Droid Razr Maxx vs Samsung Galaxy S2: Smartphone Duel

Motorola is putting a Droid Razr 2.0 out January 26, so let's see how the Droid Razr Maxx compares to the popular Samsung Galaxy S2. Motorola announced the Razr Maxx at the International Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 9, and it's virtually identical to the Droid Razr, but with a bigger battery. In fact the 3,300 mAh battery on the Droid Razr Maxx is supposed to give up to 21 hours of talk time, more than any other smartphone. The trade-off is the Droid Razr Maxx is not quite as svelte as the Droid Razr.

The original Razr is only 7.3 mm thick, and the Droid Razr Maxx is 8.9 mm thick. Not a bad trade-off for that kind of battery performance. One caveat to that is the Droid Razr Maxx is a 4G LTE phone, so if you're burning up the network at that speed, the 21 hours figure is likely to be less. We'll have to wait until the 26th to see just how much, though. Besides that, Razr Maxx will have the same 4.3-inch qHD display, Android 2.3 and an eight megapixel camera.

Samsung's Galaxy S2 will give way to a Galaxy S3 this year, but for now, it's Samsung's flagship phone. It's very popular because it has a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, Voice Talk speech recognition, near field communication chip and up to 64 gigabytes of internal storage. Furthermore, the Galaxy S2 has front and rear-facing cameras and can shoot video in 1080p HD resolution. In other words, it's a fully loaded modern smartphone. It's nearly as thin as the Razr, but that combined with its all plastic build makes it very light; strikingly so for some.

We've heard people say the phone feels too light, giving it vibe of maybe not sturdy. It is sturdy, however, so be sure to get your hands on the device before you buy it to see how you like the feel of it. Finally, when it comes to software, Android 4.0 should start rolling out to the Galaxy S2 in the next few weeks. The Droid Razr Maxx will debut with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and Motorola (or Verizon) hasn't given a timeline on when it will get the 4.0 update. Tell us in the comments if you bought a Droid Razr and what you think of the Maxx.