Analyzed: Motorola DROID RAZR

Motorola to us is a hardware junkie's dream. For a long long time they have been producing electronic hardware (and licensing patents) that power almost all the devices we use on a daily basis. We were huge fans of the Motorola StarTAC back in the 90s and almost every device they put out since. Just to give you an idea of how rugged the phones were built back then, we dropped our StarTAC in the middle of the winter in about 4 feet of snow. Despite all our efforts we were unable to find it at the time. Winter came and went, and about a month later once all the snow was finally gone, we found our StarTAC and believe it or not it just turned on right back up and started working as though we had with us the entire time. No joke. In short, expectations run high when it comes to Motorola products especially this generation's smartphone, the DROID RAZR.

In the looks department, we must say even though it is a little unconventional, it is sleek and very pleasing to the eye. You have a little bulge where the camera is housed, but it is not intrusive at all. The RAZR's exterior is made strong with DuPont KEVLAR fiber (the kind used in bullet proof vests), while Gorilla glass defends the screen against scrapes and scratches. A force field of water-repellent nanoparticles shields the phone against water attacks - even the electrical boards inside (but we didn't test this part out). It is built well too and when you hold it, you feel that the device is of good quality construction. We'll even go as far as to say that the Motorola DROID RAZR is the most well built phone we have tested.

On the technical side, the display is 4.3" at a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels which is not as good as the HTCs or Samsungs in the market but it can hold its own. The RAZR also comes with a dual core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 8MP camera in the back (which takes really crisp photos and videos), 1.3MP front facing camera and 16GB storage that can be expanded. The operating system is Android version 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) that can be upgraded to version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The only question is when?

The RAZR is definitely not as quick as the other top of the line phones currently in the market (HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy Note, iPhone 4S etc.) and if you have used those phones before, you will definitely get frustrated with the lag (albeit not that much) when you try and access and use your applications. The processor cannot perform as well as the other dual or quad core processors that equip the top phones. You can do the same things as the other phones, but it will take longer. So if you are upgrading from a regular phone or a cheaper smartphone to a DROID RAZR you won't be disappointed. But if you are downgrading from a higher end smartphone (for whatever reason)... well, you get the idea.

The Motorola DROID RAZR is currently on sale in India for Rs. 29,999 (~$600). No contracts required. For those living in the US, would you rather pay that or be stuck with a 2 year contract and pay $200?