Razr: To keep or not to keep?

[rushmore]

Torn, more than I thought here. The key is battery life. I can get by a day with moderate use, but if I use it like I did my last two devices, it does not last anywhere near as long. Not because the device is a power hog, since it does fairly well for the hardware it is using. The issue is no way to use an extended battery and not practical to lug a power pack all the time.

I like everything else about the device- except for the sudden reboots when using HDMI and 4G at the same time.

The other two new VZW devices have their own issues as well, so do not seem a good option since need the sd card slot (-Nexus) and the Rezound display is not very functional in bright environments (also has touch issues with game emulators).

Nope, I prefer the Razr (by far), but the fixed battery is REALLY beginning to bug me. I am lucky to get five hours with heavier use and usually closer to four, so will call it 4.5 hours. It would be LESS if I used live wallpapers and active apps pushing data. Considering how I use the device, 4.5 hours with heavy use is expected with the battery in it.

IMO, this device would have been better off being 8mm thick to afford a removable battery, so an extended battery could be used. Considering I paid almost $700 after tax, constantly having to worry about charging the Razr is not a good thing.

Am I alone in the "fixed battery bugging them" category? For me, the Razr's Achilles heal long term, appears to be the fixed battery.

 

[dantheman4162]

I'm not bugged by the fixed battery, but then I have never had to use a battery extender before. The reason I'm ok with it is two fold:
First one is a mind set. This phone is a computer. Its a phone-in-name-only (PINO?). This phone can do just about everything your laptop can do...yet if your laptop lasts hours streaming movies you'd be pumped....why don't you have the same attitude about your phone? If you're going to use your droid razr like a phone instead of a computer, you'll get phone-length battery life...if you use it like a computer, you're going to get computer-length battery life.
Secondly, I'm very rarely somewhere without an outlet, computer, car, hamsters on a treadmill connected to a generator... you get the picture. The cord isn't that big, especially now that the plug itself is only a little square, throwing it in your pocket isn't a HUGE annoyance not to mention buying a spare charger won't break the bank. I'm not saying you should lug a charger whenever you go out, but if you're going to be gone for an extended period of time, throw one in your backpack or whatever. I think that MOST of the time, you'll find an outlet, and i think the features on this phone and its style and quality completely make up for those instances where you don't.

Now granted, if you're a cattle herder and spend days at a time on the open range, I can see the issue you have with the battery, but I think the average person going from job to home to the coffee shop to the store, is going to make it.

I suppose the argument would be that if you had another phone with an extended battery pack you could last longer...and I'd say, well thats great, but its a trade off for other quality features. In my mind the fear of running out of battery juice is something we just have to overcome, if we want to use a quality phone like the razr...at least until they come out with a better phone with a better battery. I have an old school black and green screened nokia for when i'm away at school out of the country, I can charge it and it will last 3 weeks...no joke. But whats it good for? playing snake (thats right snake) and an alarm clock...I'd rather charge my razr every 4 hours.

 

[brobox]

X2 what dantheman4162 said. I couldn't have said it better. I am picking up my Razr tomorrow and ordered 2 additional car chargers today. One for the wife's car and the other for the motor home. For four dollars on ebay I don't even have to worry about having a charger with me. If I want to watch a movie or play a game, it's much nicer on a 55 inch HDTV than a 4.3 inch screen.

I don't see a problem with battery life for the way I'll use the phone.

 

[rushmore]

I know the Nexus and Rezound are out, due to the issues I menioned, so either I learn to luv the fixed battery, or wait a few months for the RazrMax

 

[zerocool79346]

I know the Nexus and Rezound are out, due to the issues I menioned, so either I learn to luv the fixed battery, or wait a few months for the RazrMax

Not sure why you think it would be a improvement (or really why you believe Verizon will carry it) but the bump in battery will be offset by the HD screen and it will still be fixed.

 

[Szadzik]

It all depends on two things.

1. Are you willing to sacrifice something for a device like GNex or Rezound?
2. How hard-pressed are you to get an upgrade now?

IMO at the moment the Razr is as good as it gets and unless you want to wait you will get something else that still is not as good as the Razr for various reasons.

If you are not in a rush to upgrade, just wait for a few months and there should be a few devices worth looking at.

 

[Frisco]

I have to say that I am amazed, astounded at this thread title (and also http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-razr/444503-do-you-regret-buying-droid-razr.html).

I guess I shouldn't be, as I've seen those sentiments in every single device forum, every single device forum.

But that RAZR is an amazing, evolved "phone." I don't own one yet, I will on the evening of the 24th , but I have two coworkers with them and they're both ecstatic about them, and I've had them in my hand every day.

Battery life will cause you to return this beautiful thing? Man, you're tough.

 

[DSCR]

I would have a razr already if not for the "battery issue". Yes, it is an issue for me as well. An issue I have been trying to come to terms with.

I could write a bunch about how I wound up with 6 batteries for my D2, 2 are extended. I really only use 3 at a time. One in the phone, 2 in my pocket. Only a few times have I needed a 4th battery before power was available. Most days, the 2 extended 1820mah batteries are all I need.

I am a Moto guy. Moto phones have always had better call quality and better performance in fringe areas for me. GPS has always been excellent with moto. They have always worked through all my abuse. A Bionic that works might have been good for me.

HTCRez looks good. A lot of people prefer HTC. I never have.
The GNex looks good, but Sammy is not my favorite. Moto has always been better than Sammy for me. No SD slot? I find that to be an issue.

I have been trying out an ipad2. Great device! Hate itunes! Cant pop an sd card in with a few movies. Gotta go through itunes. Ugh

I am trying to decide if maybe 2 battery packs will do me like my extra D2 batteries have. The Razor Battery is 1780mah. About the same as my D2 Extended. the Razor will probably use juice faster since I dont really turn stuff off. I use the phone. So worst case, maybe carry 2 battery packs with 2 to 3 charges in them? Maybe around 5000mah each? Still size manageable and a minimum of 4 charges close by?

So, Other than gaming, I guess I share the battery concerns AND understand the positives several of you point out. I am trying to come to terms with how I would have to change habits in order to function with this phone.

It all comes down to comfort issues, same as always. Any additional input would be appreciated.

 

[Szadzik]

@DSCR - carrying two extended batteries takes as much space as a batery extender and the extender will still have more juice than the batteries.

Get a 5000mAh battery extender and you will not have to worry about external batteries. Add a short uUSB cable so it does not take up space and you are good to go.

 

[rushmore]

I want one battery that is in the device. Had one in the Dash, G1, Droid 1, Incredible and the Droid 3. Nice to not even bother dwelling on a charge stop. An extender is one more thing to carry.

I was joking about the RazrMax, but you never know, given Moto and VZW current affliction for new models within four months of the previous.

Hooked on 4G now and want a 4G device, so the issue is can I "put up with" the fixed battery, given my usage habits. Again the trade-offs IMO with the Nexus and Rezound offset the gains of more battery options.

Nope, it is the Razr or back to Droid 3 and its 3G onlyness and slower performance.

Added:

There IS the Droid 4 though... It apparently will have an extended battery option and is why a special tool is needed to remove the battery(not uni-body fixed). Key word is "apparently", so not certain.

 

[pm1066]

Recall yodadroid promised VZW would have an external battery pack just for the Razr. So much for that.

 

[budwizer]

I want one battery that is in the device. Had one in the Dash, G1, Droid 1, Incredible and the Droid 3. Nice to not even bother dwelling on a charge stop. An extender is one more thing to carry.

You could always buy the new Moto P893 Power Pack and glue it to the back of the RAZR.

I just picked one up and while I don't plan on attaching it to my phone I was amazed by how thin and lightweight it is. Packs 1800mAh and has a built in microUSB connector. Definitely something you can easily put in a pocket and forget about. Not to mention it was only $29.99 after corp discount.

 

[cloudnueve]

I love my Razr. It is my proud and joy. It is my baby. And because it is my baby, I feed it every 4 hours or so. That's it.

 

[rushmore]

I love my Razr. It is my proud and joy. It is my baby. And because it is my baby, I feed it every 4 hours or so. That's it.

Bottle fed?

 

[FragDroidX]

I have been running the Razr and Rezound side but side for a couple of weeks and the Razr has had better battery life for me. I am a heavy user and get around 8 hours of life from the Razr and 6 for the Rezound. Honestly unless you want to wait until the next round of LTE chips you might as well keep the Razr. None of these first Gen LTE devices are going to have stellar battery life but so far the Razr seems to be getting the best battery life of the current Gen LTE devices.

 

[rushmore]

No doubt for me that the Razr is the best option out there. I am doing tests just with 3g and will post comparisons soon.

The differences are bigger than expected.

A far as 28nm LTE, we will be lucky to see devices with it until later in 2012.

 

[dguy]

snip

Stock battery life on every single Verizon LTE phone is poor. Some are better than others by extremely marginal amounts. The issue is that the Razr is the only one that does not give you the option to use an extended battery or a spare battery. You put an extended battery on any of these LTE phones and their battery life is in a completely different league.

There are portable chargers but the issue with that is they take time to charge, you can't just hot swap it and be good to go. They also tend to be a lot larger than a spare battery. Most phone batteries can fit in your wallet in the same place credit cards go.

If you put an extended battery on a Bionic or Rezound you can more or less use the phone however you want, how much you want, and always have enough battery to do it as long as you charge nightly. This is a peace of mind that is why I always get an extended battery no matter what phone I get. I don't want to carry a smartphone around and deliberately try to use it as little as possible.

On my Bionic with extended battery listening to Pandora for my entire 9 hour work shift without charging it is not uncommon. I also do about a full hour of web browsing on top of that spread across some breaks. When I get home the phone has always been off charger for something like 11 hours(I stop charging it and put it on my person more than an hour before work) and has enough battery left to be used for a few more hours.

 

[lowboydrvr]

Stock battery life on every single Verizon LTE phone is poor. Some are better than others by extremely marginal amounts. The issue is that the Razr is the only one that does not give you the option to use an extended battery or a spare battery. You put an extended battery on any of these LTE phones and their battery life is in a completely different league.

There are portable chargers but the issue with that is they take time to charge, you can't just hot swap it and be good to go. They also tend to be a lot larger than a spare battery. Most phone batteries can fit in your wallet in the same place credit cards go.

If you put an extended battery on a Bionic or Rezound you can more or less use the phone however you want, how much you want, and always have enough battery to do it as long as you charge nightly. This is a peace of mind that is why I always get an extended battery no matter what phone I get. I don't want to carry a smartphone around and deliberately try to use it as little as possible.

On my Bionic with extended battery listening to Pandora for my entire 9 hour work shift without charging it is not uncommon. I also do about a full hour of web browsing on top of that spread across some breaks. When I get home the phone has always been off charger for something like 11 hours(I stop charging it and put it on my person more than an hour before work) and has enough battery left to be used for a few more hours.

There are actually quite a few portable chargers that you can use while the phone is recharging (and most of those do fit in your pocket). Verizon sells one:
Universal Portable Powerpack P893

Here is one on Amazon that I purchased:
New Trent iGeek IMP99D 9900mAh External Battery Pack

So, while the battery is obviously not removable, there are several options available.

 

[Thom]

I use a Bionic from the minute it was released.

I looked at the Razr the day it was released and was shown an external battery pack with a short USB cable that could be used with it.

For the use you pointed out, plugging a Razr into that for 8 hours would seem to do the trick.

I think there is room for both devices and a person ought to handle them both and pick the one they like best.

There was an excellent series of videos done on the Bionic for how to extend battery life at ... http://androidforums.com/motorola-d...ic-battery-life-video-series.html#post3462318. Much of those videos is directly applicable to the Razr and worth viewing.

... Thom

 

[rushmore]

Plenty of extenders, but another thing to lug/charge & keep up with. If in the winter or carrying a bag of some sort, cool. The issue is other times where carrying one more item is not practical or desirable: When it is warmer is a good example, or if you forget the thing.

Sans an extender for the Razr when out all day: If you are not going to be near a charger, (or forget to carry a USB cable with you) best to turn 4G off. Simple solution, but negates having a 4G phone. Razr needed an extended battery option- especially due to the current LTE hardware options.

Added:

As far as the Bionic, the things that kill it for me (compared to the Razr) are the display is not as good IMO, not as zippy and the microsd is stuck behind the battery. This bugs me, since Webtop steals 3.5gb of flash storage, so nice to have the hot swap card slot.

 

[pm1066]

I think it is interesting that most people are ok with the Razr battery, except the power users. And by power, guys who have timer to have the screen on for several hours at a go. VZW did make a design choice and they bet the vast majority off users could live within the capacity of the fixed battery. An external battery charging pack works for some but not all. So, we'll see if this model sells (does anyone have any idea what sales of the Razr look like?), then maybe we'll see strap on solutions that are more elegant than the current external charger options.

One thing I do know--Razr sales are significantly higher than Gnex sales...

 

[tbcpn]

...I am doing tests just with 3g and will post comparisons soon.

The differences are bigger than expected...

My day-to-day use of my Razr is 100% 3G and some WiFi, as I live about 1/2 mile from (and below) the crest of the hill where full bars of 4G is available. I'm rooted with heavy Titanium freezing. My battery life on 3G is far better than my T-Bolt on 3G.

Typical day consists of 45 minutes of calls, receiving dozens of emails and responding on my phone to 20-ish, a handful of SMS, some web browsing, Pulse news and some TweetCaster (both set to manually update), and the usual Market updates. I will unplug about 0600 fully charged, and plug in at 2200 with well over 50% battery remaining. This totally works for my needs. And, when I venture over said hill into 4G territory, I usually switch to 3G unless 4G is needed for web browsing, etc.

I carry a couple iG0 1,500mah-ish external chargers when I'm traveling. Net-net, I'm very happy with battery life of my Razr as configured--actually very much like the Razr period. I'll probably pick up the GN whenever it's released just because, but I'd be surprised if it replaced the Razr as my daily driver.


Rooted: Droid Incredible / Droid X / Thunderbolt / Droid Razr / VZW 4G Xoom / Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTE

 

[jmt9779]

No doubt for me that the Razr is the best option out there. I am doing tests just with 3g and will post comparisons soon.

The differences are bigger than expected.

A far as 28nm LTE, we will be lucky to see devices with it until later in 2012.

yup. i'm in nyc and blanketed pretty good with the warm fuzziness of LTE, but I turned it off after having the phone for a week. it was just killing my battery. getting a lot more longevity out of using just 3G (while I'm out) and wifi (when I'm home).

 

[rushmore]

Agreed on the 4G. I will spare the technicals and just say that with heavy use of 4g, the Razr gets half the battery life.

Since other things besides 4g consumes power, I expected the difference to be less.

Not the case though and more the reason the Razr would have been more practical with an extended battery option.

Logic being, it IS a 4G device, so should not be stuck to using sparingly, or only when plugged in. This is an absolute case where style won over substance.

Added: Sure, the Razr may be a little better on battery than the other 4g devices, but they all have extended battery options to make up and then some.

That said, the Razr seems just as much a power hog in 4g as the other devices I tested. 45nm LTE is a battery killa', regardless of what chip, but is sweet none the less.

 

[cloudnueve]

Bottle fed?

Lol. My AC charger is the bottle. The car charger is the pacifier.