Confessions of a Razr owner

[rushmore]

I went to BB and got a Razr.... Well, I had went in to get the Rezound, but since they had none in stock yet and I planned on testing the Razr anyway- I got one now.

Random observations:

1. The Razr does not get as hot as the Rezound. I downloaded over 1gb of apps in a row while charging, with 4G via the market and the Razr got nowhere near as hot as the Rezound in 4G, or my Incredible would when charging and on 3G. Razr got warm, but not hot. Razr passed the stress test.

2. Speaker is not as loud as my D3, but is okay.

3. Touch response on the Razr with game emulators is significantly better than the Rezound.

4. FWIW, Quadrant average is 2,670. This is about 400 higher than both store demos I tested. The device is more zippy and emulators play faster. I do not understand this, but the Razr is now as fast or faster than the Rezound (compared to store demos). My guess is the VZW demo junk might be choking the demo units.

5. I love the easy access microsd and this makes up big time for losing over 3GB due to the Webtop allocation. Simple swaps of cards.

6. Sound quality is very good and equal to the Rezound, but volume is noticeably lower. I would not use headphones with a higher rating than 18ohms, since will only be lower volume output.

7. 4G works great, but no 4G 15 miles from Lexington. 3G works fine, but a let down, none the less.

8. No opinion on the battery life yet, but I did notice that downloading over 1gb of apps concurrently using 4G resulted in more power draw out than charge coming in. Perhaps this is due to the battery being close to dead when I started.

9. The build is very good, but still awkward using with one hand.

10. I use Launcher Pro, since prefer it over Blur and seems less overhead (it was on the Droid 3, at least). LP is a lot more flexible with options, as well.

11. I like the USB and HDMI on the top. Seems less awkward and more convenient than on a side.

12. In further expounding of item "1.", the Razr does not get as warm as the Rezound in any function. The Razr seems to behave very well in regards to heat dissipation (no bottle up like the Rezound). I might have been wrong assuming the Razr was a heat monster. A few more days before I admit it

13. I still find the display colors too saturated and would be fine if dialed down about 10%, and brightness boosted up. Added: Pentile grain issue too, but my eyes adjust (until I look at the Rezound again).

14. Flash content plays great and so does games tested so far. I might compare Flash performance with the Nexus... oh, never mind

15. Camera is faster than the Droid 3 and takes better pics. Not as good as the Rezound, but not bad either.

16. I miss the radio on the Droid 3

17. Power management seems better than the Rezound.


Summary so far:

Compared to the Rezound, the Razr runs cooler, is as fast or faster, FAR easier card access, no need for a special cable to charge & output HDMI at the same time, and better touch response.

IMO, the cumulative effect of these items makes the Razr a better option, in spite of (IMO) a weaker display. The only thing left to test is 4G in fringe areas. The Rezound does very well in those areas.

Must admit the Razr from a real user perspective is better than expected, but I wish I had above average hand size due to the wide device. Of course, the easy access card would not be there if it was not wide, so there you go.

 

[cereal killer]

Give the device a good run through for a week and you will be quite pleased. If you appreciate a good solid reliable device the RAZR will deliver.

Above everything else that's what this handset has going for it. Specs and better this and that will always be right around the corner but a solid working handset is what I feel is the most important aspect to any phone.

Good first impressions nonetheless. Thanks for sharing.

 

[benne13]

Nice first impression rushmore!!. I've been following your posts on the Rezound and Gnex threads and to see your initial review on the Razr is a quite pleasing. All three Android phones (Razr, Rezound, Gnex) are great and each offer slightly different specs to appeal to their targeted group, so I can never understand the Android fanboyism some have by trying to bring anyone down who finds that the Gnex, Razr or Rezound is actually a better phone for their personal needs, regardless of what the masses think. That what makes Android so great - Choices to appeal to a larger fan base.

I love my Razr and although I will look at the Gnex demo whenever it hits the US, I'm about 95% sure that I'm keeping it for the duration. I just love Motocast and different accessories like HD Dock and others that make this phone IMO something that will keep my interest for my 2 year contract.

 

[rushmore]

Not to mention Flash might be MIA on the Nexus.

 

[cereal killer]

Not to mention Flash might be MIA on the Nexus.

Yeah this is not even funny.

 

[jroc]

Rushmore....you dont what you want, do you...? lol. I think you and sean76 are related.


Flash MIA on ICS? Seeing as I cant get the FM Radio to work yet on my RAZR...the Tune In Radio app still doesnt get all the live radio stations I listen to....I need to go to the Tune In website for all my stations...

I will be holding off on ICS until they can get this Flash thing worked out...or someone can get the FM Radio to work. This was actually a con for the RAZR for me...and I forgot about it until I looked for the FM Radio app. Another plus for the Bionic...lol

The RAZR has me actually liking Amoled screens. Thats short of amazing cuz I was a big LCD fan last year. I'm scared to see the Charge or GS 2 now...lol Last year I woulda said the Rezound has the better screen to me. Now...I'm not so sure. The pros of Amoled really stand out vs the cons of LCD. Even if the Rezound does have the better screen, its not by alot IMO.

And Pentile....well....lets just say its not that big of an issue...IMO. On the RAZR anyway.

 

[rushmore]

Had I not seen the Rezound display, it would be ignorance is bliss for me.

 

[sean76]

Rushmore....you dont what you want, do you...? lol. I think you and sean76 are related.


Flash MIA on ICS? Seeing as I cant get the FM Radio to work yet on my RAZR...the Tune In Radio app still doesnt get all the live radio stations I listen to....I need to go to the Tune In website for all my stations...

I will be holding off on ICS until they can get this Flash thing worked out...or someone can get the FM Radio to work. This was actually a con for the RAZR for me...and I forgot about it until I looked for the FM Radio app. Another plus for the Bionic...lol

The RAZR has me actually liking Amoled screens. Thats short of amazing cuz I was a big LCD fan last year. I'm scared to see the Charge or GS 2 now...lol Last year I woulda said the Rezound has the better screen to me. Now...I'm not so sure. The pros of Amoled really stand out vs the cons of LCD. Even if the Rezound does have the better screen, its not by alot IMO.

And Pentile....well....lets just say its not that big of an issue...IMO. On the RAZR anyway.

hehehehehe...I had to chime in!

Yup me and Rush got Razrs.....I like mine!

And I could tell for the most part, Rush is liking his as well!

He's 100% percent right about the screen on the Rezound....the clarity is awesome!
But I hateeeeeeeeee sense, I hate how it slows the device down, and yes, the Rezound was a Microwave in my hands!

And ohh yea.....no Flash on the Nexus as of right now! Someone reported it this morning....its looking like its for real!

 

[Teegunn]

I've been hemming and hawing over which phone to get myself. Held on to this damn VZ upgrade for 9 months now..... burning a hole in my pocket! I have used the razr and rezound in-store 3 different times now. I am leaning towards the RAZR as of now. The main thing that has kept me from getting it is that Rezound camera is supposedly quite a bit better - bigger aperature, etc. I use my phone camera a LOT. Using Camera360 app, on HDR light settings, it really improves over the stock camera filter. I wonder how much better the RAZR cam is over my DX2, if at all. Everything else is very close between these phones. Neither have a bright enough display, but that may be par for the course on all the new phones coming out now. Sigh..... I am so close to getting one of these but still can't find that definitive thing that says "Get this one!".

 

[jroc]

Yea Teegunn, the phone choices are getting harder n harder.

 

[you2]

Well I played with the rezound and razr side by side at the verizon store for 45 minutes and I have to say I tend to prefer the razr blacks to the rezound higher ppi. Also outside viewing is a big issue with me and razr wins here. Anyways I'll likely go with the razr - the biggest issues still keeping me on the fence are:
razr - better sound but just not quite loud enough
rezound - heavy distortion for phone calls compared to the razr. distortion might be the wrong term but it just doesn't sound as well to my ears. I should explain that i have 15% hearing loss since birth; so I can hear ok without hearing aid but my ears are not great.
rezound fits bitter in my hand; the razr sharp edge is not a +
razr is thnner and fits better in my pockets
razr is a tad wider than I would like
razr has better cell reception.
-
anyways I wish I could find a 'loud' razr

Had I not seen the Rezound display, it would be ignorance is bliss for me.

 

[willis1]

Not to mention Flash might be MIA on the Nexus.

Just to be clear, it's my understanding that flash missing from the nexus is due to ICS. So if they dont get flash for ICS, the razr will have the same issue once ICS is released for it.

 

[rushmore]

Just to be clear, it's my understanding that flash missing from the nexus is due to ICS. So if they dont get flash for ICS, the razr will have the same issue once ICS is released for it.

Hence my not jumping to ICS until sites have changed to HTML 5

Probably a long time away. I expect immense consumer pushback on this. A key differentiation for consumers was the ability to play Flash. Android IMO could be in a world of hurt without the option- especially with tablets. I expect some back peddling and also OEM pressure to support Flash- at least through to version 12 (that may be the last version for desktops too).


No Flash, less consumer perception of Android being better. Tablets would take a huge hit, as would phones. Apple must be giddy with happiness ATM.

BTW, Skyfire is not a very good option, since the app is pickier in what will play and the conversion is at a lower resolution than the original content. Sound is not as good, either.

 

[rushmore]

hehehehehe...I had to chime in!

Yup me and Rush got Razrs.....I like mine!

And I could tell for the most part, Rush is liking his as well!

He's 100% percent right about the screen on the Rezound....the clarity is awesome!
But I hateeeeeeeeee sense, I hate how it slows the device down, and yes, the Rezound was a Microwave in my hands!

And ohh yea.....no Flash on the Nexus as of right now! Someone reported it this morning....its looking like its for real!

Launcher Pro solves the Sense thing I use LP on the Razr as well, since has more options than Blur or Sense and does not seem as overhead hungry.

 

[willis1]

Hence my not jumping to ICS until sites have changed to HTML 5

Probably a long time away. I expect immense consumer pushback on this. A key differentiation for consumers was the ability to play Flash. Android IMO could be in a world of hurt without the option- especially with tablets. I expect some back peddling and also OEM pressure to support Flash- at least through to version 12 (that may be the last version for desktops too).


No Flash, less consumer perception of Android being better. Tablets would take a huge hit.

Thanks for the info, never thought I would complain about having options but I can't decide between the razr/rezound/ or nexus which at this point may never be released here.

 

[rushmore]

Thanks for the info, never thought I would complain about having options but I can't decide between the razr/rezound/ or nexus which at this point may never be released here.

I will still test the Rezound out, since common reports and some reviews point out it has better 4G reception and stronger wifi. The display is also a biggie for me. Perhaps the Rezound has the same demo bloat problems as the Razr seemed to? I do recall the Rezound out of box seemed to run better than after getting demotized'.

Still, if the touch response is not better sans the demo trash, my old school gameness will lean to the Razr. The Razr is a LOT better than I expected, but the display saturation and grain issues stand out, compared to the Rezound. I also like the camera on the Rezound.

As far as the no microsd slot Nexus, if 16gb (means about 13gb for apps AND media together) and no Flash, I would just as well get a 64gb iPhone (well, when the 4" display version with 4G hits next year). Android without Flash will make a lot of folks do a double-take at iPhone (I think I feel sick now).

As you mention, several choices this year

I will hang with the Razr for a few weeks and then test the Rezound out the same way. Main issue is the heat with the Rezound and touch response with emulators- Demo trash sabotage, or lack of heat dissipation?

 

[FragDroidX]

I will still test the Rezound out, since common reports and some reviews point out it has better 4G reception and stronger wifi. The display is also a biggie for me. Perhaps the Rezound has the same demo bloat problems as the Razr seemed to? I do recall the Rezound out of box seemed to run better than after getting demotized'.

Still, if the touch response is not better sans the demo trash, my old school gameness will lean to the Razr. The Razr is a LOT better than I expected, but the display saturation and grain issues stand out, compared to the Rezound. I also like the camera on the Rezound.

As far as the no microsd slot Nexus, if 16gb (means about 13gb for apps AND media together) and no Flash, I would just as well get a 64gb iPhone (well, when the 4" display version with 4G hits next year). Android without Flash will make a lot of folks do a double-take at iPhone (I think I feel sick now).

As you mention, several choices this year

I will hang with the Razr for a few weeks and then test the Rezound out the same way. Main issue is the heat with the Rezound and touch response with emulators- Demo trash sabotage, or lack of heat dissipation?

I can verify that the touch screen issues are present on my Rezound and I am thinking its because of the high rez screen. The heat issue is also there. As a matter of fact after about 10 minutes of watching an HD video this morning my Rezound got extemely hot. I shut it down and to let it cool off for a bit and when I tried to reboot it is now endlessly boot looping. I did a factory reset from stock recovery and its still boot looping. If I let it boot loop for a bit it will finally boot but then shut down right after homescreen comes up. During the bootlooping the Rezound gets very hot as well. I am going to exchange it today but I am thinking that the heat issue may be an ongoing issue.

As far as wireless reception goes, be it 3G, 4G, or wifi, the Razr has shown to have better performance.

 

[cereal killer]

FragDroid I'm going to assume the bootloop is the devices way of protecting itself from over heating. I know the OG Droid has that "feature" and I'm going to assume all the other devices have the same precaution in place.

 

[FragDroidX]

FragDroid I'm going to assume the bootloop is the devices way of protecting itself from over heating. I know the OG Droid has that "feature" and I'm going to assume all the other devices have the same precaution in place.

That may be but it still gets extremely hot while boot looping. Either way I can't get it to recover. It is basically bricked. So far I haven't had a single issue with my Razr but have had several with the Rezound. I honestly believe that at this point Motorola's Applications Platform is more stable and polished than either Sense or Touchwiz. If they would just open the damn things up Motorola could be the premier Android device maker.

 

[you2]

Well I'm back on the fence after wasting another 45 minutes playing with the two devices. I guess the current big issues for me are:
sense browser is just so much nicer (tap zoom and column reformatting); much better than both razr stock and dolphin hd
razr is just a bit wider than i want; really doesn't fell that great in the hand
razr is (much more) visible in bright daylight.
-
hum. Oh well there is tomororow for more playing (and yea at least in the store on wifi the razr loads a lot faster)

 

[FragDroidX]

Well I'm back on the fence after wasting another 45 minutes playing with the two devices. I guess the current big issues for me are:
sense browser is just so much nicer (tap zoom and column reformatting); much better than both razr stock and dolphin hd
razr is just a bit wider than i want; really doesn't fell that great in the hand
razr is (much more) visible in bright daylight.
-
hum. Oh well there is tomororow for more playing (and yea at least in the store on wifi the razr loads a lot faster)

Just so you know, the Razr browser is much faster than the Rezound browser.

 

[rushmore]

Some more observations on the Raxr & Rezound:

1. Razr definitely runs cooler than the Rezound. The Rezound does seem to bottle it up with nowhere to go. Think about it: Hot running 9600 LTE (same as TB) and a dual core running 1.5ghz. All of that building up inside. I mentioned my 32gb card was very hot when removing the cover & battery from the Rezound. The Razr pipes it through the display so does not build up as much.

2. Though both Blur and Sense are okay, they are still bloated UIs that have minimal customization options. On either device, Launcher Pro seems faster and a lot of options to customize- and it is free.

3. Flash works fantastic on both devices, so seems lame Adobe has backed off. version 11.1 works great, so hopefully they will maintenance as needed. I will avoid ICS like the plague, unless Flash is available, or all game and video sites magically adapt to HTML5 in the next year (NOT happening).

4. Were it not for the apparent heat and touch response issues on the Rezound, both devices seem equal for different strengths. Problem is both issues are fundamental problems for any device.

5. I noticed that Dolphin seemed to have a delay on the Rezound, which I could not figure out. My Flyer has Sense and the single core version of the S3 and has no delays. I noticed this several times when comparing the devices, but can not confirm really an issue or a fluke. I am not as sure it is the browser as much as perhaps the Rezound reacting to calling the content in the web page. I noticed the issue did not happen with 3G.

I am liking the Razr more and more and surprised how well the battery seems to be doing (no 4G where I have been mainly using it so far). Seems as good as my Droid 3, with the extended battery.

As things stand now, seems the best option of the three devices is the Razr. If the heat and touch issues are resolved with the Rezound, it would be back in the hunt (neck & neck).

Added:

BTW: Though most of the folks hanging in the Gnex forum seem mainly level-headed, there are some fanboys in there that get more bitter and defensive, the more information leaks out to fuel denial:

1. Delayed - due to VZW adding bloat
2. Probably the 16gb version
3. No Flash
4. Battery life concerns persist.

 

[you2]

Yea I know. I went back today and tried a few differnt things. I found that if I adjust the angle i held the phone (these are store display models so they are teathered to the display case) the sound was fine on both devices. I also began to prefer the rezound display (but to be honest they are both fine; the display on the razr had a green tint (esp at a side angle); build is oct 27 and on max brightness it goes away; but i noticed when when reading a book. The pentile stuff does not bother me.
-
The rezound has two factors that I prefer; the sense browser is just awesome (even if a little slow). The key thing is that it does a much better job of reformatting the layout when tap zoom. I tried dolphin on the razr to see if that would help and it wasn't much better. The second thing I prefer about the rezound is the fit in the hand; I have small hands and the razr is really stretching it with the extra width. I mean it is only 3 or 4 mm but for some reason it makes a difference.
-
However as I've said before the razr seemed a lot faster on wifi (they had em on wifi in the store today) and generally snappier. Can't comment on the heat thing; while I played with them for 45 minuts I did not run videos for more than a few minutes and they both got a litlte warm but nothing that would be considered bothersome. I'll play again - i'm going to wait till friday and monday to see if verizon runs a black friday or cyber monday special. Last year they knocked $200 off the thunderbolt on cyber monday (friday's offering last year was a bit lame).
-
Anyways that gives me two more trips. If hte Gnexus is the 16GB version with no sd; I'll definitely skip it.
-
From reviews my understanding is the rezound can be a bit difficult to see outside and the razr is better here...

Just so you know, the Razr browser is much faster than the Rezound browser.

 

[rushmore]

Correct about viewing outside in the sun. The Razr is decent, but the Rezound is washed out. Kings for sun viewing are the DX2, Bionic and Droid 3.

 

[pm1066]

Good to heat you're having a positive experience so far. Have you dug into smart actions yet?

Will you need to go into witness protection from the Gnex thread?

I find it very interesting the Rezound gets that much hotter. One of the pre launch discussions we had, in addition to processor type, was battery heat. It looks like the Moto boys may have gotten that one right. And damn good they did, because if the Razr was a battery cooker, they'd have beaucoup issues.