While Samsung’s Galaxy S3 has been the star of the rumor show for the past few months — with BGR leading the pack — we now have a clear picture of the smartphone landscape for late summer and early fall this year. BGR has exclusively learned details about most, if not all of Verizon Wireless’s flagship smartphone launches for the remainder of 2012, and things are definitely looking good for Verizon subscribers in 2012. All the details follow after the break.

For starters, Verizon Wireless will indeed be offering the Samsung Galaxy S3 — Verizon notably passed on the Galaxy S II in favor of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus — but we don’t know when the carrier will start selling Samsung’s new flagship smartphone. While we have a clear picture of Verizon’s fall smartphone lineup, we would assume the Galaxy S III will be available over the summer.

Speaking of Android smartphones, there are “multiple” Motorola RAZR models due to hit Verizon in the coming months, one of which will most likely be the Motorola RAZR HD (or a name similar to that) with a larger and clearer display.

HTC might actually be the star of the Android show this time around though, as we have been told HTC will have a major flagship device hitting Verizon shelves in the fall. It’s said to feature a whopping 5-inch 1080p HD display (a non-PenTile screen), a new chipset that includes a quad-core Krait CPU and an Adreno 320 GPU, HTC Sense 5 and a Scribe pen. Yes, HTC is launching a Galaxy Note competitor.

Lastly, as we reported late last year, Apple’s next-generation iPhone is currently slated for a fall release.

Motorola promised that a bootloader unlocking solution would be made available for its recent phones in late 2011 but as the year came to a close, the company’s self-imposed deadline came and went with no release. To make matters worse, the manufacturer launched the RAZR with an unlocked bootloader overseas while the American version was locked and encrypted. Motorola blamed Verizon, claiming the carrier requested the device be locked even though other companies were offering unlocking solutions. On Monday, Motorola announced the RAZR Developer Edition on the company’s community blog. The device is essentially the same as the current RAZR, but with one special feature: an unlockable bootloader. The European handset is priced at €499 and will be sold without a warranty, while a U.S. version will become available through MOTODEV “in the coming months.” Read on for the announcement.

New Motorola RAZR™ Developer Edition will feature unlocked bootloader in Europe

We have some news for the community of people interested in unlockable/relockable bootloaders. Today, we announced a step forward in Europe with the availability of an unlockable version of our most in-demand product: the Motorola RAZR™ Developer Edition. This solution allows us to continue meeting our carrier and regulatory obligations, but also meets the needs being expressed by our developer community.

In the coming months, we also plan to introduce an unlockable developer device in the United States through MOTODEV, Motorola’s global developer network. Stay tuned to Motorola’s Developer site for additional info.

EU-based consumers can pre-order the Motorola RAZR Developer Edition through the Motorola Shop. Post-purchase, the MOTODEV site will contain all support info for unlocking, relocking and locating build files, as well as access to additional developer resources. The Developer Edition will have all the same great features as the Motorola RAZR: an impossibly thin design, hyper-vibrant Super AMOLED Advanced display, KEVLAR(R) fiber and more.

Verizon announced on Tuesday that the Motorola DROID RAZR, which originally launched a few months back for $299.99, is now available for $199.99 with a new two-year contract. The DROID RAZR is equipped with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, support for Verizon’s 4G LTE network, 16GB of storage, an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p HD video and more. The slim smartphone will also become available in new white or purple color options on January 23rd. Verizon’s full press release follows after the break.

DROID RAZR™ By Motorola Now Available For $199.99 Online On The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Network 

Customer Inquiries

The DROID RAZR™ by Motorola in Black is now available online atwww.verizonwireless.com for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. Equipped with 16 GB on-board memory, the DROID RAZR is 7.1 mm thin, made with KEVLAR® fiber for strength and Corning® Gorilla® Glass for scratch resistance. DROID RAZR customers can expect to rip through the Web at blazing speeds with a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and Verizon Wireless 4G LTE. Verizon Wireless leads the way in 4G with the fastest and most reliable 4G network in the United States, covering more than 200 million people in 190 markets.

Additional features:

• Powered by Android™ 2.3.5 Gingerbread, upgradable to Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video capture and image stabilization technology for crisp and clear videos
• Front-facing HD camera for video chat over 4G LTE, 3G or Wi-Fi
• 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot capable – customers can share 4G LTE speed with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• Remote wipe, pin lock and government-grade encryption for email, calendar and contacts, as well as voice and video chat conferencing
• 16 GB on-board memory
• microSD™ card slot with support for up to 32 GB memory card

The DROID RAZR in White and Purple will be also available for $199.99 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online atwww.verizonwireless.com on Jan. 23.

Customers that purchase a DROID RAZR will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data. For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Among companies that have played truly significant roles in building and shaping the wireless industry as we know it today, few if any can stand shoulder to shoulder with Motorola. It has been more than 38 years since Dr. Martin Cooper, a Motorola executive, made the first analog cell phone call from a prototype handset, and Motorola has continued to innovate ever since. The company’s rich history of innovation has yielded an extensive IP portfolio — a big part of the draw for Google, which is currently trying to spend $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility — and it has built a number of iconic devices. None, however, are quite as recognizable as the Motorola RAZR.

First released in 2004, the Motorola RAZR V3 was a pricey luxury phone that dropped jaws around the world. It was sleek, it was gorgeous and it quickly became a must-have for trendy consumers looking to turn heads. The RAZR was impossibly thin and its design was unlike anything most people had seen before. At $500 on contract, the RAZR V3 featured a 176 x 220-pixel primary display, a 96 x 80-pixel outer display, 5.5MB of internal storage, a VGA camera and support for data speeds up to 48Kbps.

The RAZR was a hot phone at $500, but the price dropped within a year and sales exploded. Motorola sold more than 50 million units within the phone’s first two years of availability alone, and the RAZR series is still one of the best-selling cell phones in history.

Motorola tried to recreate the magic it found with the RAZR several times. The vendor launched various new devices including the SLVR, KRZR, PEBL, RIZR and ROKR, and all the while, various new iterations of the RAZR — the V3i, V3x and so on — remained Motorola’s most popular devices. As time moved on and the industry caught up, however, Motorola’s RAZR lost its allure and it eventually became the free-on-contract phone carriers handed out to subscribers who didn’t care enough to choose a more modern handset.

When Motorola once again prepared to reinvent itself in 2009, it found an entirely new strategy. Rather than using a revolutionary hardware design to draw attention to its products, Motorola joined the right team. Google’s Android operating system was beginning to garner some serious attention and Verizon Wireless was ready to spend big bucks to market its answer to Apple’s iPhone. The resulting device, Verizon’s Motorola DROID, is probably one of the most significant smartphones to have launched in the past five years.

But even a year and a half before the DROID burst onto the scene and really put Android on the map, Motorola had RAZRs on the brain. One need only look back to a few big BGR exclusives from 2008 to see that the wheels were turning.

In December 2008, BGR revealed seven unannounced handsets that were in development at Motorola. Among them were the Niagra, the Calgary (above) and the Flash (below). These three handsets featured different form factors and designs, but all three clearly paid homage to the phone that turned the industry on its head back in 2004. The Niagra was a RIZR-like slider that featured sharp futuristic lines and focused on multimedia. The Flash and Calgary were gorgeous smartphones to be built from a mix of glass and aluminum. While the Flash was a full-touchscreen device, the Niagra and Calgary shared a common element that had served as one of the RAZR’s many signatures: the famous RAZR keypad.

These phones, the Flash and Calgary in particular, were designed as potential heirs to the RAZR throne, a former Motorola engineer with knowledge of various handsets that were in development at the time confirmed to BGR. There were apparently other devices being cooked up in Motorola’s labs as well that would be considered as possible devices to carry the RAZR brand into Motorola’s smartphone-centric future. We were told the design that ended up launching as Verizon’s DROID X was among them.

While the DROID and other phones that followed were terrific, Motorola was never able to put together a handset that really deserved the RAZR brand. The initial vision of the Calgary was fantastic, but the vision was muddled along the way to production. In its final manufactured state, the Calgary was definitely not worthy of the RAZR namesake. It would instead launch quietly as the DEVOUR on Verizon Wireless in March 2010 before slipping away into nothingness.

Another RAZR hopeful, the Motorola Flash, was canceled despite being hotly anticipated following BGR’s exclusive coverage of the device. This is likely the phone we were looking forward to most anxiously after seeing images and talking to our sources about the handset. From what we gathered, it would have been an absolute beast with hardware and materials that even the iPhone 4S couldn’t touch. One source told us that it would have been impossible to manufacture the Flash as it was envisioned and keep the device affordable in 2009, and so the project was scrapped.

Fast-forward to 2011, and it’s an entirely different story. Technology has progressed exponentially since Motorola first set out to reinvent the RAZR, and the vendor is finally able to create a remarkably slim smartphone made from premium materials that is still packed to the gills with cutting-edge specs.

“We wanted to build a device that could live up to the RAZR brand and carry on its legacy,” Motorola senior vice president of Portfolio and Product Management Alain Mutricy told BGR in a recent interview. “Like the original, DROID RAZR by Motorola is super thin, super light and super innovative. We kept various elements of the original design, such as aluminum accents, but added new ones that the smartphone market hasn’t seen, such as KEVLAR fiber.”

Mutricy continued, “The new DROID RAZR by Motorola is the RAZR of the future. It combines two iconic brands, but also combines the wildly successful characteristics of the original device – thin, innovative, sleek – with Motorola’s revolutionary smartphone features available today.”

BGR reviewed the DROID RAZR earlier this month and we definitely deemed the hardware worthy of the RAZR brand. As a complete package, BGR Editor-in-chief Jonathan Geller called the phone the best Android device he had ever used. It’s one of the thinnest smartphones in the world and it pushes the design envelope more than most modern handsets. Is it a phone that will turn the industry on its head like the original RAZR? Certainly not. It has been several years since a phone of that magnitude hit the market, and it could be quite some time before another phone has such a tremendous impact on the business. The new RAZR modernizes several of the key characteristics that made the original RAZR great, however, and no other Motorola smartphone to date is more worthy of bearing the iconic brand.

Motorola’s DROID RAZR goes on sale Friday at 11:11 a.m., and it is available exclusively on the Verizon Wireless network in the United States.

Verizon Wireless on Friday released a class-leading smartphone that combines two of the biggest cell phone brands of the past decade into a single device. Verizon’s DROID line of smartphones played a huge role in making Android the global juggernaut it is today, and Motorola’s RAZR turned the wireless industry on its head in 2004, showing consumers that a cell phone can be both beautiful and functional. The decision to merge these brands into one single powerhouse was not made lightly, we can assure you, and the DROID RAZR will undoubtedly find itself atop plenty of wish-lists this holiday season. We recently sat down with Alain Mutricy, Motorola Mobility’s senior vice president of Portfolio and Product Management, to discuss this iconic device and why it is worthy of carrying the RAZR brand into the future. The full text from our Q&A with Mutricy follows below.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Alain. Let’s get right to it: I have one of Verizon’s first LTE smartphones, built by a Motorola competitor, sitting in a desk drawer in my office right now. This phone is barely five months old, but it’s more than half an inch thick and the battery life is terrible. How was Motorola able to make the DROID RAZR just half as thick as my old 4G phone without compromising battery life or other areas of the user experience?

At just 7.1 mm thin, DROID RAZR by Motorola is impossibly thin. We were able to accomplish this feat through our design innovation – a combination of materials and strategic design choices. For one, the device has a stainless steel core and is made with KEVLAR fiber, an extremely lightweight, yet durable, material. We also fit the device with a Super AMOLED Advanced display, and embedded the 1780 mAH battery and enabled micro-SIM. But we couldn’t just make it thinner and stronger – the next generation had to be smarter as well. That’s where the innovation in the software and user interface experience comes into play. We have a quadruple threat with MotoCast, Smart Actions, webtop and our Business Ready promise.

Kevlar has a great look to it and there are marketing benefits as well, but why were Kevlar, aluminum and Corning’s Gorilla Glass the right build materials for the DROID RAZR?

We wanted to build a device that could live up to the RAZR brand and carry on its legacy. Like the original, DROID RAZR by Motorola is super thin, super light and super innovative. We kept various elements of the original design, such as aluminum accents, but added new ones that the smartphone market hasn’t seen, such as KEVLAR fiber. KEVLAR is beautiful, strong and widely recognized as an indestructible material by consumers. We also stuck with a few tried and true materials that our smartphone consumers love, including Corning Gorilla Glass. It’s incredibly thin, yet holds up well to the common mishaps smartphones often endure.

Consumers seem to be very focused on the hardware aspects of the DROID RAZR, for obvious reasons, but let’s talk about the phone as a complete package. How important to the RAZR and future smartphones are Motorola’s various unique software solutions, such as Motocast and Smart Actions?

The DROID RAZR software experience is exceptionally important. Clearly, we wanted to create a beautiful device that would shock the market with its innovative design. I think we did that. But more importantly, we wanted to create a number of software experiences that simply make people’s lives easier. Let me talk about four of these innovations.

MotoCast lets you stream music, pictures and documents from your home or work computers — virtually anytime, anywhere — so content is always within reach. No uploading to a third-party site and everything stays protected, right on your computer. So if you bump into an old friend at the coffee shop and want to show off the pictures you took on your last vacation, it’s easy. Simply go into your gallery, select MotoCast and you instantly have access to all those great photos that are stored on your home computer.

Smart Actions has really been a surprise delight for people. It’s a software solution that takes care of the things you don’t always remember to do and helps automate other tasks. Whether you want to maximize the last ounce of power in the device, or simply see the music app as soon as you plug in headphones, Smart Actions enables users to get the most out of their devices.

And of course there’s webtop. This is Motorola’s revolutionary software solution that allows you to view what’s on the device on a larger screen. We first announced webtop with Motorola ATRIX back in January, and are again releasing it with DROID RAZR by Motorola. When you connect the device with one of several accessory devices – such as the Lapdock 100, HD Station or Travel Adaptor – you get the power to edit documents on a larger screen and browse the Web with a full Firefox browser, all while powering the device. Or, when you plug it into the HD Dock or HD Station to connect to your HDTV, speakers and other peripherals, you unleash large-screen entertainment all powered by the device.

Last, but certainly not least,  we know people want to use their phone at work. We also know what IT departments need in terms of security features. That’s where our “Business Ready” features shine–government-grade encryption, remote wipe and password enforcement for the IT department. And then there’s the ability to access email, calendars and addresses, or edit documents, for you.

The media seems to be mixed when it comes to various value-added solutions like your webtop software and Lapdock package. Has this laptop-like accessory combo been well-received by consumers?

With webtop, Motorola Mobility designed a product that is truly innovative and enables consumers to do much more with their smartphones.  We first announced webtop and the Lapdock accessory at CES 2011 and since then, we’ve announced a variety of new webtop-enabled accessories. As a result, we’ve seen growing adoption of webtop-enabled smartphones and their accessories, all with positive feedback from consumers.

How important to Motorola is innovation outside the smartphone itself, beyond just as a means of differentiation? Can we expect to see more innovative solutions  from Motorola like the Lapdock and MOTOACTV that move beyond your smartphones?

Of course! Our brand aims to empower people’s lives. Our vision is that the smartphone becomes the hub of your digital life. We constantly strive to innovate in ways that create unique, powerful experiences for all types of consumers. Software innovation is a primary focus for us. We want to create devices and user experiences that are intuitive, connected and meet the growing needs of consumers whose lives intertwine with work, play, social life and entertainment.

MOTOBLUR has been a very polarizing piece of Motorola’s Android puzzle ever since it was first introduced. Has Motorola taken the various criticism to heart? What key changes and refinements have been made to Motorola’s Android UI as it lives today on the DROID RAZR?

We always take consumer feedback to heart. As far as our user-interface design, consumers and reviewers alike have commented on the improvements we’ve made to the experience this year. The DROID RAZR software experience is truly remarkable and we’ve been very pleased with the response so far. Everything from the homescreen to every day smartphone applications – such as calendar, email and connected media gallery – are taken above and beyond the basic Android platform to ensure a delightful consumer experience.

You have gone on record in stating that the DROID RAZR will receive an update to Android 4.0 in early 2012. What exciting new features can we expect from the RAZR once it is upgraded with Ice Cream Sandwich? Will Motorola keep most of the same custom UI elements found in the DROID RAZR’s Gingerbread OS, or can we expect some surprises?

As soon as the ICS software is released to us, we’ll be able to provide more details. Stay tuned.

One final question, Alain: Starting with the DROID that debuted in 2009, Motorola has produced several iconic smartphones that helped Google’s Android OS become the global success it is today. When it comes to being worthy of the label “iconic,” few phones if any are more deserving than the original Motorola RAZR first introduced in 2004. Why is this new handset the right phone to reinvent the RAZR brand, and why is it the right smartphone to headline Verizon Wireless’ lineup this holiday season?

The original Motorola RAZR was undeniably an icon. Not only was it the thinnest handset of its time, it was the highest-selling feature phone ever. The new DROID RAZR by Motorola is the RAZR of the future. It combines two iconic brands, but also combines the wildly successful characteristics of the original device – thin, innovative, sleek – with Motorola’s revolutionary smartphone features available today. It’s the right phone to headline Verizon Wireless’ lineup this holiday season because it’s a step ahead of the class. We’ve integrated the fastest network technologies, powerful chipset technologies, and a large battery enabling best-in-class performance all in a super-thin design. And from an industrial design perspective, DROID RAZR by Motorola sports unique materials with sculpted glass, KEVLAR fiber and diamond-cut aluminum accents. On top of all this, this next generation device offers users one of the most innovative interfaces and software experiences available, including MotoCast, Smart Actions, webtop and delivering on the Business Ready promise. This holiday season, there’s no device on the market that compares.

Verizon Wireless’ flagship smartphone for the holiday season, the DROID RAZR, will finally become available Friday at 11:11 a.m. local time. The 7.1-millimeter thin smartphone features a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED Advanced display, a dual-core 1.2GHz TI processor, 16GB of internal storage plus an expansion slot, an 8-megapixel primary camera capable of recording 1080p HD video, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera that supports 720p HD video chat, a 1,780 mAh battery and the Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS. Verizon is offering the device for $299.99 on contract, but AmazonWireless is running a special on the new smartphone: $111.11 on contract for a limited time. There is a catch, however… the DROID RAZR is already back-ordered on Amazon, so those who take advantage of the $189 discount will have to wait an estimated 8-9 days before it ships.

Read [Verizon Wireless] Read [AmazonWireless]

The Motorola DROID RAZR is arguably the most exciting Android device to come across my desk in some time, but all the hype in the world doesn’t necessarily mean it deserves to carry the iconic RAZR name. It’s a 4G LTE device that packs in a powerful processor, high resolution display, 16GB of built-in storage, 1080p HD video capture capability and plenty more. But is this Motorola’s best phone since the original RAZR? I have spent the past few days with the Motorola DROID RAZR, so hit the break for my full review.

Hardware / Display / Design

The Motorola DROID RAZR features top-of-the-line specs, and it somehow stuffs it all into one of the thinnest and lightest smartphone cases on the planet. At only 7.1 millimeters thin, this isn’t only the thinnest 4G LTE device in the world, it’s one of the thinnest smartphones period. With a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP processor, a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD video capture, an LED flash, an HDMI-out port, noise cancellation capabilities, 16GB of built-in storage and a 16GB microSD card pre-installed, this phone is isn’t just competing with other Android devices, it’s crushing them.

As far as the design of the handset, the DROID RAZR looks like the perfect evolution of the DROID family with a beautiful display sandwiched in between tough Gorilla Glass and a metal chassis with Kevlar backing. The edges of the RAZR are angular yet still soft, and the phone blends high gloss finishes with a matte case-back perfectly.

On top of the phone is an HDMI-out port, a microUSB charging and data port, and a 3.5-millimeter headset jack. On the right side is a power on/off/unlock button next to a volume up/down rocker key. On the left side is a small cover that flips down to give you access to the phone’s LTE microSIM card and microSD card. Around back is the 8-megapixel camera, an LED flash and a speaker.

While the display on the DROID RAZR is a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED screen, it still isn’t perfect. It does look better to me than the displays used on the Motorola DROID BIONIC and Motorola DROID 3, but it’s still a PenTile display, and that means that it still has a grainy look no matter how high the resolution is. Colors look very good and are reasonably bright and vivid, though the screen doesn’t compare to the likes of Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus displays. Touch sensitivity was excellent and incredibly responsive, with the device instantly reacting to every touch event, swipe and drag. On top of the display is Gorilla Glass, so in addition to the phone performing extremely well in the display department, it should be able to hold up to your use and abuse pretty well.

Now, while I love most of the hardware on the Motorola DROID RAZR, there are bound to be some negatives, right?

The smartphone is incredibly thin, but all that technology has to be stuffed in there somehow. How did Motorola fit it all, you ask? This phone incredibly thin but it’s also extremely wide. In addition to a 4.3-inch display, on the upper end of the comfortable spectrum as far as normal non-ape humans are concerned, the RAZR has a lot of empty space on both sides of the screen. That doesn’t count the phone’s actual frame either.

Without measuring, it looks like there’s almost a half inch of space on both sides of the display. This might not sound like a lot, but piled on top of an already huge screen, this makes one-handed use nearly impossible. I can’t even delete an icon off the home screen using one hand since Motorola made the delete area at the top of the display.

When going into the phone app, I can’t even dial a phone number with one hand since the dialer tab is, again, on top of the display and my thumb can’t come close to reaching it. Want to browse the Web? Well, you can’t do it one-handed because your thumb won’t be able to touch the URL entry bar. I can’t even swipe down to bring up the notification drawer using one hand to check unread messages, alerts and other information.

Software

The software running on the Motorola DROID RAZR is almost identical to the last flagship Android device from Verizon Wireless that shipped only seven weeks ago, the Motorola DROID BIONIC. One new feature that is actually very handy is Motorola’s Smart Actions app.

Smart Actions lets you specify different actions for your phone to automatically perform based on locations. I wish my iPhone had this. For instance, I don’t use Bluetooth at all when I’m at home, and I’d love it if my iPhone would turn Bluetooth off to save battery whenever I pulled into the driveway. Well, this works flawlessly on the Motorola DROID RAZR with Smart Actions. In addition to being able to set a wide range of different settings for locations, you can also base these actions on other parameters, like when the phone reaches a certain battery percentage. One of the suggested configurations is to have your display dim, turn off GPS, and turn of background syncing when your phone’s battery is at 20% or lower. Motorola says that with Smart Actions configured, you can extend your RAZR’s battery by up to 30%.

Besides Smart Actions, the DROID RAZR offers FIPS 140-2 validation for email, contacts and calendar giving the RAZR government-grade encryption for those apps in addition to voice and video conferencing. Beyond these few things, the OS and UI on the Motorola DROID RAZR are basically identical to the device before it, and the one before that.

Phone / Speakerphone

Voice calling on this phone is excellent, with calls coming through loud with good low end and clarity. Signal reception was also excellent and I almost always got 4G LTE signal in my home or around town in New York City and parts of Connecticut. Callers could hear me loud and clear.

As far as the speakerphone performance, it was sometimes hard to hear the other party in a conversation. Audio was choppy and I wish the speaker could get louder. Music playback on the speaker was hollow, tinny and distorted, but oddly, it seemed to get louder than it could during a voice call.

All in all, the DROID RAZR is a solid phone for voice calling, though the speakerphone performance fell short.

Battery

The battery on the Motorola DROID RAZR has really impressed me. After using the phone for a few days, I completely forgot about the fact that this a 4G LTE device (in terms of battery performance, not data speeds). For the first time ever, I believe that Verizon’s 4G LTE devices have finally reached the point of being powerful enough in the battery department, and thin enough, to not offer any drawbacks related to 4G compatibility.

The RAZR lasted days as far as standby time is concerned, and even with moderate use, the phone went for almost two days. While the battery isn’t removable, that’s a small price to pay for a device that’s able to run with the best of them.

Accessories

Motorola sent me a boatload of accessories for the DROID RAZR including an external battery (just plug it in and you have an external power supply), a car dock, a multimedia dock and the company’s updated Lapdock 100. The new laptop dock improves upon the original, though it still has issues. For example, Motorola has wisely allowed this new Lapdock to work with a wide variety of Motorola smartphones by having a universal connector that plugs into more than one device. Unfortunately, this design doesn’t actually let you dock the phone. Instead, you can only rest the phone in a cut out in the Lapdock.

For a phone like the RAZR with the ports on the top of the case, you can’t even rest the handset in the Lapdock, so you’re forced to leave it plugged in on the table.

The new laptop dock has two-finger scrolling, a welcome change, though its performance it still pretty terrible and it makes navigation a maddening experience. The keyboard is improved, though key layout and size isn’t optimal, either.

All in all, in my limited usage, Motorola’s webtop concept is still very much a concept and not something I’d ever consider using regularly. It’s easier to just use the phone itself than the clunky laptop-like accessory.

Conclusion

The Motorola DROID RAZR has replaced Samsung’s Galaxy S II as the best Android device I’ve ever used. It’s ridiculously fast, incredibly thin and it runs on the fastest network in the country. It is also the first 4G device to finally show the world that it doesn’t have to be as thick as a brick or have battery life that forces you to invest in 12 chargers.

With a beautiful design, an amazing display and a thin profile that’s packed to the brim with the latest and greatest specs, the Motorola DROID RAZR is absolutely worthy of being Verizon’s flagship device for the holidays. While the physical size of the device is larger than I’d have liked, and one-handed usage can be tricky if you’re not used to the crop of large display’d devices of late, there are way more positives than negatives with the DROID RAZR.

Is it a device worthy of being the new Motorola RAZR? For the most part, I’d say so.

The Motorola DROID RAZR will become available on November 11th at 11:11 a.m. for $299.99 on contract. Verizon is also offering a limited time promotion as far as 4G smartphone data plans are concerned, so a customer who signs up for the 2GB monthly plan for $30 will receive the 4GB data plan, and someone who wants something smaller will be able to add a 300MB data plan to any Verizon Wireless phone for $20 a month.

Verizon Wireless on Wednesday reaffirmed that the Motorola DROID RAZR smartphone will be available for pre-order starting tomorrow, October 27th. The hotly anticipated smartphone revives the famed RAZR line from Motorola, and we can’t think of a more appropriate device to fill those shoes. The DROID RAZR features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD display, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor by Texas Instruments, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera and a 7.1-millimeter thin Kevlar case. The handset will cost $299.99 with a two-year contract and pre-orders will ship no later than November 10th. Verizon Wireless’ press release follows below.

DROID RAZR^™ BY MOTOROLA AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER BEGINNING TOMORROW 

Customers can pre-order the DROID RAZR^™ starting tomorrow at 8 a.m. EST for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement and data plan at www.droiddoes.com/DroidRazr.

The DROID RAZR not only shreds through the Web at blazing 4G LTE speeds, it does it in style with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED^™ Advanced display and measuring 7.1 mm thin. DROID RAZR is also packed with brains and security giving customers apps like MotoCast^™ and features like remote wipe, pin lock and government-grade encryption for email, calendar and contacts.

DROID RAZR customers can take advantage of the Super AMOLED Advanced display and 4G LTE speeds to stream videos with NFL Mobile, only from Verizon. Fans can stay up to date on news, schedules and scores from their favorite teams. NFL Mobile is included at no additional charge for 4G LTE customers for the remainder of the 2011 season. DROID RAZR customers will have access to Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network that now covers more than 186 million Americans coast to coast with additional markets planned before year end.

Customers may also pre-order in stores or by calling 1 800 2 JOIN IN.  Pre-orders of the DROID RAZR will ship no later than Nov. 10.

Motorola’s senior vice president of portfolio and product management Alain Mutricy confirmed on Wednesday that the DROID RAZR, announced Tuesday for Verizon Wireless, will receive an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update early next year. Mutricy explained that the phone was designed to run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which will be installed when it hits the market, but that Motorola has already created a time frame for an Android 4.0 roll-out, Pocket-lint said. Without support for NFC, however, features such as Android Beam will not be operational. The DROID RAZR is equipped with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a large Super AMOLED Advanced display with a qHD resolution, an 8-megapixel camera and support for Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network. Pre-orders for the phone begin on October 27th and it will be available in stores in November for $299.99 with a new two-year contract.

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Verizon Wireless announced the DROID RAZR by Motorola on Tuesday, a brand new Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) smartphone that will take advantage of the carrier’s 4G LTE network. The device is equipped with a dual-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz, a Super AMOLED Advanced display with a qHD resolution, 32GB of memory including 16GB of on-board storage and a 16GB microSD card, Bluetooth 4.0, an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p video, a front-facing “HD” camera for video chat and support for sharing its 4G LTE connection using Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot feature. The DROID RAZR is also covered with a water-repellant nanocoating that protects the phone from everyday spills. Despite the beefy feature set, the DROID RAZR is the thinnest LTE phone yet and measures just 7.1mm thick. Verizon Wireless confirmed the device will be available in November for $299.99 with a new two-year contract. It can be purchased with a number of accessories, including a new 14-inch laptop dock, a new 10-inch dock, a vehicle dock, an HD dock, a gesture touchpad, a wireless keyboard, a portable power pack and more. Pre-orders for the device begin on October 27th. Read on for the full press release.

VERIZON WIRELESS AND MOTOROLA ANNOUNCE DROID RAZR™ BY MOTOROLA: DROID STRONG. RAZR SHARP.

Impossibly Thin with Unstoppable Power on America’s Fastest and Most Reliable 4G Network

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.  – Today, Motorola Mobility, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) and Verizon Wireless announced DROID RAZR™ by Motorola, the world’s thinnest 4G LTE smartphone. A true marvel of design, this smartphone packs strength and smarts into a stylish package offered exclusively from Verizon Wireless.

Measuring 7.1 mm thin, made with KEVLAR® fiber for strength and Corning® Gorilla® Glass for scratch resistance, the DROID RAZR is ready to face the elements.  Speed limits are just an illusion with a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and Verizon Wireless 4G LTE. DROID RAZR customers can expect to rip through the Web with speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G.

“DROID RAZR by Motorola combines style, performance and the power of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network into one innovative device,” said Marni Walden, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “These are two iconic brands that separately symbolize the best technology available today. The combination will provide an unsurpassed wireless experience for customers.”

“DROID RAZR by Motorola is a testament to the innovation and design possibilities that stem from a strong partnership between Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless,” said Sanjay Jha, Chairman and CEO, Motorola Mobility. “We set out to design the best smartphone on the planet and delivered DROID RAZR which is thinner, smarter, stronger than any device on the market.”

Not only does DROID RAZR by Motorola deliver heart-pounding speed, but it has a mind-bending 4.3-inch hyper-vibrant display with more colors than most LCD HDTVs. The Super AMOLED™ Advanced display with qHD resolution dishes out beautiful images and smooth action so on-the-go movies and TV shows aren’t a blur, whether customers stream from Netflix™ or rent from Android Market™. It’s the first smartphone capable of streaming movies and TV shows through Netflix with up to HD resolution.

DROID RAZR customers can take advantage of the Super AMOLED Advanced display and 4G LTE speeds to stream videos with NFL Mobile, only from Verizon. Fans can stay up to date on news, schedules and scores from their favorite teams on the go. NFL Mobile is included at no additional charge for 4G LTE customers for the remainder of the 2011 season.

If cutting-edge visuals are its beauty, apps on DROID RAZR are its brains.  Enter MotoCast™, the free Motorola app that lets you stream or download your music, pictures and more from your PC to your phone. The Smart Actions app helps automate everyday tasks and optimizes battery efficiency by letting customers create rules, such as automatically setting the phone to vibrate during work hours or dimming the display at a specific battery level. The revolutionary webtop application allows customers to combine the device with separately sold accessories, like the Lapdock™ 100 or HD Station, unleashing the power to edit documents and browse the Web with a full Firefox® browser on a larger screen – all while charging the device.

Additional features:
·         Powered by Android™ 2.3.5, Gingerbread
·         1 GB RAM  for a fast user interface and multi-tasking
·         8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p HD video capture and image stabilization technology for crisp and clear videos
·         Front-facing HD camera for video chat over 4G LTE, 3G or Wi-Fi
·         4G LTE Mobile Hotspot capable so customers can share 4G LTE speed with up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices
·         Water repellent nanocoating protects the phone, and even the inside components, against everyday spills
·         Remote wipe, pin lock and government-grade encryption for email, calendar and contacts as well as voice and video chat conferencing
·         Use Quickoffice® to view, create and edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on your mobile device from anywhere at anytime
·         Bluetooth 4.0 low energy
·         32 GB memory: 16 GB on board and 16 GB microSD™ card pre-installed (actual formatted capacity is less)
·         Powerful 1780 mAh battery

The DROID RAZR will be available in early November for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at: www.verizonwireless.com; as well as at authorized retailers. Customers can visit www.droiddoes.com/droidrazr to pre-order DROID RAZR beginning on October 27. For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Motorola has produced several iconic handsets during its storied existence. The DynaTAC, the Vader, the v60 and of course, the Motorola RAZR. What Nokia did for the candy bar-style mobile phone in the 1990′s, Motorola did for the flip phone in the early 21st century. Thin, sleek and stylish, the RAZR was initially brought to market in early 2005. The handset was light, easily fit in the pocket and packed a flat, backlit keypad that proved itself to be a formidable text messaging obstacle. The device was so popular, in fact, that just over 1-year ago we were still talking about the handset — the RAZR3 — before it was scrapped by Moto in favor of Android-based smartphones. During its four year reign of terror, where it retailed for nearly $200 on-contract, over 110 million RAZRs were sold by dozens of carriers the world over. We still have an AT&T V3 lying around BGR HQ for posterity sake, and although its utility is diminished, the handset’s mystique remains. How about it: how many of you cell phone junkies were proud RAZR owners?

BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

We have to admit we were pretty blown away by the responses from our exclusive pics of the Motorola RAZR3. So with this in mind (and the fact that it’s Sunday) we thought we’d have a little fun today and share a gallery’s worth of pictures and information about how this particular phone, which also happens to star in a YouTube video, came to be. All of this — and more — is available right after the jump.

First and foremost, let’s take a moment to talk about the phone itself. For something that wasn’t a smartphone, it would have had enough features and functionality to make Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Average happy had it not been killed off. Here are the key specs of the prototype:

• 850/1900MHz UMTS/HSDPA
• Quad-band EDGE
• 420MHz ARM11 processor
• 109mb RAM / 19mb ROM
• GPS
• Wi-Fi
• Symbian UIQ OS
• 2.2″ QVGA internal display
• 2″ QVGA external display (touchscreen)
• 5 megapixel camera with LED flash
• Ad hoc internet sharing
• Mesh WAN support
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• microSD support up to 16GB
• Opera Mini browser
• MicroUSB

Now that the specs are out of the way, here’s the story behind how this particular engineering prototype surfaced this week. Travis, the gentleman who now owns it, recently spotted an eBay listing for a unnamed mobile phone that was literally in pieces. Immediately recognizing it as the same phone a Motorola rep once showed when he used to work at Rogers, Travis immediately bought the phone so he could assemble it and bring it back to life.

Pretty crazy to think this thing was scheduled to debut at the same time as the DROID, right? Anyway…

Click here to check out our Motorola RAZR3 gallery!

Thanks, Travis!

We’re sure by now you’ve all seen the video overview of the Motorola RAZR3, so instead of running with that we thought we’d do our part by sharing some previously unseen photos of the now defunct handset. There’s really nothing for us to say about the flip phone that packs a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G and Symbian UIQ, but it’s always neat to see what might have been, right? Hit the jump for some more pics!

Thanks, Travis!

Here we go again. On the one hand, rumorsville is buzzing with speculation surrounding the Evoke QA4, a rather intriguing touchscreen slider reportedly headed to US Cellular, MetroPCS and/or Cricket. On the other hand, you’ve got the VE465.

• CDMA 800/1900/1700/2100 connectivity
• 1.9 inch TFT internal display with 176 x 220 pixels and 65k colors
• 1.05 inch CSTN external display with 96 x 80 pixels
• Brew OS
• Stereo Bluetooth
• Music player
• Video player
• MMS, SMS, Instant Messaging, E-mail
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• USB 2.0
• MicroSD up to 4GB
• Talk time: up to 4.5 hours, Standby time: up to 12 days
• 1.8 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches, 3.8 ounces

We’re not sure exactly how this handset carries ruggedized devices forward but apparently Moto did something right as it has already been picked up by two known carriers, Alltel and TELUS. Release timing and pricing are still unknown but we’re hoping carrier subsidies take it down pretty low. Any of you outdoorsy types out there looking forward to snagging one?

[Via Unwired View]

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That saucy little Motorola i9… It just can’t stop posing for your pals at BGR. If you’re a Boost Mobile customer you probably already know that the i9 has launched in all of its deceptively bulky glory, well, because it’s far and away the sexiest handset Boost has ever seen. What about poor Nextel customers though, don’t they get any love from Motorola’s new iDEN RAZR? Thanks to one of our trusty ninjas we can confirm that this puppy is indeed headed to Nextel — in fact, it’s already slowly but surely making its way to various Sprint stores. As far as availability goes, you’re looking at a March 12th launch and pricing will be $249.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate . Sit tight, PTT addicts! Hit the jump for a few more pics, including size comparison shots next to a Curve.

Thanks, Teck!

Updated at 5:30 pm EST to reflect price correction — the final price after rebate is $249.99, not $299.99.