Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola just took the wraps of the Droid RAZR M and, we’ve gotta say, the slender handset is quite the looker. The 8mm-thick body is plastic and Kevlar, just like its titular predecessor, but it adds some nice visual flourishes of its own, including rivets around the rim of the device. Despite its diminutive size, it has a nice heft in the hand, though we wouldn’t say it’s built like a tank. Overall, the device is frighteningly similar to the Droid RAZR, right down to the lock / power key with its concentric circle pattern. Also carried over from the OG Droid RAZR is the 4.3-inch screen. That means we are looking at a qHD Super AMOLED Advanced display, rather than some fancy HD panel and still saddled with a PenTile pixel layout. It also, as we harped on in the live blog, means that Android 4.0.4 has been slathered in Motorola’s own skin. Though, we’ll give credit to the new Google subsidiary for scaling back on the glitz and glam and letting Ice Cream Sandwich shine through a bit.

Continue reading Motorola Droid RAZR M hands-on (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Motorola Droid RAZR M hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, we weren’t expecting it at today’s Motorola event, but Motorola just outed a Maxx version of the Droid RAZR HD. Like its svelter sibling, the HD Maxx has a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED HD screen, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, LTE, and an 8-megapixel shooter, but it upgrades the onboard storage to 32GB. And the main event with any RAZR Maxx is, of course, an upgraded 3,300mAh battery that promises up to 21 hours of talk time, 13 hours of video playback or eight hours of web browsing on LTE. Naturally, a price has to be paid for such longevous life, but at 67.9mm wide, 131.9 mm long and a mere 9.3mm thin — less than 1mm thicker than the standard HD — it’s a relatively small one. Naturally, we don’t know how much this beast will cost, but Motorola’s telling us it’ll be available for this holiday season. Folks looking to dig into the details even further can find them in the PR after the break and at the source below.

Continue reading Motorola announces Droid RAZR Maxx HD

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Motorola announces Droid RAZR Maxx HD originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a day of big smartphone reveals, but Motorola’s not one to let the glory shine too long upon rivals. At its press event today in New York City, the Google-owned manufacturer gave the public its first official look at the Droid RAZR HD. Unless you’ve been living off the grid, it’s hard to find much about this announcement fresh and / or exciting, as specs, photos, tutorials, FCC docs and even sample pics have been leaking since the start of April. Surprise already blown, the handset falls in line with previous reports, running a lightly-skinned version of Android 4.0.4 (upgradeable to Jelly Bean) and bearing a 4.7-inch 720p display, dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 8-megapixel rear camera, NFC, as well as a massive 2,500mAh battery.

So, what’s changed in this RAZR refresh? Well, the phone’s back may still be Kevlar-coated (in this case, it’s pretty much fully wrapped), but a few cosmetic differences have been made to the Droid RAZR HD’s body. For starters, its front face almost spans from edge to edge, with just a little bit of bezel surrounding that display. Dimensions-wise, it’s 131.9mm tall, 67.9 mm wide and still pretty thin at 8.4mm. It’s definitely a coup for design-focused consumers that prefer to have their devices appear as a sea of seamless black glass. While it’ll be hanging out on Verizon’s 4G network, we’re still waiting on pricing — but we’re promised that it will arrive “before the holidays.”

Mat Smith contributed to this report.

Continue reading Motorola Droid RAZR HD unveiled: 4.7-inch 720p display, ICS, dual-core S4 for Verizon (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Motorola Droid RAZR HD unveiled: 4.7-inch 720p display, ICS, dual-core S4 for Verizon (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Motorola phones that have leaked before its announcement event next week have mostly been varying degrees of meh. Droid Razr somethin’ or another who cares. How are they going to make some noise? How about a complete edge-to-edge screen, meaning the entire front of the device is the display? Whoa. More »

The first-run Motorola Droid has developed a reputation as the Phone That Would Not Die — while official upgrades stopped around Froyo, enthusiasts have been keeping the QWERTY slider alive ever since. Kfazz at the XDA-Developers forums has taken up the torch this time around with a port of Jelly Bean. Based on CyanogenMod 10, the build is surprisingly functional, if currently buggy. The only glaring holes are a sometimes-broken camera and the absence of Google Now. The main disincentives to waiting for a stable build are the slow performance and very limited remaining storage that result from trying to stuff a 2012 OS into a 2009-era smartphone: Kfazz can defy expectations, but he can’t defy reality. It’s thus more of a proof of concept, because-we-can port than a favor for holdouts keeping the Droid as their daily driver. If you want to keep a mobile ancestor feeling relevant for one more generation, however, the fountain of youth is waiting at the source link.

Continue reading Jelly Bean hits original Motorola Droid for the same reason we climb Everest: because it’s there (video)

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Jelly Bean hits original Motorola Droid for the same reason we climb Everest: because it’s there (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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