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Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/19/motorola_launches_new_razr_smartphone/

Motorola sharpens smartphones with revamped Razr

Thinner, stronger, faster, smarter

By Caleb Cox in Berlin

Posted in Phones, 19th October 2011 14:17 GMT

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Motorola revived one of its most popular handset brands today: Razr.

At a European launch in Berlin, the company insists it addressed four key areas with the Razr, making it thinner, stronger, faster and smarter.

Motorola Droid Razr

At just 7.1mm thick - though it bulges out further where the camera is located - and 127g in weight, the Razr is one of the thinnest and lightest smartphones on the market. Yet it packs a dual-core 1.2GHz processor with 1GB Ram and 16GB of storage. This can be expanded with Micro SD cards too.

The splash-proof ringer features a 4.3in, 960 x 540 OLED display made from scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass. The toughness continues with its stainless steel insides and a laser-cut woven Kevlar-fibre body.

Motorola Droid Razr

Then there's an 8Mp camera with 1080p HD video recording as well as a front-facing camera for HD face-to-face communication.

Unlike Samsung, which unveiled the first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich device [1] this morning, in the shape of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola hasn't gone for the latest Android platform, despite the company's acquisition by Google [2] this summer. Instead, the Razr comes with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, although an ICS update is promised for Q1 2012.

Motorola Droid Razr

In the meantime, there's much to admire, with heaps of built-in software features. These include SmartActions [3], which helps automate tasks for a better battery life, with parameters for certain energy saving measures, easily customisable.

There's also the company's new cloud-based service Motocast [4], which provides remote access to content on a PC or Mac from the Razr handset. Multimedia can be streamed directly, or alternatively downloaded.

The Razr will be offered with a stack of optional accessories and docking choices, For couch-taters, there's a smart controller for manipulating the phone while connected to the TV. This doubles up as a handset too, receiving calls when the phone is otherwise occupied on its docking station.

The new Motorola Razr [5] will be available early November. Pricing has yet to be revealed. ®