Motorola RAZR MAXX review: Power ranger

Introduction

Motorola achieved the unthinkable with the RAZR MAXX. A 9mm body, which is slim even by today's modern standards, fits a battery that dwarfs all others. With the CDMA version our all-time battery backup champion, it's now time to see how the GSM holds its juice and Ice Cream Sandwich.

Motorola RAZR MAXX official photos

Steamrolled to the staggering 7.1mm, the Motorola RAZR XT910 still managed to pack in a 1780mAh battery. Nothing short of impressive, but the RAZR MAXX almost doubles the battery capacity to 3,300 mAh and it's still only 9mm thin. For comparison's sake, an HTC One X has an 1800mAh battery, a Samsung Galaxy S III goes up to 2100mAh and even the LG Optimus 4X HD only manages 2150mAh. And those phones have four hungry CPU cores to feed.

The Motorola RAZR MAXX is more than just a big battery glued to a screen though. While its specs are no longer flagship-worthy specs, there's still plenty of oomph in the 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, the 8MP camera shoots 1080p footage and the 4.3 qHD Super AMOLED display sounds pretty sweet.

Here's a list of the key specs on the RAZR MAXX along with a few things we didn't like.

Key features

• Massive 3,300mAh battery in 9mm splash resistant body, Kevlar back
• Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA
• 4.3" 16M-color capacitive SuperAMOLED touchscreen of qHD resolution (960 x 540 pixels, 256ppi), scratch-resistant Gorilla glass
• Dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP 4430 chipset; 1GB of RAM
• Android OS 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich with customized UI
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash; face detection, geotagging; 1.3MP front-mounted secondary camera
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps
• Wi-Fi b/g/n; Wi-Fi hotspot functionality; DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS; Digital compass
• 16GB of storage; microSD slot
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v4.0 with LE and A2DP
• standard microHDMI port; Web Top compatible (docks sold separately)
• Smart dial, voice dialing
• Office document editor; MOTOPRINT app to print Office docs
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated secondary mic
• DivX/XviD/H.264 video support

Main disadvantages

• Bigger than other phones with the same screen size
• Screen uses PenTile matrix (offset by high ppi); a little dim too
• No FM radio
• No dedicated shutter key
• Non-user-replaceable battery

If you like accessories that extend the phone's capabilities, you'll appreciate the Motorola RAZR MAXX. It supports Moto's webtop functionality through a selection of docks that enable PC-like features. There's even one that turns the phone into a full-fledged 14" Android-running netbook ala Asus Padfone (full-size keyboard, Firefox browser, and such).

The RAZR MAXX is also a bit of a tough guy - the screen has the traditional Gorilla Glass protection, while the back is made of Kevlar. Not to menation that the phone is splash-resistant too.

Motorola RAZR MAXX live photos

Impressively built and carrying an extra fuel tank, the RAZR MAXX is ready to hit our test track. And for once we're more interested in how long it lasts than how fast it goes.