Walking around campus, I cannot help but notice the fact that everyone and their mother seems to have a RAZR. Motorola is, obviously, pleased with the success of its thin phone, but the RAZR is starting to lose its desirability.
After all, the RAZR has been out for almost two years now. To remedy this, Motorola has been cooking up a successor to its flagship.
It is called, get ready for it, the KRZR (pronounced krazer, as in krazier, maybe but not really)
The KRZR takes the RAZR archetype and improves on it. The KRZR is not as wide as the RAZR while being slightly taller, thicker and heavier. The front of the phone is covered by a piece of a glass. Underneath the glass is the color external display, giving the phone a very organic look.
On the inside of the phone, the etched metal keypad of the RAZR is essentially replicated, though the specific key design is new. The color screen on the inside measures 1.9 inches diagonally and is roomy for a phone of this size.
The KRZR comes in two versions: the K1 (GSM) and K1m (CDMA). Aside from the difference in networks, the K1 comes in blue, while the K1m is currently available in slate gray or gray with white trim (although I would not be surprised to see even more color options hit the market shortly). Also the K1 has a 2 megapixel digital camera, while the K1m makes do with a 1.3 megapixel camera. To make up for it, the K1m has a set of light-up, touch-sensitive music controls on the front below the display that look cool. To say the least. The K1m is available now from Verizon for $199 with service. It will be available soon from Sprint. The K1 is also coming out soon from Cingular and T-Mobile.
The Verizon version of the KRZR K1m is equipped with EV-DO, which allows you to access the internet at broadband speeds from your phone. This enables the KRZR to access Verizon's V Cast video service and music store and VZ Navigator. The V Cast video service offers streaming video clips of news, sports, and entertainment, while the music store works like iTunes music store for your cell phone.
The VZ Navigator service turns your cell phone into a GPS device, complete with local maps and turn-by-turn directions.
Both versions of the KRZR come with Bluetooth for wireless headsets and data transfers and a microSD memory card slot, in case you need additional storage space for music, data, etc. The KRZR has a rated call time of 4.2 hours and a standby time of 18 days on one charge.
While there is nothing groundbreaking about KRZR, it does everything competently and is wrapped in a stylish package. It is has more than enough capabilities for the average user, and should prove to be as popular as, if not more so than, the RAZR.
