Motorola DROID RAZR M review: Affordable luxury

Introduction

Following the success of the original DROID RAZR and its 3300mAh battery equipped DROID RAZR MAXX version, Motorola decided to add three new models tp the RAZR family. Launched at a glitzy event, starring members of Google's top brass, alongside the DROID RAZR HD and the DROID RAZR MAXX HD, the Motorola DROID RAZR M is the least expensive handset in the bunch. However, you shouldn't let this deceive you - the baby RAZR is one proper smartphone with lots of tricks up its sleeves.

Motorola DROID RAZR M official photos

The Motorola DROID RAZR M packs the same internals as virtually every high-end Android device currently available in the United States. The Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 silicon with dual-core Krait CPU is what powers all the US smartphone top dogs, including the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X for AT&T, so we can already tell you that Motorola's latest mid-ranger won't be lacking oomph.

Here goes the full list of talents which the Motorola DROID RAZR M possesses.

Key features

• CDMA/EVDO network support
• Quad-band GSM and 3G support (available only outside of the United States with Verizon roaming)
• LTE network support
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.3" 16M-color Super AMOLED Advanced capacitive touchscreen with qHD resolution (960 x 540 pixels); Gorilla Glass
• Superb build materials; Kevlar coated, splash resistant body
• Great ergonomics and measures due to frameless display design
• Lightly customized Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 1.5 GHz dual-core Krait CPU; Adreno 225 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 chipset
• 1 GB of RAM and 8GB of storage; microSD card slot
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash; face detection and geotagging; 1080p video recording
• 0.3MP front-facing VGA camera for video-chat
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• NFC connectivity with Android Beam preinstalled
• GPS with A-GPS
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor; compass
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v 4.0
• Beefy 2000mAh battery with good performance
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• Google Chrome preinstalled as the default web browser
• DivX/XviD video support
• Office document editor
• Attractive price tag

Main disadvantages

• The screen is letdown by its ageing PenTile matrix
• No dedicated camera button
• Battery is not user-replaceable
• Absurd amount of preinstalled bloatware

As you can see above, the Motorola DROID RAZR M is brimming with cool features, despite its modest price tag. Even more impressively, Motorola's engineers have managed to fit a 4.3" display into a frame that rarely hosts screens bigger than 4". The frameless design of the display allows for a seamless one-handed operation of the device - a nice feat for a smartphone with a screen this size.

In the software's section, Google's influence is strongly felt. The smartphone comes with Google Chrome web browser preinstalled. Motorola's execs also promised an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update to hit the DROID RAZR M before the end of 2012.

As always, we are going to kick the review off with an unboxing of the Motorola DROID RAZR M, followed by a design and build quality inspection.

Motorola DROID RAZR M live photos

Note: You might notice that this review is shorter than usual and doesn't include all of our proprietary tests. The reason is it has been prepared and written far away from our office and test lab. The Motorola DROID RAZR M is a US-only phone, so it will probably never get to the shores of the Old Continent. Still, we think we've captured the essence of the phone in the same precise, informative and detailed way that's become our trademark. Enjoy the good read!