The ultra-thin Motorola RAZR was once the most sought after cell phone in the United States.  And while there’s little chance its smartphone namesake, the Motorola Droid RAZR, will ever reach the same heights, the new Android phone is high on my recommendation list for early 2012.

The Droid RAZR, like the flip-phone for which it was named, is all about thinness – and it is remarkably thin, just 0.28-inches thick for most of its body.  However, there is the Moto-bump, a thicker section at the top of the device similar to the Droid X and Droid X 2 smartphones.  In addition to being thin, the Droid RAZR is also tough; parts of its exterior shell is Kevlar and its screen is covered in Gorilla glass.

A dual-core 1.2GHhz Cortex-A9 CPU powers the Droid RAZR, making it very snappy both in general use and with more demanding apps.  1GB of RAM also makes it responsive while running several apps at once. 

There’s a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen on the RAZR, which is bright and beautiful with deep blacks and white whites, but the pixel density problem that plagues these screens is also along for the ride.  It’s no Retina display.  Still, the touchscreen is generally a pleasure to use and to view, and the screen door effect is minimal enough as not to be much of an issue for the general user. 

Like many modern Android smartphones offered by Verizon Wireless, the Droid RAZR has LTE onboard.  If you live in an area with LTE coverage, you can expect faster connection speeds than EV-DO 3G,  though the RAZR does seem to have less impressive LTE speeds than other Verizon offerings such as the Droid Bionic.  GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11n Wi-Fi round out the wireless connectivity menu.

Battery life is somewhat disappointing, but it’s not all bad.  On LTE, a full charge can last as little as 3 hours of data-heavy usage, though on 3G or Wi-Fi that number can climb to 5 to 8 hours.  If you plan on using LTE, you’ll likely need a mobile charger to keep the phone’s battery topped off while on the go.

The Droid RAZR is much friendlier when it comes to storage and connectivity.  The phone has 16GB of onboard storage and ships with a 16GB microSDHC memory card for a total of approximately 30GB of free storage.  You can upgrade to a 32GB microSD card or even a 64GB microSDXC card if you’ve got the cash*. 

There’s an 8MP rear camera that takes fairly good photos in adequate lighting conditions, but – as is the case with most phones – you’ll get poor photos in low light.  It also shoots 1080p HD video.  A microUSB port is provided for data transfer and charging, and there’s a micro HDMI port for outputting video to an HDTV.

The phone ships with Android 2.3.5, but an upgrade to Android 4 is expected sometime in early 2012.

The Motorola Droid RAZR is one of the best Android phones I’ve tested, both in terms of aesthetics and performance.  Battery life is the weakest link in an otherwise impressively strong chain, but this continues to be a problem for many high-end Android devices.  The Droid RAZR sells for $299 with a two-year Verizon Wireless contract, though you can grab the phone for far less from a third-party retailer like Amazon or LetsTalk.com.

M. Nichols, Products Editor

*XDA has reported compatibility with the SanDisk 64GB microSDXC flash memory card.

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