The new Motorola Razr is
available exclusively on EE
or from motorola.comneeded to be, the next step was to
spend a lot of time perfecting it,”
says Castrano – who, along with
some other members of the team,
used the device for over a year
before it was launched. “We
needed to make sure the system
as a whole was absolutely
reliable and would exceed the
expectations of the lifetime of
use for a normal consumer.”
The fact the screen folds on
itself means it’s protected when
you take the phone in and out of
your pocket, but there are other
features of the original Razr that
Castrano and his team decided to
keep as well.
“As we dug deeper into the
development of this product,
we understood that a lot of the
aspects of the original Razr made
sense for us to incorporate into
this new design,” he explains. “Our
initial designs didn’t really look like
the final product, but we realised
the chin of the original design,
and the way some of the internal
components had been laid out in
the two halves, still made a lot of
sense for a modern interpretation
of the clamshell form factor.”
Flexible friends
There are many differences
between the original Razr and
one fit for today – but one of the
major ones is the sheer number of
components that are now required
compared to back in 2004.
“We were essentially taking
a traditional smartphone, slicing
it in half and folding it in on itself,”
says Castrano. “There were also
a lot of breakthroughs that needed
to happen in terms of the circuit
board, the components, the
batteries. All these systems
that are usually very rigid all of
a sudden had to become foldable
and flexible. Antenna performance
also changes completely from the
device’s open to its closed state, so
we had to work very closely with
our engineering teams to ensure
good connectivity both when open
and when closed.”
And that’s not all. As well as
being both innovative and highly
desirable, the original Razr was a
triumph of usability. Long before
we had the need for always-on
displays, its external screen
allowed owners to screen calls
and preview texts without having
to open the phone at all, putting
less stress on the hinge and saving
users valuable time and effort. The
new Razr’s 2.7in Quick View OLED
display is an updated version of
that, allowing users to see their
notifications, take selfies, controlmusic playback and use Google
Assistant. And when you open it
up, whatever you were doing on
the external screen transfers to
the main one, so there’s also an
element of continuity.
“Consumers need to feel they’re
connected but at the same time
have the freedom to detach,” says
Castrano. “They should be able
to manage notifications in a very
quick way, be able to react very
quickly if something important
comes through, but at the same
time put their phone aside and
enjoy the moment, enjoy the
people they’re with.”Size matters
But what about the screen inside?
Like a lot of high-end smartphones
in 2020, the Razr has a 6.2in OLED,
but there’s much more to consider
about a display than just its size.
With a 21:9 aspect ratio it’s
designed to match up with the
native ratio of a lot of movies and
media content, so you won’t get
big black bars on the screen when
watching them. But it’s also about
how you hold it.
“It’s an aspect ratio that allows
us to have a device that hits the
sweet spot in terms of width,”
explains Castrano. “70 to 72
millimetres allows you to have
that perfect fit in your hand. It’s
something we’ve rolled out on a
few products from our Motorola
One line over the past year or so,
and it’s something we felt strongly
that we needed to carry forward
into this device.”
That’s something that also
had to be taken into consideration
when it came to the overall balance
of the device. “You’re actually
flipping open half of the product,
so if the top side is too heavy
it could fall out of your hand,”
Castrano says. “We have two
batteries, one on each side, not
only to reach our battery target
but also to make sure the balance
in your hand feels right.”
The end result is a phone that
sums up everything both Stuff and
Motorola are all about: innovative,
intuitive tech in a head-turning
package. And while nostalgia plays
a part in its appeal, the fact it takes
everything a normal phone can
do and shrinks it down to a more
pocket-friendly size is good news
for anybody with a love of clever
tech, whether they remember the
original or not.
“This, in my view, is really just
the beginning,” says Castrano. “As
a company we’re fully committed
to using plastic display technology
and continuing to evolve form
factors.” Amen to that.“ALL THESE
VERY RIGID
SYSTEMS
SUDDENLY
HAD TO BE
FLEXIBLE”
STUFF PROMOTION
Juice box
You get a 2510mAh
battery, which lasts for up to
28hrs between charges. Plug
in for a few minutes and
15W TurboPower charging
adds enough juice for
a few hours.The new
Razr’s
preview
screen
syncs with
the main
display