Flip phones are back! Flip phones are back! Oh, wait, no, they probably aren't. But the Razr is, and I don't know about you but when I think about flip phones in general, the original RAZR is absolutely the first handset that pops up into my head.
The handset is steeped in nostalgia, that's impossible to argue. Even before Motorola officially announced the new Razr people were reminiscing about the days of old, back when the RAZR and its variants were the most popular smartphone out there. They were all over the place, and I don't know about you, but the original RAZR was absolutely the phone to have back then.
I loved my original RAZR. It was a tank. A super thin tank.
I doubt very much this new Razr is the same in that regard, especially considering it costs $1,500 and it features a foldable display. But the new model does look like the old one, down to the huge chin! But none of that's a bad thing because it's immediately recognizable, and that's obviously what Motorola was going for here.
I want to say that the Razr does a foldable phone right, and I've seen a lot of people echo that sentiment since last night's unveiling. No, it doesn't open to a small tablet, but getting a flip phone back, and having that bigger display in general, is something people want. Plus, the smaller overall form factor when the phone is closed is seeing plenty of praise, too.
Sometimes trends that were declared dead come back. (Sometimes they come back!) And while I wanted to just talk about how cool it is to have a Razr flip phone back on the smartphone scene, I think I'm more curious about the design overall and whether or not this is something that people want to see make a comeback.
But I should note that while I think the New Motorola Razr is cool, the fact that it's not running the most powerful processor, has a less-than-stellar camera, and it's somehowonly running Android 9 out of the box make it a nonstarter for me. Each of those individual elements manifest a total phone that's not worth buying in my book, even if it is a nostalgia-defined flip phone.
Especially because it costs $1,500.
Okay, but flip phones. Are they about to make a comeback? I am seeing a lot of people happy to have this design back in general, even if they weren't fans of the original RAZR. People talking about the smaller front display when the phone's closed and how it handles notifications and media playback, or how it works as a screen to frame your selfies. I can't even count how many people are excited about answering -- and especially ending -- a call just by flipping the phone open and closed, respectively.
(Are flip phones going to bring back phone calls, too? Is this 2004 all over again?)
I don't think I want a flip phone. Even if it is a foldable phone and I can't argue with how cool that is. I guess I've been beaten into submission with all these slabs of glass. At this point in my life I just want thin bezels and no notch. A flip phone seems like a lot of work these days.
What I want to know is whether or not you want flip phones to make a big return. Are you hoping Motorola's new Razr can kickstart a big push for the old school design philosophy to make a comeback? Or are you perfectly happy keeping flip phones in the past? Let me know!