Motorola RAZR XT910

One of the most significant new Android handsets to be launched last year, the Motorola RAZR XT910 is a big, powerful and expensive beast which might just be the boost that Motorola need to regain their once-powerful position in the mobile phone market.

Motorola RAZR: Out of the box

The RAZR comes in a compact box, with just the phone, charger and USB cable and a couple of small pieces of documentation and that's it. The battery is already in the phone (in any case, it is not user removable) and the RAZR's generous allocation of 8GB of flash means that a microSD card is not necessary, although you can add one if you like.

The sheer size of the RAZR is striking. Front the front, the phone's "footprint" is 33% larger than the iPhone 4S, but when you pick it up it seems amazingly light at just 127 grams (13 grams lighter than the iPhone). The next impression is just how thin it is, coming in at just 7.1mm thick except for the camera area. Finally, the unusual Kevlar back is soft to the touch and provides a firm grip on the back of the phone.

The build quality seems to be very good, there are no creaks or loose panels. It probably helps that the handset is completely sealed, thus eliminating the usual back panel.

For the uninitiated, there is a bit of a challenge next. The RAZR takes a micro SIM card in the side, which is much smaller than a standard SIM and is the same type of card as used in the iPhone 4 and 4S. Your carrier should be able to supply you with a micro SIM free of charge (although it might take a few days to arrive), although braver people can choose to cut the SIM down to size using scissors or special micro SIM cutters which are widely available.

Powering on the device takes you through a typical Android setup process, but it is immediately obvious that the large 4.3" 540 x 960 pixel super AMOLED display is going to be a joy to use, it is not only pleasingly large but also very bright and sharp at the same time.

Underneath the display are a row of touch-sensitive keys for "menu", "home", "back" and "search". It is quite possible to activate the keys accidentally, a problem that other similarly designed handsets have.

If you are familiar with Android devices, then setting it up is easy and quick and you should be running in no time at all. The operating system is Android 2.3, so it might be a little different from your older Android smartphone. During the setup process you can sign into a bewildering number of social networking sites and other web services which allows you to use things like Facebook from the very first time you use it.

Motorola RAZR: In use

All Android devices are pretty similar these days, and the RAZR is no exception. All the standard applications are here with a few Motorola add-ons which clutter it up just a little.

Connectivity

This is a 3.5G device with support for 802.11 b, g and n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. Reception and range seems to be as good as other devices in general. One downside is an annoying problem with password authentication with the Wireless LAN (WLAN) - it seems that if you are in a marginal reception area then the RAZR can fail to authenticate via WPA with your WLAN.. this wouldn't be too bad a problem, except for the fact that the RAZR then "forgets" the WLAN password and will not connect again unless you re-type it. If you have complex password then this is very inconvenient. A recent software update seems to help a little, but the problem can still re-occur.

Camera

The stills from the eight megapixel camera are of very high quality, but are not quite as good as those from a dedicated digital camera. The same goes for the video capture quality - good, but you'd still get better results from a dedicated HD digital camcorder. Of course, all these dedicated gadgets are expensive, and if you were stuck with the RAZR alone then I suspect that you would still be reasonably happy with its results.

Click the images below to see the full-size photograph.

In the comparison shots below you can see that the RAZR's camera produces some impressively sharp pictures that can certainly rival dedicated digital cameras in terms of sharpness, but of course most digital camera come with far superior zoom and flash facilities.

Motorola RAZR XT910 Sample (8 megapixels)

Motorola MILESTONE Sample (5 megapixels)

Kodak DX6490 Sample (4 megapixels)

Kodak Z990 Sample (12 megapixels)

Music

The music player is pretty straightforward to use, and if it recognised the track you are playing it can download additional content relating to the artist. Audio playback with the phone itself seems pretty good, although the phone sounds better when placed on a flat surface. You can also use a 3.5mm headset or play back through a Bluetooth connection.

Bluetooth playback was a mixed bag. We tested this with a Renault in-car Bluetooth system, and although most of the time it worked well there were occasions where playback had to be un-paused on the handset. The Renault system also failed to read the filestore on the phone directly, a task which it can do on some other handsets without a problem. In playback on Bluetooth there were occasional drop-outs which were a little annoying.

You can also listed to a baffling variety of internet radio stations, podcasts and interface with DLNA compatible equipment on your home network.

Conclusion

The Motorola RAZR XT910 is a very good Android handset, and it looks distinctly different from other rival devices. There are a few little niggles here and there, but many of those are the fault of Android rather than the phone itself.

It's a very fast device, it has an excellent display and a high quality camera, it looks distinctly different from everything else on the market and it comes with a wide range of accessories. The drawbacks are price and availability - not all carriers have it available, and if you have to buy it SIM-free then it is really expensive.

The 4.3" display is probably as big as most people will want to go - anything larger than this starts to become cumbersome. It's certainly much easier to use than the relatively small screen on the iPhone, however that is likely to improve with the upcoming rumoured iPhone 5.

So, if you are looking for a high-end Android smartphone that doesn't follow the crowd, the Motorola RAZR is certainly something you should consider.

Posted in: Gadgets