Motorola Droid Razr M (Verizon)
Motorola has nearly eliminated the frame around the display, fitting a 4.3-inch screen onto a phone that's roughly the size of the iPhone 4S.
Motorla is bucking a trend. Its freshly announced Motorola Droid Razr M has the large, full display that many customers want for viewing video, reading, and surfing the Web, without the gargantuan body.
Motorola found that consumers who wanted a smaller device tended to go with last year's model, sacrificing processing power for a handset that can actually fit in their pockets. The company's answer? A 4.3-inch screen that stretches from one edge to the other with very little bezel getting in the way.
Of the three phones that Motorola unveiled today, the Droid Razr M is the most distinctive of all, though you'll find it still has the now-familiar Droid Razr design, with a patterned Kevlar backing, a Gorilla Glass screen, and plenty of angular personality. It isn't the most high-powered of them all -- that honor goes to Droid Razr Maxx HD -- but it offers far more than you might think you'd get for a $99 4G LTE Android handset on Verizon, a price that's sure to drop come the promotions-heavy holiday season.
Design
The Droid Razr M puts a spin on the trend of larger and larger phones with its unique edge-to-edge display; there's just a small gap that frames the screen and gives grasping fingers something to hold onto.
As a result of this design trick, Motorola was able to cram a 4.3-inch display into a phone that's not that much larger than an iPhone 4S. However, the slim bezel means that your finger-grease-to-screen ratio is about to soar. Keep a wipe cloth handy if you're considering buying this phone.
As with past Droid Razr phones, the Razr M has a qHD display of 960x540-pixel resolution, definitely less crisp than the new HD screens on the other Droid HD models, the Droid Razr HD and Droid Razr Maxx HD.
Like the other Razr phones, the Razr M is impressively thin, and it also feels good to hold. The Kevlar backing is rubbery, tactile, and proven to be tough. Gorilla Glass tops the display, adding strength, and the size isn't so big that you'd need a separate tote bag or oversize pockets.
OS
Unfortunately, Motorola's Razr M will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but Motorola promises that it'll upgrade to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean by the end of the year. That gives customers a little thumb-twiddling time before Jelly Bean's arrival, but it isn't so long a wait that Motorola fans will drift to other phones.
Like the original Droid Razr phones, Motorola's Droid M includes Smartactions software, which does things like automatically switch from cellular data to Wi-Fi when you're at home, a move that can seamlessly help manage your data use.
The Razr M will be one of the first phones to ship with Google's Chrome browser as its default.
Camera
Motorola cameras have long been a weak spot. They have the 8 megapixels expected of a high-end smartphone camera, but the first wave of Droid Razr phones can't match Samsung's Galaxy S3, the iPhone 4S, HTC's One X/Evo 4G LTE, or Nokia's 808 PureView for picture quality. Unfortunately, Motorola didn't spend a lot of time trying to convince us that the camera quality has grown up; for now we'll remain skeptical, but hope to be proven wrong.
Processor and battery
Like today's top-end smartphones, the Droid Razr M features a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage, which can be expanded with a microSD card.
Bargain price
Unlike its larger brothers, the Razr M is priced to sell. The smartphone will be available next week through Verizon Wireless for $99, with preorders open now.
Prospects
The "M" might as well stand for "medium." Those looking for the ultimate in power and performance will do better with the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, but again, the Razr M is poised to sell. Its affordable price, LTE, immediate availability, and promise of Jelly Bean point to a handset that will make people looking for a good smartphone happy. However, people who can only be soothed with the best camera and largest screen on the market will overlook the Razr M for other options, regardless of its interesting (and ultimately minor) edge-to-edge screen.