I saw an article decrying the flimsiness of modern gadgetry in general and the Motorola Razr in particular. My own two cents are this: regardless of the general case, the Razr is a piece of crap.
I was happy enough with mine when I first bought it, but within six weeks it was powering off erratically, including while I was in the middle of a conversation. So I sent it in and got a replacement, which had a more disturbing behavior: it would lose the ability to send or receive calls, without any indication that anything was wrong. As I don’t often place calls, it sometimes takes a while for me to notice this happening–the first time, once I had it figured out and fixed, I then had to go through a week’s worth of increasingly agitated voicemail messages.
I like the form factor; it’s nice to be able to put it in parallel with my wallet without cramping my pocket. Every other feature turns out to be secondary at most. If I could find a reliable phone of similar shape, I’d happily trade it in. Suggestions?
New models are invariably problem models. Manufacturers keep trying to cram more and more features into a smaller space, along with more powerful batteries. I recommend to my business clients that they go with an older, more reliable model on a contract that specifies that they can get an upgrade every x number of years. That way, they can still upgrade to new technology, but it’s at a reliable stages. The Razr is still (IMHO) too new to provide the kind of reliability a lot of people want. If you adore the features but want something that’s been around longer and is therefore tested try the Samsung A950. It’s definitely not as sleek, but it’s reliable, durable and has the same 1.3 megapixel camera as the Razr, Bluetooth capability, and an MP3 player.