Google Earth on the DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola: See the world

How does breakfast in New York, dinner in Paris, and a midnight snack in Budapest sound? Well unless you’re a jet-setting mogul or a superhero, it probably sounds like a ridiculous improbability.

But with the free Google Earth app from the Play Store you can virtually travel the world on your DROID RAZR MAXX HD and see all the exotic locales and landmarks you’ve only dreamed about.

You can use voice search to look up cities, businesses and places of interest. With the Earth Gallery, you can find some pretty cool maps that show real-time earthquakes, planes in flight, hiking trails and more. The newly added “tour guide” feature lets you discover new places to explore with some virtual tours that are accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

And if 3D is your thing, there are now select cities that have complete fly-through recreations with every building modeled in 3D. Some of the cities include San Francisco, Rome, Boston and more being added on a regular basis going forward.

Navigating is easy too with a series of one and two finger swipes that zoom in and out, rotate and tilt the Earth and all the places you visit. This really is the world at your fingertips, so get traveling now, even if it’s only from your couch.

by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

SOL REPUBLIC x Motorola Bus at Ultra Music Fest

Getting a ride to one of the hottest music festivals sure beats having to fight the crowd and walking to it. Catch a FREE bus ride to and from Ultra Music Fest, March 22-24, courtesy of SOL REPUBLIC and Motorola.

Four SOLdier Shuttles will run from South Beath to Ultra. Each bus ride will feature live DJ performances and exclusive giveaways.

If you’re going to Ultra and need a SOLdier Shuttle ride, register on SOLdierShuttle.com. If you can’t join us, follow #SOLdierShuttle on Twitter and Instagram.

by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

MOTOROLA ELECTRIFY™ 2 receives Android™ 4.1 Jelly Bean

We’re happy to announce today that the Android™ 4.1 Jelly Bean upgrade is rolling out to MOTOROLA ELECTRIFY™ 2 owners in phases. This upgrade offers many features to help organize and make your life easier, including expanded notifications, Voice Search and Google Now. Here are some of the features included in the upgrade:

• Expanded Notifications – So much to do and keep track of, so little time in the day. Now you can get reminders about meetings or appointments from your calendar, and you can either tap once to snooze them or even email participants to say you’re running late. Your Google Play Music controls show up in the notifications menu so you can pause, fast forward or go back to the beginning of your new favorite song. These and many other notifications help organize your mobile life all in one place.


• Voice Search – Ask a question and get back the answer you’re looking for, ranging from “What is the weather today?, to “Where is the closest dry cleaner?” or even “When is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday?”. You’ll either get a spoken response back or search results that answer your query.


• Google Now – We could all benefit from a personal assistant every now and then to keep track of our busy lives. With Google Now you get notifications generated automatically and in real-time even before you ask as it learns what you search for the most. Now your ELECTRIFY™ 2 can deliver sports scores, stock updates, weather reports, traffic updates, airline boarding passes, movie showtimes, and so much more, so you have all the information you want even before you’ve had your morning coffee.

by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

Safer driving with SMARTACTIONS™ on the DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola

We all know someone who talks, checks their email or sends a text on their phone, all while driving. And of course some of us are that someone, and we know better, but don’t want to miss anything we believe to be too important to wait.

Well fortunately, with the SMARTACTIONS™ app that comes with the DROID RAZR MAXX HD, you can make sure safety is first, and that your crucial communications still get through.

The SMARTACTIONS Drive rule let’s you set the triggers that turn on the App. For instance, if you leave the house at the same time every morning, you can set the rule to turn on you actions at that time, so when you buckle up, your phone is ready to go. Some of the ways SMARTACTIONS help keep you focused on the road is by automatically launching the apps you need on the road, like Navigation for your turn by turn directions and Google Play Music for your listening pleasure.

To manage your incoming calls and texts, you can pre-set the volume, vibrate or silent mode for inbound messages. You can also set up custom auto-replys for all callers, just your phonebook contacts, or a specific list, letting them know you are driving and will get back to them soon. You can also have your phone announce who texted or called, so you can know if a pit stop might be in order to reply. These are some of the built-in actions, but as with all SMARTACTIONS, you can customize and make your own rules and triggers.

We all need to stay connected in this always-on world, but keeping ourselves and other drivers around us safe, should always be the number one concern. Staying focused on the road goes a long way towards achieving that goal. Please check out this video to see SMARTACTIONS in action:

Watch Video

by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

Google Goggles on the DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola

Have you ever wondered what the name of that piece of art or landmark building is, but don’t have a clue how to look it up? Ever wondered if that barcode on your favorite new gadget might hold the key to finding it cheaper somewhere else? And have you ever travelled to a place where you don’t speak the language, and all the street signs and visual cues have you baffled?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you’re ready for the free Google Goggles app from the Play Store. With the app and your camera on the DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola, you’re ready for all of the above and then some.

Just open the app and snap a pic of signs, menus, and other images you need translated. Google Goggles can read text in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Turkish, and translate it into other languages. Goggles can also recognize famous landmarks, paintings, and other places by matching the photos you take with Google’s image library database. It even works on rainy days like in the screenshots below.

You can also use the app as a barcode and QR code scanner to get relevant info on products you’re interested in. Get everything from ingredients to points of purchase so you can make informed decisions and save money. You can also add contacts to your phone by scanning their business cards. No more fumbling around trying to remember where you left that card for that promising new lead.

See the world in a whole new way with Google Goggles.

by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

MOTOROLA ELECTRIFY™ M: Sharing and Reading NFC Tags

Sharing contacts, apps and directions with the MOTOROLA ELECTRIFY™ M is easy when you enable the sharing function for NFC in the settings menu on your phone.

What exactly is NFC or Near Field Communications you ask. Here’s a simple definition:

NFC allows you to share information on your phone with another NFC-enabled phone simply by tapping the two devices together.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you have a MOTOROLA ELECTIFY™ M, which has NFC technology built in. You’re out with a friend who has a DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola, also NFC-equipped, but doesn’t have your skills at pushing to the front row spot for the late set by your favorite band. You capture a video that really gets the facial expressions during the amazing guitar solo, and your friend really wants a copy. In the past you’d have to send that clip to her via text or email, but oftentimes you get a message: ‘file size exceeds limit’. With NFC you just tap your phones together, confirm that “yes” you want to share it, and that’s it. The video file is transferred to your friend’s phone to keep forever and to proudly show her friends that didn’t make it to the show. With NFC you can share all sorts of things this way – contact information, web pages, maps, directions, and more. Read more about NFC.

Check out these two videos on how to use and share NFC tags on your ELECTRIFY™ M:

Watch Video

Watch Video

by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

Voice Typing on the DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola

With the voice typing capabilities on your DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola, you can accomplish all sorts of activities without needing to type them out on your keyboard.

Whether it’s pulling up maps or sending emails, your voice is your command. To send an email to someone in your Gmail contacts, simply say “Send email to Jane Public” and then dictate the message, even including exclamation points if desired. A preview will show on your screen and then hit send. Text messages are easy to compose as well. You can also check for turn by turn directions simply by saying “Navigate to” and then add the address.

Another great feature is offline Voice Typing for when you’re not connected to the internet. It might already be installed, but if not, follow these steps.

1. Open system settings.


2. Go to Language & input.


3. Tap on Voice Search.


4. Tap on Download offline speech recognition.


5. Select English (US), and begin the download.

Check out this video to see some voice typing commands in action:

Watch Video

by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

Motorola at Mobile World Congress: 3D Art

Didn’t get a chance to visit Barcelona and attend Mobile World Congress this week? Let us share some of our favorite moments with images from the Motorola Mobility booth where Joe Hill, renowned 3D pavement artist, was in residence.





by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

MOTOROLA ATRIX™HD: #LifeInHD contest

We think everything is better in HD! Snap a pic and share on Instagram with hashtag #LifeInHD for a chance to win a MOTOROLA ATRIX™ HD. The Motorola #LifeInHD contest starts today, February 25, 2013 and ends on March 1, 2013 at 11:59 PM EST. Check out the rules here: http://moto.ly/lifeinhd

The MOTOROLA ATRIX™ HD with a huge 4.5-inch HD ColorBoost™ display that’s made of scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass, has more vibrant colors and sports 50 percent more pixels than the leading smartphone for higher resolution, greater detail and sharper, clearer images that look more true to life.





by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

Martin Cooper receives Draper Award

Motorola legend Martin Cooper, the leader of our team that developed the first mobile phone, has been named a recipient of the National Academy of Engineerings’ (NAE) Charles Stark Draper Prize, which is their highest honor. Mr. Cooper and a small group of other highly regarded engineers, were recognized in Washington DC for their groundbreaking research in cellular phone technology. This research led to the current era of mobile communications and mobile computing.

Iqbal Arshad, SVP, Global Product Development, Motorola Mobility had this to say:

Long before we messaged people in real-time, had instant maps for anywhere, or streamed movies on our smartphones, Martin Cooper and his team laid the foundations of mobile phone technology. When we look at everything that’s been accomplished thanks to the hard work of Martin and his team, we can’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor.

Here’s the backstory on Marty Cooper and his mark on mobile history:

On April 3, 1973, Cooper cemented his place in history by becoming the first person to successfully make a handheld cellphone call in public. At the time, Cooper was general manager of Motorola’s Communications Systems Division and leader of a team of engineers that had been working on mobile communication technologies. Standing on Sixth Avenue in New York City, before going into a press conference, Cooper famously placed this groundbreaking call using a Motorola DynaTAC – a device that weighed 2.2 lbs., had 35 minutes of talk-time and a battery life of 20 minutes, all of which was revolutionary at the time.

Widely regarded as the Nobel Prize for engineering, the Charles Stark Draper Prize was established and endowed by Draper Laboratory in 1988 to honor its founder, Dr. Charles Stark Draper, who pioneered inertial navigation. The award recognizes those who have contributed to the advancement of engineering and aims to help improve public awareness of the importance of engineering and technology.



by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

EPA Names Motorola Mobility to Top 20 Tech and Telecom Green Power List

We’re proud to once again be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for being one of the leaders in their Green Power Partnership Program. Motorola placed seventh on the Top 20 Tech and Telecom Green Power list for purchasing 80,000,000 (kWh) of green power, which equals 66% of our total U.S. electricity use coming from wind power.

Here’s a description of the program from the EPA website:

The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations — from Fortune 500® companies to local, state and federal governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities. The following Top Partner Rankings highlight the annual green power use of leading Green Power Partners within the United States and across individual industry sectors.

Using green power helps reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and supports the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide. Usage amounts reflect U.S. operations only and are sourced from U.S.-based green power resources. Organizations can meet EPA Partnership requirements using any combination of three different product options: (1) Renewable Energy Certificates, (2) On-site generation, and (3) Utility green power products.

Our use of wind power is part of several steps we take to reduce our environmental footprint, including using encouraging product recycling and occupying buildings with LEED certification where practical.



by Motorola via The Official Motorola Blog - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA