Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 03, 2025

The new Motorola Razr is $1,500 but OMG I must have it

It's a flip phone in an age when no one makes calls anymore. The camera isn't great. The battery life stinks. The screen is plastic. The processor is slow. It's superdupercrazy expensive (think an iPhone 11, then double that). But ... I kinda want the new Motorola Razr.

Motorola has brought back the Razr, the legendary flip phone from 2004 that became the bestselling phone of all time (before the iPhone stole that title several years later). The old Razr was impossibly thin -still, even by today's standards -and had that stunning blue-backlit metal keypad. We overuse the word "iconic," but the original Motorla Razr was one iconic piece of technology.

That's why Motorola has been trying to replicate its Razr success for the past decade. It brought the brand back in 2011 with the Droid Razr, a super-thin smartphone that Motorola hoped would vault it back into relevance after Apple (AAPL) and Samsung had leapfrogged it. The Droid Razr failed to capture any significant attention.

The new Motorola Razr isn't going to be ignored. It can't be. It's a stunning achievement: a modern smartphone (well, mostly -we'll get to that), that folds into something that very closely resembles the original Razr phone. It looks so cool, and the folding mechanism is a piece of engineering genius that could solve a smartphone problem that no one else is trying to solve. I'm not sure Motorola was trying to do that, but it solves it nonetheless.

Folding phones are all the rage in 2019, but they've mostly been built to make a smartphone kinda-sorta-not-really tablet sized. That's a neat idea for people who want a better video, multitasking or typing experience on their smartphones. It's a niche thing now, but it has the potential to gain traction if the technology improves.

Motorola, by contrast, is using its hinge to make a 6.2-inch smartphone-sized phone ... smaller. I'm fairly certain Motorola's primary rationale for the hinge was a nostalgia play: to replicate its famous flip phone. But whether intended or not, the Razr is perhaps the most pocketable smartphone on the market. Women of the world rejoice! Men, too! A smartphone that will fit in your pocket.

Motorola achieved this ultimate pocketability with an ingeniously well-engineered hinge. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Razr is perfectly flat when folded: it has no gap. The Razr has two pieces of metal that snap up against the screen to hold it firmly in place when it's opened. Everyone who played around with the phone during its unveiling event Wednesday night said opening and closing the phone was among the most satisfying features of the Razr. Hanging up a phone call with flip is a bygone of the last decade that I miss.

Another byproduct of a flip phone is a second screen. When closed, the Razr's front screen displays the time, lets you quickly respond to texts and you can take selfies (the phone has just one camera, which faces front when flipped closed). The second screen offers some helpful tricks, but it's only helpful because you can't access most of the phone's features when it's closed. It's a convenience built in to overcome a built-in inconvenience that other smartphones don't possess.

But the Motorola Razr isn't about engineering marvels, pocketability, tricks or convenience. It's about making a smartphone look like the 2004 Razr. It's about buying something that makes your friends jealous. It's about taking us back to those fond memories of our first cell phone. It achieves that.

That's why, for some people, it won't matter that the phone is using yesterday's technology. It runs Android 9 a month after Android 10 hit the market. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor, which is decidedly mid-range. It has a 2510 milliampere hour battery, which is seriously puny. Its screen is plastic and not nearly as sharp as its competitors. And the camera is good on paper, but Motorola has never been known for top-notch camera software.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Dutch government falls as far-right leader Wilders quits coalition
Harvard Urges US to Unfreeze Funds for Public Health Research
Businessman Mauled by Lion at Luxury Namibian Lodge
Researchers Consider New Destinations Beyond the U.S.
53-Year-Old Doctor Claims Biological Age of 23
Trump Struggles to Secure Trade Deals With China and Europe
Russia to Return 6,000 Corpses Under Ukraine Prisoner Swap Deal
Microsoft Lays Off Hundreds More Amid Restructuring
Harvey Weinstein’s Publicist Embraces Notoriety
Macron and Meloni Seek Unity Despite Tensions
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Newark Mayor Sues Over Arrest at Immigration Facility
Center-Left Candidate Projected to Win South Korean Presidency
Trump’s Tariffs Predicted to Stall Global Economic Growth
South Korea’s President-Elect Expected to Take Softer Line on Trump and North Korea
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Ukraine Executes Long-Range Drone Strikes on Russian Airbases
Conservative Karol Nawrocki wins Poland’s presidential election
Study Identifies Potential Radicalization Risk Among Over One Million Muslims in Germany
Good news: Annalena Baerbock Elected President of the UN General Assembly
Apple Appeals EU Law Over User Data Sharing Requirements
South Africa: "First Black Bank" Collapses after Being Looted by Owners
Poland will now withdraw from the EU migration pact after pro-Trump nationalist wins Election
"That's Disgusting, Don’t Say It Again": The Trump Joke That Made the President Boil
Trump Cancels NASA Nominee Over Democratic Donations
Paris Saint-Germain's Greatest Triumph Is Football’s Lowest Point
OnlyFans for Sale: From Lockdown Lifeline to Eight-Billion-Dollar Empire
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Hegseth Warns of Potential Chinese Military Action Against Taiwan
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Jamie Dimon Warns U.S. Bond Market Faces Pressure from Rising Debt
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Taylor Swift Gains Ownership of Her First Six Albums
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Satirical Sketch Sparks Political Spouse Feud in South Korea
Indonesia Quarry Collapse Leaves Multiple Dead and Missing
South Korean Election Video Pulled Amid Misogyny Outcry
Asian Economies Shift Away from US Dollar Amid Trade Tensions
Netflix Investigates Allegations of On-Set Mistreatment in K-Drama Production
US Defence Chief Reaffirms Strong Ties with Singapore Amid Regional Tensions
Vietnam Faces Strategic Dilemma Over China's Mekong River Projects
Malaysia's First AI Preacher Sparks Debate on Islamic Principles
White House Press Secretary Criticizes Harvard Funding, Advocates for Vocational Training
France to Implement Nationwide Smoking Ban in Outdoor Spaces Frequented by Children
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
Russia's Fossil Fuel Revenues Approach €900 Billion Since Ukraine Invasion
U.S. Justice Department Reduces American Bar Association's Role in Judicial Nominations
U.S. Department of Energy Unveils 'Doudna' Supercomputer to Advance AI Research
U.S. SEC Dismisses Lawsuit Against Binance Amid Regulatory Shift
Alcohol Industry Faces Increased Scrutiny Amid Health Concerns
×