The iconic Motorola RAZR returns - 4.3-inch qHD screen, 1.2GHz dual-core, Webtop, and one seriously cool accessory!
Cutting-edge smartphone
While Motorola milked the original RAZR handsets almost to the point of extinction, nobody can dispute that the first RAZR (V3) was an iconic mobile phone and one that marked the beginning of slimline mobile phones.
The problem with the V3, and the many successors Motorola churned out, was that beyond its good looks, it was awful to use and woefully underpowered in the hardware stakes. People soon got bored, especially when Nokia came along and introduced the tech-filled N95.
Nobody, however, can accuse Motorola's new RAZR of lacking tech. Moto's latest high-end smartphone runs Android 2.3.5 out of the box, but will almost certainly get an update to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in the very near future.
If we had to pick out one key feature of the RAZR for discussion, then it would have to be its depth - or lack thereof - which justifies the RAZR moniker.
At 7.1mm thick, Motorola calls it 'impossibly thin', but note that this measurement is taken at the handset's thinnest point. You can't fail to see from the pictures that the RAZR has a bulge at the top to house the camera and, presumably, the antenna.
What is quite amazing is how Motorola managed to fit an 1,780mAh battery inside a phone so slim.
The casing is strong, too (constructed from Kevlar fibre), to stop it snapping in your back pocket when you sit down. The Gorilla Glass screen also resists scratches effectively, while the whole phone has a splash guard casing to protect the phone inside and out.
The Motorola RAZR is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, with an impressive 1GB of RAM, while the 4.3-inch screen is the first AMOLED display to have a 540x960 pixel resolution (the Motorola Atrix uses a traditional LCD).
Like the Atrix, which was aimed more at business users, the RAZR has a Webtop mode that turns your blower into a portable PC when hooked up to a range of docks and accessories.
In Weptop mode, you control the phone in a window, and launch the Firefox web browser to surf the net or use online applications like Google Docs. All your data remains on the phone, so when you take the phone away, everything is with you without the need for syncing.
For people not so worried about this feature, there's MotoCast, a new service for streaming multimedia content over wi-fi from your PC without your using up any of the 16GB of internal storage space.
The phone also retains MotoBlur, too, which synchronises data in the cloud, aggregates your social networking updates into a single feed, and also lets you remotely locate your phone or wipe the data should your phone be lost or stolen.
The new Smart Actions app allows tasks to be carried out automatically based on your location, like turning down the ringer volume when you arrive at work, or implementing battery-saving features when you're out.
Finally, the RAZR packs an 8-megapixel camera that offers full HD (1080p) video recording, complemented by a HD camera on the front for video calling.
The Motorola RAZR is due to go on sale in November, and we can't wait to see how it fares against some tough competition, including the Galaxy Nexus that was also announced today.
And finally...
We couldn't ignore a great new accessory for the RAZR called the Smart Controller.
When the RAZR is connected to your HD television, you can use this Bluetooth accessory to control your phone. With a touch-sensitive panel, you can move a mouse pointer on the screen, select and use multi-touch to rotate things, and pinch and zoom. The remote also features buttons for 'menu', 'home', 'back', and 'search'.
But this is more than just a glorified Bluetooth mouse. Does the slight curve give you a clue?
What if a call comes in while your phone is docked? There's no need to go and remove the phone from the dock, as you simply flip the Smart Controller over and use it to answer the call. Yes, the Smart Controller is also a Bluetooth phone.
It's an amazing accessory, but we've got no idea how much it will cost yet. Hopefully, Motorola will offer a 'work and play' kit like they did with the Atrix and bundle this with it.
Video
The video below is for the US variant, the Droid RAZR, which includes LTE support. The Motorola RAZR will be compatible with 2G/3G + HSPA networks.
