From the Lab: Motorazr2
My Samsung UpStage needed to be replaced, so I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a new phone at full price; I was concerned my UpStage wouldn’t make it until April. Therefore, I did some cell phone research on the latest cell phone lineup at Sprint. Of course, Sprint offered a weak lineup that gave me limited options on phones that I actually liked. The phones that made my shortlist included:
- LG Muziq
- Treo 755
- Motorazr2
I decided to go with the Motorazr2, which was my first Motorola cell phone in eight years. I drooled over the first Razr when the phone first launched a few years ago. I loved its keypad and thinness, but bad experiences with Motorola phones kept me away and faithful to European and Asian phones: Nokia, Siemens, Toshiba, and Samsung. However, the Motorazr2 finally lured me back to the brand, especially after discovering that Sprint put their menu system on the phone.
I’ve had the Motorazr2 now for approximately a month and a half, and while I can’t say it’s the best phone I’ve ever owned, it’s definitely the most stylish. I normally don’t factor looks highly when selecting a phone, preferring performance and reliability over looks. I was especially careful about doing my research after the issues I experienced with my UpStage. While my UpStage was a head turner, the Motorazr2 is head and shoulders above my previous phone. The steel and glass design provides a touch of class and sophistication; however, I have discovered that it can also be easy to drop because it can be a little slippery. Fortunately, the two times I dropped it was on carpet; I highly recommend purchasing a case for the phone.
The Motorazr2 has a large internal and external display in which the latter has already spoiled me. I have noticed that the external display is not as bright and colorfully vibrant as the internal display, but it’s entirely suitable and nothing to complain about. The external display’s vibra touch buttons for Sprint TV, the Sprint Music Store, and the camera phone are thoughtful add-ons that I appreciate. I must admit that for my purposes, I only use the Sprint TV vibra touch button. I refuse to buy songs from the Sprint Music Store, and I rarely use my camera phone. There are times when the vibra touch buttons don’t respond to finger presses if you don’t press the button just right; however, this happens rarely in my experience.
Once you flip open the phone, you are dazzled with a shiny keypad that’s “normal” in comparison to the previous versions of the Razr. The keypad is flat; however, each key is lined with a slightly raised textured surface for the numbers, back button, talk/end keys, and soft-key menu buttons. The keypad is a little slippery, but the textured keys helps. The menu rocker is designed well enough where you won’t make mistakes selecting menu options. This is a fact I appreciate after using the horrible menu rocker on the Samsung M510, my backup (cheap) cell phone. As for the menu itself, the deal-breaker for me would have been the menu interface. I remember the days when Motorola had the most confusing menu interface on cell phones, which was completely opposite of the easiness of Nokia phone menu systems. Motorola’s horrible menu interfaces was one of the reasons why I ditched the brand several years ago. Fortunately, Sprint incorporated their menu interface, which I’m well familiar with after upgrading to the UpStage. Setting up my phone and customizing the features were easy since I didn’t have to learn an entirely new menu system. As I was setting up my phone’s features, I did notice a bit of slow responses to button actions. This is particularly noticeable when selecting a screensaver. I also noticed that Motorola’s screen colors and menu icons are dim and a little boring in comparison to what’s available on Samsung phones. I’m use to vibrantly, colorful icons that do more than zoom in and out on the screen since I’ve been a Samsung owner for several years, so for me, it was a step backwards. Also, when you are in the menu system, the background screensaver loses quality, taking on a GIF-like design rather than the lowest compressed JPEG graphic. I find this a bit disappointing but again, is something I can live with.
The Motorazr2 as an actual phone has mixed results. I have good call quality and better reception, in terms of signal strength, than I had with my UpStage and even my old Toshiba. The speaker phone is okay; it’s nothing to write home about. The one thing I don’t like is Motorola’s decision to place the speaker phone on the back of the phone. When I use speakerphone, I have a habit of sitting it on a desk or my lap. Because of the speaker phone placement, I can’t really do this without sounding muffled to the other caller. However, I’m a Bluetooth headset power-user, so the Motorazr2’s speakerphone isn’t a feature I will use often. I’ll just have to remember not to sit it on my lap. No one I talk to complains that I sound like I’m under a water tank when I’m talking on my phone, so that’s a good sign.
Call quality aside, the Motorazr2’s big downside is the battery life. The battery standby and talk time is way below what I’ve been use to for several years. I have to charge the phone nearly every day even with limited talking. I’m not a big cell phone talker, but I do other activities on my phone. I’m aware that any usage affects battery life, but battery life is sub-standard considering that I’m texting most of the time or browsing the Internet. I’m also one of those persons who never turns off their cell phone other than to “reboot” it once a day. I was charging it every day for the first two weeks until I turned off the battery draining features: deactivating Bluetooth when I’m not using it and often using “Silence All” instead of “Vibrate All.” This helped, but I still have to charge the phone nearly every day. If I don’t plug it into the charger, I risk seeing a blinking red battery icon on my phone midway through the following workday. Talk time is supposed to be approximately three hours. Since many of my cell phone conversations last less than an hour per day (if that), I have no way of knowing if you get three hours of continuous talk time. At the most, I have managed to hold a two-hour conversation without having to plug my phone into the charger, factoring in standby time. While the talk time is on the low side from me – I’m use to phones with 4-6 hours talk time – it’s not something I’m likely to gripe about. My main problem is the standby time. I called Sprint’s customer service line to complain about charging the battery on a daily basis, and they advised me to take my phone to the nearest store to have it inspected, which I did. They gave me a replacement battery, and while the standby is a little better, I’ve determined that low talk time and standby time is a “feature,” not a “bug.”
Since I’m a big texter, I found the Motorazr2’s custom dictionary lackluster and downright inefficient. Even with this feature turned on, I spend a lot of time typing words I’ve previously spelled out using Multi-Tap – the opposite of the T9 method. The dictionary seems to retain only words I recently typed rather than storing them indefinitely. It slows me down and can be a little aggravating, but over the past month, I have figured out the words I have to type via Multi-Tap. As a side note, I found that texting with the phone’s protective, wraparound case increases keystroke mistakes. It’s difficult to believe that a piece of clear plastic makes a difference when you’re texting, but it really does. I would advise you to buy a case where you can slip the phone into a pouch.
Overall, I find that Motorazr2 a far better experience over my previous Motorola phone experiences; however, I wouldn’t say I’m falling back into their fan corner. I’m in-like with my Motorazr2 but am not in-love with it. The Motorazr2 has faults, some I’m willing to live with (the talk time), and others I’m not (the battery life). For me, the Motorazr2 proves why Motorola lags behind Samsung. Despite the success of the Razr series, I see why Samsung is a fan favorite and has a high rate of loyal consumers. This phone would be nearly perfect it kept the phone’s beautiful design and had Samsung’s vibrant colors/icons, features, and battery standby/life. Unfortunately, one can’t always have everything in life.
Positives
- Stylish, head-turning design
- Large external display with three vibra-touch buttons
- Ability to view Sprint TV and camera display on the external display
Negatives
- Substandard battery talk time/standby time
- Inefficient custom dictionary for texting
- Picks up finger smudges easily