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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

#121

Post by ForHackernews »

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…

This ticks most of the boxes you mention: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jellyphone/atom-world-s...

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

#122

Post by smsm42 »

tigershark wrote: post #73
smsm42 wrote: post #52

Great phone, loved using it until the benefits of the smartphone became too great to ignore. If I ever decided to give up on smartphones and move to a dumbphone (which isn't that far-fetched - I can use tablet for the most "smart" parts anyway) I'd probably get something like a Razr again. I love the tactical feedback of a flip-phone - you know how to answer a call and how to end it, and it has a physical feel to it…

Actually the “close the phone to close the call” is the most dangerous feature in history... It didn’t actually close the call in the worst possible moments.

Well, if there was a malfunction, that could happen - but so it can happen with current phones (I regularly get calls where people think they hang up but the call continues).

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

#123

Post by 1123581321 »

avcdsuia wrote: post #104
stirlo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So an iPhone SE? Or an Apple Watch with Cellular? There’s an impossible trade off between being “small” as in credit card sized and having a usable browser.

Anyone here uses Apple Watches as new gen pagers? Do you get a whole day LTE standby time with some useless stuff disabled?

My Series 4 just barely lasts all day with some activity (music, workout) and the phone at home all day (forcing use of the LTE when not at work or home.) Functionally, I would describe it as a pager, feature phone and iPod on the wrist.

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

#124

Post by ctdonath »

giobox wrote: post #116
ctdonath wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget the monumental flop of the Microsoft Kin. $500,000,000 on development, only 500 sold.

A little unfair to compare the Kin as failure purely on fashion accessory grounds? The device had some seriously ahead of its time cloud features, a few of which would still be interesting even today. Arguably its closest spiritual sibling was the Danger line of phones (Microsoft acquired Danger and had them work on the Kin) and those sold respectably. I think there are many complex factors in the Kin’s failure (not…

Kin did have an unusual shape, at a time that such a shape worked (?) as a fashion move.

Not saying Kin was the worst, but it certainly warrants an honorable mention.

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

#125

Post by ctdonath »

giobox wrote: post #116
ctdonath wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget the monumental flop of the Microsoft Kin. $500,000,000 on development, only 500 sold.

A little unfair to compare the Kin as failure purely on fashion accessory grounds? The device had some seriously ahead of its time cloud features, a few of which would still be interesting even today. Arguably its closest spiritual sibling was the Danger line of phones (Microsoft acquired Danger and had them work on the Kin) and those sold respectably. I think there are many complex factors in the Kin’s failure (not…

Finally had a chance to look up Siemens Xelibri.

Oh my.

When your phone reminds one of contraceptive packaging, you're doing it wrong.

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

#126

Post by avcdsuia »

1123581321 wrote: post #123
avcdsuia wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone here uses Apple Watches as new gen pagers? Do you get a whole day LTE standby time with some useless stuff disabled?

My Series 4 just barely lasts all day with some activity (music, workout) and the phone at home all day (forcing use of the LTE when not at work or home.) Functionally, I would describe it as a pager, feature phone and iPod on the wrist.

An iPod, a phone, an Internet communicator. Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. Apple reinvented the original iPhone :)

Thanks for your comment, now I am considering to get one.

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

#127

Post by 1123581321 »

avcdsuia wrote: post #126
1123581321 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Series 4 just barely lasts all day with some activity (music, workout) and the phone at home all day (forcing use of the LTE when not at work or home.) Functionally, I would describe it as a pager, feature phone and iPod on the wrist.

An iPod, a phone, an Internet communicator. Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. Apple reinvented the original iPhone :) Thanks for your comment, now I am considering to get one.

Haha, yes! The Watch does feel like the early iPhone years. If you can take advantage of Apple’s return policy, I recommend trying one for a few days.

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

#128

Post by ollie87 »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #23

I always preferred the follow up, the Razr 2 V9. Came a year or less before the iPhone I think. Ran some version of Linux, with lots more storage and SD slot, and if I can remember much slicker menus than the v3. There was some way of getting shell access too. Finally enough storage to use for music sometimes, and an effective touch interface to the music player when closed on the mini screen. Trouble is it had no 3.…

Funnily enough I had an older sibling to this line of "nearly" smartphones, the RIZR Z8 which came out a year before the RAZR V9.

It was Symbian powered, had an ARM CPU and a PowerVR GPU - that's a common pairing now but back then was still fairly rare.

Thing it has in common with the RAZR V9 was the lack of headphone jack, but it did come with a pair of stereo bluetooth headphones. Again, Motorola were way ahead of their time in a lot of ways.

I really loved that phone, I grabbed it when my Nokia N81 died (that was a piece of crap like all the Nokia Symbian phones). Had a great battery life and awesome call quality. It was the last phone I had before the first iPhone launched.

I seem to remember the advertisement for it had a link to the Jason Bourne films.

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

#129

Post by koffiezet »

jaclaz wrote: post #112
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure the comparison is that significant. We tend to omit two aspects when we deride price changes: One is just inflation. No need to explain that. In 15 years at 3% annual inflation rates, the $500 becomes $780. Second is that the product has changed, massively. The better comparison is to a flagship phone-only, which is $30. Or to compare the iPhone to a range of products, e.g. a phone, but also a television…

Inflation does not apply usually to electronics. A 32" inch flat panel TV costed in 2003 twice or triple what it costs today. In 2003/2004 a Sony Ericsson P800 or P900 (among the first products that can be called "smartphone") costed more or less the same as an iPhone costs today.

Yeah, my P910i was pretty damn expensive back in the day. It showed the potential of smartphones, but never really materialized. I did have a 3rd party GPS app with external bluetooth GPS dongle - which worked pretty well, but the resistive touch-screen, memory limits, generic slowness, no WiFi, and lack of software updates and maintenance made it a "too soon" device.

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

#130

Post by jaclaz »

nickik wrote: post #113
jaclaz wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflation does not apply usually to electronics. A 32" inch flat panel TV costed in 2003 twice or triple what it costs today. In 2003/2004 a Sony Ericsson P800 or P900 (among the first products that can be called "smartphone") costed more or less the same as an iPhone costs today.

That is just the absolute price. You still have the price increase of the inflation but it is off set by the decline in price form the production efficiency. So you absolutely have to take in inflation calculations to any comparison.

Yep, my point was that - when it comes to electronics - the combination of fairly low inflation with economies due to mass production, competition, diffusion, efficiency or what not, results in a substantial deflation, i.e. a "same" or "comparable" electronic device tends after a few years to cost less (in absolute price).

The iPhone is an exception as the good Apple guys managed - one way or the other - to keep the price constant or nearly constant.

Of course it remains clear that - say - US$ 1,000 15 years ago were "more" than US$ 1,000 today.

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