IRL: Motorola’s Droid RAZR M and the SignEasy digital signature app

Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.

IRL TK

You can ask Dana which phone she uses, but don't act all surprised when you find out it's a $99 mid-ranger. You can also ask Darren what he thinks of SignEasy's digital signature app, but he might talk your ear off. Straight ahead: lots of talking, and one long defense of a phone with a mediocre camera and tiny little battery.

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Verizon launches Droid RAZR HD and RAZR M in blue, sort of

Verizon intros Droid RAZR HD and RAZR M in blue

Motorola is no stranger to launching phones in bolder hues, and it's not letting up just because Google is at the helm. Case in point: Verizon has started carrying blue versions of the Droid RAZR M and Droid RAZR HD at the same prices (free and $100) as their subdued black and white counterparts. Our known affinity for the color is a bit tempered here, however. Like the pink Droid RAZR M that surfaced a few months back, the color only goes around the edges -- both RAZRs are otherwise as black as can be. Still, that little splash of blue may be enough to stand out in a frequently drab world.

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Via: Android Police

Source: Verizon (1), (2)

Poll: If you worked for Google, which corporate gift would you pick?

If you worked for Google, which corporate gift would you pick?

Gift-giving is a beautiful thing, but it inevitably sets precedents. Last Christmas, Google's employees were each handed a customized Galaxy Nexus to take home, which means they'll be expecting something just as nice this year. One solution would be the Nexus 4, but Mountain View is far too smart to let its festive joy hinge on LG's supply chain. Instead, it's apparently taking the safer route of letting workers choose for themselves: either the excellent Nexus 7 (it's not clear which capacity, but we'd guess 32GB) or a wonderful new Samsung Chromebook, or a recently Jelly Beaned RAZR M. So go on, tell us, if all the right hypotheticals were in place, which would you pick?

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Source: The Next Web

Jelly Bean update starts rolling out to Verizon’s Droid RAZR M

Verizon starts rolling out Android Jelly Bean update to Droid RAZR M

We know not all Motorola handsets will be lucky enough to be on the receiving end of Mountain View's Jelly Bean OS, but the Droid RAZR M, on the other hand, is now being prepped to get a taste of Android 4.1. According to Verizon, the 4.3-inch, Kevlar-sporting device can now be added to the growing list of devices running Jelly Bean, with the carrier noting that the fresh update will officially start rolling out to customers today "in phases." Meanwhile, Big Red also says an option to download the upgrade manually is coming, though that alternative won't be available until later next week. Regardless, proud RAZR M owners can expect a slew of under-the-hood improvements, new features such as Google Now and compatibility with ISIS Mobile Wallet (where the NFC-based payment system's live, of course). Are you seeing the Jelly Bean goods on your Droid now? Do let us know in the comments below.

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Jelly Bean update starts rolling out to Verizon's Droid RAZR M originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Refresh Roundup: week of October 15th, 2012

Refresh Roundup week of October 15th, 2012

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of October 15th, 2012

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Refresh Roundup: week of October 15th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola RAZR i review: how does the Droid RAZR M fare with a 2GHz Intel processor inside?

Motorola RAZR i review

If you're getting a serious dose of déjà vu, we're right there with you. The RAZR i is a version of Motorola's Droid RAZR M that's headed to Europe and South America with a few differences. For the most part, though, it's cut from the same Kevlar cloth: you get a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen with qHD (960 x 540) resolution, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2,000mAh battery and 5GB of built-in storage -- with a microSD slot for expansion.

So what's different? On the outside, the RAZR i gets a physical, two-stage camera button. It's a welcome addition, but Intel reckons that its 2GHz processor is what you should be concerned with. It's the highest-clocked Medfield processor we've seen yet -- and perhaps more importantly, it's been placed in a core phone-maker's device. We've already come a long way from the Orange-branded San Diego. So how does this compare to the Qualcomm-powered (and LTE-capable) RAZR M? Will this Intel iteration charm us the same way? Join us after the break to find out.

Continue reading Motorola RAZR i review: how does the Droid RAZR M fare with a 2GHz Intel processor inside?

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Motorola RAZR i review: how does the Droid RAZR M fare with a 2GHz Intel processor inside? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Droid RAZR M torn down to its bare Kevlar essentials (video)

Motorola Droid RAZR M torn down to its bare Kevlar essentials video

Fall must be the season for surprisingly fixable thin smartphones. Repair part supplier DirectFix has posted a currently rare, video-based teardown of the Motorola Droid RAZR M that shows just how well Verizon's mid-range smartphone copes with surgery. In practice, it fares quite well: those unafraid of voiding their warranty can disassemble the Droid RAZR M from top to Kevlar bottom, replacing parts like the battery, cameras and flash with a minimal risk of damage. Not all is sunshine and roses, however. The display assembly is a single piece, which could be as costly to fix as it is easy to replace. We won't mind if it ever means dodging a full-price replacement in the event our RAZR meets the sidewalk.

Continue reading Motorola Droid RAZR M torn down to its bare Kevlar essentials (video)

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Motorola Droid RAZR M torn down to its bare Kevlar essentials (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 09:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s RAZR i: benchmarking Intel’s first 2GHz Medfield smartphone

Motorola's RAZR i Early benchmarks pitted against the RAZR M

Motorola were quick to tell us that we're testing on pre-release RAZR i here -- software updates may arrive before the device does, but these figures below should give you a good estimate at what the 2GHz Intel processor can do. We've pitched it against the US-bound Droid RAZR M, with a capable dual-core Snapdragon S4 clocked at 1.5GHz, and ZTE's Grand X IN, which houses Intel's 1.6MHz Medfield Z2460 and Android ICS.

Motorola Droid RAZR M Motorola RAZR i ZTE Grand X IN
Quadrant 4,944 4,125 2,710
Vellamo 2,442 1,906 1,550
SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms) 1,951 1,062 1,355
AnTuTu 6,364 6,175 N/A
GLBenchmark Egypt Offscreen (fps) 56 41 N/A
CF-Bench 9,392 2,973 873
SunSpider: lower scores are better

So what do all these numbers mean? Well, Intel's 2GHz processor is pretty capable. Although the RAZR i only bests the RAZR M on SunSpider browser performance (something that Intel's been focusing on with its mobile hardware), it's a substantial score difference. Otherwise, the Europe-bound RAZR skates pretty close, if behind the RAZR M's benchmarks. There's a hiccup on the CF-Bench score, something that we also noted on the Grand X IN. While both the ZTE and Motorola devices are running Android 4.0, there's still a tangible difference in these early benchmarks -- perhaps testament to both Motorola and Google's proximity and the debut of Intel's faster 2GHz Medfield processor. We'll be testing out those power-saving promises from the chipmaker over the next few days.

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Motorola's RAZR i: benchmarking Intel's first 2GHz Medfield smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 07:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola RAZR i: hands-on with the 2GHz Android phone (video)

Motorola RAZR i handson with the 2GHz Android ICS smartphone

While we've seen similar things from the RAZR M already -- and even reviewed it -- we reckoned those 2GHz Intel internals and HSPA-only radio inside the RAZR i (as well as European availability) warranted another tour of the hardware. In summary, there's decently bright, if a little jaggy, 4.3-inch AMOLED screen, with a water resistant coating covering the already hardy Kevlar backing. There's space for microSD expansion, and thanks to that tiny bezel, it's a phone that very happily resided in the palm of our hand. Some Intel assistance has added a new 10-frame burst mode, and also sped up the boot-time of the camera app itself, not forgetting that this RAZR model has a dedicated camera button on the side. We're booting up our benchmark toolkit to assess how Intel's processor fares, but until the final scores are revealed, take a look at our hands-on video after the break.

Update: We've added our initial benchmarks -- check them here.

Continue reading Motorola RAZR i: hands-on with the 2GHz Android phone (video)

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Motorola RAZR i: hands-on with the 2GHz Android phone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 05:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola announces Intel-powered RAZR i, launches in Europe next month

Motorola teams up with Intel, announces RAZR i in the Europe packs 2GHz Medfield processor, launches next month

Motorola's revealed the first smartphone to be borne from its team-up with Intel. Here in London, UK, it's a familiar-looking Android smartphone with an important internal difference. The RAZR i will be running on one of Intel's latest mobile chips (2GHz processor), differentiating it from what we saw from the Google-owned phone-maker a few weeks earlier. Motorola's calling the phone its biggest launch in the UK since the original RAZR.

Motorola's touting the (almost "edge-to-edge") 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 2,000mAh of battery and the same Kevlar coating -- it's water repellent this time. But this event is also about Intel's 2GHz processor inside. The chipmaker says it's optimized the architecture for web browsing, especially for Java-based activities. It's also pushing for power consumption even on processor-intensive activities like gaming -- but we'll have to wait for our own tests to check it out.

The RAZR i also packs a similar 8-megapixel camera and interface to those other new Motorola phones, with under a second start-up to get the camera app running -- we bet that dedicated camera button helps there. Intel made similar promises with the Orange San Diego, but were already intrigued by that Vanilla-looking interface.

NFC is already baked in, with Android Beam taking control of what you need, while its bootloader arrives unlocked. The RAZR i appears to be packing some iteration of Android 4 -- but we're still checking on whether it'll be coming with ICS or the newer Jelly Bean. The phone will arrive in the likes of UK, France, Germany and Brazil -- but no news on whether it'll appear inside North America's borders. In the meantime, you'll find a galley of pics below, plus a press release and publicity video right after the break.

Update: According to retailer Clove.co.uk stock should be arriving (in the UK at least) on October 1st, with a SIM-free price of £342 (about $555).

Continue reading Motorola announces Intel-powered RAZR i, launches in Europe next month

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Motorola announces Intel-powered RAZR i, launches in Europe next month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 05:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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