Motorola Razr showdown: Original V3 vs. the new foldable screen one
Let's go on a $1,500 nostalgia trip.
- Webby Award honoree, 2x Gold Telly Award winner
Motorola's original Razr V3 is one of the most iconic phones of all time. When it was released in 2004, it looked like it belonged to the future, thanks to its sleek design and anodized aluminum finish. The blue backlit keyboard, etched from a single piece of metal, only added to the appeal. And people lined up around the block to get their hands on one. iPhone , eat your heart out.
Sixteen years later, the Razr is back and is proving just as hard to get, even if the US$1,499 price is significantly higher than the US$449 the V3 commanded back in 2004.
Like the original V3, the new Razr is bested by other phones currently on the market that have better cameras, faster processors and cheaper prices. But the Razr has one important thing going for it that no other foldable phone (such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip) can match: nostalgia.
I had the original Razr and -- with or without my rose-colored glasses -- it was the best phone I'd ever owned. Let's see just how much has changed in the 16 years between the first Razr and today's version.
Nothing but Razr-thin dimensions
At the time, the Razr V3 was the thinnest phone in the world. At half an inch thick it was truly pocketable. The new Razr matches the original's dimensions quite nicely: it's clear the designers have put a lot of thought into echoing the original.
Put them side-by-side when shut and you'll see the original V3 is only a few hairs longer than the new version. Open them up and they span roughly the same height. It's really only the width that's chunkier on the new phone. Fortunately, the new phone still passes the pocket test and is just as easy to keep in your jeans.
Things start to drift apart when it comes to weight. The original V3 was only 95g (3.35 oz.) compared to the 205g (7.2 oz.) of the new Razr. That's kinda heavy for a regular smartphone in 2020.
Old vs. new.
The Razr V3 was the ultimate phone for one-handers
Flip open the Razr V3 and the first thing you'll notice is how ergonomically good this phone still feels for one-handed use in 2020. Whichever hand you use, it's easy to swing a thumb across the V3's keypad to tap out a quick text. It's also easy to open and close the lid with a flick.
The new Razr is wider, so there's more phone to grasp: not necessarily a bad thing, as larger hands may have overwhelmed the V3's petite frame. You can flick the new Razr open and closed, although the new hinge is not as fluid as the one on the old V3. It also creaks. (Unlike others, I actually find the sound strangely reassuring, as it means the hinge is working!)
You can still "slam" the phone closed on the new phone to end a call with dramatic flourish, so you don't get to miss out on that fun benefit of a clamshell design. But the V3 has a much more satisfying thud than the new phone.
Having such a long screen on the new phone does present a challenge for one-handed use. As my colleague Patrick Holland pointed out in his Razr review, reachability at the top of the screen when you're trying to launch an app, for example, can be tricky.
The old Razr's 2.2-inch color TFT display at 176x200 looks so quaint compared with the flagship foldable 2,142x876 pOLED on the new phone. But what surprised me most was that I found it tricky to view either screen in direct sunlight when I was taking photos. The new Razr couldn't get bright enough to overpower the afternoon sunlight. Meanwhile, the V3 failed completely, and I was taking photos by literally pointing and shooting.
Up close with the camera
The V3 had a 480p camera (VGA resolution) that produced average photos. Colors were either over- or under-saturated, there was purple fringing all over the place, and the field of view was very narrow compared to today's wide and ultrawide lenses. Having owned one of the original Razrs, I remember being very unimpressed with the camera quality (it was no patch on my 1-megapixel Canon digital camera!).
But being able to quickly share photos with friends over MMS kind of made up for that. The new Razr sports a 16-megapixel camera with aperture of f/1.7. While it's not as flashy as its competitors' offerings that have ultrawide cameras or excellent night modes, it's totally fine for most purposes. Still, you might wonder why you're not getting a best-in-class camera for US$1,499 -- I certainly do.
You can check out some image samples from the original Razr in the video at the top of this page.
As for battery life, this is where I actually miss the V3 the most. Fresh out of the box, Motorola rated the 680mAh battery to give you 280 hours (11 days) of standby time and 7 hours of talk time. Absolutely unheard of with today's smartphones. The new Razr doesn't get anywhere near close to those numbers, even with its 2,510-mAH battery, and you'll definitely need to charge this daily. Realistically, there's no way it could given how much more this Android phone does.
Putting a price on nostalgia
What strikes me the most about using the 2004 Motorola Razr V3 today is how well it holds up. Even though I wasn't able to fully use the phone in 2020 to make calls or browse the web (thanks to all but T-Mobile's 2G networks having shut down in the US) there is a lot that still resonates when you look at this old phone through today's lens. It still feels futuristic, thanks to its sleek industrial design, and using it reminds me of a time before we felt compelled to be always connected.
Today's Razr echoes a lot of what I loved about the original. But even adjusting the V3's initial $449 asking price with inflation to today's money -- it's equivalent to approximately US$686 -- the new Razr is more than double that price and seems even more out of reach than the original.
The V3 was built like a tank and handled endless drops and lid-slams with aplomb. Durability of the new Razr is uncertain, as the front screen cracked when we dropped it the first time and the hinge didn't fare so well in our unscientific fold test. We just don't know yet how well it will cope with daily use over the next year or two.
There's much to like about the new Razr, but, unlike the original, it doesn't feel like a phone that everyone will covet. Let's hope the second generation of the new Razr can get us closer to the X-factor magic of the original.
