The Droid RAZR HD and Maxx HD are finally on their way to Verizon. The new devices are expected to arrive on the 18th of October. The Razr HD and Maxx HD both have crazy long battery operation, with the Maxx model promising 32 hours of normal use.

The sizes of the phones are quite similar, the only real spec differences being 32GB of storage and a bigger battery in the Maxx. Both the HD and Maxx have a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM, an 8MP camera, NFC and 4G LTE, and a 4.7-inch 720p display.

How much will they set you back? $199 for the Razr HD and $299 for the Razr HD Maxx. If you are into phones that have long battery life and like larger screen sizes, there is tons to be excited about for the new flagship Droid RAZR line.
Looking for something a bit smaller that also performs quite well? The 4.3-inch Motorola Droid RAZR M recently came to Verizon and is also certainly worth your time and consideration.

Motorola might not be the ‘leading brand’ in the smartphone world, but the new Droid RAZR line shows they certainly can compete with stylish and capable devices. What do you think? Excited by any of the recent Motorola offerings or not?

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What you see above is the tōd (pronounced “toad”): a tiny Bluetooth 4.0 beacon that will let you know whether or not it is in range of your mobile device. You might not have realized it, but we are pretty sure that you will find a lot of uses for this new accessory.

You can place tōd anywhere or on anyone and your mobile device will know whether the beacon is in range or not. There are dozens of uses for this new product. Place this thing on your pet or child and you will know if they move too far away from you. If there’s tōd in the car, you will enter car mode when in the vehicle, or a beacon at your office will let your device know that you have reached there. Your device will alert you if the beacon on your teenager is not in range by the scheduled time. When connected to the web, you can even connect to beacons other than your own.

Of course there are similar sensors out there, but tōd appears to be better as it uses Bluetooth 4.0 that features low energy consumption. And also the beacon is cheap and can run on a single coin-cell battery for years. And it has a range of up to 500ft.

But Bluetooth 4.0 means that tōd is only compatible with devices such as the iPhone 4S, the new iPad, the Droid Razr and a very few other devices. But more devices will certainly arrive in the future.

Its makers, Rowdy Robot, need your help at the moment to enter production. It is a Kickstarter project and you can help them meet their $50,000 target if you want to have the device. Check out the video to know more about tōd.

The post tōd: The Bluetooth 4.0 Beacon That Lets You Connect To The World Around You (Video) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

*** Grain of salt alert ***

We have seen a lot of iPhone 5 rumors earlier, but this new one seems to be pretty trustworthy. It comes to us courtesy of the folks over at 9to5Mac who appear to have got the latest info on the next generation iPhone, tentatively called iPhone 5, via a Foxconn worker.

According to the new rumor, the iPhone 5 is ready for production at the moment and the company is planning a summer launch for it. The source has also revealed that there are many sample devices, each differing slightly from the others. So it’s impossible to tell which device will be final.

But all of these samples are equipped with 4-inch or larger screens, with one of them being made by LG. None of the samples have a MacBook Air-inspired teardrop shape (we don’t think that rumor is coming up again). They are symmetrically shaped and not a single one is having the same compact form factor as the iPhone 4 or 4S.

If the device is indeed coming with a larger screen, that will finally put the iPhone in the same display league as many of the competing Android handsets such as the Droid RAZR.

And we don’t think too many grains of salt are needed for this new rumor. Unlike many other rumors which bring out a device’s specs and tons of speculations, this new one is very vague. We have not got any exact display size, no blurry pictures of the handset and nothing about what’s under the hood. If it was made up, it won’t be too difficult for someone to pick a few possible specs.

And there is also the mentioning of the samples. As you might know, reviewing samples before selecting the final model is a standard procedure.  And to add to all that, this is the same source who tipped on the iPhone 5 last year that the device was not coming and suggested we should expect the iPhone 4S. The rest is history.

The post Overworked Foxconn Employee Outs iPhone 5 Release Date appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Ever wanted to see a showdown between voice assistants? You can do just that by taking a peek at the video (posted below) which has been released by Motorola. It shows the duel between Siri on the iPhone 4S and Google Voice Actions on the Droid RAZR.

The reason behind Droid Razr’s better performance might be the device’s LTE connectivity. As you might know, an internet connection is needed for both the voice command systems to function. A remote server processes the voice commands that you give and sends the “translated” commands back to your device. The faster the connection, the better the performance will be. But we are unable to tell whether the devices in the video are having good coverage because of the clip’s low resolution.

We do know that both the voice assistants are doing a good job. The difference is that Siri is taking a bit more time to execute commands and also pulls up Google search instead of the Motorola website in the last test. But that’s not so bad, right? And we wonder how Siri’s sister will perform in a similar combat.

The post Showdown: iPhone 4S Siri Vs. Droid RAZR Google Voice Actions (Video) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

According to Motorola and Verizon, the Motorola Droid 4 is the thinnest 4G LTE QWERTY smartphone on the market. The handset measures in at 5 by 2.7 by 0.5 inches. It’s no Droid RAZR and definitely not the thinnest handset on the planet, but we have to keep in mind that the device comes with a 5-row keyboard which slides under a 4-inch qHD display.

The keyboard features sharp-looking, edge-lit keys, and the display is coming with “scratch- and scrape-resistant” glass.

The device also features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, and an 8 MP camera which is capable of recording 1080p video.

The only disappointment is that the device will be running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, instead of Android ICS. Motorola has promised that the upgrade will arrive sometime in Q2 of this year. The late arrival of the latest OS is most probably because of Motorola’s relatively heavy UI layer and their Webtop mode and all. Moving all that to ICS will take time.

The Droid 4 will hit store shelves sometime in the coming months, but there have no announcements regarding the price tag.

As we told you earlier, the DROID RAZR MAXX is also headed to Verizon and one of the main features of the device is that its battery lasts 21 hours on a single charge. And the carrier also announced that their DROID RAZR, black and white models of which are on sale at present, will be available in color purple and its price will be dropped to $199.

Verizon Jetpacks, two global ready 4G LTE mobile hotspots, have also been announced. With each Jetpack, you will be able to connect up to 10 Wi-Fi enabled devices for sharing Verizon’s network. The Jetpacks come with an OLED screen and interactive keypad which will allow you to manage the connections. With the Jetpack, you will be able to get online in more than 205 countries. No word on pricing at the moment.

The post Say Hello To The Motorola Droid 4 And Jetpack 4G LTE Verizon Mobile Hotspot appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It seems it is time for the ultra-thin Motorola Droid RAZR to pass on the torch for the world’s thinnest smartphone. The new Huawei Ascend P1 S pushes the boundaries of thin at just 6.68mm, versus the 7.1mm size of the Droid RAZR. The P1 S just marginally beats out the new waterproof Fujitsu Arrow, which is only 6.7mm in thickness.

From a design standpoint it looks very similar to Samsung’s Galaxy S devices, actually. As for the brand Hauwei, yes, it’s not typically pushed on larger carriers but is often found on budget networks or pay-as-you go packages.

This impossibly thin smartphone runs Android 4.0 ICS, has a 4.3-inch super AMOLED display (540×960 resolution), a 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4460 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8MG capera, a 1.3 front facing camera, HDMI out, and a 1800 maH battery.

There currently isn’t any firm information regarding release date or pricing, though it is expected to release sometime in Q2 of 2012.

We also know that the phone will come in metallic black, ceramic white and cherry blossom pink; the P1 S will also debut beside the P1, which offers the same specs but is a bit thicker at 7.69mm.

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From this first look at the tablet, you can tell that the design is quite different. For starters, you get more of a wedged-in corner kind of style, not unlike the design cue that we see in the recently launched Droid Razr. The back has an industrial design that almost reminds me of Getac’s rugged convertible tablet PCs.

While the Droid Xyboard ships with Honeycomb, it will be eligible for Ice Cream Sandwich at some point in the future.We’re being told that two sizes will be available too: 8.2-inch and 10.1-inch, both of which have the same 1280×800 resolution display, dual core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, Verizon 4G LTE, 5MP rear cam, and 1.3MP front cam.

The 16GB version of the 8.2-inch and 10.1-inch Droid Xyboard will retail for $430 and $530, respectively, with a two-year Verizon contract. Both can be bumped to 32GB models, while only the bigger tab will get the 64GB option.

The post Motorola Follows Xoom With Droid Xyboard Tablet With Verizon 4G LTE appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

More is almost always better than less. Verizon’s new deal for 4G LTE smartphone owners certainly offers more, and at no extra cost. For a limited time Verizon is doubling your data cap on an existing or new 4G LTE plan. This deal will apply to current and new customers that are willing to sign up for a two year commitment. The promotion will go into effect on November 8^th, just days before the release of the highly anticipated 4G LTE-compatible Motorola Droid RAZR.

Outside of the new RAZR, Verizon also offers six other 4G LTE phones that will be eligible for this promotion: Samsung Stratosphere, Motorola Droid Bionic, Pantech Breakout, Samsung Droid Charge, LG Revolution, and the HTC Thunderbolt. With six LTE phones already out there and more coming this month, it’s clear this promotion couldn’t have come at a better time. Although it starts the 8^th, there is currently no word on when the promotion ends.

So what exactly does this promotion do for your wallet? Current data plans on Verizon cost about $30/month for 2GB and $50/month for 5GB, or even as much as $80/month for a whopping 10GB. Imagine instead getting 4GB for the price of 2, 10GB for the price of 5, and so forth. It’s clear that with AT&T rolling out a 4G LTE network of their own, competition is coming Verizon’s way. Luckily Verizon is prepared to stay on top with awesome new LTE-capable phones and now a great deal for their data rates. The only thing that would be better would be unlimited data for only $30 a month for a limited time. This obviously won’t happen, but we can dream.

The post Verizon Doubles Data Cap On Its 4G LTE Plans appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It has been announced that Verizon “hopes” to launch the new RAZR smartphone “by November 10″ at the latest, though it’s possible that you could get the new Droid some time before that. Pre-orders started a while back already, so the assumption is that those folks would get first dibs. Verizon has priced the Droid RAZR at $299 on a two-year contract.

To my knowledge, there’s still no firm launch date with Rogers in Canada, but they did say that it would say it would launch “in time for the holidays.” As a quick refresher, this Android superphone boasts LTE, a dual core 1.2GHz processor, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED advanced qHD display, 1GB RAM, 8MP camera, Gorilla Glass, and laser-cut woven Kevlar fiber. This is the first Android handset to come out of the Motorola stable since the big G stepped in. We have high expectations for it, stay tuned.

The post Motorola Droid RAZR Is First Googorola Device: Nov.10 On Verizon appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

As it turns out, the soon-to-be released Motorola Droid RAZR isn’t going to be stuck in Gingerbread territory for the rest of its life. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is reportedly being ported over to the device and it’ll be available as an update some time in Q1 2012. That’s really not that far away, considering that the RAZR itself won’t be launching until November anyhow.

Does this mean you’ll have some redundant hardware buttons? Yes. The Droid RAZR still has the four touch-sensitive “buttons” on the lower part of the phone and Ice Cream Sandwich uses “soft” keys on the touchscreen instead. I’m wondering if there is something in the options that would fix that, giving back some screen real estate and re-instating the use of the separate touch buttons.

The transition will take some time, as Motorola wants to make sure that features like Motocast and Smart Actions are suitably ported over to the Ice Cream Sandwich platform.

The post Ice Cream Sandwich Coming To Droid RAZR Q1 2012 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.