I had a RAZR for six months before losing it abroad and it was a good phone. The battery life was better than my old Nokia and I had good reception and fairly good audio quality.
I replaced it with a black Motorola SLVR.
The only thing I don’t like about the Motorolas is that the screens get smudged fairly easily.
[QUOTE=hajario]
Warning: the Cingular store near my house stopped selling all Motorola products because too many of them were breaking and had to be returned.
[/QUOTE]
My wife’s phone(s) were Cingular RAZRs, by the way. The store hasn’t stopped selling them, I don’t think, but a store employee did admit they’d been dealing with a lot of defective returns.
I have a Verizon Pink RAZR. My complaint is that the phone is “slow”. It takes a while for it to go between screens where you can do anything. I thought it was just mine but I’ve asked other RAZR people and they say the same thing.
I also agree with it being next to impossible to hold up with your shoulder.
Barrels
I’ve had a Cingular RAZR for a little over a year now.
Pros: I like the size, the battery life is decent, the reception is reasonable, the Motorola PC software is nice. Volume control is nicely set up. I like the SIM chip (last phone was to old to have one). The keyboard has held up just fine, but I’ve been fairly gentle with it.
Cons: Hard to hold for a long conversation, almost impossible to hold without your hands (between your shoulder and ear). Complex menu system, there are way to many layers to the menu. It takes me about 5 buttons to enable the bluetooth headset. Limited customization of buttons. The flat display screen, right up against my ear, heats up and gets sweaty.
As far as paying for this phone? Over Christmas, in one mall, I saw at least 3 places that were offering the phone for free, with a contract. No way would I pay $250 for one today.
[QUOTE=Tastes of Chocolate]
Complex menu system, there are way to many layers to the menu. It takes me about 5 buttons to enable the bluetooth headset. Limited customization of buttons.
[/QUOTE]
You can program shortcuts for the things you use the most pretty easily. For example I set mine up for (Menu)22 to go straight to the alarm clock.
[QUOTE=Barrels]
I have a Verizon Pink RAZR. My complaint is that the phone is “slow”. It takes a while for it to go between screens where you can do anything. I thought it was just mine but I’ve asked other RAZR people and they say the same thing.
[/QUOTE]
The RAZR has fantastic hardware and really really really terrible software. It’s thin, light, loud enough, and has a keypad that feels great.
Here are just a few of the software issues that start to get very annoying over time.
[ul][li]There’s a terrible and ubiquitous UI lag. Worse, behavior during the lag is not consistent from one operation to another. If I hit down to go to my address book, and then quickly hit a keypad button (to jump to that letter), I start to dial a number and never make it to the address book. Even though the phone flashed the address book icon, it reinterprets my command in the context of the main screen. On the other hand, if I’m moving through the address book, there’s a lag between each name that scrolls. If I hit down 10 times, and then hit “dial” when the third name is highlighted, it’ll dial the 10th name down. In one case, the display lag shows the current mode, and in another, it’s just a lag that doesn’t change how input is processed.[/li][li]You can only store 100 text messages (and it’s a pain to get more than 30). This phone will gladly store several megs of mp3 ringtones and video files, but it can’t devote more than 4KB to text.[/li][*]You can’t store multiple phone numbers under one contact. You have to make separate contacts for each. There’s a hard-to-find setting that lets you collapse multiple contacts down to one spot in the address book list, so you can at least avoid the interminable slow crawl across contacts.[/ul]
I have the SLVR, which as I understand it is largely the same phone without the flip. This is in the UK, but I can’t imagine it’s hugely different.
Pro:
Con:
Verdict:
It sucks. If I didn’t get it for free I’d be kicking myself.
Cymro
Re: the predictive text thing. It supposedly gets better as you send more texts and it knows the words that you use more. I send so few texts that I can’t verify this one way or the other.
One amusing story that shows that I am getting old. I was buying a new cooktop last year and I sent a friend a text to see if she thought I should buy one with a black or with a chrome finish.
I typed in “chro” and it guessed “chronic.”
Another problem with te RAZR/KRAZR is just how ubiquitous they are getting. I think half the phones I see these days are RAZRs, and I am snob enough not to want to jump on the bandwagon. Plus, it makes it too easy to swap phones with someone.
A couple of other people in this thread have mentioned LG phones, and I have to recommend my LG CU500. It’s about the same price as the RAZR, and has a slot for a microSD card so you have good memory capacity. It’s an Mp3 player with controls on the front. And, most importantly, the key pad has every key seperate, not those semi-connected keys the RAZR has. It’s not as customizeable as a Motorola phone, which is a downside. You can’t use Mp3s as your text tone, which really bugs me. And if you are set to vibe-then-ring, you don’t get a vibe for your texts, just a ring. The body is more narrow than a RAZR, which I like better, since I text one-handed most of the time. And, most importantly, I bought one because my most careless, reckless, breaks-everything student has one, and I figured that if he couldn’t break it, perhaps I wouldn’t, either.
I work in a T-Mobile call center and the RAZR was all the rage when it came out and it seemed like everyone and their mother had one. A few months later, hardly anyone had them and most people were saying they just hated using them and found them to be a big pain in the ass–“hard to use,” “cheap” and “falling apart” figured prominently in the complaints. Now it’s all about the Dash Smart Phone (I have one, and it’s the SHIT!) I don’t use Motorola phones myself because I’ve had to listen ad nauseam to customers complaining about them and we had to literally recall/replace three models with incredibly bad known issues so I can’t speak to the RAZR personally, but everyone I know who had one got sick of it in about two months. That, and they’re a dozen in a dime bag these days, but if you’re with Verizon it’s pretty normal to be about six months to a year behind the trends due to the phone manufacturers having to retrofit for the antiquated network type.
If you must stay with Verizon, look into the QTEK–more fun all around, but probably spendy, unfortunately it’s the only smart phone option available for the carrier…
Okay, people who are comparing RAZRs between carriers, knock it off.
Cingular’s RAZR is not the same as Verizon’s except in the looks department. Different hardware, different software. Totally different phone. Because Cingular is GSM, the phone is smaller, lighter, and has better battery life. Verizon is CDMA. In addition, Cingular uses Motorola’s default menu systems and Verizon has a proprietary, BREW based OS.
Verizon’s network is not antiquated… it’s the most advanced network in the states with the fastest broadband… In fact, there isn’t 1 way in which GSM is better than CDMA (except for maybe the SIM card, which is cool).
Still comparing Verizon’s RAZR with any other carrier’s RAZR just isn’t accurate.
That said, I’d steer clear of Verizon’s RAZR since it does, in fact, suck on many levels. The KRZR on the other hand is fantastic. Unlike the RAZR, the KRZR was developed for Verizon and is now being adapted to other carriers, so the phone has the advantage of working on Verizon’s network and with Verizon’s UI in a wonderful way, without the lag time the RAZR had. I’ve currently got 400 text/picture messages saved in my inbox, so there’s another thing they’ve fixed. Bluetooth is still crippled, although not nearly as bad as the RAZRs was (unless you’re one of the lucky one who got a 100% uncrippled version they were distributing at first “on accident”).
I highly recommend the KRZR.
Thanks so much to everyone who has replied so far!
Regarding the $250 price mentioned in the OP, please see post #6 where I explain that it’s just the store’s retail price minus my new phone allowance. I didn’t talk to a salesman, I haven’t tried upgrading online through my account yet, etc. If I decide to get one I’m sure that I’ll wind up paying a much more reasonable price. Also, for everyone who says “RAZRs are everywhere,” please note that I’m interested in the KRZR (Absolute was correct, that’s how it’s spelled) … slightly less ubiquitous, but agreed still not a $300 phone. 
[QUOTE=Manda JO]
Another problem with te RAZR/KRAZR is just how ubiquitous they are getting. I think half the phones I see these days are RAZRs, and I am snob enough not to want to jump on the bandwagon. Plus, it makes it too easy to swap phones with someone.
[/QUOTE]
That’s kind of funny, because right now I have a Samsung SCH-a670 and I see that phone everywhere! 
A bunch of my former co-workers have RAZRs, but I don’t know anyone with a KRZR yet. I think I saw someone with one at the bar on Sunday night, though.
My mom has an LG, and I looked at the available ones at the store on Saturday. None of them have ever really appealed to me style-wise. Also:
The KRZR has a microSD slot, too.
I have an iPod, so I don’t need my phone to be an MP3 player.
[QUOTE=SmartAleq]
If you must stay with Verizon, look into the QTEK–more fun all around, but probably spendy, unfortunately it’s the only smart phone option available for the carrier…
[/QUOTE]
I don’t “must” stay with Verizon, I choose to stay with Verizon: they have the best coverage and service in this area, hands down.
I don’t need/want a smart phone. My option is to either get the KRZR or keep the phone I have – none of the other Verizon phones appealed to me. I do still like the Samsungs, and I could get the hipper version of my current phone, but then I’d be paying money for essentially the same phone I already have. I like my gadgets and toys, but not that much.
Agreed with wasson: you can’t compare Cingular or T-Mobile’s RAZRs to Verizon’s.
Verizon’s sucks. I’m so pissed that I have it and still have a little over a year to go in my damned contract (and I want to leave Verizon because I hate them so much, but no one else looks all that appealing either. Dammit). The lag between button presses and response is completely ridiculous.
My old LG (can’t remember the exact model; it was the entry level flip phone Verizon had about 3 years ago without an external display) would’ve been the perfect phone if it had had USB capability, a better screen, a camera phone (more for the fact that I like taking random pictures instead of any real necessity) and the ability to download ringtones and whatnot (and preferably install them myself from the USB hookup). There was never any lag, it never overheated like my previous Motorola, and it was nice and reliable.
I had to downgrade the OS on my RAZR to be able to use Motorola phone tools, which is sold specifically to be able to use with (guess?) Motorola phones. Verizon intentionally disabled this, along with crippling the bluetooth and other things. Silly me, I like to have full usability of a device I bought. Downgrading the firmware was the only thing that took away some (but not all) of the lag.
Stay far away from the Verizon RAZR. I wish I did. 
I just ordered my new KRZR – and it was free. 
Because I didn’t have to pay anything for the phone, I treated myself to a car charger and a 1GB microSD card.
Thanks again for everyone’s comments in this thread!
You gonna tell us how you managed to get it for free … ?
For everyone complainging about the lag…PLEASE…go to your local Verizon store and ask them to flash your phone to the newest firmware. I had the same problem early on, and the new firmware makes a HUGE difference.
Second, be aware that online KRZRs are 150 - 50 mail in rebate right now via verizon, so check it out in the store, then tell them to get bent and go buy it online. It is always cheaper online than in the store, and you get free shipping.
The big difference? Krzr’s support a headset so you can listen to music via earphones, and have available mocroSD card storage. It also has MP3 playback touch-buttons on the outside of the clamshell, so your phone doesn’t have to be open to play MP3s. My brother has one, it is very nicee indeed.
All that being said, I like my RAZR because it fits confortably in my pocket even with a case, so I don’t have to look like Dilbert with a bunch of stuff strapped to my belt. It makes calls and does other things well enough, and it was free (new every two here, too!).
Holy crap, the phone was delivered yesterday! That only took 24 hours longer than if I’d gotten it at the bricks-and-mortar store, and it was cheaper online! 
So far I love it. I subscribe to Verizon’s contact list backup service (which is free for people who manage their accounts online), and it made a huge difference when I was setting up the new phone: I just had to download the app, and it populated all of my contacts for me.
[QUOTE=anamnesis]
You gonna tell us how you managed to get it for free … ?
[/QUOTE]
Well, as crazyjoe said the online price was $150. There was a $50 online discount, and I had a $100 credit toward a new phone as part of the “New Every 2” deal, so I wound up paying nothing for the phone.