Motorola expands RAZR lineup with three new Android smartphones
Motorola Mobility and its parent company Google announced three new Android-powered smartphones on Wednesday: the 4.3-inch Razr M, the compact 4.7-inch Razr HD, and a Razr Maxx HD model with an upsized battery and internal storage.
The Razr M has an AMOLED edge-to-edge display that Motorola says offers 40 percent more real estate than Apple's iPhone 4S. The Razr M will be available for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year service contract with Verizon only in the U.S., and will be compatible with its high-speed 4G LTE network. The Razr M will also be launching in "several Asia Pacific countries" in the near future.
The new Razr HD has a 4.7-inch high-definition display that Motorola said is the most compact smartphone in its class. It allows users to watch up to 10 hours of movies and TV shows, or 6 hours of surfing the Web.
The Razr HD will be launching in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and Latin America. In the U.S., it will be available before the holidays on Verizon's 4G LTE network, and will be branded as "DROID RAZR HD by Motorola."
Finally, Motorola also announced the larger Droid Razr Maxx HD, which has the same features as the Razr HD but offers significantly greater battery life. Motorola said the Razr Maxx HD will offer 32 hours of performance based on an average user profile that includes both usage and standby. The Razr Maxx is advertised as offering 13 hours of straight video playback, 10 hours of YouTube HD content, or 8 hours of Web browsing.
From left to right: Motorola's new Razr M, Razr Maxx HD, and Razr HD.
Motorola is also catering to developers and modding enthusiasts by offering special developer editions of the Razr M and Razr HD. They will be available online only through motorola.com in the U.S., and will allow owners to use Motorola's software tools to unlock the bootloader.
Also on Wednesday, Motorola chief Dennis Woodside said his company plans to upgrade all of its current smartphone lineup to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the latest version of Google's operating system. For those handsets that cannot be upgraded, the company will offer customers a $100 credit off of one of the three smartphones unveiled this week.
Motorola joins Nokia in unveiling its new flagship handsets on Wednesday, one week before Apple is set to hold its own media event where it is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhone. Both Nokia and Motorola emphasized the size of the screens of their latest smartphones. Apple is also expected to increase the size of the display on its next-generation iPhone to 4 inches.
The Razr M has an AMOLED edge-to-edge display that Motorola says offers 40 percent more real estate than Apple's iPhone 4S. The Razr M will be available for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year service contract with Verizon only in the U.S., and will be compatible with its high-speed 4G LTE network. The Razr M will also be launching in "several Asia Pacific countries" in the near future.
The new Razr HD has a 4.7-inch high-definition display that Motorola said is the most compact smartphone in its class. It allows users to watch up to 10 hours of movies and TV shows, or 6 hours of surfing the Web.
The Razr HD will be launching in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and Latin America. In the U.S., it will be available before the holidays on Verizon's 4G LTE network, and will be branded as "DROID RAZR HD by Motorola."
Finally, Motorola also announced the larger Droid Razr Maxx HD, which has the same features as the Razr HD but offers significantly greater battery life. Motorola said the Razr Maxx HD will offer 32 hours of performance based on an average user profile that includes both usage and standby. The Razr Maxx is advertised as offering 13 hours of straight video playback, 10 hours of YouTube HD content, or 8 hours of Web browsing.
From left to right: Motorola's new Razr M, Razr Maxx HD, and Razr HD.
Motorola is also catering to developers and modding enthusiasts by offering special developer editions of the Razr M and Razr HD. They will be available online only through motorola.com in the U.S., and will allow owners to use Motorola's software tools to unlock the bootloader.
Also on Wednesday, Motorola chief Dennis Woodside said his company plans to upgrade all of its current smartphone lineup to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the latest version of Google's operating system. For those handsets that cannot be upgraded, the company will offer customers a $100 credit off of one of the three smartphones unveiled this week.
Motorola joins Nokia in unveiling its new flagship handsets on Wednesday, one week before Apple is set to hold its own media event where it is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhone. Both Nokia and Motorola emphasized the size of the screens of their latest smartphones. Apple is also expected to increase the size of the display on its next-generation iPhone to 4 inches.
Comments
YAWN... who cares about fugly pieces of plastic. At least the Lumia looks good
Quote:
Originally Posted by blackbook
YAWN... who cares about fugly pieces of plastic. At least the Lumia looks good
You might not like plastic but please, Lumia? You mean that 'looks good' phone that nobody wants to buy?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
It's so cheesy that they name these things "RAZR's" when they have no resemblance, no lineage, and nothing in common with the original RAZR.
Lame-O-Rama.
It's almost as sad as Volkswagen similarly trading on past glories by constantly using the "Beetle" name even though they haven't made one since the late 70's and haven't designed a car anything like the Beetle since the 1930's.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
The Razr M has an AMOLED edge-to-edge display that Motorola says offers 40 percent more real estate than Apple's iPhone 4S.
Not sure what it means. Galaxy Note 2 possibly offering 100% more real estate than iPhone 4s, does not mean it is usable.
The thing that matter most is the screen to case ratio. Does the Razr M has a comparable case dimensions? If so 40% of more usable real estate would sound impressive.
Originally Posted by drobforever
You might not like plastic but please, Lumia? You mean that 'looks good' phone that nobody wants to buy?
I do have something of an admiration for both Microsoft and the hardware on which their phone software runs these days.
The Nokia line is simple. It's almost iPhone-sans-Apple, and it forgoes all the crap to which Android is forced to resort get sales. Clean lines, clean design, and it appears to be a solid build. Not a tank like my old LG flip phones, and without the heart put into iPhone design, but better than the piecemeal Android drivel that gets spewed out, at least.
Sorry, but I'm looking at the phone, and I don't see how it is edge-to-edge. The edge looks maybe thinner than the other phones. Am I missing something here?
Name one car model who's styling has not changed over the years.
I like the concept of the on screen nav keys, and I'm glad someone is taking battery life seriously. Otherwise, big fat meh.
Here's the problem with AMOLED technology. There is an article July 12, 2012 in TweakTown that says those stupid little widgets and having white backgrounds on the screen can over time cause screen burn in. Samsung knows about it and WILL NOT REPLACE BURNED IN SCREENS UNDER WARRANTY. This problem is inherent in AMOLED, but not in LCD technology.
Oh well, these guys are STUPID.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dillio
Sorry, but I'm looking at the phone, and I don't see how it is edge-to-edge. The edge looks maybe thinner than the other phones. Am I missing something here?
I was wondering the same thing. Looks like marketing hyper-bole. They probably remember the rumors of edge to edge screen iPhone and decided to beat Apple to it by slapping on the label "edge to edge" on one of their chunky fugly phones.
That's incorrect, the original was manufactured in Mexico until recently. So a bit of fail there.
The other thing I am finding out about is that many Android phones are over clocking their processors to give the mass consumers the idea that they are faster, but it is more unreliable. I had an on-line discussion with a former cell store owner and he said they had lots of failure problems with HTC and think that this over clocking might be the issue. Over clocking creates more heat and consumes more power and makes the system less reliable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thataveragejoe
I like the concept of the on screen nav keys, and I'm glad someone is taking battery life seriously. Otherwise, big fat meh.
Meh? Really? Sure, it's not beautiful (and goodness knows, that's what really matters), but it has a 4.3" screen in a form factor nearly identical to the iPhone 4S.
Which begs the question: Why can't Apple deliver a larger screen in close to the same form factor? I'm tired of squinting when I type text messages on my iPhone 4.
They ruined that branding. The Razr was a respected hunk of junk in its day. They shouldn't destroy that legacy. The most important part of Apple's business and the reason why they have been so successful, as a company, is because of the WHY they do what they do. The WHY means everything. When your WHY is 'money' you've already lost - in the long term.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dillio
Sorry, but I'm looking at the phone, and I don't see how it is edge-to-edge. The edge looks maybe thinner than the other phones. Am I missing something here?
Obviously they meant "bezel edge to bezel edge."
In a world with the iPhone I don't want to buy it but if I had to choose between the Lumia and any Android-based device I'd choose the Lumia. Blue, if you're buying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tylersdad
Meh? Really? Sure, it's not beautiful (and goodness knows, that's what really matters), but it has a 4.3" screen in a form factor nearly identical to the iPhone 4S.
Which begs the question: Why can't Apple deliver a larger screen in close to the same form factor? I'm tired of squinting when I type text messages on my iPhone 4.
No offense, but maybe you need your eyes checked. I have almost perfect vision and I can see mine just fine.
re: the article, this is absolutely one of the ugliest phones on the market, in my opinion. A co-worker of mine bought the original Moto Razr a year or so ago, and I used it for about 5 minutes and it wasn't a great experience. And that was before I had an iPhone, I was on the OG Moto Droid at the time.
Looks aside, I'm still not impressed. I'd buy a Lumia before buying one of these.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PjohnT
Name one car model who's styling has not changed over the years.
It's not about the styling it's about the design.
The RAZR was the RAZR because it was (then) an amazingly slim flip phone (i.e. - like a razor blade). These are not that, and have nothing to do with that. This is just Motorolla putting a name from one of their past, more popular products on a completely different product in order to fool people into associating the two and make it sell a teeny-tiny bit more than it otherwise would.
Similarly, the Volkswagen Beetle was designed in a completely different way than almost any other car (which was the whole point), and just making a short fat car that kinda has the same profile and calling it a "Beetle" is a travesty. The original Beetle was Jobsian.