A step away from the aging RAZR design, the Maxx Ve features a large external screen and lots of features. Is it the best RAZR we've seen?
Review summary of the Motorola RAZR Maxx Ve:
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 This is not the best RAZR we've seen, that honor is still held by the RAZR V3xx. Still, this phone does have a couple of advantages over the AT&T device. First, we like the updated look of the Maxx, it provides a nice evolutionary bridge between this phone and the KRZR. Second, the camera on the Maxx Ve, with it's two-stage autofocus button, took usable pictures. Like most RAZRs, the Maxx Ve made calls that sounded great, but most other aspects of the phone were very disappointing. We're tired of the Verizon Wireless interface and menu setup, and we quickly grew frustrated with the V Cast music store. The phone simply could not handle videos properly, a real disappointment on a 3G phone. We'd like to see the V3xx stuffed into this body, or maybe a more revolutionary update to the RAZR family as a whole. Release: April 2007. Price: $200.
Pros: Cool design updates the aging RAZR a bit. Large external screen. Good call quality and features. Camera better than on most phones. Good GPS performance.
Cons: Lousy streaming video performance. Poor Web browser. EV-DO reception issues. Poor music player and music store experience.
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Full review of the Motorola RAZR Maxx Ve:
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Design - Very good
It’s just a RAZR, right? Well, not exactly. The MOTORAZR Maxx Ve has a sleek slope on the face. The hinge seems a bit larger, and the screen doesn't seem as tall as previous RAZRs, but overall the dimensions are nearly identical to the recent MOTORAZR V3xx, though the Maxx is about a quarter ounce heavier. We like the new look, and wish this evolution of the RAZR form had come a couple years ago, sparing us the rainbow parade of RAZR's since the phone's introduction.
The external screen on the Maxx is probably the largest we've seen, a whopping 1.7-inch display capable of half-QVGA (160 by 120) resolution. It suffers from screen door effect, but looks better and is much larger than the external screen on most phones. On the hinge, the Maxx has a two-stage autofocus button, just like on a real camera. Press halfway to focus, and then the rest of the way to release the shutter. Next to the camera is a bright LED lamp for photographs, and under the external screen are touch-sensitive music buttons, a first for the RAZR family.
We did have a few niggling complaints with the phone's design. The voice command button on the side was easy to press as we gripped the phone. This caused us to exit our applications, a real pain while listening to music or, even worse, while navigating. The battery cover on the device was the first ever for which we had to consult the manual, the apparent button is actually an opening for the phone's speaker. Once we did pry it open with our fingernails, the microSD slot was a bit sticky, and not the spring-loaded type of slot we prefer.
Calling - Very good
The RAZR Maxx Ve makes calls that sound every bit as good as its GSM / HSDPA cousin, the V3xx, which is to say that calls sound clean and clear. We didn't experience the call dropping we got on the V3xx, though EV-DO reception occasionally dipped to zero bars, bringing our downloads to a halt. 1X reception never dropped below three bars. The contact list was fine, though not very impressive, with all the basic fields plus room for a second phone number and e-mail address. We would have liked to use our song files as ringtones, but the phone prohibits this even for unlocked MP3 files, instead asking you to buy new rings. Still, the phone packs plenty of calling features, including a nice, loud speakerphone, Bluetooth and speaker-independent voice commands.
Messaging - Good
The RAZR Maxx Ve has e-mail and instant messaging options pre-loaded for MSN, Yahoo and AOL, though the WAP-based e-mail interface was a little sluggish, perhaps due to our weak EV-DO reception. The phone's keypad is similar, though not identical, to other RAZRs - flat with little tactile ridges between the keys. For SMS, the phone displays text neatly and had no problem showing a full incoming SMS message on screen at once.
Camera - Very good
The camera on the MOTORAZR Maxx Ve was better than most camera phones we've tested, perhaps owing to the autofocus feature. Colors were bright and accurate, and details were fairly sharp. We did notice some aberration around the edges of objects in photos, but overall we thought the 2-megapixel sensor did a fine job. Videos were okay, certainly better than many cameras we've seen, with a sharp focus and good color. Still, we noticed a lot of digital artifacting on videos, even played back at QVGA resolution.
Video - Good
The video experience on the RAZR Maxx Ve is a real disappointment, especially considering the excellent time we had with the RAZR V3xx. This isn't simply due to Cingular's superiority in its video offering over Verizon Wireless, although the MobiTV application certainly helped push Cingular's offering ahead. Nor was the problem due to the advantage of 3.6Mbps HSDPA on the V3xx, vs. EV-DO on the Maxx Ve, as downloaded videos gave us just as much of a problem as streaming clips. The Maxx Ve simply can't keep up with videos, and every clip or music video we streamed or downloaded exhibited an unusual amount of stuttering. Lips and voices never synchronized properly, and music video dancers seemed continuously off-rhythm. Stereo Bluetooth works with the video content, so if you want to listen to comedy clips without watching them, you won't need wires to do so.
Audio - Mediocre
Using the RAZR Maxx Ve, we decided to take a more in-depth look at the V Cast music store, and were disappointed with what we found. First of all, as we're compelled to note, Verizon Wireless still refuses to package their so-called "V Cast Music Phones" with any of the accessories necessary to listen to music. You get no transfer software, no USB cable, though the Maxx Ve uses a standard mini-USB port, no headphones, and no microSD card. Stereo Bluetooth works with the phone, but tended to stutter or drop out during playback. We can't be sure this isn't the fault of the Plantronics 260 headset we were using, but we haven't had similar problems with other devices paired to the same headphones.
V Cast Music
To test the store, we decided to download Tori Amos' new album, "American Doll Posse," which the store featured on its front page. There is no way to purchase an entire album from the V Cast store, and with 23 tracks that cost $2 each, the album would cost a grand $46, including the six tracks that clock under two minutes. On iTunes, you can get the whole enchilada for $15. Thankfully, we don't pay for, or keep, tunes we buy on review phones, so it wasn't our dime. Since we were buying the whole album, we asked V Cast to download all the tracks later, instead of making us wait while each track downloaded. Then, we had to go to the "Downloads" menu, select each track individually, confirm the download, and select the destination, even though we had previously selected the memory card as the default in the phone's settings menu. Repeat this process for 23 tracks, and you have quite a chore ahead of you. The V Cast store really needs an automatic queue, among other things. Downloaded songs also did not automatically disappear from our queue, so we ended up spending time downloading songs twice, accidentally. Occasionally, maybe three times over the course of the album, a download would quit early, resulting in an error message, and occasionally EV-DO reception dropped out, so we had to wait until it came back to download more music.
The music player itself looks exactly like the store, and it lacks any advanced playback features other than shuffle. The dedicated music buttons are pretty much useless, since they don't activate the music player. Instead, you have to dig through the menus to find your music, wait for the player to launch, and start playing music to activate the buttons. They are standard touch-sensitive fare, sensitive at all the wrong moments, like when the phone was in our pocket. The phone does ship with a headphone adapter, but it adapts to a 2.5mm jack, so there was no way to use our favorite earbuds with the device.
Multimedia - Good
Like most Verizon Wireless phones, the MOTORAZR Maxx Ve has a browser that seems hobbled by the carrier's interface and WAP deck. Though the phone has a crisp, QVGA screen, the browser renders text that is large and blocky, and cannot handle complicated Web pages, like our image-rich homepage. GPS on the phone worked very well, on the other hand, with a sensor that was sensitive enough to pick up our location even in our office's cubicles.
Value
The Motorola MOTORAZR Maxx Ve costs $200, with a contract agreement, at press time. Verizon Wireless offers unlimited 3G services with their V Cast Pak for $15/month, though this doesn't include any song downloads and music videos will cost you extra. The Motorola MOTORAZR V3xx on AT&T currently costs $50 with a contract, and though the MediaMAX bundle with unlimited data is $5 more expensive, we still think this choice is a no-brainer, especially considering the V3xx is a bargain even compared to less advanced RAZR models.
Price and availability
The Motorola RAZR Maxx Ve is currently available from Verizon Wireless for $200 with a contract agreement.
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