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Test Driving the Droid Razr Maxx by Motorola

Droid Razr Maxx by Motorola and VerizonFor a couple of weeks now I was able to take the Droid Razr Maxx by Motorola for a test drive on the Verizon network. First let me say the reason I chose the words “test drive” is because this phone is FAST!

My initial impression was that the screen on this phone was huge, which is important to me in a phone. I’m less worried about overall size dimensions as long as it’s fairly thin. I like being able to easily slip the phone into my pocket. After comparing it to my existing HTC EVO, the screen size is about the same size, but the casing and bevel makes it look much larger, without the phone being much bigger at all.

The second thing I noticed on this phone was that the battery seemed to last forever! Now I realize that some of this is due to it being a fairly new battery. I wasn’t testing the phone right out of the box, it’s already made it’s rounds through some other folks, but I swear I don’t think I had to plug the Razr Maxx in but maybe every other day perhaps.

Aside from overall speed, battery life and form factor, the other feature of this phone that really stood out for me is the proprietary SMARTACTIONS app. Here’s the quick and dirty:

Fight smart with smarter Droid RAZR Maxx’s advanced artificial intelligence monitors your behavior and self-optimizes to keep you running at peak effectiveness. Deploy your favorite apps even faster. Switch into silent mode automatically to avoid detection.

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The first time this popped up I wasn’t sure what it was, but it said something like it noticed a meeting on my calendar and would automatically go into silent mode if I turned it on. You can setup other things to happen based on geo-location, time of day, plugging in headphones, plugging in to charge, etc. There’s a nice expanded review of features with more screenshots of the SMARTACTIONS screens on the Phonescoop.com site.

Of course we expect more from our phones now than just making phone calls, playing some games and using some other apps. The quality of the cameras (one front and back) on this phone are tremendous! It takes great photos and video for a device it’s size.

Oh, and like many of the other great phones from Verizon I’ve tried, you’ve got the Mobile Hotspot functionality, and this phone gives you support for connecting up to 8 devices with it’s 4GLTE connections. While I was using the phone I rarely had any issues with connectivity. Most of the time I’m always trying to use a wifi network when it’s available, but when that’s not an option, still no issues.

If you’re prone to really putting your phone through a beating, the Razr Maxx also defends itself against your abusive habits with a KEVLAR® casing. Yeah, that KEVLAR®, the bullet proof stuff. And the front screen is Corning® Gorilla® Glass

If there were a downside to this phone, the only thing that stood out to me was that there seemed to be a ton of default Motorola and Verizon apps installed. I’m not sure if I can delete these if I’m not using them, but since I’ve been having issues with my own HTC on the Sprint network not allowing me to delete apps I don’t want, I’m kind of hyper-alert of things on my phone that I don’t want and didn’t put there myself.

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My Kids and the Droid Charge on Verizon

Recently, my kids had the opportunity to test out two smart-phones from Verizon. They both got a Droid Charge and we were able to take them with us on our trip to Walt Disney World this past October.

My kids don't have cell phones. As parents, my wife and I are still debating on what age they'll be when they get one. The question after that is do we pay the large monthly fees for smart phones, or do they just have a simple phone that lets them make/receive calls and text messages?

Droid Charge on Verizon

Regardless, both of my kids got to give these Droid Charges a try. As part of their homework, I asked them to write their own reviews from their experiences.

First up is my 9-yr old daughter:

When my dad told me I was gonna get to try one of Verizonʼs new phones - to be exact the Droid charge- I was super excited words couldnʼt describe. Two of my favorite features were probably texting and the amount of space it had,I had one whole page of games.

For a kid my age (9) to have a phone is a HUGE responsibility I repeat HUGE responsibility. First the parents should talk about what contacts they should have and the ones they shouldnʼt have,also about what they should text and what they shouldnʼt. Again a huge responsibility. They also need to know that if they lose it and they donʼt find it that they may not get it back. The parents should make sure that their kids are responsible.

One night I was so mad because I couldnʼt find the phone. First I thought I had left it at the dinner table because we had eaten at Applebees my mom even called them to see if they had found it and they hadnʼt. I got so mad I cried my self to sleep. The next day when my dad came home my mom went out to talk to him he had found the phone out in his car next thing I know I have the phone again! So losing a phone is a big deal. You should make sure that they know that itʼs their responsibility if they do lose it.

Overall I give Verizon props.

And here's my 12-yr old son's review:

Having the Droid Charge was a lot of fun. The game choices in the Droid Market were good. Also the Advanced Task Killer was easy to get to. All you had to do was hold the home button down. The phone does not charge n the car very well but in an outlet on a wall it charges pretty fast. Another thing about the battery is that is does not last very long, but maybe that's because my sister and I played on it 24/7 on the way to Florida. Compared to the Evo, the phone is great. There are good graphics, the picture quality is better, and it being smaller is better. The only thing is the screen is smaller.

Now one of the things my dad wanted me to write about is kids having phones at my age which is 11 going on to 12. Now I do think that kids should have phones at the ages of 11-12-13 because now is the time responsibility kicks in, for example, staying home by yourself, going to friends party's, just doing things independently now. Also I am home schooled so communicating with friends is a lot harder. I don't get to see my old friends every single day like used to. So I mean having a phone would be neat, so I could talk to friends and also call/text my life group leaders for questions and answers.

So over all this was a great phone. Out of 5 stars I definitely would rate it a strong 4.

Both my kids really liked the phones and I'll admit it was nice for them to have them and not constantly be asking to use mine or my wife's for their entertainment. I still don't think they need their own cell phones at their ages permanently. My challenge is that I like all the smart phone features with availability of apps for them to use as an entertainment source. I just don't think adding the cost of the phone and data plan support for their age is a monthly expense many families want to shell out. I'd like a smart phone that I could have them use for just calls and text messages, but have wi-fi only access for the ability to download and run apps, not on the cellular network.

Now, what neither one of the kids knew at the time is that the Droid Charge allows me to use Verizon's Family Locator service application to monitor where the kids are at any given time.

Family Locator features Arrival & Departure update capabilities, which work based off of Locations that you define, such as school, home or work. When the Family Member carrying the Family Locator Family Member device arrives at or leaves a Location, you can be notified via Text Message or Email. In addition, you can also elect to receive Scheduled Updates at specific dates and times.

Since my kids are still pretty young, they're not quite at the age for me to feel comfortable letting them roam around Walt Disney World by themselves with or without a phone. However, once they get older and are more actively involved in extra-curricular activities and driving, I can absolutely see using a service like this to keep tabs on where they're going. The app would allow me to monitor their activity from my own Verizon cell phone or a Family Portal provided by Verizon. Very cool!

Photos: Multiple images from Verizon website composited into one image

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My Review of the Motorola Droid 2

Motorola-Droid2-wifi-hotspotAs many of you know, this year ended with a long, family road trip to Florida (#BnFamFL10). During our travels I had the pleasure and opportunity to pack along a new Motorola Droid 2 (did you know they have to license the “Droid” name from Lucasfilm (another fav!)) from Verizon and give it a try. After suggestions from The Queen of Free to give it a try, I was put in contact with the right people and got the phone just a couple of days before we left Indianapolis.

My main reason for wanting to give the phone a try was because my previous experiences with wi-fi access at Walt Disney World has been less than “Magical”. Since we were going to be gone for so long and I would be needing to do quite a bit of online updates and social media interaction, I really needed a phone I could hopefully use as a wi-fi hotspot and the Motorola Droid 2 and Verizon’s network didn’t disappoint.

Just about every evening when we got to our hotel for the night, I’d plug the Droid into the charger, fire up the wi-fi hotspot and immediately be online and checking email and updating my various social media profiles and posts. I’m still amazed at the number of hotels that don’t offer free wi-fi to guests in their room, and I’d say over the course of our vacation this little Droid saved me well over $100 in additional Internet charges.

Perhaps the most convenient and awesome use of the phone was on our drive from Tampa to Pensacola. We weren’t really sure if we’d want to keep driving for the full drive, so I didn’t confirm a hotel reservation prior to our departure. Our progress went well and we decided we’d call it a night in Pensacola. I popped the phone on dashboard of the car and proceeded to fire-up my laptop to secure a hotel room for the night on Priceline. It worked great!

The only real issue I had with using it as a wi-fi hotspot was that trying to do some major FTP transfer or uploading large files . That just seemed to take forever. For example, trying to upload a few videos from my Flip video camera to YouTube was a start-it-and-go-to-bed-and-it-will-be-done-in-the-morning process. But really, that wasn’t too unexpected.

Although the original need was to have a wireless hotspot (which the rest of my family could use as well since up to 5 devices can connect at once) available to me, I really fell in love with the phone itself over the course of our trip.

First I love the feel of the phone in my hand. It had weight! It didn’t feel like a toy. The smooth, polished, stainless steel? case was great. With a ZAGG invisibleSHIELD screen protector, I wouldn’t even worry about putting another case around it (I don’t think?!?). It’s running the latest version of the Android operating system, Froyo 2.2. Finally! The ability to install apps to your SD card!. And, since it has Adobe Flash enabled, it can do much more than many other phones can on the market.

The Motorola Droid2 from Verizon handled all my favorite apps (future post to come soon!) without blinking an eye: Pandora, Foursquare, Hootsuite, Gowalla and more. It takes fantastic photos and video. Battery life was pretty much the full day and that was with continuous usage of GPS and wi-fi and 3G network usage. Since the phone didn’t have my cell# I didn’t use it too much for phone calls, but when I did, the call quality was great. It also seems like the phone’s mic does a better job of handling surrounding noise, including wind!

Here’s the only downside to this whole ordeal. It’s time to turn the phone back in! Wouldn’t you know it, my personal phone (Samsung Moment on Sprint) is starting to really feel slow and act weird. Now debating on whether or not to drop Sprint and switch to Verizon. The phone alone would be worth it to me.