you decide it’s something you need to really
get into, you can just flip open the Razr to
the internal Full View display and be taken
straight into the appropriate app.
“The goal [with the Razr] was to have a
size of display that people were used to and
comfortable with in the open state, but yet
fully comfortable and pocketable when it’s
in the folded state,” explains Steen. “But as
we were doing this, we also realised that,
you know, people wanted to interact with
their phones on a regular basis. They didn’t
actually want to flip the phone open. That
birthed the idea of the Quick View display.
“We took a number of individuals –
flagship smartphone-type folks – and we
asked them, ‘What kind of information do
you want to be able to see when the phone is
closed? How do you want to interact when
the phone is closed?’”
A NEW RELATIONSHIP
One of the side effects of having this capable
but limited exterior screen as the first point
of contact with the phone is that Steen found
it shifting how he engaged with the Razr,
compared to other phones.
“I began to change my relationship with
my phone. Instead of having a smartphone
in which I would glance down and be
compelled to jump into social media or what
have you, I could glance down at the Razr,
see if there was anything that was really
important that I needed to respond to, and if
not, there’s no reason to open the phone,” he
tells us. “So what I found myself doing is
basically not... I guess the word is ‘wasting’
my time, and falling into the rabbit hole
called the internet, as you might on standard
slab phones, right?
“So that was something I’m not sure we
knew upfront was going to happen. But what
we’re seeing is that people’s behaviour, and
how they interact with the phone, changed.”
In a time where people worry about
smartphone addiction, and the mental
health effects of social networking
especially, we asked Steen if he feels like
it could help people have a healthier
relationship with their phone.
“For me, personally, yes! I pay attention
more in meetings, let’s put it that way,”
he laughs.
Changing people’s relationships with
their phones would be a lofty result, but the
original desire was a lot more simple: to
make something extremely cool.
“We were trying to define a new device
kind of in a sea of devices that were all thesame,” says Steen. “Consumers were very
bored with their phones... because the
difference between this year’s model to last
year’s model was minimal.
“What really then drove it home to us, or
made it very clear to us that we were down
the right path, was the emotional reaction.
The most exciting part is if I’m at a family
function or a party or what have you – to
have people come up and say, ‘Oh my God,
I’ve seen that Motorola phone on TV. Can I
see it? Can I see it?’ It’s been a while since I’ve
seen people who use both Android and iOS
get that excited about a new phone, of any
kind. To me, that made me feel really good
inside – and proud.”
The new Motorola Razr is available
exclusively on EE now on a range of 4GEE
plans, and it comes with 30GB of data on
a £99 per month 24-month plan with a
£50 one off upfront fee. Visit ee.co.uk for
all the details.“It’s been ages since
I’ve seen people get
this excited about a
new phone”
MARCH 2020 T3 49Sponsored