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Motorola RAZR Maxx Review

If you have read our article on “Top 10 Flagship Smartphones“, you will find the Motorola RAZR Maxx taking a solid spot. It’s an improvement to last year’s RAZR XT910, this time with a beefed up battery and an ICS update. Check out our full review after the break.

Design and Construction

At first glance the Maxx looks like it is made of glass and metal. It has a grey chrome finish for the bezel and a gun metal finish for the majority of the surrounding areas. It will give you an illusion that it is very hefty device but it’s actually made of durable plastic to keep the device light.

Yugatech 728x90 Reno7 Series

On the front is the 4.3-inch display, the earpiece, notification light, front-facing camera and four capacitive touch buttons. You will also notice that there is a small pinhole for the microphone where the capacitive buttons are. I’m not overly fond of it because it looked like someone poked a hole into the glass.

On top is the 3.5 mm headset jack, microUSB and microHDMI ports. On the right side is the power/sleep button and volume rocker while on the lower left side is a panel that covers the microSIM and microSD card slots – a nifty design that is difficult to open if you have short fingernails.

Flip the Maxx on its back and you will find the 8 megapixel camera, LED flash, loud speaker and another pinhole for the microphone at the bottom. The rest of the back is covered with DuPont Kevlar – good for repelling fingerprints and scratches but very unlikely to be bulletproof.

Display

The RAZR Maxx has a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED Advanced display with a resolution of 540×960 at 256 ppi topped with Gorilla Glass. Not one of the best displays I’ve seen for a screen of that size. Pixels are evident, the screen is a little too vibrant and the colours are saturated that it sometimes hurts the eyes.

On the good side, the wide display has true blacks and good sunlight legibility. The 256ppi is already decent but we’re expecting somewhere north of 300ppi for it to be at the same retina-like display resolution as the other flagship phones.
 
UI, Apps and Multimedia

Out of the box the RAZR Maxx was running Android Gingerbread but we were immediately prompted with the Ice Cream Sandwich OTA update. Motorola left the UI almost untouched but MotoBlur will make itself known when you start using its social networking apps such as Social Location. There’s also the MotoCast service which enables you to sync files, images, videos and music from your computer to your phone.

I’m glad that Motorola didn’t fill the device with bloatware and just included those that are useful. There are pre-installed apps such as those powered by Citrix for those who want to keep in touch with their businesses and Motorola’s own Smart Action app that helps you schedule automate the RAZR Maxx actions.

As for multimedia, it’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich so media playback is not an issue.

Camera

The Razr Maxx carries an 8 megapixel shooter with auto-focus and LED flash. The camera can produce sharp images provided that light is abundant.

However, shots taken indoors or during a cloudy day appear duller and gloomier than normal. For low-light conditions the LED flash does a good job and illuminating the subject three to four feet away.

Shutter speed is quick during bright conditions but for low-light I suggest holding the camera steady for another second after hearing the capture sound or else you’ll end up with a blurry shot.

[fancygallery ID=”razr-maxx”]

For video calls, it has 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera. The rear camera is also capable of shooting videos with 1080p resolution at 30fps.

You can check the sample video below:

Performance and Benchmarks

UI performance is snappy with smooth transitions. No noticeable lags but it usually occurs when launching games. Bejeweled 2 and Fruit Ninja sometimes freeze for two seconds at the start but everything else seem to work seamlessly afterwards. From the way it looks, the dual-core processor handles everything smoothly.

For benchmarks, it scored 6,265 on AnTutu – beating the Samsung Galaxy SII but behind the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Quadrant Standard gave it a score of 2,828 – beating the Motorola ATRIX 4G but lagged behind the Asus Transformer Prime TF201.

The RAZR Maxx has the PowerVR SGX 540 to handle the graphics, giving it a score of 37.2fps.

Call Quality & Battery

Call quality is great. I made a call outdoors during a very windy day and the person on the other line heard my voice very clearly without the background noise.

The 3300 mAh battery is a massive treat. The RAZR Maxx managed to stay alive for three days with constant WiFi connection, music playback, regular texting and a few hours of calls. If we add watching movies and a few hours on 3G to the mix the device lasts for a little over two days which is still good.

However, the battery suffers when you start playing games. I played Bejeweled 2 and Temple Run for two hours and the battery is down to 75%. If you need to save on juice, you might want to reduce your gaming time.

Conclusion

Overall, the RAZR Maxx won’t disappoint. The 4.3-inch display, dual-core processors, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, 8 megapixel camera, high-quality build, and massive battery is a great package.

If there’s one thing I want changed or improved on the RAZR Maxx it would be the display. The screen resolution could be better and I find the vibrancy and colours too strong. But if this con is not a big deal, then the RAZR Maxx will definitely work for you.
 
Motorola RAZR Maxx specs:
4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced screen @ 540×960 pixels, 256ppi
TI OMAP4430 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9
1GB RAM
16GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD
HSDPA, HSUPA
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, WiFi hotspot
8MP rear autofocus camera, LED flash
1080p video recording @ 30fps
1.3MP front-facing camera
Bluetooth 4.0
Android v2.3.6 Gingerbread out of the box (upgrade to v4.0.4 ICS now available)
Li-Ion 3300mAh battery
130.7 x 68.9 x 8.99mm (dimensions)
145 gram (weight)

What we liked about the Motorola RAZR Maxx:
• High build quality
• 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording
• UI is fast and smooth
• Good battery life (highest in any smartphone)

What we did not like about the Motorola RAZR Maxx:
• Display resolution can be improved
• Image quality can be improved

The Motorola RAZR Maxx can be bought at Widget City for Php 23,800 (see listing here).

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Avatar for Diangson Louie

This article was written by Louie Diangson, Managing Editor of YugaTech. You can follow him at @John_Louie.

10 Responses

  1. Avatar for Demi Demi says:

    Excellent post. I was checking continuously this
    weblog and I’m impressed! Very helpful information specially the remaining section :
    ) I take care of such info a lot. I used to be seeking this particular information for a long time.
    Thanks and best of luck.

  2. Avatar for Filbert Filbert says:

    Hi,

    just want to ask regarding this phones phonebook entries? Ano yung mga information fields na available? Marami ba ang information na pwede i-store for one entry? Like complete address, alternate address, alternate contact numbers, company, job position, etc.?

    Thanks.

  3. Avatar for Filbert Filbert says:

    Hi, just want to ask regarding this phones phonebook entries? Ano yung mga information fields na available? Marami ba ang information na pwede i-store for one entry? Like complete address, alternate address, alternate contact numbers, company, job position, etc.?

    Thanks.

  4. Avatar for Mj Mj says:

    Widgetcity is a reliable shop?

    • Avatar for Ichigo Ichigo says:

      If you don’t mind the following:

      – No official receipt
      – Unboxed, broken seal
      – Store warranty only, manufacturer(s) won’t honor device(s) bought from Widget City
      – No NTC sticker

      These are just to name a few, and these are the very same reason they can offer devices at such a very low price, they don’t pay taxes, no legal identity, sells illegally brought (smuggled) devices. If you don’t mind the aforementioned, then go for it, don’t say I did not warn you.

  5. Avatar for Benchmark Benchmark says:

    I was a Motorola Droid razr Xt910 user. I got picked pocketed last month, and have to buy again with the same model. Sad to say, after a week, Maxx was released at Widget City (same shop where I bought my 2 droids). It was really frustrating, coz the problem in xt910 user were solved in maxx, which is the battery.

    Anyway about the screen, I find it very bright and clear, so you have to lower the brightness down.

    The camera shot is somewhat slow due to it auto focus (I got alot of blurry shots of my kid.)

    I am not sure about the plastic built of the device. What I know its an all aluminum frame with thin strip of hard rubber for grip. Probably the plastic part is what frames the screen.

    By the way, I am using 4.0.4 ICS on my phone (root and sw). But it was posted in GSM Arena that the ICS is now available for updates to all xt910.

    Yep, I am using the different model, but maxx and my model has only different capacities of battery, over all, they have the same specs. :)

    Well just a happy user of Motorola Droid Razr (minus the battery power of my phone hehehehe)

  6. Avatar for paolo paolo says:

    I’d like to have this phone, but the imaging quality just kills it for me. :(

    Might as well get a Sony Xperia S, now that Android 4.0.4 is available for it.

  7. Avatar for kkk kkk says:

    may dual sim ba ang razr?

  8. Avatar for Pinoy_ako Pinoy_ako says:

    It is a great phone in my opinion.

    The idea of using kevlar instead of other alternatives such as carbon fiber is brilliant since it diminished interference with signals sent and received by the phone.

  9. Avatar for Glen Glen says:

    Hi Abe, would you recommend this over the HTC ONE X?
    I have the HTC ONE X but battery life isn’t that good

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