Motorola Razr Product Review

I'm on my second Razr. It's not like the last relationship went sour, but when it kept cutting me off when making those phone calls that took two days of phone tag to get through, and how it stopped sending my personal text messages after telling me it was trying so hard to send it, I had to trade it in. The little liar.

It was bad enough losing my favorite little Nokia to the little toilet-dropping incident we won't go into, but when I realized my little slim black beauty didn't perform up to snuff, I wondered if I should revert brands. Unfortunately, I could only spare enough to trade the sucker in for a "refurbished" Razr - which, by the way, my phone company neglected to mention, instead telling me my phone insurance would get me a "new" one.

Miraculously, however, my phone worked better than the last little let down. I had lost all of my blackmail-ready photos and texts, so it was time for a fresh start. I was hungry to text, to see my brilliant banter go through to all of my text-happy friends. And it worked. My refurbished beast was better than the new one that had let me down.

But still, problems persist with this model. Although it's a sexy sucker with its sleek black sheen and ability to actually fit into my jeans, it has problems staying connected with the outside world. Maybe it's too vain to care about me and my silly phone calls. Like the time it cut me off mid-interview for a position I was interested in. And I can tell you, it's not very impressive to a potential boss when you hang up on them when they ask you what kinds of challenges you've overcome. Apparently, technology is one I haven't beaten. Oh - and I didn't get the position.

Evidently this phone hangs up on a lot of people. I liked to blame it on my wireless service, or the other insidious mobile devices that the receiving end was using. But the more Razr owners I talk to, the more I hear about these and other glitches.

Like the camera. Sure, it works great - the pictures are impressive considering the size of the lens in comparison with my 1996 clunk of a digital camera. But every once in a while, the screen will be overcome with a static frenzy, and all of a sudden - like a computer struggling to snuff out spam, instead freezing from exhaustion - my entire phone looked like a gray and white snow flurry. And then, the phone itself freaked out and stopped working altogether. Could I have a virus? Impossible! I hate surfing the web on my cell phone (although it's possible with the Razr).

I tried turning the thing off, which took about a minute to register, and then when I turned it back on, it didn't recognize its own SIM card. I turned it off again, removed the battery, and thought about how much fun it would be to see how many pieces the thing could turn into when launched onto my garage floor. Instead, I gave it another shot, and it worked.

But this just happens from time to time.

All in all, the phone is alright. If I had thought the first one was just a lemon, I'd recommend it full heartedly. But since I have had problems with each of them, and have heard the same negative feedback from other Razr users, I have to lower my opinion a bit.

All phones have their little quirks and problems, but with the ease (read: user-friendly) of this model, the slim and sexy design, and the occasional heart murmur, I'd give it a 6.5 outta 10. Hey - we can't all be perfect.