WARNING: The following comments may cause a strong desire to make fun of me.
I got Motorola’s new Razr phone the other day. I’ve only had about a day to play with it but already I’m impressed. Before this phone I was using a Sony Ericsson 616 which was by far my favorite phone ever owned. I’ve become addicted to Bluetooth ever since Palm added the feature. Its a useful feature as both phones allow me to send and receive contact info without having to manually enter it into the phone. Plus, with my computer’s Bluetooth dongle, I’m able to easily transfer pictures and ringtones to my phone without a cable. I spent the majority of my time last night after work finding clips of mp3’s to add to my Razr. Plus with the Bluetooth connection, I don’t need to buy ringtones, I can create my own.
Advantages that the Razr has over the t616 are size (very slim when folded) , the camera photo quality seems much better, the screen size is larger, and it has mp3 support for ringtones. Both phones would impress the average geek although I think the Razr scores “status” points for owners, considering the current price tag is anywhere from $300-$500. I doubt most people would be able to justify a phone for that kind of money unless it came with Salma Hayek’s number pre-programmed into it. Mine didn’t (I checked) but then again, I got mine for free so I can’t complain.
Disadvantages initially appeared to be the operating system. I’m actully not sure this is a good or bad thing yet as I’m just not used to it but after a while I’ll be able to tell which one I like better. The t616 was very easy to use however and I was somewhat addicted to the mini joystick on the phone, something I miss with the Razr. Another posible disadvantage is that I’m not sure if I can sync my calendar on my phone with Outlook, something I was able to do with my t616. This may not be a big deal because I only did that twice with the t616 but its nice to have the option.
Overall, if I had to pay for this phone I would never upgrade. I actually looked at the phone when it first came out but the price tag was too much to offset the advantages. Getting your hands on a free Razr, athough very difficult, may be the only way to recommend upgrading right now. The phone rocks though and now that I have one I don’t think I can imagine going back to my t616.
**Updated**
Apparently the Razr can sync with Outlook but Mobile Tools (a software app) is necessary and needs to be purchased. Additionally, I was able to send individual appointments/contacts using Outlook’s integration with Bluetooth functionality directly to my phone without this software.