The Motorola Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX are two of Verizon’s best selling Android devices. So, it’s no surprise that the carrier, and Motorola, are planning to release a new Droid RAZR called the Motorola Droid RAZR HD.
Problem is, the device is still in the shadows as neither Motorola nor Verizon has confirmed the device’s specifications, pricing, or release date.
That hasn’t stopped numbers leaks from surfacing though and those leaks have painted a pretty good picture of Verizon’s next Droid RAZR.
Here, we take a look at all the rumors regarding the Droid RAZR HD including its specifications and when Verizon owners might expect the device to arrive.
This could be the Droid RAZR HD.
Droid RAZR HD Release Date
As of now, the Droid RAZR HD release date remains a complete and utter mystery. In fact, there hasn’t been a single leak about the device’s launch.
This seems to signal two things. One, Motorola and Verizon are doing a darn good job of keeping the device’s launch date a secret. This doesn’t seem likely as most Verizon devices get rumored release dates long before they even arrive. For examples, look at the carrier’s last big Android launches.
Read: Motorola Droid RAZR HD Release Date Still Unknown.
So if that’s not likely, we have to look at the second possibility and that’s that the Droid RAZR HD’s release date isn’t close. After all, the Droid RAZR MAXX launched in February and Verizon recently launched the Samsung Galaxy S III and Droid Incredible 4G LTE.
It doesn’t need to rush things and the Droid RAZR HD might be a device that it uses to shore up its fall or winter Android lineup.
Of course, one month we don’t expect Verizon to launch the Droid RAZR HD is October. That’s when the iPhone 5 is rumored to be coming out.
We have heard whispers of an August release for the Droid RAZR HD but thus far, there is no physical evidence to support those claims.
Droid RAZR HD Form Factor
Back in June, we got our first real look at a device said to be the Droid RAZR HD. If the photo indeed depicted the Droid RAZR HD then consumers will already be fairly familiar with the device’s design as it pulls heavily from the Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX.
The device sports a Kevlar back to help protect it. It also has a camera in the middle of the back of the phone with a LED flash on board. And the design sports a flat back. No confirmation on the battery size though we hope it’s the same 3,300 mAh battery that comes in the Droid RAZR MAXX.
Motorola has also put the microHDMI and USB ports on the bottom of the phone.
Droid RAZR HD Screen
The Droid RAZR HD, as the name implies, will be coming with a high-definition display, something that is not found on either the Droid RAZR or Droid RAZR MAXX, and a feature that will surely be one of the device’s big draws.
Benchmarks have confirmed that the device’s display will, in fact, be 720p in nature, which means it will likely be on par with the best display’s on the market right now.
The Droid RAZR HD might feature ColorBoost technology.
It’s also possible that Motorola might outfit the device with the same ColorBoost technology that is found on the Motorola Atrix HD for AT&T.
Droid RAZR HD Specs
The next Droid RAZR remains a bit of a mystery in the specs department. Benchmarks have indicated that the device rocks a Snapdragon S4 processor, the same speedy processor that is found in the HTC One X and Droid Incredible 4G LTE.
While it hasn’t been confirmed, it’s possible that it will have the same massive battery as the Droid RAZR MAXX. The Droid RAZR MAXX has sold well on Verizon because of its slim design and big battery combo and the companies might look to repeat with the Droid RAZR HD.
We also expect that it will be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Google’s latest version of Android that just started rolling out with tons of new features early this month.
Right now though, the device is apparently running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Droid RAZR HD Camera
Oddly enough, a photo snapped with the Motorola Droid RAZR HD appeared on Picasa. The camera on the Droid RAZR HD is expected to be 13-megapixels, which would be a step up over the 8MP cameras found on the Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX.
The Droid RAZR HD might feature a 13MP camera.
We expect that it will have all the bells and whistles included as well, things like 1080p video capture.
Droid RAZR HD Price
Like the release date, no information about the Droid RAZR HD’s price has leaked out to the surface. However, seeing as how Verizon decided that it was time to competitively price their 4G LTE smartphones, see the Droid Incredible 4G LTE’s price tag, it’s possible that we could see a Droid RAZR HD with an attractive price tag.
$199 sounds about right for a launch price on a phone of this caliber and a $149 price tag would probably sit even better with consumers though we don’t expect Verizon to dip that low knowing how popular the Droid RAZR line is.
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How Will Google's Motorola Acquisition Impact Its Earnings And Share Price? - Seekingalpha.com
When Google (GOOG) announces its quarterly earnings on Thursday this week, the results, for the first time, will reflect Google's recent acquisition of Motorola's mobile phone business. Now Google will be designing and manufacturing cell phones to compete directly with Apple's (AAPL) iPhone in the global marketplace.
For many investors, primary concerns center on what will be the financial impact and how they should value Google's share price going forward.
In May, Google announced the completion of it's $12.5 billion dollar deal to buy Motorola's cell phone business. The purchase, by far the largest in Google's history, will bring a new hardware business for cell phones, tablets, cable set-top boxes to Google. The acquisition will also add about 17,000 employees to Google's payroll, increasing its total employees by over 50%.
During the first quarter 2012, Google delivered about $2.9 billion dollars in net income on $10.9 billion dollars of revenue. Motorola Mobility, on the other hand, lost about $89 million dollars on $3.1 billion dollars in revenue during its first quarter of 2012.
Clearly, the Motorola acquisition is NOT likely to have a positive impact on Google's earnings this quarter and will almost certainly reduce Google's profit margin.
I believe the key issue will be whether the company can make investors feel positive about the Motorola acquisition. The company needs to show how the acquisition will create exciting new opportunities for Google as well as greater earnings growth over the next 3 to 5 years.
Certainly, the deal has brought in an estimated 17,000 patents, which will help Google defend itself against future lawsuits affecting its Android software. In addition, Google will probably announce the sale of around 5-6 million smartphones during this quarter. With Apple's mobile phone sales greater than 30 million last quarter, it is unlikely that these facts alone will help convince investors of the wisdom of the Motorola purchase.
I suspect that investors will be not willing to wait on a strategy that appears to have more questions than answers. If the business case for Google's acquisition is not clear and greeted with some investor enthusiasm on Thursday, look for a Google share price to decline on Friday following the earnings announcement.
Disclosure: I am long AAPL.
Additional disclosure: I have no positions in Google (GOOG) at this time
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc : RAZR Style and Quality Meet Awesome Value as Motorola Mobility Launches Motorola RAZR™ V XT885 in China - 4-traders (press release)
Iconic styling and mind-blowing thinness, made with you and your budget in mind, and now in a WCDMA version for China Unicom
July 18, 2012
BEIJING - July 19, 2012 - You're going places, and you're going fast. You need a smartphone that will be by your side whenever you need it, and that will look and feel good in any situation. Good news: Motorola Mobility is proud to introduce the latest member of the RAZR family, Motorola RAZR V XT885, a beautiful Android 4.0-powered smartphone that wraps a vibrant 4.3-inch screen in a surprisingly svelte body and a range of gorgeous colors, at a price that's almost too good to believe. Motorola RAZR V XT885 brings support for China Unicom's 3G network to the RAZR V line.
"With Motorola RAZR V XT885 we've created the perfect smartphone for stylish, smart and tech-savvy consumers who want great looks, great performance and great value," said Frank Meng, Senior Vice President and President of Greater China, Motorola Mobility. "We are committed to creating devices that are beautiful and powerful, but also affordable. The new Motorola RAZR V XT885 embodies that commitment perfectly, and brings all the advantages of the RAZR V family to China Unicom's 3G network users in China."
An amazing 8.35mm thin with a glorious 4.3-inch screen, the Motorola RAZR V XT885 makes iconic RAZR family styling and quality available to everyone. KEVLAR fiber, a narrow bezel and a comfortable, soft-touch rim mean that this big-screen beauty is surprisingly compact and light, and feels great even in smaller hands, while a splash guard coating protects the outside and the internal components. With black, white and shocking pink options, you can choose the color that reflects your own personality and style. And while Motorola RAZR V XT885 comes at a surprisingly affordable price, it gives away nothing in performance, thanks to a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
What goes better with beauty than brains? With Smart Actions, the Motorola RAZR V XT885 can adjust to your preferences, learning when and where you like it quiet or loud, and even when it can switch off certain applications and functions to get the most out of your battery life. Because you're switched on all day, and your Motorola RAZR V XT885 should be, too. The Connected Gallery gives you one-click playback convenience on compatible DLNA devices and enables you to share and view friends' pictures on your favorite social networks. The connected music player gives you live lyrics, song recommendations, news on your favorite artists, and more.
Pricing and Availability
Motorola RAZR V XT885 is coming to you in mainland China from today at a suggested retail price of RMB3,298. For more information visit motorola.com/mobility
About Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility, owned by Google, fuses innovative technology with human insights to create experiences that simplify, connect and enrich people's lives. Our portfolio includes converged mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; wireless accessories; end-to-end video and data delivery; and management solutions, including set-tops and data-access devices. For more information, visit motorola.com/mobility.
Media Contacts:
| Kevin Si Motorola Mobility (Mainland China) Tel: 86-10-8499 3388 Email: Kevin.Si@motorola.com | Xin Liu Burson-Marsteller China Tel: 86-10-5816 2525 Email: Xin.Liu@bm.com |
*Certain features, services and applications are network dependent and may not be available in all areas; additional terms, conditions and/or charges may apply. Contact your service provider for details. All features, functionality and other product specifications are subject to change without notice or obligation.
MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. 2012 Motorola Mobility LLC. All rights reserved.
T-Mobile’s 5 tips for staying connected during travel without breaking the bank - Intomobile.com
In the spirit of summer and traveling, T-Mobile is offering up some tips on how to stay connected with smartphones and tablets while on the go easily and without doing your wallet too much harm. SVP of Marketing Andrew Sherrard points out that 8 out of 10 participants in a Harris Interactive study brought their mobile devices with them when they went on vacation, so connectivity during travel is vital for many. T-Mobile obviously does a bit of self-promoting within these tips, but they can in general be quite helpful.
The first three are aimed toward making staying connected as easy as possible. T-Mobile first suggests the no-annual contract pass route, which is a set of plans give you a given amount of data for a week or month (you choose) without having to sign an agreement with the carrier. They range from a weekly 300MB for $15 to a 5GB one month pass for $50. The other options are T-Mobile’s mobile hotspot for sharing existing connections from devices with your other devices, included for free with any 5GB or 10GB data plan, WiFi calling which enables you to make calls over WiFi to avoid roaming or other charges, and T-Mobile’s own smartphone app for communicating called Bobsled.
For those of you traveling a bit further than the states, T-Mobile recommends you check out its international services and rates as well as the Open Europe plan for business customers.
T-Mobile’s always been considered on the affordable side of the U.S. carriers, so if you’re a “connected” traveler, visit T-Mobile’s website for all the information.
About The Author
George Tinari
George has followed technology news for quite some time, but he only started writing about it a few years ago. He's a self-proclaimed Apple fanboy, but that doesn't stop him from covering a wide range of topics in the mobile area. When he's not reporting for IntoMobile, you can usually find George listening to a wide array of music, trying to be funny and sarcastic, eating, or voicing his opinions about all things tech on his personal blog, GT Daily.
Motorola RAZR V XT885 Coming Soon to China Unicom - Softpedia
The RAZR V has already been confirmed at China Telecom and China Mobile, which makes China Unicom the last major carrier in the Mainland to launch the smartphone.
Obviously, the device will be delivered with full support for the carrier’s 3G network. Other than that, there’s nothing really new in comparison with the other two RAZR V carrier-bounded models.
Motorola’s latest addition to the RAZR line, the RAZR V will be launched with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system onboard, so users will be able to experience all the advantages of Google’s platform without having to wait for an update.
In order to set itself apart from other RAZR V models, China Unicom’s version is dubbed XT885. The smartphone features the same RAZR-like form factor. It’s only 8.35mm thin and weighs 125g (battery included).
Hardware-wise, the RAZR V XT885 packs a 1.2 GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor, a PowerVR SGX540 GPU and 1GB of RAM.
Unfortunately, the smartphone comes with only 4GB of internal memory, but users will be able to further expand storage space up to 32GB via microSD memory card.
There’s also a pretty decent 4.3-inch qHD capacitive touchscreen display, an 8-megapixel rear camera with full HD (1080p) video recording, and a secondary VGA front-facing camera for video calls.
“With Motorola RAZR V XT885 we’ve created the perfect smartphone for stylish, smart and tech-savvy consumers who want great looks, great performance and great value. We are committed to creating devices that are beautiful and powerful, but also affordable. The new Motorola RAZR V XT885 embodies that commitment perfectly, and brings all the advantages of the RAZR V family to China Unicom’s 3G network users in China,” said Frank Meng, senior vice president and president of Greater China, Motorola Mobility.
Motorola is a work in progress. Google is still doing its homework. - Venturebeat.com
The resounding feedback from today’s earnings call? Take a step back, ease the pressure of the public gaze, and let Google do its due diligence. World, take a chill pill.
Google’s new subsidiary, Motorola, brought in a cool $1.25 billion in earnings, which amounts to roughly 10 percent of the company’s revenues in the second quarter of 2012. It fared better than expected, but still reported operating losses of $233 million. The mobile business lost $192 million and the home segment lost $41 million.
Read more about Google’s Q2 revenues here.
When probed further about losses and its “strategic asset,” Google’s CFO Patrick Pichette urged for patience. ”We are totally excited about this opportunity with Motorola,” he said.
Fielding questions on Thursday’s call, Pichette emphasized that the management team has only been involved with Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (“MMI”) a few weeks. ”Clearly, everyone should expect changes at Motorola,” he said. “We have to let them do their work.” For more potential post-acquisition changes and layoffs, read the full report.
While the numbers may suggest otherwise, Google executives emphasized that they are seeing phenomenal growth and remain committed to mobile. “Mobile is where search was in 1999,” said Nikesh Arora, chief business officer. “Mobile is going to be as core as desktop search was,” he added.
Pichette said that operating losses for the cell phone maker could be partially explained by “accounting noise.” If you remove some of the adjustments related to the acquisition, he explained, it has been a stable quarter.
Google bought Motorola for $12.5 billion in May, 2012. The acquisition added 20,293 employees this quarter, bringing Google’s total headcount to 54,604.
To learn more, read VentureBeat’s in-depth take on Google’s antitrust accusations and acquisition plans here.
T-Mobile G3 rumors start heating up - CNET News
Might the Era42 arrive as the T-Mobile G3?
(Credit: TmoNews)T-Mobile could be readying a new model for its "G" series of Android smartphones, according to speculation hitting the Internet this week.
Unofficial T-Mobile blog TmoNews advises that an HTC Era 42 will arrive on the carrier's network in late September. There are no additional details to share yet, including pricing, form factor, or hardware, so at this point, it's all rumors and conjecture. But they're fairly logical rumors and conjecture.
As many longtime Android faithful know, a September 26 release would fall nearly two years to the day since the release of the G2. Going back even further, it's almost exactly four years removed from the debut of the first-ever Android smartphone, the G1. If T-Mobile were cooking up a successor in the G series of devices, the fall time frame would make sense.
The Era 42 codename could be considered a hint that the handset would be a 4G variant of the original Android. You'd have to go back to 2008 to recall this, but the G1 was known as the HTC Era G1 in select parts of Europe. It's not much of a stretch to consider that the Era 42 is simply code for a G1-esque device with 42Mbps HSPA+ support.
As for the design of the presumed G3, reports suggest that we could see HTC return to a physical QWERTY keyboard. It's been a while since anyone outside of Motorola has put together a high-end Android QWERTY so it's difficult to say how much veracity there is to this rumor.
What's more, some outlets are advising that this model would be a stock Android experience, likely 4.1 Jelly Bean. Considering how often this happens outside of the Nexus series of devices, I would not hold my breath on this one.
Just for giggles, I'd like to remind everyone that there are whispers that Google is working with up to five partners for the Nexus series this fall. Perhaps this might be HTC's new take on the Nexus?
How does a physical QWERTY keyboard sound to you today? Are you any more inclined to use the form factor now that Android relies less on physical buttons? Does it matter to you now that we have devices with screen in excess of 4.5 inches?
I would tend to agree with the october release but think motorola should have went with another carrier because much like the HTC incedible 4g it will be obsolete by then with quad cores and such so I think Motorola dropped the ball on this one.
Adam, you do make some good points. However, as far as Verizon doing a good job of not leaking the phone, remember that there were leaks of a Verizon corporate document giving a date for Droid fighter (Motorola XT926) workshops within the company months ago. That date was even interpreted by some as a release date. Secondly, if the number of cases on sale NOW for the XT926 is any indicator, then Verizon has leaked the heck out of this device to companies manufacturing accessories.
Your second scenario, that the release date is far off, may turn out to have been more accurate if you had said we will never see it. Moto and Verizon may have finally learned something from the Bionic debacle, and the RARZ MAXX following so closely after the RAZR, It would be better to NOT announce a new phone, even if the release date is close, if there is ANY chance that the release might be delayed, so that it would bump up against the phone that was in the pipeline to follow it. And that is what I think has happened, that for some reason, they got the XT926 all ready to go, some issue has developed, and we may not EVER see this model, we will instead see the model that was intended to FOLLOW it (i.e. as the MAXX followed the RAZR).
Or, and I hope that this is what is really going on, they are waiting for a version of Jelly Bean to load onto it before it arrives, and we will see it around the middle of, or late in, August.