Motorola Razr review

The legendary Moto brand gets reborn in an Android skin

Motorola Razr review
The definitive Motorola Razr review

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Motorola razr review

You may have noticed we're fans of the internet browser on many Android phones, and the Motorola Razr is no exception.

Thanks to the 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen, words and images look pin sharp and easy to read even zoomed out, thanks to the upgraded qHD resolution too.

The 1.2GHz processor is also pretty darn adept at whizzing through web pages when it's on song too, jumping from one site to the next without missing a beat.

Motorola razr review

However, we say 'on song' there because for some reason the Motorola Razr can be a little erratic when browsing the web. Sometimes you can ask it to open up a new website or search on Google and the phone will respond instantly, matching the iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy S2 for speed.

But other times it will seem like it's simply ignoring your request, with no progress bar and just a blank screen to watch, even with a decent signal strength displayed.

This was intermittent, but enough to be irritating - only constantly refreshing the browser brought solace, which is lightly to annoy several users.

Another HUGE gripe is the bookmarking system, with five bookmarks locked in from the likes of ESPN and CNN. We're not fans of loads of prescribed bookmarks from manufacturers at the best of times, but being forced to have a link to those that some people have no intention of ever visiting is particularly galling.

Motorola razr review

There's also a noticeable judder when moving around the screen, and when zooming into text it's not the smoothest experience on a mobile phone, which again reduces the premium feel.

Motorola razr review

However, at least there's text reflow on offer - it's not in HTC's league, which automatically re-jigs the text to make sure it always fits the screen no matter how zoomed-in you are. With this version you'll need to double tap the text to make it re-align once zoomed in, but it's not too difficult to achieve.

And good news: Flash video works very well on this powerful little grunt nugget. It loaded up instantly for us in nearly every scenario, and was one of the better versions of the platform on a mobile. Which makes it a big shame that's it's going to be canned from handsets.

Motorola razr review

There's also an option to Tweet or post to Facebook whatever site it is you're looking at - it's a nice function to have, and shortens your URLs for you. It's annoying to have it so close to the Bookmarks button though, as we constantly pressed it accidentally.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.