Why Motorola has nailed it with the Razr
Some time ago I wrote a piece on why you will be disappointed with the new Razr. I was wrong. The new Razr is the most lustworthy phone in a decade.
It perfectly captures the ethos of the original and on reflection time has played into Motorola’s hands.
What Motorola is good at, has always been good at is engineering. RF, industrial and mechanical.
What Motorola is bad at, has always, been bad at, is software.
So with all the nasty software problems dropped into Google’s hands, and Google is good at software, Motorola is free to do what it does and do it well. I have to say that I had assumed that the company had lost its mojo by having been subsumed by Lenovo. Again I was wrong.
The key to Razr is that it’s a style icon. I got an email from uSwitch saying that the Snapdragon 710 device with a 16Mpixel camera and low resolution screen was a triumph of style over substance.
I agree it is a triumph, and in the case of this phone style is substance. It doesn’t matter that it’s 16MP. Phones jumped the shark on camera resolution ages ago. If you want to post a picture of your Nigiri on Snapbookgram 16Mp is plenty. If you want to produce high quality prints then no lens on a mobile phone is going to cut it.
The lack of a real SiM or SD card is probably an engineering compromise, but then the stiletto proves that you need to make compromises for style.
The simple mechanic of a flip is enthralling. There is something captivating about a mechanical action.
In a time when all phones look the same, one looks different, there is a commonly asked magazine reader survey question which asks if the title is something you want to be seen reading. Razr is a phone I want to be seen holding. I’m curious about the Galaxy Fold I really, really want a Razr.
The New Razr will do for Verizon and EE, who both have exclusives, what the iPhone did for AT&T and O2. Customers will churn to get it.
And I’m astonished. I’ve been reviewing phones on and off since 1992, and most of that time I’ve lambasted Motorola. Especially when I worked for the company.
So with a sense of glee I’ve put myself on the waiting list as a consumer. I’m delighted I was wrong.