What was Motorola thinking when it brought back the RAZR name?

Perhaps the company wanted to bless its latest "superphone" with the name of its most successful product ever. The name is a fitting one; this thing is incredibly thin!

The Motorola RAZR ($150 on three-year contract from Rogers or $649 outright) is currently the thinnest smartphone in the world at only 7.1 mm at its thinnest point. Although it does have a bit of a bump to accommodate the HD camera, headset, mini HDMI out, and microUSB charging ports.

While skinny, the RAZR is quite solid and strong. It has a sealed battery enclosure, which means that the battery isn't user replaceable. The RAZR is wide enough for even users with larger hands, which might make it difficult for some to grasp.

Kevlar meets Gorilla Glass

Aside from hard metallic plastic, the RAZR's back casing is covered in woven Kevlar, the same material used in bulletproof vests. This means it's strong and rigid, yet highly conducive to radio signals.

The front of the RAZR is a high contrast 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display, covered in scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass.

This is a very saturated screen; certain colours like red and green just pop out. This does not make for the most accurate colour representation, but it's something that's common to most AMOLED screens I've used.

The good news is that this is one of the best smartphone screens for outdoor viewing I've seen to date; at least on a cloudy yet bright November morning.

The RAZR also has a splash-resistant coating that will repel accidental spills. It is not, however, fully waterproof.

The RAZR isn't just about good looks and a thin profile; it is powered by an OMAP 4430 chip with dual 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor cores. I found it to be as fast and responsive as most of the higher-end smartphones and tablets today.

It also has an 8 MP rear facing camera that can record 1,080p HD videos. It comes with 1 GB of RAM and runs version 2.3.5 of the Android OS.

As with most Motorola phones, call quality and clarity is excellent, although the flat body does result in tinny audio when dealing with the hands-free speaker.

Motorola's Smart Actions

The RAZR incorporates a number of unique Motorola features, like Smart Actions which allows users to program the RAZR to react to certain events (i.e. plug in your headphones and it can automatically start the music app). These are programmable and can even be location-based. Think of it as Apple's Siri without the voice component. Settings can even be designated for home and work (i.e. volume changes based on location.) Or program the device to turn off the ringer during times when you think you might be sleeping.

Other thoughtful apps include GoToMeeting for remote conferencing, Motoprint for on-the-fly printing through existing networks, a much needed task manager, and social locations that pool together location services into a single interface.

Accessories Expand Functionality

Motorola has built a suite of accessories like the Lapdock, which turns the RAZR into a netbook with a QWERTY keyboard and screen. This is a scaled down notebook experience since it only runs a browser and some Web apps within that browser. But it may suit users who do a lot of typing. Canadian pricing on the Lapdock has not yet been released.

The new Motorola RAZR is a serious device with huge possibilities, and it represents the state-of-the-art in design and materials.

Motorola has taken big risks with this device, and it looks like it might pay off. But the phone does have some serious competition coming from the Galaxy Nexus, the HTC Raider, and LG's Optimus LTE, which are all premium, large-screen devices that are similarly powerful, though nowhere as thin.

Photos by Gadjo C. Sevilla

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