Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Motorola Droid Razr Maxx: How do They Stack up?

When Google and Samsung released the much-anticipated Galaxy Nexus smartphone, it won several accolades - first for its Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) software and then for top-notch specifications.

The combination of good hardware and software makes the Galaxy Nexus a worthy contender to the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, which was just released at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and boasts a marathon battery back-up. Both smartphones are carried by Verizon.

The Droid Razr Maxx, which is almost similar in specifications to the Droid Razr, is designed for customers who spend their days and nights multi-tasking. This smartphone is a marathon runner with enough endurance to let customers talk on the phone for over 21 hours straight on a single charge.

It's the longest-lasting smartphone on the block, and at just 8.99 mm, the device is still impossibly thin. The Droid Razr Maxx comes equipped with 32GB of total memory, Motorola said in a statement.

Let's see how Galaxy Nexus fares against Droid Maxx...

Display: The The Galaxy Nexus comes with a 4.65-inch high-definition Super AMOLED display providing a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels with about 316 pixels per inch (ppi) density. The Razr Maxx has a 4.3-inch qHD 960 x 540 Super AMOLED Advanced display with Dupont KEVLAR fiber, a scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass and water-repellent nanoparticles.

Size: The Galaxy Nexus comes in 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.9 mm dimension and weighs 135 grams. The Razr Maxx is also 8.99 mm thick but a tad heavier than its predecessor Droid Razr's 7.1 mm thickness. The Droid Razr Maxx has a dimension of 130.70 x 68.90 mm and weighs 145 grams.

Operating System: The Galaxy Nexus runs on the latest version of Google's smartphone operating system - Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. On the other hand, the Droid Razr Maxx runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, with an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich around the corner.

Processor: The Galaxy Nexus is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, TI OMAP 4460 chipset with 1GB RAM. The Droid Razr Maxx sports a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 chipset, PowerVR SGX540 GPU with 1GB RAM.

Camera: The Galaxy Nexus features a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and has a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. The Droid Razr Maxx features an 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.3 mega-pixel camera for video chat.

Connectivity: The Galaxy Nexus has HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and 4G LTE support. The Droid Razr Maxx is touted as 4G LTE device running on Verizon's network.

WLAN/Bluetooth/USB: The Galaxy Nexus supports Bluetooth 3.0 version with A2DP along with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA and Wi-Fi hotspot. The Droid Razr Maxx has 3.5mm jack+ EMU and supports USB 2.0 HS, Corporate Sync, DLNA, FOTA, Stereo Bluetooth Class 2, Version 4.0 LE+EDR.

Storage: The Galaxy Nexus comes with fixed 16/32GB internal storage capacities. The Droid Razr Maxx has 16GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 32GB via 16GB microSD card that is included in the package.

Battery: The Galaxy Nexus comes with a standard 1750 mAh battery offering talk time of more than 8 hours and standby time of 270 hours in 3G. The Droid Razr Maxx has a whopping 3,300 mAh battery that is expected to give 21.5 hours of talk time and 15.8 days of standby time.

Pricing: Both smartphones are available at Verizon for $299.99 with a 2-year contract. However, the release date of the Droid Razr Maxx is unknown. According to Motorola, it should be available in the coming weeks.