Review Roundup: Motorola Droid RAZR

Motorola officially unveiled the Motorola Droid RAZR for Verizon’s 4G LTE network last month on October 18th. The new RAZR is slated to land on November 11th for $299 and sports a 960×540 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display, 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 8-megapixel main cam (1.3 front), and a microSD slot. While it might not mirror some of the specs of new high-end Android competitors, the reviews are starting to pour in and, apart from a non-removable battery and worst than expected camera performance, overall they’ve been pretty positive…

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

“The Droid RAZR for Verizon is no doubt a beastly little phone. The combination of 4G LTE support and a dual-core processing chip makes for quite the snappy experience, and the design speaks for itself. While I’m not sure I can tell you it justifies its $299 price tag, I can say it certainly deserves its spot as one of the top contenders for this holiday season… There’s one thing to be said for the Droid RAZR’s design before all else: it’s crazy thin”

Jonathan Geller / BGR:

“With a beautiful design, an amazing display and a thin profile that’s packed to the brim with the latest and greatest specs, the Motorola DROID RAZR is absolutely worthy of being Verizon’s flagship device for the holidays. While the physical size of the device is larger than I’d have liked, and one-handed usage can be tricky if you’re not used to the crop of large display’d devices of late, there are way more positives than negatives with the DROID RAZR.”

Terrence O’ Brien / Engadget:

“…the RAZR’s beauty is not only skin deep. The LTE radio, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM make sure this sleek number is ready to run with the big boys. It kept pace with, and in some cases clearly outclassed its high-end competition. Despite its deficiencies in the display department and underwhelming battery life, the RAZR looks to be a perfectly viable alternative when considering the similarly-pricey Rezound and Galaxy Nexus…”

Nicole Lee / CNET:

“Droid Razr’s large size might feel awkward in small hands, we expected better picture quality from its 8-megapixel camera, and the battery is not removable…With its razor-thin design, jam-packed features, and blazing speed, the Motorola Droid Razr is easily one of the year’s top Android smartphones. “

Unfortunately, while mirroring many of hte pros listed by other reviewers, The Verge’s Nilay Patel confirms our suspicions:

“So is the Droid RAZR worth Motorola’s marketing blitz? Is it the phone to get? Well, probably not. While the hardware engineering required to stuff the internals of the Bionic into the thinnest smartphone design on the market is nothing short of amazing, the compromise on display quality needed to get there simply isn’t worth it.”