The original Motorola RAZR V3 was a phenomenon and is still fondly remembered by millions of people, including myself, as the phone that seemed to bring an emotional attachment to the otherwise bland task of making and receiving calls and texts. With sales of more than 130 million units it remains one of the best selling phones of all time and so the release of the new motorola razr (not capitalised) makes a lot of sense.

For me, however, it offers something that other foldable devices to date have failed to do, and that is to take advantage of the folding technology. The Galaxy Fold, for example, is huge in its unfolded form and reminds me of a Nokia Communicator from back in the day. This was a device that was clumsy to hold, to carry and to use and from what I have seen of the Fold all of this is still true, and so it becomes a less practical device because of the technology which defeats the object of progress.

The new razr takes the opposite approach and is much smaller than a regular smartphone when closed so you are able to carry it with ease and to generally have a much more positive experience. Unfold it and you have a normal sized smartphone which means that you are getting the best of both worlds. Perhaps even more importantly it is exciting and it is a genuinely lovely piece of technology that fits how humans should view technology, or at least how we used to look at phones when they were fashionable and exciting.

The Fold is the opposite of this and feels like too much of a leap where no one stopped to think about the interaction needed to use it. It feels like technology for the sake of technology rather than to offer benefits to the user.

The new razr feels exciting, innovative and most importantly is a device that I would be more than happy to use every single day. If only it was a little cheaper…

Categories: Android, Phones, Tech News