In 2000s, there were three types of phones that were king. The flip phones, the slide phones, and the feature phones. By feature phones I mean ordinary cell phones identified with particular features. There were those known for the cameras, others for their BlueTooth abilities, yet others were known for their ability to play back MP3 music. Then there was the Motorola Razr (to the new kids, that’s pronounced as Motorola Razor).
Other than Nokia 3310 that defined cell phone ownership in the early part of 2000s, Motorola Razr could rightly be termed as the king of mobile phones in those years. The phone didn’t just define class, it set up a fashion trend. People loved it, not because it allowed them to do magic any other cell phone could not do, but because it clicked so magically when closed to indicate “end of conversation”.
And it has been missed.
Motorola seems to have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to bring the good old Motorola Razr back to life; and the opportunity presented itself when smartphone screens became foldable. While Samsung, Huawei and others were in a rush to reveal their foldable smartphones, Motorola was taking its time to bring back the old Razr.
Putting prototypes to trial after trial, up to 26 times, Motorola worked very keenly to ensure that it is bringing to the market something that might be usable, both in functionality and portability. Motorola has come to realise that people don’t need smartphones to unfold to tablets, but that they should fold to cell phones.
Samsung and Huawei foldables will not go far because they have approached the foldable technology by giving people not only a device they do not need, but a device no one actually wants; making bloggers like myself question the utility of foldable smartphones. But the Motorola approach has made it possible for a smartphone to provide what consumers want, but need too; more so, consumers that are nostalgic about the 2000s tech.
The Motorola Razr 2019 is a smartphone that takes you back in time, provide you with futuristic smartphone experience, and also tells you that you can easily carry it to wherever you want to go.
Featuring a 6.2 inches P-OLED screen of 876 x 2142 pixels resolution, Motorola Razr 2019 will launch with Android Pie, an old school Octa Core Qualcomm SDM 710 Snapdragon clocking 2.2 GHz in one part and 1.7 GHz in the second, and will also throw in 128 GB internal storage for 6 GB RAM.
Motorola Razr 2019 is loved alright, but it doesn’t mean it is perfect for everyone. Top of the downsides is that it has been priced at $1500 in the US. This means when the phone finally lands in Kenya sometime in February or March 2020, the local user will be asked to cough an upward of Kshs 200,000. The consolation here is that it is probably going to be the cheapest foldable smartphone – with the second consolation tied to the first being that those other expensive foldables won’t be as useful as the Motorola Razr 2019. High end smartphones launching next year are coming with Qualcomm’s latest snapdragon, the Snapdragon 855 (or even the 855+), yet Motorola thought it wise to go back a year or two earlier. Here, I see no excuse.
All said and done, I think Motorola Razr is something you need to lay your hands on once it comes out, especially if you were once a user of the original Motorola Razr
