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John Dodge

Motorola's Razr never lived up to the hype

When the Morotola Razr V3 cell phone came out almost three years ago, it was hailed as THE compact and slick cell phone for power users. If you had a Razr, you were cool. That's no longer true as the company has cut prices on the Razr to as low as $30. Indeed, more than 50 million had been sold as of mid-2006. Everybody can afford one now.

I've never heard much good about them. Nothing terribly bad, either. My teenage daughter and I both have had one for 18 months and we both agree, the Razr is neither a bad nor a great phone. That we paid $200 each and committed to two years of mediocre Cingular service feels like a ripoff, now. There's nothing special about this phone. The display on hers is kaput and to replace it would have cost about $150 for the smattering of places that would repair the ribbon connecting it to the main body of the phone. That's the end of her Razr. She now uses a low end Motorola C139 that I picked up the $60 and is just as happy without the cool flip phone form factor, the camera that took grainy pictures and bluetooth. The Razr's menuing interface was never easy to use, either. The sleek ultra-thin Razr was plagued by a defect and temporarily pulled off the market in early 2006. 

I'm transitioning off my Razr because the battery barely holds a charge anymore. And I am loathe to pay $20-$45 for a new battery. I am using my Blackberry 8700C, whose phone is greatly improved over its predecessors. For Motorola, the Razr has been a great success. The hardware design is nice, but functionally and in terms of durability, the Razr never came close to living up to the hype.