Cooler companion in the urban jungle

One word first: I bought the device recently as a replacement for my days in the tooth HTC Desire and wanted to have the latest version of Android. My Razr Maxx was delivered from Amazon.com without branding without SIM lock and with already pre-installed Android 4.0.4. An update to start so it was not necessary. And yes, it is the "image-app" installed, although you quit, but can not uninstall.

Exterior aspect: The Razr Maxx makes a quality Geamteindruck and exudes a technical elegance with its color scheme in silver-anthracite, which is further enhanced by the tempered glass and the Kevlaar coating the back. It is a very flat device which is a large area in the hand despite the new thicker battery. The phone contains little voids, sounds the top knocking sound and has no rear cover which can fall off. It rattles nothing. The SIM card and possibly a microSD card to be inserted through a small door on the left side, which is a bit fiddly job, because the parts are just a fingernail. But works smoothly. The connections at the top (HDMI, USB and jack plug) are free so that dust can penetrate.

OS: My old HTC Desire was still running Android 2.2.2, so the jump to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 is clearly noticeable. Motorola takes less into the surface of an Android than about HTC Sense with his attachment. ICS is very well thought out and has, for example, equal to a viable management of the Apps, the memory and the battery consumption installed. You can see which app consumes the most resources, and can terminate them if necessary. There is also a menu item data usage, where you can see the current data usage, or can set a limit 'useful because many data flat rates eventually reduce speed.

Screen: The specification of 10.9 cm diagonal is true and is fully utilized. The AMOLED screen is very sharp and has a great color saturation. Pixel errors I could not discover. The buttons at the bottom of the screen (functions, Home, Back and Search) are hidden under the glass, so that there are no buttons on the visible front side. I use the automatic brightness of the screen to save power. It can also be set manually. When you turn off the display has retro charm and makes a line in the middle like an old tube TV (is a gimmick, not a defect!).

Internet: With the included browser and pre-installed Google search surfing runs smoothly, thanks dual-core processor is the page loading fast and convenient scrolling smoothly. This also applies to apps such as Tagesschau or web.de.

Camera: The quality of the cameras, I am satisfied overall. At the rear of 8 megapixels, at the front (for video telephony) 1.3MP. The 8 MP camera makes pictures even in low light with a short shutter lag, allowing snapshots. There is alienation functions (eg Sepia, Solarize, color cast), who do not keep up with the competition around the iPhone. See the photos on the phone display is very good, but lose on the monitor and act partly soft blur with in detail. My Nikon D300 has not yet become jealous. Much better is the quality of HD video, which are very pretty to look at.

Battery: As a Volkswagen Beetle. He runs and runs and runs. Just crazy. However, not replaceable.

Sound: The voice quality when making calls, I feel as average. One shortcoming of the interlocutor is the eccentrically arranged microphone opening, which was apparently designed for "rechtsohrige" callers. On the left ear you have the cell phone then hold slightly higher (almost horizontally), so that the partner understands.
As for music features, Google Play Music is interestingly enough already installed, even though Google has not yet activated the service in Germany. Alternatively, Motorola has installed its own web stream called MotoCast, which enables streaming services and Internet radio. Even without cloud you can use it but as comfortable music player and has, thanks to SD card many gigabytes of space for MP3s. Unfortunately, the built-in speaker on the back provides a very noisy sound so headphones are recommended. You can easily plug in via 3.5mm jack. A pair of ear plugs supplied and still sounds slightly tinny, but already quite good.

Ringtones: The selection of ringtones is factory already properly. You can also use your own MP3s, the corresponding device is somewhat inconvenient to the file in the Ringtone menu appears (Tip: Play with Motorola-Player "My Music", then drücken- menu> "Set as Ringtone" - Klappt not with Google Play Music!). However, the allocation of different ringtones for different people is simply.

Conclusion: A cool companion in the urban jungle and the Internet, without competition with superior battery performance and can therefore be used with a clear conscience as Navi. Design, display and handling with Android 4.0 are also super. Camera, sound and call quality are solid average. Those who want an Android device with more processing power or a slightly larger display, will find with the competition. The Razr Maxx has but a few of the latest features (eg NFC chip, Direct Call, S-Voice) of the competitors not on board, but also considerably cheaper than, say, the Samsung Galaxy S3 or HTC One X. If these special functions, Quad Core or removable battery is, will not make friends with the Razr Maxx more. For everyone else it maybe like me has the makings of a favorite mobile phone!