Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Motorola Droid RAZR : Thinnest Smartphone
Motorola's Droid RAZR is the thinnest smartphone on the planet.

Mobile phones have come a long way in the last decade, moving from a mix of modest clamshell and candy-bar designs to widescreen smartphone powerhouses. And while huge lists of advanced features are all the rage these days, many still look back on the phones of yore with fond eyes. One of the most popular handsets of yesteryear was the Motorola RAZR, and now, 5 years since the company ceased production of the iconic flip phone, they are reviving the name. The new Android-powered device is called the Droid RAZR, and while it's nearly unrecognizable compared to its older brother, it just may be what smartphone fans are looking for.

The svelte new smartphone sports a dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 1080p video recording, and 4G LTE support. The RAZR's massive 4.3" Super AMOLED touchscreen looks dazzling, and is encased in Gorilla Glass for added protection. The device is splash resistant, with Motorola promising that even the phone's internals are meant to survive a bit of water.

One of the biggest selling points of the original RAZR was its thin form factor. The Droid RAZR continues that trend, measuring a laughably-narrow 7.1mm - making it the world's thinnest smartphone. By comparison, the recently-released Droid Bionic measures 10.9mm, and the iPhone 4S checks in at 9.3mm. The back of the new phone is made of woven Kevlar, in case it ever gets caught in a Hollywood-style shootout. It will run Android version 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box.

The original Motorola RAZR:
The original Motorola RAZR debuted in 2003 and in just three short years it racked up over 50 million units sold, largely due to its super-thin profile and flashy appearance. But as smartphones began to grow in popularity, the modest features of the RAZR sent it straight to the bargain bin. But with that kind of name recognition, the new RAZR - which boasts a much more powerful OS and huge list of features - may be able to capture some of the old phone's magic, which is something many Android devices seem to be lacking as of late.

The Droid RAZR will be released in November as a Verizon exclusive and will cost $299 with a new 2-year contract. A suite of accessories will also be poised for a launch-day release, including keyboard and laptop docks that will expand the phone's capabilities to a larger screen. If you want to experience the rebirth of the RAZR line, you can pre-order the device starting on October 27.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Droid RAZR shows off a super slim figure
October 18 is a date that most Android fanboys have circled on their calendars, first Motorola is hosting a press conference and then later in the night Google and Samsung are hosting an event in Hong Kong. It is assumed that Motorola will be announcing the Xoom 2 tablet and a phone called the Droid RAZR. Droid-Life was able to find a leaked press image of the Droid RAZR.

It better be thin seeing how the tag line for Motorola’s press conference is Faster, Thinner, Smarter, Stronger. The RAZR is rumored to house a 1.2GHz dual core processor, 1GB of RAM, LTE antenna, and 8MP camera. The phone is also supposed to have a gorilla glass screen, be wrapped in Kevlar, and be splash resistant to meet the “stronger” claim.

It wouldn’t be a true RAZR phone unless it was insanely thin, so much so that it better be one of the slimmest phones on the market. The fact that it is an LTE device, gives an indication that it might not be as thin as we hope, seeing how the Droid Bionic is currently the thinnest LTE phone and is 11mm thick at its thinnest point. To put that number in context the iPhone 4S is 9.3mm thick, and the original Samsung Galaxy S 2 is 8.49mm thick so the RAZR has some work to do to catch up to those two.

It seems odd that Verizon would carry both the Droid Bionic and Droid RAZR, as it seems that there is not much difference between the two phones. Both have a 4.3 inch screen, dual core processors, and LTE radios.

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