Even though Google and Motorola are now one big, happy family, that doesn't mean Moto's phones will start to all look like Nexus devices. Nope, Droids will stay Droids, and the announcement of the Droid Razr HD, Droid Razr Maxx HD, and Droid Razr M prove that the company intends to keep all the things that work, drop the things that don't, and make the best stuff even better.
Meet the new Droids
The Razr HD and Razr Maxx HD look very similar to the Droid Razr released last year, and this is a good thing. Though the body of the phone remains almost the same, the new HD Razrs have 4.7-inch displays and less bezel around them. You get more screen and more resolution without adding a lot of weight.
Holding the Razr HD and Razr Maxx HD in my hands, I couldn't tell the difference between them even though the Maxx has a much longer battery life. There's a slight bump and less than a millimeter's difference in thickness. Same with weight. When I held both, I could barely tell that one was heavier.
They're also not much heavier than the original Droid Razr and Droid Razr Maxx, which were both astonishingly light.
When swiping through the Home screens, content, and apps, both felt snappy and responsive. The beautiful 4.7-inch display helps. Bright with rich colors and really crisp text, it's the kind of screen that makes you believe that watching a video on that size screen might be okay.
Motorola-specific features
I mentioned that Motorola has dropped things that didn't work with the new Droids. The big one is MotoBlur. That was Motorola's user interface skin that it had put on top of Android in the past. MotoBlur is no more, but the company did add a few tweaks to Android that you'll appreciate.
In addition to the standard Home screens, there's an extra screen called Quick Settings off to the left of the default Home screen. It appears once you've reached the end of your Home screens and shows on/off toggles for oft-used settings. You get more here than on most other smart phones, which put this kind of stuff in the Notification drawer. However, this does mean that it's not accessible from anywhere â?? you have to go back to Home first.
As a fan of widgets, I'm glad to see several cool ones from Motorola on these phones. The Circles widget, for instance, shows the clock, weather, alerts, and more. You can customize it somewhat to your needs.
For newbies, there's a Help app that will walk you through how to do everything from really basic stuff like swiping and dragging to more advanced tasks. You don't have to go through the tutorials in order. Pick and choose the things you need to learn, and save the others for later (or never).
Stuff brought forward from the previous generation includes the Kevlar back, the SmartActions app, and the overall commitment to good design coupled with useful functionality.
Photos on the Razr
Finally, a quick nod to the Razr HD's cameras. Though I only had a chance to look at the resulting pictures and videos on the device itself and not a bigger screen, what I saw impressed me.
I didn't note a lot of noise even with wonky lighting, and the camera focused and snapped pics quickly. The camera app has a few tweaks to put settings right at your fingertip, but it's otherwise unobtrusive. I like that it's possible to take still shots while filming video.
So when can I get one?
Motorola isn't releasing pricing for the Razr HD or Razr Maxx HD yet, and availability info is limited to "before the holidays." That's a bummer, since these phones look really sharp and possibly just as good as the versions that came before.
This story originally appeared on Tecca.
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