Motorola’s Droid Razr M Packs a Lot in a Small Package [REVIEW]

Motorola's Droid Razr M doesn't look like most of the other Android phones on the block. The pint-sized LTE handset is priced at just $99 with a two-year contract on Verizon, and packs a number of high-end features under the hood including a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and, soon, the latest version of Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean."

Announced alongside the Droid Razr HD that will be released later this year, the phone represents the next generation of Motorola's popular Razr line, adding a few enhancements from last year's model.

So, is the phone worth the cash? Let's take a look.

Design

If you've seen Motorola's previous Droid Razr or Atrix HD then the Razr M is going to look pretty familiar.

Motorola has taken the iconic design for those smartphones and miniaturized it to create the Razr M. The result is a smartphone almost identical in size to the iPhone 4S, with a larger screen and slightly longer body to accommodate for the phone's speaker.

With Android handsets tending to lean toward larger designs, the Razr M is a refreshing change from that. The phone's small design makes is easy to hold and operate with one hand, something that can't necessarily be said for many of its Android brethren.

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The back of handset is clad in Motorola's standard Kevlar, which makes the rear of the device soft to the touch and less likely to slide out of your hands or off of smooth surfaces.

One design feature I'm not particularly thrilled about are the three screws that are visible on each side of the phone. Ultimately I think they give the phone a cheaper appearance, and make it look a little lower-end than it might appear otherwise.

I would have much preferred Motorola to adopt the same look for as it did on the Atrix HD, encircling the handset in a black band. The contrast of the silver screws against the white phone body is enough that I would definitely recommend going with the black model over the white.

The rear camera on the phone is also surrounded by a mirrored backing that takes up considerably more space than the actual camera and also gives the phone a lower-end look, something that stands out a bit more on the white model than the black.

Display

Despite being small, the phone still has a fairly substantial screen — 4.3-inches — which puts it right on part with some of the larger smartphones out there. Motorola was able to keep the small design by virtually eliminating the bezel around the screen, something it's calling "edge-to-edge" technology.

As far as screen resolution goes, Motorola stuck with the same display it put on last year's Razr models, a Super AMOLED screen with a qHD resolution (960 x 540). The phone has a PenTile pixel layout, which means when you look at icons up close you'll be able to see a little pixelation around their edges. Not a huge deal for the average consumer, but if you're display nerd it's going to likely is something you can't ignore.

All that said, colors look great on the screen, and the screen is easy to see from a variety of different viewing angles. While not a high-end screen, it's also not a bad one.

Camera

The Razr M has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera that is also capable of recording 1080p high-definition video.

Par for the course for handsets in this price range, the camera isn't bad, but it also isn't anything to write home about. Photos taken outdoors and in brightly lit rooms tend to look great, and those taken inside look not so great and are pretty noisy.

We did, however, also run into some problems with the camera even in direct sunlight. The colors in this picture of the palm trees outside of our San Francisco office, for instance, look washed out despite the photo being taken in the bright outdoors.

If you're not a shutterbug, then it's not likely a problem. If you tend to take a ton of photos with your phone, the Razr M is likely to disappoint.

Software

The Razr M ships with Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," which will eventually be updated to Version 4.1 "Jelly Bean."

While the Razr M does have a pre-installed skin — the software manufacturers put on top of Android — the experience, by in large, is fairly unobtrusive. The home screen is clad with a time, weather, and battery-power widgets at the top that are super easy for even novice Android users to figure out, and the phone comes loaded with Motorola's "Smartactions" that learn how you use your phone and then offer settings suggestions to help make the handset easier to use. It's super useful, especially for Android newbies who might not be familiar with all of the phone's settings.

Swiping from left to right on the home screen also brings up a Quick Settings menu that can be handy for doing things like quickly putting the handset in airplane mode, and connecting to Wi-Fi.

Notably, the Razr M ships with Google Chrome as its default browser. The handset is one of the few devices on the market that use the browser as its default, and it's a welcome addition.

Fast Performer

Overall I was pretty impressed with the Motorola Razr M. The handset is a fast performer, with a decent display and software that's helpful while not being intrusive.

At $99 the phone is a great deal for anyone looking to pick up an inexpensive LTE handset on Verizon. If you don't need a new phone for a few months, Motorola's Razr HD and Razr HD Maxx are also headed to Verizon later this year -– with 720p displays — that might be worth waiting for.