Motorola Droid RAZR M Hands On

Alongside the RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD Motorola announced its new mid-range smartphone the Droid RAZR M.

The Droid RAZR M has the same internals of the RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD, but uses the 4.3-inch screen from the first Droid RAZR. The phone is smaller because Motorola managed to eliminate the bezel around the screen to create an edge-to-edge display.

Thanks to the new display the Droid RAZR M feels very small compared to the two RAZR HD models. It is just as fast as those phones, even with a lower price. The UI is quick, especially on the display models that run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Unfortunately the phone will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich so it will be a bit slower at release.

Unfortunately the poor resolution of the display in the RAZR M renders any benefits of the edge-to-edge display useless. Icons on the display look really rough on the qHD display. For $99 it’s hard to get a great display, but that doesn’t make the display any less terrible.

Like the RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD, the RAZR M uses an Android skin that looks a lot like stock Android, but isn’t quite the same. The biggest change is Motorola changed the home screens so swiping to the left always brings up a Quick Settings window similar to the setting other manufacturers like Samsung put in the notification drawer.

Aside from the screen and battery, everything in the Motorola Droid RAZR M is the same as the RAZR HD, which is nice, but I can’t imagine using the bad display for too long without getting very frustrated.

The Droid RAZR M is $99 after mail in rebate and is available for preorder today.