re nothing stellar in this department, but rather, they’re vociferous in appetite and require constant charging.

Conclusion:

When you’re paying the same $299.99 price for each device with a 2-year contract, we’re left to meticulously find out which one is going to offer the most value for the buck to gather which is the superior one. As we’ve come to expect, both handsets have their own unique perks and characteristics that make them so beloved in the eyes of the consumer, but it's the Motorola DROID RAZR that’s able to impress us most. Sure we adore the HTC Rezound’s resounding 720p display and Beats Audio support, but it lacks that one element to exude the aura of being regarded as a benchmark device – rather, it’s merely your typical incremental step up device. In contrast, the Motorola DROID RAZR might not have a pixel crunching display, but instead, it’s able to capture our attention more thanks to the Super AMOLED panel it’s packing. Moreover, its design is truly unique on so many levels, which ultimately enables it to be an attention grabber right from the get-go.  Add in its Motorola Webtop functionality, smooth overall performance, and considerably premium feel, it embodies all of the lovable aspects of a phone that’s priced at the highest-end of the spectrum. Of course, your personal preference may vary, but we may assure you that you will not go wrong with any of the two.

Motorola DROID RAZR vs HTC Rezound: