Review: Motorola Droid Razr

I was recently fortunate enough to get a brand new phone. My boyfriend was offered a free product upgrade from Rogers, and there weren't any phones that he liked, and so he offered one to me. The best two phones that I could choose from were the Samsung Galaxy II and the Motorola Droid Razr. I had played around with both models in Best Buy and had been somewhat pining for the Razr as it seemed to be the sturdiest and best-looking of the Android flock: different, but not too kooky or awkward. And the fact that it had dual cores was enticing.

Nice, right?

However after using this phone for a month, I've fallen out of love with it. Let me tell you some of the reasons why.

1. The camera software. My previous two phones were the Xperia X10 and the Xperia Arc, both made by Sony Ericsson, a company renowned for it camera-phone technology advancement. The Sony camera phones were among the first really good quality camera phones, which paved the way for the Sony cyber-shots which were almost always used in Ericsson phones. Their long legacy of camera capabilities was extended into SE's smartphone camera software design and it showed with the Xperia line. Their cameras and lenses were of stellar quality, and even if sometimes the hardware of the phone couldn't quite keep up (resulting in laggy functionality sometimes in the X10) the pictures were still good enough to give the iPhone a run for its money. Both Xperia phones I owned were great at taking pictures, and the Droid Razr falls short in comparison. The primary issue lies in the auto-focus. When the camera app opens on the Razr, it doesn't auto-focus--I have to press and hold my finger on the screen to force the lens to focus on whatever it is I want to capture. I never had to do this with the Xperia phones. Their auto-focus was powerful and effective, and I was up and snapping away in seconds. The Razr doesn't allow me to do that, and in this day and age where we all need to capture that fleeting moment with whatever we have in our pockets, it just doesn't step up to the plate. I can't tell you how many blurry photos the Razr has given me in the past month. What's more is I can't press anywhere on the screen to activate the shutter anymore like I could with SE's phones. I've been demoted from screen capture capabilities to pressing a little shutter button like the iPhone, and it feels weird and restricting. I hate it. Hate hate hate hate it. This is such a deal-breaker for me that I've decided to sell this phone and get one of the new Xperia line of phones. I love taking photos on the run and sharing them. My SE phones made that easy and enjoyable, while with the Razr it's completely the opposite, to the point where I've hardly been sharing any pictures lately because I feel like it just isn't worth it to try to dig out my crappy phone and fail at taking a picture.
   
2. The battery life. Again the Razr falls short here. There is something seriously wrong with this phone when it loses 40% of its charge overnight. That's from the moment I turn off the screen and put it down while I sleep, to the moment I wake up and look at it for the first time. With mobile data and wireless off, as well as background data disabled, it routinely drops from 80% to 40% which is absolutely ridiculous. Where does that 40% charge go? Does it just leak out the sides of the phone? I am not impressed. Both of my previous Xperia phones were amazing at keeping their charge during downtime, sometimes only losing 1% or 2% overnight with no use... which is how it should be. Even now, it's lost 10% in only 30 minutes--it was just fully charged and I've barely used it. I'm charging this phone twice a day and I shouldn't have to.
   
3. Speaking of battery, the battery indicators on this phone only give me the battery charge level in 10% increments. It's not huge, but it is a bit odd--this is the only phone I've seen recently that does this. What's the reasoning behind this? The charge drops off so quickly that 1% increments don't even matter? Or did Motorola just want to make their horrible battery charge hemorrhaging less noticeable? That must be it.
   
4. And it takes for EVER to charge, too! My Xperias could fully charge from 10% to 100% in under an hour, while it takes the Razr at least two. This is just silly.
   
5. Near-impossible one-handed use. The power button is required to unlock the phone as there are no other physical buttons on the front, and it's extremely difficult to depress no matter which hand you use, and with whatever finger. It should be easier to get into your phone. Also it's just so freaking BIG. It's a wide phone. My previous SE phones were the perfect width for using one-handed. I miss pressing the middle button on the bottom of my Arc to unlock my phone. It was so much simpler.
   
6. The way it looks and the UI. Maybe I was just spoiled with getting ICS on my Arc before it was officially released. It was gorgeous, beautiful, and functional. And going from ICS back down to 2.3 just feels like such a significant downgrade. I now realize for myself just how clunky and weird the Android OS on the whole looks and feels to use. I'm glad this fumbling OS is changing its tune with ICS and the upcoming Jelly Bean, because the potential for greatness has always been around, it just hasn't been realized yet. Until now.

It's not all terrible with the Razr however. There are some good points:

1. The screen is beautiful. The brightness is off the charts and the colours look fantastic.
   
2. It's fast, most of the time. Loading YouTube videos is a sinch and pretty much instant.
   
3. It's durable, with Gorilla Glass for the screen and Kevlar coating the back and wrapped around the insides of the phone. My Arc's lovely thin silhouette was ultimately its downfall, as the plastic screen cracked when it was dropped a few too many times.
   
4. It's pretty smart, with its Smart Actions: it suggests "rules" for you to make involving settings as attached to constraints like location, time or charge level. For example, I can set a rule that dictates that when I'm at work, my mobile data gets turned off and the sound is muted. And I can set it to send a text message to a person of my choice when I leave, which is something I always do anyways. This would work for me if I had access to a wireless network where I work, since the location-based rules can only be activated by wireless networks. This is ridiculous, as I'm not sure why they couldn't set it so that location can be detected by either wireless networks OR mobile networks via my phone's GPS capabilities. And if my days were a bit more reliable, with a steady schedule of job / class times, I could set my phone to turn data and sound off, for certain time periods like when I'm in class, and dim the screen when I'm going to bed. The best of these rules is for battery life; when it gets below 20% and it isn't charging it will go into lifesaving mode by turning off background data and other functions.
   
   
5. And little things, like the fully-charged notification tone along with the in-pocket detection add some nice touches. Basically if the screen is unlocked, and you put the phone in your pocket it will automatically lock the screen for you if you forget. It's nice that it has a front-facing camera; we Androiders can finally take advantage of apps like Skype with free video calling. The sound that comes out of this phone is also pretty impressive, and call quality is crisp and clear. 

All in all, this is a great phone for multimedia consumption. Your movies will look fantastic and your music will sound pretty good too. Just don't forget to bring your charger with you, as well as your digital camera in case you want to take any pictures while you're on the road. This phone gets a dislike in my books, because what good are high-end specs if your battery life is crap? I can't watch a movie if my phone wants to die halfway through. The end.

UPDATE: I sold my Razr almost immediately after writing this entry and was able to get an Xperia U on the very same day. Review coming soon!

Xperia NXT Phones: Spec Comparisons

In the past week, we've heard quite a lot about the new Xperia lineup of phones. The S, the U, and the P (I find SUP to be a better acronym that PUS) are similar in design, but differ widely in their features. A few tech reviews have noted that it seems like Sony had a few different design teams working on these phones, as there are some similarities in the general designs of the phones, but their differences are enough that there must have been some miscommunications somewhere. In this post, I will attempt to clarify the different specifications of each of these phones and the pros and cons of each. Let's get started!

Xperia S

The big brother of the group, this phone promises to be Sony's first flagship phone under the new Ericsson-less name. The screen size is huge at 4.3" which is only slightly bigger than my Arc at 4.2" ... which could be a problem for some. A few people have told me my phone is difficult to handle. I'm used to it, and I don't mind the size, but it could be a deal-breaker for some who are tired of phones just getting bigger and bigger. However, for those obsessed with the newest technology and the highest specs, this phone is probably your latest wet dream. It has a resolution of 1280 x 720 and the highest pixel density of any other phone out there at 342 PPI (versus the iPhone 4S' measly 326 PPI). It has a 1.3MP front camera for video calls, and a 12MP rear camera for awesome photos. The storage capacity is enormous, at 32GB (more like 25GB after formatting and installations) and running it all at stupidly high speeds is its 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8260 processor. Did you hear me? Dual cores. That means two. My inner tech geek is drooling so hard.
There are two things stopping me from committing to buying this phone immediately. The first is that the lightbar design feature running through the bottom of the phone isn't exactly... functional. Sure, it lights up when you get a call or a message when the phone is on silent, but it doesn't actually house any buttons. It contains markers for capacitive directly above the lightbar but below the screen. It's not that I have a problem with making those things function (I used to love the capacitive touch buttons on my LG Chocolate) I just wish the buttons were actually on the bar. I feel like they cheated a little. I also want the bar to light up with other colours besides white. Also, I probably couldn't gather enough money to fill a fistful to throw at Sony for this phone. Bummer.


Xperia U
By far the funkiest of the bunch is the super-cute Xperia U. It's smaller and customizable, with extra "caps" you can put on the bottom of the phone (detaches below the lightbar). White phones will come with white and yellow caps, while black will come with black and pink. So awesome, right? Another bonus is that the lightbar on the U actually does what it should on these phones. The lightbar changes colour depending on what's on the screen! For current Xperia users, think of how the colour of the trackbar on the music player widget changes depending on the wallpaper of your phone. Like this!

Pink and blue background = pink trackbar.

And green = green! Awesome.

I've loved this feature since it was implemented, and I'm beyond thrilled to see Sony take it a step further with the lightbar. I think it's genius. 
The specs for the U are slightly less impressive, putting this phone into the average smartphone bracket. Think the Xperia Mini or Mini Pro in terms of the league it's in. It still has a 1GHz processor, which is pretty good. But the screen resolution is 480 x 854, and the screen's pixel density is a lowly 280 PPI. Furthermore, its camera is only 5MP, it has 8GB of non-removable storage, and it will only record video in 720p. That being said, this phone is probably my number-one choice out of the whole lineup. I'm well aware that it would be a step down from my Arc in almost every category (resolution, camera power, storage capacity, etc) however I'm willing to forego the impressive specs of the S if it means I get that funky lightbar. I clearly have my priorities straight, I know.


Xperia P

Last but not least comes the P. This is the only phone in the NXT lineup with an aluminum casing, and the only one that comes in either silver or red. If I was only concerned about build quality and looks, this would be the top contender. It has some great industrial-esque design features, like a visible screw head and a little grille over the side speaker. The lightbar only shows white light, however the buttons on the P are actually on the lightbar itself, and not above it. Its specs land somewhere in the middle of the S and the U: 1GHz processor, 4.0" screen with a 590 x 960 resolution, 8MP camera and 16GB of internal storage. But what sets this apart from the others is its WhiteMagic display: it has an extra white pixel to add to the standard RGB pixels of its cousins. From what I've read, the screen is noticeably clearer, sharper and more beautiful than most of the other phones out there. It manages to be 50% brighter than other screens while being 50% more efficient, so all that extra brightness won't drain your precious battery.


One last thing
ALL the new phones in the NXT series will have the fast-capture camera feature, meaning your phone can go from sleep to photo capture in 2 seconds without even unlocking the device. Simply hold the camera shutter button and it will instantly launch the camera function. I'm looking forward to this, since there have been a few times I've missed a good shot simply because the camera application took too long to launch. Once it's open, however, capture is extremely fast with my Arc--and I absolutely love being able to just tap my screen to take a photo. It's almost instant and I can easily get multiple shots in no time. I really hope they continue that into the NXT series.


TL;DR
Xperia S: stunning beauty and immense power, but at a high cost.
Xperia U: funky design to set it apart from the Android clones, but with average specifications.
Xperia P: lovely aluminum body and good specs, but no fancy lightbar.


I hope this adequately summarized the specifications of the NXT series for you. If you're stilly really stuck, the guys over at Xperia Blog made a handy chart to put them all side-by-side for you. Good luck deciding on only one!

For the love of tech.

I love this time of year. Not because of the weather (I hate the cold). Certainly not because it's the start of a new semester (my classes have yet to show up in my schedule, and I have been loving the extra sleep I've been getting over the holidays).

It's a new year. And it's time for new announcements about new technology to be released in 2012. That is what I love about Q1.

I'm not sure how to describe my love for technology. In some ways it's similar to the love you can feel towards another human being, in some ways not. There is a physical aspect to it. That excitement you feel when unboxing your new toy. The despair and anguish you feel when it gets its first little nick or scratch. The intellectual stimulation, the feeling of wonderment experienced while engaged with your beautiful new object d'art is like no other feeling in the world. There's just something about it that I can't get enough of. Within months after getting a new piece of technology, the itch starts to grow again. With all the announcements, all the posts about leaked phones with fuzzy pictures and uncertain spec lists, I start to dream. To wonder. Really? Is it possible? A dual-core phone with AMOLED display and 3GB of RAM? Suddenly your once-loved piece of tech looks not-so-shiny anymore. And when did that scratch get there? WHY DO YOU TAKE SO LONG TO TURN ON and etc.

Technology is wonderful. I love the things it can do for me. My phone is like my own personal computer that I keep in my pocket for instant access to entertainment and knowledge. Have a question about anything? Give me a few moments and I'll look that up for you. No, I haven't seen that new hilarious video. Let's watch it. I can connect with anyone, learn anything, experience everything, with just a few swipes. All it costs me is some electricity at the end of the day. A recharge and a wipe-down every once in a while, along with a reasonable monthly bill, is worth it for sure.


So let's talk about some of the more exciting tech announcements I've seen recently.

Sony Ericsson says “something big is coming” next week http://bit.ly/zzj4Rw
This is one of the first announcements I read, released last week when everyone was all abuzz about CES. I predicted that SE would be announcing a tablet, since that would be a "big" thing for SE as they normally only deal in the phone market. And besides, SE has been announcing a new phone what seems like every week! So a tablet would definitely be a change of pace. However, Sony already has a tablet out, so I'm curious to see if SE would come out with one of their own, especially after just being bought out by Sony. We'll just have to wait and see!


Huawei breaks out two new smartphones, including world's thinnest http://bit.ly/whzTaX
This one came at me just this morning, and announces two new super-thin smartphones with giant screens and dual cores. Just how thin is super-thin? We're talking 6.68mm thin. That makes the phone I'm currently using (the Xperia Arc) look bloated at around 9.8mm thin. I thought that stat was a mistake when I first read the spec list for the Arc last year before it was released. Complete with 1GB of RAM, this is a surprising announcement for Huawei, who have been the underdogs of the smartphone world until now. This could be a huge game-changer for them.

Acer launches Aspire S5 ultrabook http://bit.ly/w2Qq35
Now THIS is exciting. Last week my boyfriend bought himself a lovely little Christmas present: the Asus Zenbook. It was the first time I'd heard of such a thing; not a laptop, not a netbook, but something in between, and much more special. Super-thin, super-light, and super-powerful. The ultimate in portable computing. And now Acer is announcing one of their own. Just 15mm thick and boasting a boot-up time of 1.5 seconds, it promises to be the most beautiful and powerful piece of tech in your collection. What's more is the presence of a solid state drive for maximum storage capabilities, which is impressive. SSDs are still pretty rare in the laptop market these days. This one hits close to home for us, as we love Acer's line of little netbooks. They're cheap, reliable, and work well enough for everyday internet use (and are also easily given a boost by the addition of some extra RAM). By the time one breaks, its successor is already out and has a nicer screen and a bigger hard drive. So we can't wait to see one of Acer's more high-end efforts in real life.

I can't wait for CES! How about you? Anything in particular you're looking forward to?

For more buzz and announcements from CES, click here.
CES on Twitter: twitter.com/intlces
For Tech Buzz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/hannahxb/tech (sparse at the moment but I will be adding to it over the next little while).