SHARP AS EVER

With Razr 2, Motorola has tried to recreate the Razr magic. To an extent, it has succeeded

The hype is nowhere close to the one accompanying the launch of iPhone, but the magic is much more. Something like Motorola8217;s Razr, which when launched in 2005, shot up the popularity charts in no time. It was handed out to celebrities and movie stars, and a few months down the road, every wannabe star and non-star was sporting the Razr. Then came the pink and gold D038;G versions and women were lapping it up. Subsequently, Motorola came out with the Krzr, Pebl, Rizr and the recent MotoRazr Maxx8212;but was unable to create the Razr magic. Until now.

The Razr 2 is the hot new thing that Motorola hopes will lift its sagging fortunes. The coolest thing that the Moto Razr sported was the metallic keypad, now a common feature in many phones, but its feel was that of a solidly built phone. The new Razr marries the use of aluminum, magnesium and plastic, with the seamless connection giving it the appearance of a high quality product, just like an expensive watch. The glass on top, meanwhile, has been hardened to take the knocks of daily usage.

So, what8217;s special about the Razr 2? Other than the look and feel the textured look lends it the wow factor, it8217;s the phone8217;s features that make the difference. This phone won8217;t cook you a meal or fly you to the moon, but some of its attributes will make you sit up and listen.

For starters, it has a properietory technology called Crystal Talk, which adjusts the volume to ensure that you can hear clearly even in a noisy environment. The built-in speaker phone is designed to be clear, and a feature I have always liked in the Motorola series is that you can start the speaker phone even before the call starts,unlike in all other phones, where the speaker phone comes on only after the call is connected. Motorola has also added features like the picture caller ID, talking SMS8217;s and articulating the caller8217;s name and number though this feature screws up Indian names.

Another great feature is that if you are dependent on e-mails but have been confused by the push-pull options, Motorola provides a built-in support for Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo. So all you need is a GPRS connection to check your e-mail from anywhere.

While most phones that sport two screens alert and let you read the SMSs on the outer screen, Motorola lets you reply as well. If you8217;re wondering how to do so without a keypad, browse through the templates.

The standard options include the stereo Bluetooth, external music controls, similar to the Nokia N76, and the Windows Media Player 11. So you can download and play music off the Internet.

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In multimedia features, a good move has been to provide the camera with multishot functionality, which had been missing in all its other series. It also adds the Bluetooth printing capability to the phone. Nothing much here, though the video camera can now shoot for up to 120 minutes. Another feature is adding the shot video to a video blog.

Motorola has also added a full HTML browser using Opera 8.5 though there is no mention of Flash support, and has HSPDA high-speed connectivity. Sadly, none of the providers offer HSPDA as yet, but if it does happen, it will help you download a song in 10 seconds.

The phone comes in three colours: dark pearl grey called the V8, reminiscent of the V3i8217;s, an espresso or the V9M, and a mahogany V9 variant. Speaking of size, it is 103x53x13.4 mm V8 and V9M are thinner at 11.9 mm when folded, has a 2.2-inch QVGA screen on the inside, and a large 2-inch QVGA screen outside.

It supports up to 2-GB micro SD cards, has a 45-MB built-in usable memory, and a 2-megapixel, 8x digital zoom camera. The multi-image capture works only in the V8 version and the HSPDA connectivity is only available in V9. The V9 also features video telephony, which is missing in the other two. I know you are a bit confused, but this is a gadget I will clearly look out for. For details, check out tinyurl.com/2m2wyv.