Motorola’s RAZR reboot: three new phones, new Google integration – The Verge

Can Google’s ‘new Motorola’ break free of Verizon?

2012-09-11T16:30:23-04:00

Gallery Photo: Droid RAZR M hands-on pictures

At the outset of Motorola's "On Display" event last week, new CEO Dennis Woodside declared the arrival of a "new Motorola." That's not exactly true yet, though. It's only been three short months since Google officially completed its acquisition of Motorola, and the Droid RAZR HD, RAZR Maxx HD, and RAZR M were certainly in the works long before that. But beyond the devices, Google's vision of a future "new Motorola" failed to address the most important part of Motorola's recent past: Verizon.

Motorola has been overly dependent on Verizon's business ever since the launch of the original Droid. At the time, both Verizon and Google were hoping …

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Intel’s first smartphone with Motorola will be a revamped Droid RAZR M

2012-09-05T17:27:44-04:00

Gallery Photo: Droid RAZR M hands-on pictures

Earlier today, Motorola and Verizon revealed the Droid RAZR M, a $99 smartphone that sticks a 4.3-inch, practically edge-to-edge screen into a decidedly tiny package. Now, Pocket-lint is reporting that Motorola intends to re-use the same RAZR M design for its first Intel-powered smartphone. We've been eagerly awaiting the fruits of a Motorola-Intel partnership ever since the companies announced one at CES, and soon after that we saw some alleged pictures of the first phone. Look familiar, no? Now, it appears that the device will be sold in both dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon and Intel Medfield Atom models, though Pocket-lint says the I …

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Watch this: full videos of Motorola and Nokia’s September 5th events

2012-09-05T16:03:13-04:00

via d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net

Today was a big day for both Motorola and Nokia. Motorola introduced the RAZR HD, HD Maxx, and RAZR M, while Nokia announced two Windows Phone 8 devices, the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820. If you missed our live coverage of the announcements, you can get a taste of all the excitement, bad promotional videos, and questionable bands by watching the events in their entirety. Motorola's show is now up on YouTube, while Nokia's event is available for viewing on its Webcast page. Enjoy!

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Motorola’s new Droid RAZR lineup: how all three handsets fare against the competition

2012-09-05T15:40:10-04:00

Gallery Photo:

Picking the right smartphone is often a challenge, but things get even more complicated on days like today. Motorola just unveiled three new Droid RAZR handsets: the Droid RAZR HD, Droid RAZR Maxx HD, and Droid RAZR M. Each device has its strengths, with a 4.7-inch HD display serving as the centerpiece on the RAZR HD. Motorola says the new panel offers improved contrast and resolution over both its previous hardware and competition like the iPhone 4S, though it's hard to know how valid those claims are without comparing the devices directly. Further, Verizon's Galaxy S III and its 4.8-inch 720p display best the new Razr when it comes to pure …

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Droid RAZR M Developer Edition pre-orders begin at $549.99

2012-09-05T15:17:14-04:00

Gallery Photo: Droid RAZR M 4G LTE hands-on pictures

Google bought Motorola Mobility, but Motorola's just-announced RAZR phones won't come with the latest version of Google's Android OS. What to do? Well, if you plan to play with your own builds of Jelly Bean, you could spring for a Developer Edition. For the not-inconsiderable price of $549.99, you can pre-order the new Droid RAZR M Developer Edition with an unlockable bootloader today, and it should ship the week of September 13th. There's also a pre-order page for its 4.7-inch brother, the Droid RAZR HD Developer Edition, though there's no word on pricing or availability yet. Find both pages at our source links below.

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Motorola Droid RAZR HD and RAZR Maxx HD hands-on photos and video

2012-09-05T14:57:05-04:00

We've just snagged a look at the Droid RAZR HD and it's slightly-thicker brother, the Droid RAZR Maxx HD. Both nearly live up to Motorola's description when it comes to the 720p screen: it's bright and saturated, perhaps too much so. Motorola tells us that the display on these two phones as well as the RAZR M is Super Amoled, which would account for some of the saturation but is also likely to be a source of complaint from LCD fans. Hello again, Pentile, we'd hoped we'd left you behind:

The RAZR HD's big selling point is the minimal bezel around the screen and though it's still present, the phone feels tight and compact, a feeling buttres …

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Motorola Droid RAZR M hands-on: same old screen, $99 price-point

2012-09-05T14:50:51-04:00

Gallery Photo: Droid RAZR M 4G LTE hands-on pictures

We've just had the opportunity to take a look at Motorola's just-announced Droid RAZR M, which, just as rumored, has a 4.3-inch qHD display.

Overall, the device certainly shares quite a bit with the Droid RAZR before it - it has the exact same Kevlar back as the last-generation phone and with the new Droid RAZR HD. It also has the same 4.3-inch screen size as the original RAZR - in fact, to the disappointment of many, we're told it's the same pentile display as that found on the RAZR. There were modifications to make the bezel significantly smaller, but still, the screen quality (or lack thereof) on the RAZR has been brought over to the …

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Motorola announces the Droid RAZR M, a new $99 Android 4.0 smartphone

2012-09-05T14:31:54-04:00

via cdn1.sbnation.com

The leaks that cropped up last week were largely correct - Motorola has just announced the Droid RAZR M 4G LTE. As CEO Dennis Woodside said earlier, the Droid RAZR M 4G LTE will have Android 4.1 Jelly Bean by the end of the year, but at launch it'll be running Ice Cream Sandwich with Chrome as the default browser. Naturally, it runs on Verizon's LTE network and includes a relatively high-capacity battery, but its 2,000mAh capacity trails both the Droid RAZR HD and Droid RAZR HD Maxx.

There aren't a whole lot of details about this phone, but the highlighted features include 8GB of storage space (plus a microSD slot), 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapix …

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Motorola announces Droid RAZR Maxx HD

2012-09-05T14:31:11-04:00

Droid RAZR Maxx HD

Motorola has just announced the Droid RAZR Maxx HD, promising it will have the longest battery life of any Android smartphone. It'll have the same 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 4.7-inch HD display as the just-announced RAZR HD, but with a far larger 3300mAh battery. Despite the larger battery, the RAZR Maxx HD is still only 9.3mm thick.

The Droid RAXR Maxx HD will launch with Android 4.0 at first, but Motorola promises an update to Jelly Bean before the end of the year. Motorola said that it would offer a Developer Edition of all of today's announced devices for the "hacker and tinkerers" that want to load a custom ROM …

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Motorola offering $100 credit to owners of devices that don’t get Jelly Bean upgrade

2012-09-05T14:28:59-04:00

dennis woodside jelly bean

Motorola doesn't have the best reputation for timely Android updates, but CEO Dennis Woodside claims the company is turning over a new leaf. He says that "most" Motorola devices released since 2011 will get upgraded to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean before the end of the year, but for those users who aren't so lucky? They'll get a $100 credit toward any new Motorola device announced today, including the Droid RAZR HD, the Droid RAZR Maxx HD, and - perhaps most enticingly - the $99 Droid RAZR M. We haven't heard anything on how to claim your money off (or your free dollar, in the RAZR M's case), but for more on Motorola's announcements today follow o …

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