First Impressions/Review Thread

Cory Streater

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Howdy everyone,

The purpose of this thread, is to hear members thoughts & opinions on how the Motorola Bionic stacks up amongst a suggested list of attributes
  • Aesthetics
  • Screen
  • Hardware
  • Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage
  • Overall User Interface (including Motoblur)
  • Widgets
  • Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
  • GPS
  • Social Networking
  • Email/Calendar
  • Battery Life
  • Performance
  • Media (music, movies, DLNA)
  • Keyboard's
  • Camera (both still & video)
  • How the RAZR compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
  • Disappointments (if any)
Feel free to provide as little or as much detail as possible, while trying to make it as useful as possible. Hopefully this will help others who are considering the RAZR, but would like to hear some user feedback first.

And if you read a review that you found helpful, please use the Thanks button to show them your appreciation!
 

kilofoxtrot

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Still putting the phone thru its paces. But I can make one observation:

I haven't had a phone this well built since my beloved Nokia N71.
 

aweber1nj

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First Impressions:
  • Build quality is superb. Nothing feels cheap or weak. As Phil mentioned, I would've liked the side-buttons to be more pronounced too.
  • Screen is awesome. Performance is awesome.
  • Battery Life concerns me. I came from a D2G, and kept all radios off unless I needed them, even using SetCPU and Tasker to reduce battery usage. I was hoping this phone would let me run for a day with them on. With light/moderate usage yesterday, it was at 20% by 6PM, WiFi enabled all day, BT used sporadically (Smart Action) and SetCPU installed to underclock when display is off, etc. Jury is out on the battery, IMHO. Time will tell.
  • Smart Actions are nice. They're like "Tasker Lite", but if you own Tasker, you'll likely want to stick with it for additional control/options.

It's early yet. I think it's an awesome phone, and only the battery really concerns me at this point. Will check-back later this week.
 

Cory Streater

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Thanks guys. I'm particularly interested in how the battery life is since it is not accessible to those who would normally want to swap it out.
 

No_Smoking

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I don't have a lot of personal experience with smart phones... in fact the Razr is my first smartphone.

Battery life... from what I can tell, if I use it non-stop (downloading apps, email and browsing over wifi, texting and a few calls) Mostly couldn't set it down the first day cause it was just so dang cool! It "should" last the whole day with moderate use.
I'm not a super heavy phone user, so I'm sure others will get a bit less time out of a full charge.

I haven't really anything bad to say about the RAZR. Maybe a few small things that bug me maybe, but that's just personal preference.

I have to say I'm sort of bummed that the USB and HDMI ports are right smack in the top center of the phone. I'm used to having them down at the bottom of the phone. Its understandable its where it has to be though, given that's where "bump" is. It makes taking a call while charging sort of a pain. Also the case I bought with the phone (Otterbox Defender Series) has a belt clip.. there is a small "lip" at the top which covers the ports. Obviously not a huge deal, but something that might annoy some.

The phone is a bit wider than I would like.. I have Arthritis and it tends to be slightly uncomfortable in one hand. Adding a phone case only compounds this issue.
The Menu/Home/Back/Search buttons down at the bottom are a slight annoyance as well. I tend to place my thumb down on the lower right side when I hold it. So the search feature pops up a lot. = /

But again that's personal issues, if one has a large hand, I'm sure you wouldn't run into any of these problems.

Overall, I really like the phone. I foresee using it for a very long time.
 

copr165

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Got it a 11:11 am on 11/11/11 because that it when the store opened for the special launch. That very night I was out and was paying for something and had the Razr laying on the counter when the lady said what is that, never saw a phone like that before.

I am not a big Motorola fan and have not had much luck with them. Prefer HTC and was interested in the Rezound, however, I have not had one lag and have put a lot of apps on this phone and put it through it's paces. It it fast, and I mean fast, light, thin and the screen is very clear. Battery seems to be little better than the other 4g phones and as good or better than my iPhone 4S which is 3g.

When I got it I had originally thought about taking it back Monday and maybe swapping for the Rezound because I liked the rounded looks of it but the more I use the Razr I really, really like it although it is so thin I feel like I am going to break it. I have had many, and I mean many, smartphones to the point I am almost smartphone poor but I think this one is one of the best that I have had in a very long time in performance and construction.

I think it is a keeper.
 
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paul-c

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Battery life has been better than expected, but I came in not expecting the world because it's LTE. Those smart actions do help out the situation. The hardware is great and I really like the screen, it looks beautiful. The black themes throughout Motoblur are cool, and I'm finding myself liking the UI alot. The call quality and radios are excellent, it's really nice to have a Motorola phone again. It's a wider phone, so typing one handed is a little trying. Holding it during calls is nice, though. Overall, it's a stellar phone and I'm happy with my decision.
 

xoomer1

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one good thing about the battery, it charges quicker then other phones it seems...I ran it down quick the other day using google maps for navigation, put it on charge when I got home and it seemed to take no time to fully charge
 

mule0331

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Ok, After a couple of days with it, here's my 2 cents.

First thing I have noticed is that I have full signal bars in my basement, where I only had 1 bar if I was lucky with my TBolt, so radios get a BIG thumbs up. The screen is nice, but my only gripe is that unless your looking directly at it, the colors seem a little off. I still get data interruption when bouncing between 3 and 4g areas. The phone weights absolutely nothing, and is incredibly thin. I haven't taken too many pics with the cam, but the ones I have taken have come out great. Call quality is what I would have expected from a Moto phone, its great. I've noticed that a couple times I have tried to open an app, but it didn't open. I saw the icon light up, but app didn't open. 1 HUGE flaw I have found, and it might cause me to take it back for an exchange is that while setting up playlists in the music app, the screen starts randomly flashing on and off, and takes a reboot to get it to stop. It's nothing thats going to cause me to run away from the phone, because I dont mess with the playlists enough to really worry about it. I havent set up any smart actions yet and still the battery life has been a lot better than my TBolt. Overall I like the phone and do not regret getting it at all, and would do it all over.
 

Liberati0n

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Everything is great my biggest complaint quite literally is the stupidity of the capacitive buttons.

If you put capacitive buttons on a phone, they should be invisible, no point to do anything else.
 

Rich Coralli

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First day impression, good reception and loud speakers, BAttery with email text and phone use only lasted 8hours and 30 mts and dropped to 20% % and I recharged. Shazam didnot recognize any music.
 

furbymac

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this phone is amazing. i have almost 2 hours on it on the 40% charge it had out of the box and i was killing 4G (i am on the edge of the extended coverage at home) i downloaded 27 apps. i fell in love witht he screen after i realized the brightness was all the way down and it is beautiful. I didn't notice the green tint on it unless i am looking at the screen from an angle. i am just speechless coming from and og droid this is amazing.

edit: i was a little concerned when i actually lost total signal no 4G/3G just cell so i told the sales lady and she mentioned they had been having issues with the towers around here and that "sometimes it takes the sim card 30 min to fully activate" even though i had already downloaded a few apps in store waiting for the g/f to get her dumb iphone. i will also add that the razr display on low blows the iphone 4 display on any level out of the water.
 
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skarden

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So far I've been VERY unhappy with the battery life and Google Voice Commands and/or Vlingo. Taking the later first, the tasks you can do is very limited. You can't create tasks by saying "Create a reminder for me tomorrow at 10 am". In fact, I don't think there is any way to create a reminder/task by a voice command.

If I say to either "Set an alarm for 30 minutes from now" they both hear the text perfectly, but take me to a Google search for that.

Even if I say "Note to Self", it does it, but wants to email it to my Gmail account. I want a sticky note.

I got the phone Friday night and charged it up overnight. I know I was doing a lot with it Saturday, like dl'ing apps, setting preferences, etc., but I was surprised when it went 100% dead at about 6:30 pm. I charged it up Saturday night and doing about the same it died at 1 pm. Since the battery can't be changed there is no possibility of buying a spare or extended battery.

I'm very close to taking it back for an iPhone 4s.:(
 

bignaz

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Aesthetics. This thing is a really good looking phone.

Screen I would prefer a higher ppi count or a non pentile display but the display is sharp, clear good color and over all i like it.

Hardware. Phone is pretty zippy.

Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage. Calls are clear and sound great. Speaker phone and music on the phone sounds great to. Loud and clear among the best i ever used.

Overall User Interface (including Motoblur). Tool a little time to get use to it comeing from a HTC Evo 3D but its pretty nice. But i still prefer Sence 3.0

Widgets. N/A

Signal quality (Compared to other devices). Great. Had the GN and the signal quality was utter crap. I thought i was useing sprint for a little while. I have always had 5 bars for either 3g or 4g but i will say it does take a second to hand off 4g to 3g and 3g to 4g.

GPS. Pretty accurate. Reroutes pretty fast and was spot on for me.

Social Networking. N/A

Email/Calendar. N/A

Battery Life. Could be better but its much better than my old Evo 3D and the GN i had for 3 days. I leave at 7am and i keep my 4g on all day. I work in a 4g area and go on the web and what not on my lunch and break and at 5pm im at about 80%.

Performance. Very nice. No lag and phone runs nice and smooth. 4g is insanely fast and 3g runs pretty strong to.

Media (music, movies, DLNA). N/a

Keyboard's. I do not like the stock kb. I like the one used on my Evo 3D the best. Using better keyboard with a skin that i found that improved it for me.

Camera (both still & video). Pretty good if you got some good lighting. Low lighting the pics are not all that great.

How the RAZR compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable). Awesome. I love the phone and this is the first Motorola i owned. I would deff. get the phone again.

Disappointments (if any). People said when i call them i am clear but im pretty quiet and im lauder on my Evo 3d. They said i was clear and sounded great just pretty quiet.
 
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cdiar

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Only had it for about half the day now and most of that has been just setting it up, playing with it, and downloading stuff, a lot of heavy usage. I will see how I like it when I'm at work tomorrow and will be able to give, maybe, a better review later in the week. This is very much a first impression but... Please forgive me if I ramble... And, boy, do I ever! Sorry guys! Hope this is at least... Maybe... Helpful?

Aesthetics & Hardware
GORGEOUS! I have absolutely nothing to complain about with the way it looks, except maybe that the power button is so small and right where the volume buttons used to be on my old Droid X. I'm only slightly concerned that I will accidentally turn my phone off while trying to change the volume, though. I have definitely already accidentally changed the volume while trying to shut off the screen. I'll get used to it.

I love that the touch screen takes up the whole front of the phone and, I didn't think I would, but I also like the weaved kevlar on the back. It adds a dash of pizzazz to it.

No camera button. SCORE. Also, the trade off of physical buttons for capacitive ones is a very nice change between this and my old phone.

Amazingly thin. The little hump at the top is as thick as the thin part of my old phone. Impressive! And I don't get the impression that it's going to snap in half. It's very well built.

And this thing is light. Like... almost eerily light given its composition (basically, not crap). I expected it to be a heavier phone and with the security tag that weighs it down at the store, it was very surprising to hold it by itself and see just how very, very light it is. And... I honestly don't know if I like that. I liked that my DX was a bit on the heavy side. I always knew where it was on my person (pants pocket, coat pocket, etc.) and it made me feel like I wasn't going to destroy it by looking at it, and that it wasn't made from bad material. Given that I know this phone is as well made as it is makes this a little mind-bendy to me.

Screen
I am well impressed. It takes turning the brightness all the way up, I think, to truly appreciate it, but it's still very pretty. Nevertheless, I suppose I am just a little disappointed. My first experience with a super AMOLED screen was with the Samsung Captivate for AT&T, and the execution of contrast and the color scheme of the UI was just amazing. This screen is still wonderful, but I guess it didn't quite meet my expectations. As it's been said before, the green tint of the screen is slightly noticeable, but it's not a turn off for me.

Phone, including Bluetooth & speakerphone usage
I'm not really into Bluetooth. I only use about 50 minutes of my allotted 450 minutes every month. I don't need to use Bluetooth.

I haven't used the speakerphone yet. I've actually only taken one call and it lasted only about 30 seconds, but from what I could tell, it was super, super crisp and clear-- even while connected to someone using US Cellular-- and I had a moment of thinking, "Wow, that's nice! It's like she's standing right next to me!"

Overall User Interface, including Motoblur and widgets
Honestly? It's the worst part about the phone. The Blur is driving me INSANE. Why can't I just visit my gallery and not have to be connected to all this extra crap that I'm completely not interested in? The first time I popped in, I thought, "Wait, is there a second gallery app I need to go to or what?" There are several things that are different that I found myself immediately disliking, even simple things, like the way the browser icon looks. What was wrong with the old one? I was also absolutely blown away by how much bloatware there is. It made me want to root it immediately just to get rid of it all but... Yeah, I'm not gonna do that yet. >_>

There are plenty of things I do like about it though. It's not all bad. I like the lock screen. The time is nice and big, and I'm not as annoyed by the locks as I thought I might be. Instantly accessing my camera is a plus. I like the cube transitions between the home screens and that you can hide those pesky bloatware apps. I like that you can switch to landscape on the homescreens as well. I like the 'Favorite Contacts' widget, which shows 4 of your faves, and when you swipe down on it, it expands to show all your faves. I especially like the homescreen editor and the fun little animations they added to it. I do not like that when you're adding an app to the homescreen, it doesn't let you choose immediately where it goes, just puts it in the next available spot in the row. I do like the app drawer pages. And the calendar widget, which may save me from having to download a separate agenda app, even though I might do it anyway just for stylistic reasons.

I don't know. The UI is kind of hit and miss for me.

Signal Quality
I honestly haven't been paying attention. My phone has been 4 places today. The Verizon store, my front porch, living room and bedroom. I looked just now and I have 5 bars, so no complaints. But then, Verizon rocks in my city.

The only thing I do have to say (and please excuse me for being a squealing fangirl all of a sudden) is OMG ISN'T 4G AWESOME?! First time using it and I am just blown away by how fast this phone is with the 4G. I haven't compared it to how fast it is when it's on 3G only, but... I just cannot get enough of how unbelievably fast it is. Rock. On.

GPS
Idk. Haven't used it yet. I have high expectations though. I'm hoping it's miles apart from my DX, which would find the address of where I wanted to go quickly, but I would be about halfway there (guessing as I was driving) before it would kick in with directions, maps, etc. And even then it would be incorrect. I did play with the Traffic widget just a little to see what it did and how long it would take me to drive to work. It seems pretty accurate.

Social Networking
All I've gotten around to doing is downloading FB and Twitter so far. I'm pleased that the Social Status widget is still there. It's pretty much the only blur app that I like. But I'm not much of a social networking person anyway. I like my Gtalk. S'bout it.

Email/Calendar
More of the same. And that is not a complaint.

Battery Life
Okay, I said that the UI was the worst part about the phone. I take it back. The battery is the worst part about the phone. I've had it 8 hours and have had to charge it twice. The battery life is way shorter than my DX and it's got a pretty quick charge with its tiny (adorable) charger, which isn't a good thing in my mind.

But, y'know, I was playing with it all day and I had it going full blast. It took me forever to figure out how to turn off 4G (I'm a genius, me -_-; ). But I did a little reading in the forums here and have since modified my Smart Actions and the nice little Task Manager that came with it. So... I'll reserve my opinions on it. Even if my battery life continues to suck, it's probably not going to be a deal breaker. I like way too many things about this phone to get rid of it, and I know I'll probably root it eventually and set some real CPU governors and battery settings to make this baby last forever.

Performance
Uh, I think I've probably touched on this quite a bit already, albeit in bits and pieces. It's FAST, and it's Android. Nuff sed.

One tiny, little nitpick about the performance. The first hour or so I had it, it kept turning on the Wi-Fi without my permission. And frankly, it annoyed me a lot. But then it stopped. So... Whatever.

Media
Haven't gone there yet.

Keyboards
I used to love Swype. Until I Swyping while half asleep and got sick and tired of the typos that I was making. I switched to the regular keyboard and have never looked back. I still think Swype is awesome and if you like using it, more power to you. I'm not gonna bother with it now.

As for the regular multi-touch keyboard, again, more of the same. Which... Includes a slight complaint, I guess. I had when you go to edit a word and the place-marker arrow extends into the selection field and sometimes you just can't get to the word that you want to select. Never fails. I think that's more of a OS problem though.

Camera
I am super excited to have a front facing camera, even though I know I'll probably have very limited use of it. Still. It's awesome.

I really like the UI of the camera. Still pretty ticked off about the gallery, but... I'll get over it... Once I feel it's safe enough to root and remove... I'll get over it.

As I mentioned before I love that there's no external camera button. I have no reason for this, I'm just glad. I also liked that they didn't feel the need to add a 'Camcorder' icon for the app drawer. A little superfluous if you ask me.

The camera takes pictures very, very quickly and that is awesome. It auto focuses, which is great. Honestly, no complaints. I'm actually thrilled with the camera. I think I'll probably use it a lot more than I did on my DX.

Haven't used the camcorder yet so...

How the RAZR compares to your previous smartphone
The Droid X was my first smartphone ever. And I was absolutely 100% convinced that it was the very best Android smart phone EVER, despite the fact that I knew there was better hardware out there, better this, better than. I could not be convinced that my phone could be beat. Until today. What I hold in my hands now may not be perfect, but it's miles ahead of what I had before and with each new stone that I overturn, I find one more thing to love about it. The only thing that I think my DX has on my RAZR is readily available roots that I can perform from my Linux computer, sbfs, and ROMs. And it wont be long before it doesn't even have that either.




Update on 12/27
I've had it for nearly a week now and I really have to say that my love for this phone has only grown. Things I would like to add to my initial review:

I've gotten used to how lightweight it is and it doesn't bother me as much anymore. I'm still a little concerned about dropping it because it's so light, but I'm being super careful with it right now until I get a case for it.

The call quality is just superb. I have been very satisfied with every single call I've taken, both with signal and voice quality; probably the best I've ever had.

As for the UI, I downloaded Go Launcher Ex and have used it and its subsequent apps to completely customize the way that it looks. And it makes the UI so much more tolerable. I hardly notice the Blur anymore, since GLE has so many great apps itself to replace it, so my thoughts on that have been turned around. I almost don't feel the urge to root my phone anymore, as a matter of fact (though it would be nice to have some tethering and AdFree).

I was a bit concerned when Verizon was having problems with their data connections last week, but since the latest update, I haven't had any more problems. I've also learned how to switch between 3G and 4G finally, and that has helped with things, especially battery life...

Which I'll address now. I was completely wrong about this aspect. The battery life sucked initially, because I wasn't using all the tools made available to me. Smart Actions is your BEST FRIEND with this phone. It allows you to set up rules, which allow actions to be triggered on your phone. Vague description is vague, I know, but for example: for the Battery Extender rule, when the display is off, my phone is not charging, and is not moving (all triggers), then the GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Background sync all turn off (actions). For my Low Battery Saver rule, when the batter level is less than 35% and not charging (triggers), the brightness drops down to 0%, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Background sync turn off, and my display timeout drops down to 15 seconds (actions). Also, there is a Task Manager that comes on this phone which allows you to keep or kill all the apps on your phone (including the ones that run the phone in general, not just ones you've downloaded), and for everything you add to the auto-end list, it will kill them after the display has been turned off for 2 minutes. These two apps, plus a few other things I selected to help my battery life, have made my phone battery one of the longest lasting (3G and beyond) phone batteries I have ever had. So, I take back what I said before. Great battery life.

Overall, I love this phone. It's the best phone I've ever had. And I've had a lot of phones.
 
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jak112460

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I love this phone as well. I wish the on/off would be on top. I have a tendency to turn the screen off/on accidentally when I'm trying to push the volume controls.
 

missouriexile

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Bought GN first. Returned after 3 days. Signal issues at my rural home. Nuff said.
I am impressed with my Droid Razr. Solid construction. Screen is great. I like the screen better than the GN. don't know why. Everyone says the GN is better.
Fast processing time. As quick or quicker than the GN. I suspect the GN has heavier overhead load than the RAZR.
The OS? It's GB what can you say? It's fine with me.
Battery? I had a 2500 mah in my dx. The
dr is clearly not as good. However it's not a disaster. I get decent runtime. I am not in a 4G area so that will change. My life style is such that I work at a desk with a charger handy. I also work on my farm. I never carry a phone when working in the pasture. Can't hear ring over tractor.
All in all I like the RAZR, better than the GN. What can I say?
Jon
 

VolMan37421

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Hello everyone,

I traded up from the Droid X (which is still a great phone) to the white Razr (I know some have said the white looked cheaper or "girly", but I thought it looked cool. Loved the stormtrooper reference). Here's my impressions after using it for about a week.

Battery life: Not bad. This is my first day back at work after the holidays so I'll see how it does. However, I had the multimedia dock for the X and kept it charged during the day. I have the cover with stand built in for the Razr, but I'll keep it charged as well. During the first few days while playing with all the features, I got a decent day's worth of use on a full charge. That included calls and internet surfing. It did not include games or playing music or movies however.

Display: I have to say that the other reviewers have been correct. The screen is very different from the X and I don't think that's necessarily a good thing. The colors are almost too vivid as to look unnatural and video playback tends to be much darker. That said, it is very vivid and has had no lag time in switching between screens.

Speed: I have noticed a big difference in streaming playback and in browsing. My X did a great job on 3G but there is a noticeable difference with 4G.

Battery: As long as the Razr doesn't get "stuck" like the X did, I am fine with a non-removeable battery. I'm sure there is a way to reboot the phone without a battery pull.

Design: It is amazingly light yet solid feeling. Cheap is not a word I would ever use to describe this phone for any aspect of it. Everyone that has seen it has been amazed at its size and then blown away by the specs and what it can do. I also love the size. I know its screen is about the same size as the X, but it appears larger to me. I know it is actually wider, but it appears bigger overall.

Call quality: It was great on the X and just as good on the Razr.

Software/Widgets: One personal gripe is the change MOTO made to the speed dial widget. On the X, I could have a button for calls and texts under my speed dials. The Razr doesn't have that. Maybe it does and I haven't figured it out yet, but it's just something I liked better on the X.

Overall, the Razr has been a fantastic phone and a worthy upgrade. I, like so many, was torn between it and the Galaxy Nexus. I am one of the few, it seems, who likes the MOTO widgets and did not want the learning curve of vanilla android 4.0 just yet. I'm content to wait for it on the Razr.

IMO, the Razr is a fantastic phone that is very cool and extremely fun to use.
 

WCapers

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Based on everything everyone has said, I can't wait to get off from work to go play with mine. I ordered it Jan. 1st and it was delivered to my house today -- should have had it delivered to the office.

As an Android developer, I almost didn't get this phone. It was a tough choice between the GN and the razr given that the GN had IC. In the end it all came down to build quality. The GN felt cheap in my hands. My last phone was a Droid X.:)