Misconceptions about Maxx

[speede541]

I've read and watched a bunch of reviews, and waded through a thicket of forum posts and comments sections, and made the following mental list of common misperceptions about the Maxx. I'm sure there are plenty more -- please add yours:

- "Kevlar-coated back" or "Kevlar pattern" The back of the phone is indeed a Kevlar shell with a soft touch coating, not just a faux pattern.

- "Double the memory of the Ultra" It's more. There are 24 gigs of usable space after system overhead, versus 10 gigs on the Ultra (according to Verizon's data sheet) -- technically 2.4x more space.

- "Active Notification just lights up the middle of the screen" I've seen this written (and spoken) in such a way it implies there's an active matrix LED panel underneath, illuminating a zone or region of the screen. The screen is AMOLED, so really it's only the individual pixels in the clock numerals and unlock icons that are illuminated.

- "A bigger phone than Samsung's five-inch S4" True, but Samsung's 5" screen includes on-screen buttons, so really it's equivalent to a 4.7" display, and that's why the whole S4 can be 0.3" shorter.

- "Not a 1080p screen like HTC and Samsung" True, yes, and many reviews point this out as a Negative in their summary, but fail to remind us that elsewhere in the review they say how sharp the screen is, and almost all fail to mention the potential battery life implications of lighting fewer pixels -- a justifiable trade off.

 

[Optimus Prune]

I wouldn't call this a "misconception", per se, but just something that I find unfortunate. The name. The name just begs confusion. I was listening to the Slash/2 podcast and the host bought the phone and loves it. But he kept calling it the Razr Maxx. It would've been nice if the name were a bit more differentiated. And the only way they could've made it more difficult to find information online would have been if they named it the "Motorola Review". ;-)

 

[mistermojorizi]

S4 has physical buttons

 

[speede541]

Doh! Seriously? But I swore... Edit!

 

[Somniferum]

Not a misconception per se, but something I've noticed that really annoys me is that reviewers have a tendency to conflate the Maxx and the Ultra, then spend most of the review complaining about problems specific to the Ultra (glossy fingerprint-magnet back, ugly colors, lack of storage, etc.). Then they proceed to conclude that the whole Droid line is flawed. We called that the straw man fallacy back in Logic 101.

For an example of this fallacy in action, look no further than the Verge's review of the Maxx and Ultra. There are many others, but this one is particularly bad (and contains several other fallacies as well).

 

[dmodert66]

It is annoying how they lump together the Maxx with the Mini/Ultra. Another annoying thing is trying to search accessories on Amazon (alot of Razr Maxx stuff comes up). Yes, I know we can search by model number, but I prefer just typing the name (lazy )

I was blown away by the screen (although I knew it was 720 rather than 1080). Now I know I am not crazy. Everyone from my brother to coworkers (I work at a tech company too) are blown away by the screen and can't believe it's not 1080. To quote one of them from today "Guess that shows you we don't need 1080p screens on phones". He is head of our graphics design team and an iPhone owner and was amazed. Just sayin.

 

[Einsteindks]

It all boils down to caveat emptor. Didn't do the research? Shame on you.

 

[speede541]

 

[rabidhunter]

YES!

It's evident from the forum posts here and on XDA that the Maxx is ~THE~ flagship device that everybody is interested in, and that the Ultra is the red-headed stepchild.

So I'm waiting (and probably will be forever) for a review site to post up the full Maxx write-up first, and follow on with a curt Ultra review that says "refer to our Maxx review."

There's no good reason the Maxx should be receiving this afterthought treatment, except that the review sites are falling in line with marketing expectations, rather than picking the device with the specs they would be most interested in.

The Ultra with or without the Maxx is just a odd device to market next to the cross-carrier Moto X.

Don't forget the Mini!!! The Mini in is more forgotten and passed over; however, the price is great. For those who want a smaller phone or want everything the Maxx, Ultra, or Moto X is for a lower price. Unlike S4 Mini or One Mini, it has all the power with nothing skimped except for a TFT screen rather than AMOLED.

 

[doogald]

The one thing I read that sort of bugged me was somebody (commenting about the Motorola X) that the X was the first Motorola phone designed since Google took over; it then said that it was unlike the new Droid series, which was legacy hardware just borrowing some of the X's software function.

That was just so wrong. The Droid series are contracted phones for Verizon, but the Ultra and Maxx hardware are exactly the same as the X.

 

[Outatime]

Don't forget the Mini!!! The Mini in is more forgotten and passed over; however, the price is great. For those who want a smaller phone or want everything the Maxx, Ultra, or Moto X is for a lower price. Unlike S4 Mini or One Mini, it has all the power with nothing skimped except for a TFT screen rather than AMOLED.

A friend of mine at work is buying the Mini on my recommendation. She wants a smaller phone that does all the "cool stuff" my Maxx does without the silly on screen nav keys that the Moto X has. I *almost* bought the Ultra to save $100. As much as I love my Maxx, I would have loved that too, albeit without the awesome battery life.