Massive Motorola Droid Razr Maxx battery a 'Eureka' moment

Two almost-identical superphones launched just a few months apart made it look like Motorola held out on us. But the Droid Razr Maxx was more of a happy accident than a plan.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News

Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.

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SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.

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Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).

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Roger Cheng

Jessica Dolcourt

Jan. 26, 2012 12:20 p.m. PT

2 min read

Verizon and Motorola may boast that the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, on sale beginning today, has a boosted battery capable of lasting a full day and night. What they won't tell you is that the Razr Maxx was an accident.

A Motorola engineer was playing with the idea of packing on a higher capacity battery onto the original Motorola Droid Razr, CEO Sanjay Jha told CNET at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, when Jha got his hands on it.

While the Razr Maxx is slightly thicker than the Droid Razr (0.35-inch at its middle versus 0.28-inch thick), he found its more rounded back easier to hold.

Jha was so impressed with the feel of the device, he said, that he pitched the phone to Verizon Wireless. It turns out that there such a thing as "too thin" after all.

Still, there was some reluctance by both Jha and Verizon Wireless to sell the device, especially so soon after the Droid Razr had launched, Jha said.

Verizon had thrown considerable resources behind the Droid Razr, often referring to it as the carrier's flagship smartphone for the holiday period--one that included the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first phone with Android's latest Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

Jha agreed to knock the original Droid Razr down from $299.99 to $199.99 and swap in the Razr Maxx in as the new flagship phone at the $300 mark. He hoped that the longer battery life would appeal to power users willing to spend a little more for a phone that could go the distance.

The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx has a 3,300mAH battery compared to the original Droid Razr's 1,780mAh battery. Both batteries are embedded into the device, and are not removable, a fact that helps keep the device profiles slim.

The Razr Maxx situation isn't likely to see a rerun any time soon. Jha has said he plans on scaling back the number of smartphones that Motorola releases next year, focusing the company's resources behind a fewer number of higher quality phones.