Verizon Galaxy Nexus vs Motorola DROID RAZR

Introduction:

Out of all the national carriers in the US, there’s no kidding that Verizon’s lineup is saturated to the top with some of the industry’s leading devices! Amongst the highly competitive devices, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Motorola DROID RAZR stand out immensely thanks to their specialty refinements, but considering that our appetites are voracious, there can only be one that can be proclaimed as being the best of the best. Knowing that, we bet you’re curious to find out which one will claim your hard earned $300, so let’s jump in.


Design:

Actually, this shouldn’t surprise much people, seeing that we’ve raved tremendously over the Motorola DROID RAZR’s razor thin construction, sturdy feel, and choice of employing premium materials. In all honesty, it features the highest level of quality design in a smartphone we’ve seen all year, and when you pit it against the underwhelming and typical Samsung designed smartphone, it resonates dramatically to capture our attention. It’s not to say that the Verizon Galaxy Nexus is an ugly looking device, rather, it’s simply way too conventional to pique our interest.

The Verizon Galaxy Nexus (left) and the Motorola DROID RAZR (right)

Mainly because of its higher resolution, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus’ display is the superior one between the two – plus, it’s larger at 4.65-inches. Naturally, boasting a resolution of 720 x 1280 is indeed eye-catching, but it shows it detailed superiority over the qHD (540 x 960) resolution of the DROID RAZR, when you look at things like fine text in a zoomed out view within the web browser. Still, our eyes enjoy the Super AMOLED displays used by both, as they exhibit overly saturated color tones, wide-viewing angles, and high-contrast appearance to reel us in.

Viewing angles
The Verizon Galaxy Nexus (left) and the Motorola DROID RAZR (right)

Above their massive sized displays, 1.3-megapixel front-facing cameras sit in the same locations on both devices – giving us the opportunity to snap self-portraits or have some fun video chatting.

Meanwhile, capacitive Android buttons line the bottom edge on the DROID RAZR. However, with the Ice Cream Sandwich powered Verizon Galaxy Nexus, its on-screen buttons are incorporated with the interface – thus, making it very clean looking.

Front-facing cameras	Android buttons
The Verizon Galaxy Nexus (left) and the Motorola DROID RAZR (right)

Although both offer video-out functionality, the availability of a microHDMI port on the DROID RAZR is undoubtedly useful in quickly sharing content – whereas the Verizon Galaxy Nexus requires an MHL adapter.

Top	Right	Bottom	Left
The sides of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus (bottom) and the Motorola DROID RAZR (top)

The DROID RAZR (top) has a microHDMI port	Volume rockers	Power keys
The Verizon Galaxy Nexus (bottom) and the Motorola DROID RAZR (top)

On one hand, the Galaxy Nexus features a removable battery, which makes it easy to swap it out. However, the DROID RAZR packs a microSD card slot to increase its internal storage capacity.

		Rear cameras
The Verizon Galaxy Nexus (left) and the Motorola DROID RAZR (right)

Interface and Functionality:

Obviously, being a part of the Nexus line of handsets has it benefits, as we naturally gravitate towards the refreshing and clean looking interface of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Boasting an extensive visual upgrade over all other Gingerbread flavored smartphones, like the DROID RAZR, it’s particularly alluring and tantalizing, yet streamlined with its updated arrangement. Nevertheless, the two devices feature the same profound and extensive personalization aspect that has seemingly become a foundational element of Android. Certainly, being the newest and most up-to-date version of Android, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus clearly has the advantage – for now, that is.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus

The interface of the Motorola DROID RAZR

Messaging isn’t a problem with either device, since their hefty sized displays present us with spacious layouts, which are then complemented with a good amount responsiveness to quickly and effortlessly allow us churn out lengthy messages.

Virtual keyboard of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus

Keyboards on the Motorola DROID RAZR

Processor and Memory:

Highly regarded as the cream of the crop on any lineup out there, these two power packed Android smartphones are naturally accompanied with modernized processors. In fact, it’s a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor for the DROID RAZR, and a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 CPU inside of the Galaxy Nexus – both of which are coupled with 1GB of RAM. Overall, they’re quick and instantaneous with basic operations, but when using a live wallpaper, the Galaxy Nexus displays some choppiness with its movement while navigating the home screen. At the same time, there’s some choppiness evident with the DROID RAZR as we pinch zoom on something in the gallery. Needless to say, they’re not perfect, but they’re equally the same with their relatively smooth performance – well, with most operations. 

If local storage is a big concern to you, then you might want to stick with the Galaxy Nexus with its healthy 32GB of storage. Conversely, the Motorola DROID RAZR sizes up at a total of 24GB, which breaks down to 8GB of internal memory and a preloaded 16GB microSD card. Then again, there’s this thing called cloud storage that many companies tout about.


Internet and Connectivity:

Certainly, it’s ever so nice to know that these two juggernauts offer 4G LTE connectivity – allowing us to load complex web sites in a manner of moments. Furthermore, the web browsing performance is very acceptable on both devices, and in actuality, they’re on par to one another. Specifically, we’re greeted with fluid movements as we pinch zoom or kinetic scroll, but when there are a lot of Flash elements on screen, the performance of the Galaxy Nexus can be a bit choppy. Meanwhile, the DROID RAZR manages to maintain its fluidity in almost every case scenario.

Web browsing with the Verizon Galaxy Nexus

Web browsing with the Motorola DROID RAZR

Interestingly, in testing out the handsets in the same locations, we find that the Motorola DROID RAZR consistently pumping out faster upload and download speeds than the Galaxy Nexus. On the average, the DROID RAZR edges out the Galaxy Nexus by putting up speeds that are 1Mbit/s faster. As for other connectivity features, they essentially boast the same things – like aGPS, Bluetooh, Wi-Fi, and mobile hotspot functionality. Worth noting, the DROID RAZR also features Motorola’s Webtop functionality, which offers the full-functionality of the Mozilla Firefox web browser.

Camera:

Naturally, both offer rear auto-focus camera with LED flash, but it’s a 5-megaixel snapper on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, while the DROID RAZR sports a higher count 8-megapixel one. Even though the DROID RAZR packs a higher megapixel count camera over its rival, the qualities from the two devices are very similar. Actually, details are average looking with the two of them, but when it comes to color reproduction, the Galaxy Nexus appears to have the punchier tones, which of course catches the glint of our eyes. Under low lighting situations though, the DROID RAZR handles it better seeing that digital noise is more prevalent with the Galaxy Nexus results. Using their respective LED flashes, their potency are seemingly the same to one another – though, colors tend to look washed out with images captured more than 5 feet away. In the end, they perform very closely to one another, while being more than acceptable.

Verizon Galaxy Nexus
Motorola DROID RAZR
Verizon Galaxy Nexus
Motorola DROID RAZR
Outdoor samples

Strong	Medium	Low light
Verizon Galaxy Nexus
Motorola DROID RAZR
3ft	5ft	7ft
Verizon Galaxy Nexus
Motorola DROID RAZR
Darkness with flash Indoor samples

When it comes to capturing 1080p videos, we prefer using the Motorola DROID RAZR just because it shoots video at the rate of 29 frames per second, which is smoother looking than the choppy 24 frames per second rate of the Galaxy Nexus. Beyond that, everything else is pretty much identical, but when it comes down to it, the DROID RAZR is the clear victor in this one.

Verizon Galaxy Nexus Sample Video:



Motorola DROID RAZR Sample Video:




Multimedia: 

Again, being newer has its advantage, as the Galaxy Nexus is blessed with the updated Ice Cream Sandwichmusic player. Frankly, we enjoy the 3D carousel effect when browsing through songs in landscape, but the DROID RAZR utilizes a similar looking interface as well. However, we also adore that lyrics are displayed while a song is being played on the DROID RAZR. When it comes to audio quality, the DROID RAZR snatches this one with its stronger volume output, putting to shame the average tones emitted by the Galaxy Nexus’ speaker.

The Music app of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus

The music player of the Motorola DROID RAZR

Playing the same test video encoded in MPEG-4 1920 x 1080 resolution, both are more than ideal to handle it thanks to their gorgeous looking displays and smooth playback.

Performance:

Hands down, the Motorola DROID RAZR wins us over in the calling quality department because we’re presented with clear and distinctive voice son both ends of the line – plus, not to mention that its earpiece is the stronger of the two. With the Galaxy Nexus, its volume output with its earpiece and speakerphone is rather weak, and on top of that, voices tend to have a robotic tone to them.

At any given time, the DROID RAZR constantly outclasses the Galaxy Nexus in signal strength, as it’s able to display more bars and maintain a connection to the network. Above all, the biggest problem we notice with the Galaxy Nexus is its poor signal strength – resulting in frustrations ranging from losing 4G LTE connectivity, to losing its entire connection and taking an extensive time reestablishing it.

Considering that these are 4G LTE smartphones, we’re inclined to not expect much out of battery life – and rightfully so, our feelings are confirmed after using them. Packing very similar sized batteries, we’re able to obtain approximately 10 hours of normal usage on a single charge with both smartphones. Yes, the results aren’t great, but nonetheless, that’s what we commonly expect out of most of today’s LTE devices.


Conclusion:

Much like two suped-up sport cars racing against one another towards the finish line, it’s another classic case of coming down to the wire as these two beastly smartphones come up nearly close to one another at the end. As we’ve seen, they perform very similarly in a variety of key areas, but they have their own specialty refinements that make them stand out. If we had to base it on looks alone and nothing else, there’s no arguing that the Motorola DROID RAZR is the ubiquitous winner, since it’s literally one of the best- looking and designed phones this year. On the other hand, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus is backed up with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which is definitely lovable in many aspects with its fresh interface, and has the better screen. If the DROID RAZR had ICS here and now, it would have been considered the overall better handset. 

Verizon Galaxy Nexus vs Motorola DROID RAZR: