Quick Review: Motorola DROID RAZR HD for Verizon Wireless

TeagueLoughman.com

TeagueLoughman.com

The Motorola DROID RAZR HD is one of Motorola’s newest flagship Android smartphones for Verizon Wireless, and it sure is meant to be one. The RAZR HD boasts a huge 4.7 inch crystal-clear display, rapid-shot capable 8 megapixel camera, and 1080p HD capable video camera, specs that keep every other smartphone out on the market on their toes.

Can this RAZR HD beat out the iPhone 5? Who should get a RAZR HD? Would you rather have an iPhone 5 or RAZR HD for Christmas? You’ll find out the answers to all of these questions and more in my review of the Motorola DROID RAZR HD!

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Highlights

The DROID RAZR HD has a 1.5 dual-core processor and has 16 GB of onboard memory pre-loaded with the option of upgrading to a 32 GB  SD card. In my testing, I experienced ZERO lag time in closing apps, or swiping through the home screens, which is very surprising because I didn’t have such luck with Droid X (2010), which would lag constantly.

Another feature that is unique to the DROID RAZR HD is the huge 4.7 inch HD screen, which makes playing games and watching movies a pure delight! Compared to my iPhone 5, this screen put it to shame. However, because of the huge screen real-estate and the brightness of the display, I found that the battery wouldn’t last as long as my iPhone (more on that to come).

The camera on the RAZR HD is very adequate to me, but it makes up for it in the HD video recording. In my picture testing, the photos taken on the RAZR HD would look very bland and neutral, the videos recorded on the RAZR HD came out with tons of color and came without lag or pauses, which is incredible for a smartphone camera.

Lowlights

I couldn’t find a lot of bad in the RAZR HD, but my main point is that the battery does not last longer than a good 7 hours, which is fine for a student or someone who’s at their office a lot and a constantly near an outlet, but for people who travel a lot; I would recommend getting an extended battery.

In my testing, I would normally turn the phone on at 8 AM and I would hit the “20% remaining” mark around 1:00 PM. So if you are constantly on your phone making calls or checking your email/twitter like I am, you might want to look into buying an extended battery or another battery pack.

Overall

Overall, the DROID RAZR HD is a great smartphone for students and business people, but not might be as useful for people who travel a lot as they will find themselves out of battery fairly quickly. The extra-large bright screen, amazing HD video recording, and absolutely NO LAG, are all key components in the super-smart-phone.

You can read more about & purchase the Motorola DROID RAZR HD from Verizon Wireless on VZ’s website.

Quick Review: Motorola Xyboard 10.1

The new Droid Xyboard is a beast of a tablet. Motorola’s newest tablet runs on Verizon’s super-fast 4G LTE Network, it runs on Android’s 3.2 Honeycomb (4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Upgradeable), as well as having two cameras; 5 megapixel on the back with a HD Webcam on the front, and a huge 7,000 mAh battery. All that said, can it compete with Apple’s third-generation iPad? Keep on reading for my review of the Droid Xyboard 10.1 running on Verizon’s 4G LTE Network.

Highlights

  • Verizon  – Verizon’s 4G Network is easily the fastest LTE network in the United States. In my testing around the Dallas Area, the Xyboard never dropped below 2 bars of LTE. I consistently received download speeds of around 19 MB/s and an upload speed 10 MB/s.
  • Display – The display on the Xyboard 10.1 is another high point, responding to touch input quickly and loading websites, apps and videos sharply, clearly and brightly. Unlike the iPad or the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Xyboard has a mini-HDMI port built-in, which makes it easy to hook the tablet up to a TV set.
  • Camera – The 5.0 MP back-camera on the Droid Xyboard 10.1 is one of the best cameras on a tablet to date. The addition of the LED Flash is what makes the Xyboard’s camera stand out. Lowlight pictures were perfect – never overexposed nor too bright.
  • Software / Specs – On other devices, Android 3.2 Honeycomb always seemed to be very slow and laggy, but with the help of the dual-core 1.2 GHZ processor, the Xyboard flew through webpages, emails, apps, and homescreens. I never had an app force-quit or crash while using the Xyboard 10.1, and I credit that to Motorola by putting great specs into the Xyboard to get the most out of Honeycomb.

Lowlights

  • Size – Holding the Droid Xyboard 10.1 in landscape orientation is just fine, but when switching it over to portrait it felt awkward to hold and touch the screen. When using the iPad, the transition from landscape to portrait is seemless, but on the Xyboard it feels more like a liability.
  • Software – Honeycomb is a lowlight and a highlight of the Droid Xyboard. While it runs very fast, the User Interface is very clunky and not easily learned by all people.

Overall


This is THE best Android Tablet, no doubt about it! Great display, amazing camera, super-fast processor, and running on Verizon’s 4G LTE Network, the Droid Xyboard absolutely smokes the other Android Competition and in some ways, even the Apple iPad.

I would recommend the Droid Xyboard 10.1 for Android enthusiasts, business people, or teachers. But if you are a first-time smartphone or tablet user, I would recommend checking out something else. You can read more about and purchase the Motorola Xyboard here.