Kingslayer, 15 Nov 2019Most YouTubers and tech hipsters buying this phone isn't buying it for specs. They're buying i... moreYoutubers bought this phone to review it. No one likes its form factor or design and it has terrible specs. This phone defeats the purpose of foldable phones because you don't need a error prone foldable screen for just 6.2 inch displays. Most $150 phones are better than this. Its value is 10x more expensive because it has foldable screen no one needs.
Snapdragon 710 > 670 (Pixel 3a) > 821 (og Pixel)
I have an LG G5 with 820 and I don't any noticeable difference in speed vs the 835 and 845. The only think it's slower at is when transferring files even of sent to the internal because emmc is quite old. But in most cases, 820 or 821 with 4 GB RAM would still run pretty smooth and 820 came out nearly four years ago!
The biggest turn off is obviously the Razr's price. We're paying double for a 2-year-old mid-range SoC when many of us can buy a Samsung Galaxy S10e with 855 for a third of the price. But if you don't care about specs and money is no object, the Razr is the one to get. It's design-centric first. We buy it mostly for that and nothing else. The og RAZR was the same way. Sold as an exclusive fashion phone.
"Because of its striking appearance and thin profile, it was initially marketed as an exclusive fashion phone."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Razr
Kingslayer, 15 Nov 2019There isn't anything about this Razr that has a justifiable reason to buy it. Yet, most YouTub... moreeveryone is indeed very excited about this. i myself am considering buying it even at this price. the sheer cool factor really drowns out all its shortcomings. i remember the same hype about the original razr v3 then the v3i- it was a must-have device back then and is even considered a fashion accessory. i did hold off getting the razr v3 then until 2007 with the razr v9- the one with the glass back and touchscreen secondary display. the design was simply "cool" that it spawned yearly iterations from the v3/v3i to the v9.
Motorola think too much into the folding. TOO MUCH that they failed to look at other areas.
(They missed the practical)
The unfolding of the device should be spring loaded. The bottom, should have a physical button, that when press spring open like that of an umbrella. Maybe even tie in with the fingerprint scanning to achieve unlock the moment the button is pressed and hold.
(They missed the tech)
Bad SoC, No sd slots, No battery backup.
(They missed the price)
It cost a bomb!
Cool simply does not cut it.
There isn't anything about this Razr that has a justifiable reason to buy it. Yet, most YouTubers and tech hipsters don't give a damn! We want to look cool with it because it looks cool.
Most YouTubers and tech hipsters buying this phone isn't buying it for specs. They're buying it for the design and form factor! Most make $3K-$10K per video anyway. They can afford it.
I can easily buy an original RAZR for $30 on eBay and use a flip phone again. But does it have 4G, touchscreen, Android, and 6 GB of RAM? The Samsung Galaxy Folder 1 and 2 aren't an option for most of us if they're exclusive to South Korea.
This will be a niche product if only 200,000 will be made, it's $1500 price, and being exclusive to Verizon. The irony being niche when the original sold over 130M and is the best selling Motorola and flip phone of all-time.
The Snapdragon 710 isn't that bad. It's only slightly more powerful than the 670 that the Pixel 3a has. And the 670 is only slightly more powerful than the 821 that the og Pixel has. I own a G5 with 820 and I don't really see a difference in speed between it with my other two with 835 and 845.
Hope battery capacity good enough for simply calls, smses, Whatsapp & some low-end games.
ILoveSmartphones, 14 Nov 2019i like this phone but i will never take it over galaxy fold. Samsung has been in this game sin... moreThat is a bit of a null statement, trying to intimate that Samsung is a better choice as they have been around since the '80s while overlooking that the phone in question is a Motorola who have been around since the '70s and actually invented the cellular phone.
My RAZR Story
The RAZR was released in late November 2004 for $600 on Cingular first. I remember going on Phonescoop to check out all the phones. At the time in 2004, Wi-Fi wasn't a thing for people yet. I didn't even know what Wi-Fi was until getting my Sony PSP phat in 2005. And it was still only on Wi-Fi "b" which was pathetic.
So many of us weren't browsing the web on our phones yet and social media was only big on our desktops and laptops. We were all simply excited about taking VGA photos from our dumb phones. My interest was mostly on flip phones / clamshells because I loved hearing it close and the overall designs were better than the Nokia candybars at the time.
So 2005 happens and I see RAZR everywhere. Everyone has it. One of my co-workers had one. I didn't see the big deal because my $400 Motorola V600 was similar and was released 6 months earlier. Just happened to be chunkier but the design was amazing for its time other than the top hinge scratching itself everytime we opened and closed the phone. Moto added a rubber strip on mine but it still scratched.
I hear many say the RAZR was their first phone. It wasn't for me. The Audiovox 9155, Qualcomm 1960, Nokia 3310 (AKA 3360 on Cingular), Nokia 3595, Sony Ericsson T616, Sanyo 5500, and Motorola V600 came before it. So my black V3 was my 8th phone I ever used. And like I said before, I wasn't in love with it. Software was buggy. Battery life felt shorter. Felt boring to use.
The original RAZR had a removable battery. Most phones came with it before 2007-2008. Even the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 had it. Shame this new one isn't like that. The og RAZR didn't have 3.5 mm headphone jack. Most phones around 2004-2006 didn't have it. The RAZR 2 V8 and V9 had a 2.5 mm if I recall correctly. So I didn't do much multimedia with phones pre-iPhone.
In 2006 when I went to London, Paris, and Spain or in 2007 when I went to New York and the Philippines, the gadgets I always brought with me were my RAZR, iPod (5th gen), and PSP. Among those three, my personal favorite was the PSP only because it had an external speaker that my iPod didn't. I also began hating iTunes around that time because it kept crashing my Windows desktop.
I actually owned two black RAZRs. The second one came from my mom because the RAZR I got was from a BOGO deal in 2006. I lost my first one for years not knowing it fell on the side of a reclining chair in our personal home theater. I used the one my mom had because she already had a silver one only a few months prior in late-2005.
Back then, I only used my phone to make calls and texts. My Sony VAIO laptop was my main porn and social media machine. So I use it the V3 for about two years but I was having iPhone envy in 2007. I think getting my RAZR was bad timing. I regret never getting the Sony Ericsson W810 which had a music player and auto focus or K890 with Xenon flash instead.
I felt like buying the RAZR was re-buying my V600 with a different, far thinner shell.cIf I had to rank all 34 phones I used for a considerable time (at least one month), the RAZR wouldn't even rank in my Top 20. So why am I so excited about this Razr when I never cared for the original like other people do? It's not like I'm driven by its nostalgia. Because I have a fondness for flip phones.
I wouldn't get into phone hobby like I did over 15 years ago without flip phones. This Razr will be mine but I have to switch carriers (Verizon) and would need to spend about $110 more monthly.
$1500 ÷ 24 = $62.50
Cheapest unlimited plan for Verizon I need is $75 + $20 service charge. $95 + $62 = $157+ (taxes excluded). And Verizon is strict. You can't pay extra installments like say you want to put an extra $200 down on the phone to pay it all off faster while T-Mobile lets me do that.
My only hope is if Verizon offers a great promo for it a month or two later. But if Lenovo / Motorola only plans to make 200,000 of these, good luck ever finding this at a discount. I still have never seen a Galaxy Fold in person. Not at Best Buy, not anywhere. This Razr could be just as rare. And an eBay scalper's wet dream. I see folks selling an unopened Essential Phone for over $1200+.
We'll see how this plays out. I'm fickle. I might change my mind at the last minute and could just wait on the Microsoft Surface Duo. I feel that one with the reversible hinge will be a better and more productive device anyway. And it may not be as expensive because it doesn't feature a foldable display. I believe that Surface Duo form factor will win out for the next few years until foldables become durable enough.
This Razr is a super cool device though. I absolutely love to get it to own a flip phone again. Tired of these giant glass sandwich slabs. Maybe I'll just wait for its successors which will happen to be cheaper and have a flagship SoC. But waiting for the successors won't have the same WOW factor like the original V3 and this Razr had. It's like seeing the RAZR V3i, V8, V9, or iPhone XS / 11 and going "been there, done that."
This Razr has more of a wow factor than the $1000 iPhone X from 2017. It just looks so cool in today's saturated market even with a design from 15 years ago. Think different. Be different. Think cool. Be cool. This Razr is cool.
Anonymous, 14 Nov 2019It's subjective of course, but for me, this is much cooler than the galaxy fold.an absolute beauty compared to the Galaxy Fold.....it has mid range specs but I love it!!!!!
ROFL that funny battery ! anything below 5000 is rubbish!
Wait, there's no 5MP selfie cam. Main cam is used with 2nd screen.
AnonD-731363, 14 Nov 2019OMG man please Please PLEASE can you read??? I am speaking about scratch tests and you still ... moreHe/she isn't talking about bend test. A display hard enough to withstand scratches won't be able to fold.
Tsabes, 14 Nov 2019I agree with everything you wrote. My point was that the price tag is not a surprise given tha... moreWell, you're not wrong about the price. I knew it was never going to be a mass-market offering, as a first gen vertically-foldable phone. And hell, even I am very intrigued by the design idea, compared to the mega-large approach of foldables by Huawei, Samsung and others which kind of defeats the purpose, this spin takes the tech in a legitimately practical direction.
That said, I personally take issue with more than just the chipset and cameras, the battery, especially, is a huge letdown; 2510 mAh is just.. mediocre, by today's standards, especially for Android phones. And yes, there maybe technical difficulties in fitting something bigger, but that is a point they simply have to figure out, because the current offering is a lot more novelty-oriented than I feel it should be.
Good news for the consumer, though; if this phone finds vogue, you can bet that this form factor will spawn multiple copycats by the different competitors, who will invest in refining the tech and making it more competitively priced, and equipped. So, good news for us, ultimately.
AnonD-731363, 14 Nov 2019Still build within borders of USA. And lenovo doing great products and devices. I ont see ... moreit was a response to somebody who said "if you want cheap things, go to the chinese brands".
Flip phones needs to return. I got into the phone hobby because of flip phones and the cameras it had back in 2004..
Motorola V600
https://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?id=247
Motorola at it again. With the previous aura, and new moto 360 they are to prove the America pionering of cellular devices once again.
Like the idea of a folding phones, but application and usage don’t seem right at the moment and certainly not for the price ranges. Retro, but will they take you away from your current phone....probably not!
Anonymous, 14 Nov 2019Previous article suggests mid-range soc is to increase battery life. Battery capacity is limit... moreOn "No excuse for the 5MP selfie cam though. "
Yes they could have removed that, but then the narcissist would be complaining...
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