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Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

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Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#81

Post by PurpleRamen »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #77
ksec wrote: post #71

In 2003, industry best selling and flagship Razr cost $500 In 2018, Apple's flagship iPhone cost ( starts ) $999. I still don't know what to make of those "numbers". A lot fo jobs outside of Tech Sector had lower salary now in real terms than in 2003, and housing price are many times of those in 2003.

In 2003, for most people, the flagship Razr cost £99, or nothing. You were paying £20 or £30 a month for mobile service in a contract that gave you a new phone every 12 months. No benefit or discount for not taking an upgrade when it was available.

And 80% of the monthly fee was for the phone, not the service. Plans without a bundled phone are much cheaper.

Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#82

Post by agumonkey »

arthurfm wrote: post #45

My first mobile phone was a Motorola V50 flip phone [1] which cost £500 in 2000. Despite being released four years before the RAZR V3 [2] it was both smaller and lighter (although slightly thicker). I reckon it would still look cool today if they upgraded the screen. I can't remember why, but I didn't bother buying any RAZRs and my next phone purchase was a Sony Ericsson K800 [3] in 2006. [1] https://www.gsmarena.com…

Twice a year I look up on auctions if there's one cheap.. I still miss that tiny phone (my first too)

Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#83

Post by dirkgently »

egypturnash wrote: post #42
dirkgently wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I miss phones that let you dial the letters of the contact name to pull up that contact. Not sure if I understand this. If you mean start dialing by name or number, I can do this on my Android.

Each number key has three letters associated with it. So you hit the numbers that correspond to the letters in the name; presumably the phone would display a list of all the contacts that matched - with the example of typing 666 to get “Mom”, first you’d see every contact whose first letter was M, N, or O, then every contact whose second letter was also on the 6 key, and so on until you were down to one and hit the d…

T9? Yes, that's exactly how Android dialer works.

Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#84

Post by rjsw »

borellini wrote: post #65
Xunxi wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nokia has revamped its classic phones https://www.nokia.com/en_int/phones/classic-phones

They are not the same. Even though Nokia is infamous for not being able to produce a solid smartphone platform that would actually attract app developers, their feature phones (and Sony Ericsson's, too) were always known for having more finished, polished and faster UX when compared to competition like Siemens and Motorola. The Nokia-branded feature phones produced during Microsoft's ownership and ones produced curre…

I have an old 6101 and a new HMD 130. The new one works fine, I don't feel that there is anything wrong with the software.

Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#85

Post by rb808 »

As an aside & question - I hate this slim, light goal. What I want is a thick phone with a battery that can stand heavy use for at least 24 hours (preferably changeable), and doesn't really need a case. To me it doesn't make sense to see this obsession with tiny phones that most people put cases on.

To be fair, the Razr 3 had good battery life and couldn't have a case, but in this world: Anyone have suggestions?

Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#86

Post by toothbrush »

ascorbic wrote: post #60
needle0 wrote: post #47

"The RAZR was the first phone to recognize that cellphones [...] were on the tipping point to becoming fashion accessories" Was RAZR really released in 2003? Searches seem to bring up varying dates, mostly mentioning mid to late 2004. In Japan, there was the AU Design Project, a carrier-led project established in 2002 which created concept mockups and eventually actual products with a focus on industrial design and f…

I'd say the Nokia 8210 from 1999 is a better contender. Very design-focussed, launched at Paris Fashion Week. Has to be among the smallest candybar phones made too. A much better phone than the RAZR.

I owned 2 of those and still miss them. I tried buying one off eBay a while ago (wow, that's about 7 years ago now) but the battery just didn't last and very soon the screen got dead pixel lines and the antenna malfunctioned - I suspect maybe some components had been replaced with knock-offs or something, it was very un-Nokialike.

Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#87

Post by peterburkimsher »

eitland wrote: post #55
begriffs wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a variation of that mini phone you linked to (the internals get repackaged by various manufacturers). Mine was exactly the height and width of a credit card, and not very thick. It was lovely in my pocket, so unobtrusive. Everyone thought it was a calculator. :) Had to give it up after a while because the battery was really bad. One serious call and it was toast, and the battery got worse with age. If they made…

Saw something that probably was an iPod the other day. For a few seconds I thought it was a new iPhone (can't remember seeing an iPod in years). I want a phone in that size: - Small. - With touchscreen, - With a browser - With downloadable or even uploadable apps (basic ones like maps and messaging clients would be enough, don't need games or 3d, just don't want to rely on my operator or the manufacturer to create a…

I have an iPod and iPhone 4S as my main devices.

The iPod has excellent battery life, and I've upgraded it with an iFlash SD adaptor. The iPhone 4S has a small screen, and removable battery on a Third Rail case.

I had a quick look last week after the iPhone SE was discontinued. The highest small-screen (3.5") resolution is the iPhone 4 display (960x640). It's even higher than newer phones, according to dpi.lv. The best Raspberry Pi screen is 320x640.

What we as hobbyists need is a 3.5" RPi touchscreen module with higher resolution. Then the iPod modding community can provide a case, and Seeed can provide a phone. The problem is, I couldn't find anybody manufacturing high-res small size touchscreens.

Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#88

Post by imglorp »

steelframe wrote: post #19
imglorp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closer to the Razr (no palmos) was the Samsung A900. Just a dumb flip phone, but very solid and tiny. I miss small phones. I really don't want a 6" megolith to haul around.

> I miss small phones. Not quite "tiny," but pretty small regardless, the Xperia Compact line of phones is still a thing. You should check it out. A new Z5C can be had for about 150 USD, or 500 USD for an XZ2C if you can live with 5 inches. Sadly, it's not clear whether Sony will be releasing an XZ3C, so we may be coming to the end of what is arguably the only serious high-end compact smartphone out there.

Thank you, it does look good.

Re: Motorola Razr V3 Cellphone: The trend-setter that shouldn't have existed

#90

Post by fredley »

rb808 wrote: post #85

As an aside & question - I hate this slim, light goal. What I want is a thick phone with a battery that can stand heavy use for at least 24 hours (preferably changeable), and doesn't really need a case. To me it doesn't make sense to see this obsession with tiny phones that most people put cases on. To be fair, the Razr 3 had good battery life and couldn't have a case, but in this world: Anyone have suggestions?

There are plenty of battery cases for most mainstream phones that allow you to build a device such as this.
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