Motorola release first new phones since Google takeover

Soldato
Joined
31 Jul 2004
Posts
13,535
Location
Surrey
They'll let us buy standard Razr HD's then introduce the Maxx model to the UK sometime next year :eek:

I see the Razr M on that website? Why Motorola mess about with the 'i' version I dunno? Would it not have been far simpler just to stick with the S4 version - a proven chip surely?

Oh well Kona, may as well sit on the One X for the time being?

no it's really not that, the issue is carriers/retailers being prepared to get behind motorola at all. I'm fairly sure you'll find a few pick up the M, maybe 1 or 2 the Razr and none the MAXX which is a shame but I'm fairly sure thats what will happen.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2007
Posts
1,607
no it's really not that, the issue is carriers/retailers being prepared to get behind motorola at all. I'm fairly sure you'll find a few pick up the M, maybe 1 or 2 the Razr and none the MAXX which is a shame but I'm fairly sure thats what will happen.

You're probably right. It's a shame really as Motorola haven't been able to get their act into gear even though the hardware is generally pretty good and robust.

I read this weekend their is a rumour that the Razr HD might have a slight delay due to an antenna issue and maybe next year until the HD version reaches the UK. I've been thinking about buying a Razr i to tide me over. Had a One S and currently a HTC One X which both have poor signal reception in my area. Moto Defy + was always good prior to the HTC's, always having a good signal.

Few reviews seem reasonable, size is good for me and described as a work horse phone (Cart Horse? :rolleyes: ) Order online and can always return it if it turns out to be poor ;) One X is seriously driving me mad as latest trick is to reboot in my pocket due to power button getting pressed. Anything over a second of pressure on the button reboots it even with pattern screen lock? Though better than the One S it still loses signal. Preference was always for the One S due to it's size. Terrible signal issues, other than that I could have lived with that phone for quite some time. No 4g compatibility isn't an issue as doubt we'll see it in my area for the next 18 months or probably longer.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2007
Posts
1,607
Anyone got a razr i yet? Would like to know some opinions about it.

Yup .... I have one :cool:

Only had it a day and so far I'm keeping it. Bought off Clove and delivered yesterday. Early days.

Phone feels solid and sits nicely in the hand - after the slippery One X :rolleyes: Battery life it's too early to tell but looking good though being new will take a day or two to settle down and for me to stop fiddling so much :D

Signal reception is good to great. To be honest in the house it's only similar 90 to 100dBa as the One X but 3g works way better and signal never disconnects. Outside things are a good deal better than the One X. Been at a location today where 3's signal was poor on the HTC and could spend a lot of the day without sig. Razr i had no issues with fairly speedy 3g reception. Call quality is good and speaker has plenty of volume as does the 'external' speaker which is passable to listen to music though don't expect too much!

Screen is good and on a par with the One S. Tt has good colour saturation and is of a similar brightness so good to see in bright light conditions. The 'buttons' being on screen mean you lose a bit of screen space at the bottom unless watching a vid. Notification light is bigger and brighter than the HTC One phones.

The ICS operating system seems pretty unmolested by Motorola, which is a good thing. My last Moto phone had the horrible Moto-Blur which was a PITA at any time. The Intel cpu pushes what apps I have used along very nicely. If I didn't know better I'd say it had the S4 as per the One S. I'm using Quick ICS Browser and in honesty feels a lot faster than the One X and doesn't stall with multiple active tabs or task switching. Adobe Flash won't install or work but other than that the apps I use seem to run fine.

Swiping left brings up a quick settings page rather than the next desktop page. Wasn't sure about this as used to pulling down the notification bar for that. It has grown on me but the quick settings on the page is a little limited though you can go direct to settings off that page.

Bluetooth and GPS both work fine. BT connected straight to vehicle radio and worked as it should either for calls or to stream music. GPS lock was quick and accurate to 7 foot (so it said). Compass is surprising accurate compared to the one on my One X which was very hit and miss. The Razr i compass being bang on ... not sure I'd trust it mind, if my life depended on it :rolleyes:

Not sure I can add a lot more. Early days of course but ask if you want to know anything. It's not 4g compatible but being on 3 doubt there will be anything doing in my area for some time anyway. Good 3g is fine for my use. The size suits me as always was a fan of the One S and this is similar though not quite as thin and so far no signal issues :p So far so good :D Plan was to use the Razr i and then sell it for maybe a Razr Maxx if and when it becomes available. Not sure I'm bothered now :D
 
Associate
Joined
19 Jan 2011
Posts
106
Location
London
Anyone got a razr i yet? Would like to know some opinions about it.

I bought the black one yesterday SIM free for £349.95 and so far, I love it !
I can confirm what Richy said above, looks like a great phone, just need to see how the battery holds...although running an 2.0 GHz Atom on it... I'm not expecting mind blowing results. :)
I just wanted a nice non-plastic phone, which I don't need a cover for, not too big and decent/good specs for a 2012 smartphone.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2007
Posts
1,607
I'm on day 2 with the Razr i. Pretty much normal day. Off charge at 6am. Some calls, a bit of browsing, couple of txts and email synching etc. Nothing major and battery currently at 75% which looks pretty good to me :D That is just over an hours screen time today so far.

I bought the black one yesterday SIM free for £349.95 and so far, I love it !
I can confirm what Richy said above, looks like a great phone, just need to see how the battery holds...although running an 2.0 GHz Atom on it... I'm not expecting mind blowing results. :)
I just wanted a nice non-plastic phone, which I don't need a cover for, not too big and decent/good specs for a 2012 smartphone.

Similar from Clove with P&P. As you say it's a nice size. Not bothering with case or screen protector though phone is on it's own in my pocket - no keys or such. Best of all for me in the sticks is it always has a signal and good 3g speeds too. Both my previous HTC One phones sucked at that :mad: One X is going back to stock RUU to be sold.

Slight annoyances is the Google search app at the top of every 'home page' and can be removed but then leaves a gap no other widget can use and labels on the shortcuts in the dock at bottom of the screen. I've replaced the icons using Desktop Visualizer from the market with no text under them. You basically create a new icon shortcut but with no label then remove the offending one and drag the new one onto the dock to tidy it up a little :D
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Jun 2007
Posts
21,788
Location
Downtown
Richy888 - good to hear the Razr I is working well for you, batterylife sounds good.

Use Apex or Nova to give you more freedom for your desktop - it will sort the icon and search bar issues better.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2007
Posts
1,607
Richy888 - good to hear the Razr I is working well for you, batterylife sounds good.

Use Apex or Nova to give you more freedom for your desktop - it will sort the icon and search bar issues better.

Thanks. Wasn't particularly heavy use yesterday but battery life is looking good. I liked both the HTC One X and S and both are great phones but for me the signal issues spoiled the job. I can't really work out what the prob was as go into any city and both worked fine. Out in the country and both struggled to keep a signal - One S was worse by quite some than the X. Plainly in the countryside signal can at best be variable but know we have a reasonable to good signal in my back yard.

Going on what Signal info app reads of signal here the Razr i has a more optimistic signal bar read out than the HTC's. I can get both the the Razr i and the HTC One X to read around 95dBm and where the HTC will show maybe 2 bars out of 5 the Motorola shows 3 bars out of 4! Not that it matters as the Razr doesn't drop signal and 3g is a lot faster. Not sure if any of that makes any sense :rolleyes: May have been a good day but making a call was very clear and connection of said calls were fast. Certainly as good as One S for call clarity and better than the One X (always found voice clarity poorer on the X than the S which was great.)

Apex or Nova may be the way to go. The search bar at the top of every home page is a minor annoyance. You actually start with one home page a swipe right for the quick settings page or swipe left to add further pages. No matter how many pages you add (not sure how many you can have?) the search bar is at the top, except the settings page. If I use Apex or Nova I'll lose the quick settings page which has grown on me already and I'm guessing the circles widget provided by Motorola - which I also quite like.

I was reading last night on Motorola's website that bootloader unlocking details will be up soon and others are then looking into rooting it. Development may then follow though can't say I'm bothered currently. I'm led to believe phones bought sim free will be able to be unlocked and not those bought on contract though not 100% sure. A turn around for Motorola though no word on when Jellybean will be pushed out :D Hoping now they are in bed with Google things have changed from the old snails pace of OS upgrades.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2003
Posts
8,157
Location
Arlington, VA
RAZR HD would be great, but why why why have they done this?

2eatiyo.jpg


Bigger screen, nice - so we can get rid of the large space below the screen right?

No of course not, let's just leave it there, and waste screen real estate with massive hideous soft keys...

WHYYYYY??!!!

:mad:
 
Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2007
Posts
1,607
Have ordered mine.

My only concern is the app compatibility. Anyone experienced any of their favorite app not working?

All the apps I'm currently using work with the exception flash player even though TechRadar says the Razr i comes with flash which mine doesn't. Youtube and such work fine.

RAZR HD would be great, but why why why have they done this?

2eatiyo.jpg


Bigger screen, nice - so we can get rid of the large space below the screen right?

No of course not, let's just leave it there, and waste screen real estate with massive hideous soft keys...

WHYYYYY??!!!

:mad:

Blame Google- I think that is where Google wants them to be? Razr i is same with frigging buttons wasting space on screen real estate. They disapear when a vid is played but would be good if they would hide other times. That said it's not too much of an issue. Just be greatful there may be a decent antenna in that bottom bit of the phone ;) Since I got my razr i last week I've never seen a cross above the signal display and never not had a signal. I still use my phone as a phone so I've been well pleased with the little razr :D
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2003
Posts
8,157
Location
Arlington, VA
I just don't understand why Google want to waste screen space on functions that are gonna be on screen 90% of the time. I mean, if the entire face of the phone is made of screen, then fine, it's unavoidable.

But when there's half an inch of chunky plastic below the screen then it's inefficient AND ugly. Grrrr :mad::p

Good point about the antenna though - both my HOX and GNS have pretty mediocre signal strength...
 
Soldato
Joined
31 Jul 2004
Posts
13,535
Location
Surrey
I'm guessing its so android can have a common interface across devices with the buttons controlled by software not hardware.

Then you get nonsense like Samsung deciding for no obvious reason menu and back should be the other way round.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2003
Posts
8,157
Location
Arlington, VA
Hmm, ok I understand that.

But why not just mandate what hard keys every Android device should have, and in what position they should be on the device (a la Windows Phone 7).

Wasting perfectly good pixels just makes me :mad:

:p
 
Back
Top Bottom