Motorola RAZR HD review

With our RAZR HD review coming around the time that HTC, Sony and Samsung are unleashing their big guns for 2013, it could seem like a blast from the past. In terms of specification and price the new RAZR HD is a great alternative to the Samsung Galaxy S3 – though given how excellent the S3 still is, that could hardly be judged as a criticism. In some respects the RAZR HD is superior to the S3, and at least with the RAZR HD you won’t be buying a phone that’s about to be so publicly superseded.

The new RAZR HD follows the design cues of previous models. We think it’s unashamedly macho…

With the new S4 likely to cost at least £35 on contract, the S3 and the RAZR HD are comparative bargains at £22 a month on decent two-year 3G contracts (300 mins, 500MB and unlimited texts). The RAZR HD is 4G-capable, though, which puts it one step ahead of the non-LTE S3 that you get at this price. The RAZR HD isn’t currently available on a 4G contract from EE, but it will work with the other networks when they roll out their services later this year.

…especially the Kevlar rear panel, although it’s not actually bulletproof

Compared to the S3, the RAZR HD comes out on top at first glance. It’s a little iPhone 4-esque, with its squared-off metallic sides, but the back is pure RAZR. It’s covered in carbon-fibre like previous models, but the material is now wrapped seamlessly around the edges of the handset. The design not only looks great, it also makes the phone really easy to hold. Even the power button and volume rocker look good, as they’re slender and made from the same material as the side sections of the phone. The handset is a little smaller than the S3 in height and width, but fractionally chunkier at the top end. These differences aren’t surprising, as the RAZR HD has a fractionally smaller screen – 4.7in vs 4.8in – but a larger battery.

Even the ports are eminently practical, with separate HDMI and USB connectors, compared to the Samsung Galaxy S3’s combined port

Unlike the S3, there’s no removable back plate, which is one of the reasons the phone feels so much sturdier – it’s also splashproof. The downside of the waterproofing means the battery is sealed away inside and can’t be replaced easily. Thankfully, it’s a whopping 2,530mAh model, which is 20% bigger than that of the S3. This showed in our tests. The RAZR HD produced an incredible 14 hours and nine minutes in our constant video playback test, which is four hours more than the non-LTE S3 and is among the best scores we’ve ever seen. It’s only beaten by the Motorola RAZR MAXX, with its 19-hour battery life. This is a phone that will last all day, even if you decide to switch to battery-hungry 4G.

That slight bulge at the top end helps contain the RAZR HD’s huge battery

Inside is a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm chipset, it’s hardly a speed demon, as shown by a JavaScript SunSpider benchmark score of 1,828ms. We’ve seen handsets manage almost twice that score, but Sunspider is fairly dependent on the phone’s browser; the Samsung Galaxy S3 only managed 1,771ms, and we’ve never had any complaints about that handset’s browsing performance.

In the GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD test, which shows off a phone’s graphical abilities, the phone scored 22fps, which is far quicker than our S3’s 15fps in the same test. For comparison, the new flagship HTC One scored 31fps in this benchmark.

The RAZR HD was impressively quick in our 3D benchmarks – such as this Eygpt HD test from GLBenchmark

Motorola uses the same software modifications to Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) as it did on the Intel-powered Motorola RAZR i, and this is no bad thing. Android is largely left untouched, and the small differences in appearance and icon design should only bother the most ardent Android purists. The biggest change is in the layout of the home screens; you start with just one home screen page, to the left of which is a handy page of commonly used settings. Swipe to the right and you can add blank pages as you wish, or pages based on templates to group certain functions such as media playback, mobile office or navigation. It’s a good system as you only have as many pages as you need and key settings are always just a flick away.

Here you can see the initial single home screen plus options for settings (left) and to add a new home screen (right)

The one disappointing part of the Motorola RAZR HD is its camera. The eight-megapixel camera isn’t the worst we’ve seen, but it produces lacklustre shots with excessive picture noise, soft details and muted colours. If you’re a keen snapper this phone isn’t for you. The examples below show how much of a gulf there is between this camera and the Galaxy S3’s.

The RAZR HD’s camera creates noisy images, even in good indoor lighting …

… by comparison the S3’s camera creates images that are crisp and largely noise free – click either image to enlarge

DISPLAY

Looking at the RAZR HD’s and Samsung Galaxy S3’s displays side-by-side we couldn’t see any notable quality differences – across numerous test photos and videos. It’s not surprising as both are Samsung-made Super AMOLED screens. Colours on both are bright and vibrant and blacks are deep and rich. The Pentile layout of the subpixels means that fine detail isn’t quite as crisp as on equivalent LCD displays, but we feel the superior contrast more than makes up for this. It’s an excellent screen and though it doesn’t have the Full HD resolution of the latest phones, its 312ppi provides plenty of detail.

While the RAZR HD’s screen is fractionally smaller than the S3’s, this is compounded by the use of onscreen buttons rather than Samsung’s three buttons (one physical, two touch sensitive) under the screen. The RAZR’s onscreen buttons aren’t a problem when using the handset in portrait, as there’s plenty of vertical space; we do find them annoying when browsing the web in landscape, though, as they take up valuable space. On the other hand, despite owning an S3 for some time, we’ve never got on with having to actually press the middle button while using it one-handed – so having all touch buttons, onscreen or not, is no bad thing.

The onscreen buttons, far right, can take up valuable screen space

In terms of price, the RAZR HD is a direct competitor for the non-LTE Samsung Galaxy S3. Its advantages are superior battery life, 4G/LTE support, faster 3D graphics and arguably a more pleasing look and feel. On the downside, the camera simply isn’t in the same league. If the quality of your snaps isn’t key to you, then in every other respect the Motorola RAZR HD is a fantastic handset for the money.