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Motorola's Legendary RAZR Flip Phone Is Making a Comeback (engadget.com)

An anonymous reader shares an Engadget article: The year was 2004, and Motorola had just announced what was then an insanely thin flip phone, the RAZR V3. It was -- and still is -- a head-turner, and eventually over 130 million units were sold in total. Such were the glorious days of Motorola. Twelve years later, the now Lenovo-owned brand appears to be prepping a relaunch of this legendary model, according to its teaser video of a nostalgic walkthrough at a high school.The teaser is available on YouTube. Nice of Motorola to try doing something different from most of its rivals. However, a flip phone -- with a tiny display and those buttons (assumption) -- may not have much of practical case in 2016.

24 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Might make a splash with those who've had enough. by jddj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm tired of being distracted every minute of the day, and tracked endlessly by everyone.

    I'd think about one. And take the battery out when I don't want to be tracked at all.

  2. Re: Might make a splash with those who've had enou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I just switched back to using an old Nokia dumb phone, I have an ipad mini with 4g when I want data on the go. It's kind of a nice combo really

  3. I'll give you a use case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My mom wants a cell phone that has decent battery life, makes and receives phone calls, is thin and nothing else. She loved her old Razr. Take a guess what she'll want when she sees this?

    1. Re:I'll give you a use case by Etcetera · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Strictly speaking, simply running Android doesn't mean it *has* to be the smartphone we all know and hate.

      Japan, for various reasons, caught on relatively late to the smartphone craze and has had a number of flip style phones that you'd swear are BREW, and look pretty close to the late-model LG feature phones (Voyager, etc) circa 2010, but actually use an Android OS -- simply without all the Google stuff actively on top of it.

      One example: http://www.kyoex.com/sharp-504sh-aquos-keitai-android-5-1-flip-phone-unlocked/

  4. Consumers want "small" phones ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My Palm Pre was perfect, but I cannot buy a decent phone like it any more.

    Why do manufacturers refuse to make capable "small" ( i.e. non-phablet, 4" or smaller screen ) phones ?

    The Sony Z3 Compact is almost the only player in this area, I do not understand why.

    1. Re:Consumers want "small" phones ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, because my definition of phablet has not changed over the years, while the sheeple's definition has.

      If a phone does not fit comfortably in a normal hand, it is a phablet.
      5" phones do not fit comfortably in a normal hand.

  5. Legend has it... by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There was a time when several generations of people lived with phones that had no screens at all. In fact, some of those people still walk among us, although they may move more slowly than they once did.

    There are some people who prefer to use a phone just for talking (and, strange though it may seem, listening). Sure, they skew older, but you're kind of dumb to overlook the segment completely.

    1. Re:Legend has it... by markdavis · · Score: 3, Informative

      >"There was a time when several generations of people lived with phones that had no screens at all. In fact, some of those people still walk among us,"

      You must be REALLY young. Just without screens??

      There are quite a few people walking around (and just fine too) who for many years had NO CELL PHONES AT ALL not just as children, but as adults. Yep. I had even graduated college before having one of those new-fangled, talk-only, screenless, pocket cell-phones.

      Imagine a world where you really could be untrackable and unreachable. Where you had no constant beeping or messages. Where there were no distractions while you were thinking or reading or lounging. Where you could eat dinner out without annoying phones ringing and text tones, and people taking photos of you without your permission. Where you could have a conversation, in person, with someone... without being rudely interrupted several times yourself or by them looking at a stupid device. Where you could drive a car and reasonably expect that other drivers were paying attention to only the road. It existed.

      In some ways it was bad. In others, it was quite good.

  6. Re: Might make a splash with those who've had enou by sims+2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have a samsung convoy 3 and an ipad 2. I need my phone to work as a phone more than anything else.

    Verizon is planning on retiring their 2g and 3g networks in 2020-2021 yet its 2016 now and afaik they do not have a single dumb cellphone that works on their 4G network.

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  7. I'll take one by willoughby · · Score: 2

    My old black Razr V3 still works fine but the main reason I don't use it anymore is the crappy, weird headset connection. Give me a new model with a 3.5mm headset jack, sell it to me unbranded & unlocked & I'll take it.

    1. Re:I'll take one by CronoCloud · · Score: 2

      I had a V3xx with that wacky "through the USB port" headset. I wished it had a 3.5mm jack because it had a fairly nice MP3 player for the time.

      Yeah it has bluetooth...really the V3xx has bluetooth (and 3G), but back then stereo bluetooth headsets with reasonable quality sound for music were more pricey than they are now.

  8. Making a comeback? Really?!??! by OzPeter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I still use my original RAZR flip phone. So original in fact that it was pre-GPS chip (and yes, they do exist). It amuses me when I pull it out and use it and other people see it. And then I point out al the advantages:

    1. Its smaller and lighter than smart phones
    2. I don't have to charge it every day
    3. I can (and do) drop it onto hard surfaces with the only worry being trying to find where the #@$%# battery cover bounced off to

    And sure I could have a computer in my pocket, by why do I need one when I have 5 computers in arms reach and sit in front of one most of the working day? I also have a dedicated GPS in my car.

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  9. I'd rather see ... by LuxuryYacht · · Score: 3, Interesting

    a slider phone with:

    Touchscreen, bigger than the n900
    Full QWERTY
    Unlocked bootloader
    u-boot
    Large removable battery
    With all the usual sensors and IO
    As open a firmware stack as possible for the RF.
    FPGA for encryption/decryption

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    Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
  10. I'm still using a flip-phone by Alien7 · · Score: 2

    I have a laptop, a camera, and a GPS, all of which are better stat wise than any smart phone. When I leave the house you can get a hold of me still, but I'm not distracted by my addiction to trolling Facebook political pages. Having the internet at every waking moment is often more of an inconvenience than it's worth, and if I REALLY have to look something up it can usually wait until I get home. The only thing I don't like about it is that everyone just assumes I'm poor, but with a hipster marketing campaign like this I can keep my flipphone and not be a social outcast, I call that a big win for Motorola, it's a smart move.

  11. Re:Might make a splash with those who've had enoug by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    I wouldn't be disappointed yet. Considering Lenovo has produced nothing but a teaser I would have to say [citation needed] before declaring this to be a flip android smartphone.

  12. Re:Old people by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2, Funny

    New part of the hipster uniform --

    Muslim-style beard

    Thick, black glasses

    Flip Phone

    You forgot:

    skinny jeans (black, of course)
    plaid shirt (the kind your grandad owned)
    vinyl LP (carried ostentatiously under the arm)

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    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  13. Re:I preferred the RIZR myself by SeaFox · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One big advantage of a flip-phone is built-in screen protection for when you have it in your pocket with other objects potentially.
    I never used a flip-phone back in the day, because the audio quality was lower than candy bar handsets (because of the thinner speaker diaphragms needed to fit the thin earpiece area) and lower battery life (because the body didn't have to fold in half, a candy-bar could have a much longer battery cell on the back).

  14. Re:Making a comeback? Really?!??! by syswalla · · Score: 2

    I'm with you. Still use my V750 that has MIL SPEC dust proofing. Charge it approx once a week unless I use it a fair amount. Have a protective case with a clip and drops are almost a non issue. I will be sad when I have to replace this. Hopefully the phone manufacturers AND carriers wise up that there are those of us out there who use their phones as a phone, strange as that may sound, and don't need a battery and data sucking appliance.

  15. Re:Old people by hey! · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, yes, because battery life trumps everything for us.

    What I'd really like is a flip phone with a replaceable battery that can also serve as a mobile access point.

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  16. Re:Old people by olsmeister · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone just needs to make a $25 gutless version of this that connects via bluetooth to the iPhone in the hipsters' pocket.

  17. Re:I'd rather see ...illeagal by pablo_max · · Score: 3, Informative

    Having an open RF stack is illegal for a licensed transmitter. The FCC does not allow any changes at all to the conditions to which the device was approved. Small changes can be made via a class 2 permissive change, but allowing you, the user access to change the RF properties is very illegal.
    And with good reason too. You would be surprised to know how much damage to a network just one fucked up phone can cause.

  18. Re:I preferred the RIZR myself by CrowdedBrainzzzsand9 · · Score: 2

    It works for Agent Gibbs just fine.

  19. Re:I'd rather see ...illeagal by LuxuryYacht · · Score: 2

    Open RF Stack ! = Changes to the conditions to which the device was approved.

    Open means that you can see the source.

    Changes means modifying the binary installed in the device after approval.

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    Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
  20. Re: Might make a splash with those who've had enou by Reziac · · Score: 2

    What's important to me is that the hardware is small enough to not be distracting in a pocket, and that it's not vulnerable to the dings and dust of outdoor work. Hence I use a $12 flip phone. It has decent battery life and does the job, and if it does get busted it's cheap to replace.

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