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 Motorola Razr V3The Motorola Razr V3 is more than just the slimmest, sexiest cell ever-a lot more. Price:
$499
by Mark Spoonauer 
Every so often a device comes along that drops jaws the second you pull it out of your pocket. That’s certainly the case with Motorola’s improbably thin Razr V3, so long as you can remember what pocket you left it in. This pricey clamshell, available exclusively from Cingular, is that light and slim, weighing a wee 3.4 ounces and measuring barely half an inch thick. To put that profile in perspective, the Razr, folded shut, is still thinner than the bottom half of other flip phones.
Despite the fact that this world phone is definitely voice-first, data-second, somehow Motorola found a way to shoehorn a lot of handy features into the anodized aluminum case, including a VGA camera, Bluetooth connectivity, and a speakerphone. This is a phone that makes you wonder what everyone else is doing wrong. Even though the Razr V3 lives up to its name in terms of thickness, the handset is pretty long, measuring 3.9 inches from head to toe. The extra length is welcome, however, as we found the phone quite easy to cradle between the shoulder and ear. Two other things immediately strike you when you open the Razr for the first time: its vivid 2.2-inch color screen and its precision-cut electroluminescent keypad. You’ll definitely want to show off this phone’s backlit keypad at night or in a dimly lit restaurant; the space-age pattern of lines is reminiscent of Tron. The membranes underneath each number provide plenty of tactile feedback, even though it’s impossible to dial without looking. If you prefer to dial using your voice, you can pair a Bluetooth headset with the Razr V3 and talk hands-free. Above the numbers is a navigation control with a central OK button, and there are also dedicated buttons for Web access and e-mail, in addition to the requisite Send and End commands. From the main menu you can access either the camera or AOL Instant Messaging with a push of either of the two soft menu buttons. On the outer edges of the top part of the phone there are voice dial and voice note buttons. Below that are the volume controls. In a deft design move, the engineers tweaked the software so that pressing up always increases the volume, even when the flip is closed and the controls are ostensibly reversed. As you might expect, data transfer is not this phone’s strong suit, as it uses a relatively pokey GPRS connection. Nevertheless, wireless Web pages loaded fairly quickly, and we sent a picture of Times Square to our Yahoo mail account in about 30 seconds. While the Razr offers video playback, you can’t record video. We also downloaded a real music tone from Snoop Dogg, and it sounded great. As did our phone conversations; the dozens of phone calls we made in and around Manhattan were quite clear on both ends. Ultimately, the Razr V3 isn’t about bells and whistles. It’s about turning heads when you’re using it and disappearing in your pocket when you’re not. And it passes both tests with flying colors. Compare Prices | Motorola Razr V3 Specifications
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