Unfortunately, older Motorola devices, specifically the OMAP-based Motorola devices will be unable to take advantage of this new discovery. This means that those of you with the DROID BIONIC or the DROID RAZR XT912 are out of luck. Also, DROID RAZR HD owners, steer clear from the Android 4.1.2 OTA update that began rolling out a couple of weeks ago. Updating to 4.1.2 may ruin your chances of unlocking your bootloader via this method.

Unlocking your device’s bootloader will most likely void your warranty, but most of us understand the risks, and most of us are willing to take those risks if it means finally being able to customize our devices with no inhibitions. Motorola is the most strict about locking down their devices, and many Motorola users have been agonizingly waiting for this day to come.

While the method has been tested and proven to work, we will still have to wait until the unlocking method becomes available to the public, so stick around. With this new method, Motorola phones have just gotten a whole lot more attractive. The devices have great hardware, but unfortunately, it was the software that was holding them back. Be sure to check out our reviews for both the DROID RAZR M and DROID RAZR HD to see what these devices can do.

[via Android Community]

While Verizon simply said that update would hit sometime this week, we’re glad it’s happening first thing rather than later in the week on a Thursday or Friday. Either way, Verizon is pushing out the update “in phases,” so be patient if you haven’t yet seen the update hit your notification tray — it will come!

The Jelly Bean update comes with Google Now, which offers a Siri-like voice search experience that we really like, as well as Project Butter, which adds a layer of virtual butter to the user interface to make it snappier and smoother to navigate, as well as make it quicker to open up apps and switch between them effortlessly.

The DROID RAZR HD comes with a 4.7-inch 720p Super AMOLED display and runs on a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5GHz with 1GB of RAM. While the 2530mAh battery may be plenty for most users, Motorola launched the RAZR MAXX HD, which is practically identical to the RAZR HD, except for the larger 3300mAh battery for those who really want to last all day long.

The Jelly Bean update is coming to Motorola’s DROID RAZR HD and the DROID RAZR MAXX HD. Verizon promised that the update would come to the new handsets back in September when they were originally announced, so it’s nice to see that they’re keeping up on their promises. On top of what users will get with Android 4.1, Verizon says that the update will also offer improved voice and data connectivity, better native calendar settings, and updated versions of all of Verizon’s preloaded apps.

The new DROID RAZR M received the update a couple weeks ago already. That device has a 4.3-inch qHD display with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and 1GB of RAM. The DROID RAZR HD has a little more oomph to it, thanks to a larger 4.7-inch screen with a 1280×720 resolution. It also has the 1.5GHz S4 chip with 1GB of RAM, and the RAZR MAXX HD comes with a larger 3300mAh battery for those who yearn for better battery life.

Owners of the RAZR HD and MAXX HD should get a notification on their devices when the update is ready to be downloaded and installed. Those who are lucky enough may even see the update as soon as Monday, but don’t be surprised if you don’t end up with it until later in the week.

The max is 0.37 inches thick and 5.54 oz (157 g) heavy while the smaller of the two is 0.33 inches thick and 5.15 oz (146 g) heavy. Have a peek at these photos to see how small that difference really, truly is. It’s as if Motorola is playing a joke on us – but the differences are there, and that battery is indeed in there with that much extra power. NOTE: We’ll be doing an extended battery test over the next few days on the MAXX HD as well – stay tuned for that!

You’d be well off taking a peek at our DROID RAZR MAXX full review to understand how these two devices are going to work for you, and make note of this fact as well: their software builds are the same. They’ve got the same version of Android, the same Motorola additions and tweaks, and the same apps. There’s no software differences between these two devices.

Remember also that Motorola has made it clear that they’ll be bringing each of these RAZR devices (including the DROID RAZR M as well) up to Jelly Bean very, very soon. That means Android 4.1 and a bit of the new Google Now system as well. The MAXX HD and the HD will be on sale at Verizon immediately if not soon nationwide as well – head out and grab one!

The DROID RAZR HD will come with 16GB of internal storage and you can choose between either black or white. The DROID RAZR MAXX HD will come with 32GB of internal storage, but will only come in black. The RAZR HD will the cheaper of the two, costing $199 after a new two-year contract, and the RAZR MAXX HD will fetch for $299.

While both devices are almost identical to one another, the RAZR MAXX HD has a larger battery that’s able to last for up to 32 hours of normal use according to the specs. Both devices feature a 4.7-inch AMOLED HD display with a 1280×720 resolution, while a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM are on the inside.

Verizon had a decent Q3 this year, selling almost 7 million smartphones. With the launch of these new DROID RAZR handsets, the carrier might be looking forward to another good quarter coming up, especially with the holiday season just right around the corner. Check out our full review of the Motorola DROID RAZR HD and take a look at our hands-on of the DROID RAZR MAXX HD to learn more about both devices.

[via Android Community]

The DROID RAZR HD will come with 16GB of internal storage and will cost $199.99 in either black or white. The DROID RAZR MAXX HD will cost $299.99 and come with 32GB of internal storage, but will only come in black. So, just like Henry Ford once said, you can have the RAZR MAXX HD in any color you want, as long as your favorite color is black.

Both phones are practically identical save for the battery. The MAXX has a larger-capacity battery that’s able to last for up to 32 hours of normal use. Both devices feature a 4.7-inch AMOLED HD display with a 1280×720 resolution. On the inside is a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM.

Both the DROID RAZR HD and the MAXX HD are extremely thin and lightweight, thanks to the unique kevlar fiber backing on both devices, which also makes them more durable and rugid than most smartphones on the market. To see more photos of the two devices and even a video that shows them both in action, check out our hands-on session.

This version of the smartphone appears to be running on China Mobile and is currently running the newest version of Android Ice Cream Sandwich, that being 4.0.3 just like the Transformer TF300. This device will be coming with a dual-core 1.2GHz OMAP 4430 processor from Texas Instruments and will have an unknown amount of onboard storage when it’s released – likely 16GB. Past versions of the RAZR with Android have had 32 and 16GB iterations with a microSD card slot to expand by 32GB on the fly.

The Motorola RAZR HD will more than likely be coming with the same 3000mAh battery as the RAZR MAXX so as to keep with the theme of this phone getting bigger each time it’s released, and will also have the newest version of Motorola’s UI “Blur.” Though we’ve not seen much of the word “Blur” or Motoblur as its sometimes referred to, Motorola has continued to use their now-unnamed user interface in phones globally. See you soon, HD!

[via Android Community]

I’m not really sure where to start here because the new RAZR MAXX is exactly the same as the original DROID RAZR we reviewed back in November (links below), except for the bigger battery as I mention a few times in our hands-on video below. It features the same impressively thin design — although no longer RAZR thin. It boasts a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 8MP camera, 32GB of storage and that crisp 4.3″ qHD 960 x 540 AMOLED display. So what gives? a 3,300 mAh battery that is almost twice the size as the original, and about 2mm of extra fat included.

Now I don’t want to rant here but following up one of their biggest handsets (with the powerful name to go along with it) with an equally impressive, near identical phone yet almost double the battery life all for the same price — that is a crazy move. I understand giving users a great 4G LTE experience but what about the hundreds of thousands that bought the original just 2 months ago, or even last week? Our own Chris Burns wrote a nice column about this same subject and thinks this is a slap in consumers faces — and I’d have to agree.

Not everything is bad here though. The Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX is also extremely good for the community and smartphone atmosphere as a whole. This has pushed the boundaries far higher than any other phone has thus far. Showing consumers that yes, we can fit these huge batteries inside our phones and make them last more than half a day. Others like Samsung and HTC will now have to combat this with something similar. I’m hoping we start to see 2,000 mAh+ batteries as a standard moving forward.

Moving on. This should be an excellent phone, building on everything the original has going for it except the MAXX will last twice as long. Sounds like a deal to me. Verizon has been stating this new phone will last longer than any 4G LTE smartphone on the planet, and I’m pretty sure that will be an accurate assessment. They’ve claimed well over 20 hours of usage with ease on all America’s fastest and biggest 4G LTE network.

With a sleek design, amazing battery life, blazing fast speeds, and Kevlar coating on the back for extreme durability this is about as good as it gets. Sadly it comes out of the box with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread but Motorola’s made it clear that 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich should be here soon.

For now check out the hands-on video below of the new RAZR MAXX by Motorola and expect a mini review coming soon with full battery rundown tests and more.

Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX hands-on

Alternatively you may be able to squeeze almost 16 days standby out of a single charge, though obviously regular users will get some mixture of the two figures. Still, considering one of the key complaints about the original DROID RAZR was its relatively short runtimes, the MAXX should satisfy a lot of users.

Unfortunately, $300 with a new, two-year agreement is a lot to pay for longevity, Motorola seemingly cranking up the price as the battery is non-user-accessible. Whether that’s an acceptable compromise or a slap in the face for consumers is a good question.

But here’s the problem: people purchased that original Droid RAZR, believe it or not, and in the several iterations that have come out since – purple, white, one pumped up by CeeLo in a Twitter campaign of sorts – there’s been no giant lack of interest. But then there’s a new version which costs the same price and has a much larger battery. How could a person who understands what’s happened here after they laid down their $300 on the first version not be a little ticked off?

Then there’s another version of the Droid RAZR out there as well which has a reduced price, $200, and the same set of specifications as the original, but this time with no 16GB microSD built in. So the separation of prices begins. Is this because Motorola and Verizon had this all planned well in advance, or is it because they wanted to see how well the original Droid RAZR did before they split the stock, so to speak, with prices and specifications? This situation doesn’t seem fair to early adopters at all, and there’s a lot of dissatisfied customers out there now as a results of it.

Functionally, the RAZR MAXX is identical to its predecessor. The big difference is longevity, however, with a 3,300 mAh battery that Motorola suggests is good for up to 21 hours of talktime. That’s despite the RAZR MAXX being still a reasonably slimline handset: as our side-by-side photo shows, the main difference is that the RAZR loses its camera “bump” and instead runs relatively flat down the back panel.

$100 is a fair premium to pay for extra runtime, but given there’s no way to manually swap out the Motorola’s non-user-accessible battery there’s not much of an alternative bar fiddly external power packs.

Meanwhile, if you can do without the chunky battery in the MAXX variant, the original DROID RAZR has recently had $100 shaved from its sticker price.

Motorola was tight lipped during CES and all they had in response to our questions on a launch date was “coming very soon”. Now the details have been revealed by Motorola themselves right on their website. Clearly stating that the new Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX will be available starting Thursday, January 26th.

The new MAXX edition will be exactly the same as the original we reviewed late last year — only it will offer a larger battery. Motorola will be launching the MAXX with a 3,300 mAh battery promising over 21+ hours of solid use. Enough for any hardcore power user, or a busy business-minded individual. The same 4.3″ qHD display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread and 8 MP camera will all be present. The original was just over 7mm thick and the new model will still be RAZR thin at just 8.9mm according to Moto. For a comparison that is about the same thickness as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

The new Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX will also come with 32GB of storage rather than 16GB, and will set you back an additional $100 over the original.

[via Motorola]