Motorola Razr
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Background
The Motorola RAZR ("RAZR" pronounced "razor"), at 13.9 mm thick, is a thin clamshell camera phone, with the most popular V3 model released in November 2004. The phone was initially regarded as an exclusive fashion phone, with a high price of $500 with service agreement. However, in 2005 the phone entered the mass-market as a mid-priced phone. As of February 2006, the phone markets in the UK for £89.99, in Australia for $279 from Virgin Mobile, in Mexico for $2999 from Telcel, in Canada for $449.99 (99.99 with a 3-year contract), and in the United States for as low as $69.99 after rebate (from T-Mobile and Cingular Wireless, the original US carrier for the RAZR), making it an upper end-budget phone.
Two of the phone's most prominent features are its thinness and the positioning of its internal antenna at the base below the mouthpiece.
By July 2005 Motorola reported to analysts that the RAZR V3 was the most popular clamshell in Europe, something that it owes almost entirely to its distinctive looks and small size. It was one of the first phones to have a 2.2 inch (diagonal) LCD screen which supports 262,000 colors.
Motorola released a CDMA version of the RAZR for Verizon Wireless, US Cellular, and ALLTEL on November 21, 2005, called the RAZR V3c. The V3c was adopted by Canadian carriers Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility in February 2006. Changes in the CDMA version include a slightly thicker form factor (primarily due to a "bulge" around the camera lens), more internal memory (30 MB), a higher resolution 1.3 megapixel camera, and CDMA20001xEV-DO support. However, the V3c has a 2.2 inch internal screen which only supports 65,536 colors, and the weight has increased from 95 g to 99 g. Functionality was also restricted in the V3c version to disable OBEX file transfer on Verizon models thus allowing only ring tones and other files to be purchased instead of loaded using OBEX as in other RAZR versions.
Motorola has also announced the Motorola V1150, which was renamed as the Motorola RAZR V3x, a phone with two cameras and support for microSD. The phone is not the successor; Motorola has confirmed that "RAZR V3x" is simply a new name for the existing V1150 and the phone will not be released in the US.
As of March 10, 2006, the companies Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA temporarily stopped selling the RAZR, due to a technical glitch that caused the phone to drop calls or shut down. [1] Reportedly the glitch has been resolved. [2]
On July 18, 2006 Motorola announced it had shipped the 50 millionth RAZR, making it the most popular cell phone of any kind.
Models
V3
The original RAZR V3 gprs phone is carried by Cingular and T-Mobile in the USA, Rogers Wireless, Fido, Telus, Bell Mobility and Sasktel in Canada, Telcel in Mexico, Vodafone in New Zealand and Australia, and by many companies in other countries.
Black version
A black version was produced for distribution in the 77th Academy Awards gift bags, and was released in early May 2005. As of September 2005, the black version is available in the USA only from Cingular and in Canada only from Fido Solutions or Rogers Wireless.
The black V3 is the standard version of the phone in the United Kingdom.
Pink versions
The first pink version was released in October 2005, and as of June 2006, is available in the USA from T-Mobile (as RAZR V3 Magenta, after the T-Mobile—and its parent, Deutsche Telekom's—corporate color, but called RAZR V3 Pink in other countries, including other T-Mobile networks), Verizon and Cingular Wireless (each in a different shade, currently exclusive to the US). It is available in Canada from Bell, Rogers Wireless and Telus, and in the United Kingdom from T-Mobile and the Carphone Warehouse. $25 of sales from the Rogers pink V3 will go to Rethink Breast Cancer.
Blue versions
The blue version was released in the United Kingdom. It is called the RAZR V3 Light Blue but it is actually mostly silver with a light shade of blue. It is carried exclusively by T-Mobile in the UK. A darker "Cosmic Blue" Version is also available from Rogers Wireless in Canada, and Virgin Mobile in the United Kingdom. Now Cincinnati Bell, a local wireless service provider in Cincinnati, offers a navy blue RAZR V3. As of June 2006, Cingular also offers a model which is blue on the exterior with silver interior (i.e. when phone is open, exposed surfaces are silver).
V3c
On November 21, 2005, a CDMA version of the RAZR, known as the RAZR V3c, became available to Alltel Wireless users. Verizon Wireless followed suit on December 7, 2005. Unlike models for Alltel and other carriers, Verizon's V3c has disabled Bluetooth file transfer (OBEX)[3] support (except in firmware .02 and .04) and features a proprietary interface. In January 2006, Canadian TELUS, Bell Mobility and Aliant Mobility, Venezuelan carriers movistar and Movilnet, and Brazilian Vivo began carrying the v3c. The RAZR V3c supports CDMA 2000 1xRTT and 1xEVDO third generation wireless technologies. This is the technology Verizon Wireless uses to provide their V CAST multimedia service. The coverage of this feature, however, may not be available everywhere. US Cellular and ACS (Alaska Communication Systems) Alaska's CDMA provider, also carries the V3c. It also has approximately 31.8 mb of internal memory, but it doesn't sport an expandable memory card slot. Following the razr v3c is the razr v3m which is available in gray, as well as silver and pink.
The original version of the V3c was charcoal gray, and a light pink version (different from the GSM Magenta/Pink and the Cingular Cotton Candy versions) was released by Verizon Wireless in January 2006. TELUS Mobility, Bell, Aliant, and Vivo also carry pink versions of the V3c.
The V3c originally had limited (crippled) Bluetooth capabilities. Recent models, however, no longer restrict the bluetooth capabilities.
V3i
The successor to the RAZR is the RAZR V3i. It addresses some of the faults of the original V3, including a better (1.23 megapixel) camera with 8x digital zoom, a slightly better external display, and support for TransFlash/microSD cards. The phones looks have also been slightly tuned. Some models have support for iTunes. [4] In the UK, the iTunes capable models are sold under a different model number (The RAZR V3i m) and usually at a higher price than the models without iTunes.
The V3i is unofficially dubbed the "RAZR2" despite some arguments that there is a "real" RAZR2 under development.
It was announced on December 8, 2005 that Motorola had teamed up with Dolce & Gabbana to produce a Special Edition Gold RAZR V3i. Only 1000 of these have been made, and sold for a high price. Many of them can now be seen on eBay.
On June 1, 2006, Motorola and Dolce & Gabbana have once again released their limited edition gold phone. This model includes a D&G cell phone holder, a signature leather pouch, Bluetooth headphone, and FM earphones. It is available from all major Motorola stockists and select D&G boutiques.
The V3i is availble in the following colors:
- Brushed Metal Silver(main color)
- GunMetal Grey (Look at picture on the right)
- Gold Plate (special edition DG version only, see above)
- Dark Blue
- Maroon
- Violet
The Motorola RAZR V3i was released to most worldwide markets in the Q4 of 2005. In the U.S. the phone will be available from Cingular Wireless in the Q3 of 2006.[5]
V3im
The V3i has a maroon coloured version available in the UK market. It has iTunes software and holds up to 100 songs.[6]
V3m
The V3m is a new CDMA version of the RAZR. It is an upgrade to the V3c, featuring a microSD card slot for up to 2 GB of memory expansion, a longer lasting battery, and music playing capabilities. The V3m presently comes in charcoal gray, silver, and pink. This is not available in the UK, although the V3x is on sale there.
MS500
Another version of this phone has been released in South Korea. This version has the same physical appearance as the original V3's but instead of GSM, its a CDMA phone. It is more like a V3i without the expandable memory. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera, video, bluetooth and 80MB of internal memory. It also comes in different colours than the models mentioned above. Red and yellow models are seen around Korea and is the MS500 is currently the most popular cell phone in Korea.
M702iS
In Japan, a 3G(WCDMA) NTTDocomo version is being released in late August 2006. (This version does not have GSM, there will also be a WCDMA+GSM version call m702iG) M702iS product info (Japanese)
Developments
The original V3 was a pinacle of functionality when it was first released, but compared to recent "copycats" and further advancements in the cell phone industry, is now of relatively limited functionality. It has only 5.5 MB of usable memory capacity, upgradable to an absolute maximum of about 10 MB by modding the phone (see below for details). Furthermore it has no storage expansion slot and a low camera resolution of 0.3 megapixels (Resolution: 640x480 px).
The newer models (V3i and V3x) address some of these issues by increasing memory capacity to 30.8 MB and camera resolution to 1.3 megapixels. The hinge mechanism has also been reinforced.
In practice, the GSM versions of the RAZR can only support packet-switched data transfer speeds of about 40kbit/s using GPRS technology. Most other high-end (and even mid-level) phones nowadays support an enchanced version of GPRS called EDGE which supports much higher data transfer speeds
Verizon Wireless's decision to disable OBEX in their RAZR V3c models raises considerable cost and usability concerns.[7] For instance, users cannot load their own ring tones on to the V3c from a Bluetooth-equipped PC. Although the phone can also be connected to a PC via a USB-A to mini-B cable, commercial software applications disable transfer features for Verizon customers. (Motorola Phone Tools 4 explicitly disables "all multimedia and internet connection features in this software," per carrier request.[8]) This means that users must purchase ring tones and other customized multimedia content from Verizon Wireless, and must use the company's network to transfer their own photos and videos to another device, which may incur further fees. Some have suggested work-arounds or hacks to overcome this limitation, but these may make the equipment inoperable if executed improperly (Due to the requirement of having to flash the phone's firmware) or may violate the company's Terms of Service.
Modding
As a result of the overwhelming popularity of the RAZR, the modding community has been phenominally successful in cracking the phones' underlying structures and developing "mods" that users can implement on their own handsets.
By modding the V3 RAZR it is possible to unlock special features not available on the stock phone. The most common mods include adding video recording support, uploading Java games from a PC, changing the image on the outer LCD screen (the "cl.gif", which normally displays the carrier's logo), getting rid of the service provider lock, adding date and time display on the main menu screen, adding new "skins", altering the text and menu items, and much more.
The V3c on Verizon Wireless carries Verizon's unique GUI, for example, which is more cumbersome than the standard Motorola GUI, and many of the phone's features are crippled. Through modding, the Verizon interface can be replaced by ALLTEL's, giving it the original Motorola user interface, a faster button response time, and a few additional features.
Detailed guides on a variety of modifiable features, software downloads and other resources are available at the following sites:
- MotoModders.net -- An online community of Motorola phone modders, containing a comprehensive knowledge base.
- PlanetMotoX.net -- Another online community of Motorola phone modders, an initiative from a member of the site above, MotoX.
- Motorola.howardforums.com -- An internet community dedicated to modifying several phone brands, including Motorola phones.
Modding the Motorola V3 is not without risks and requires lots of time and research. However, a great deal can be gained. It is important to note that modding the phone does void the manufacturer's warranty and should only be attempted once all the instructions have been read. Also, with multiple RAZR versions available, it is important to be sure that the modification applies to your particular model.