Motorola unveils new Razrs: Krzr, Rizr, V3xx and Maxx

By Andrew Lim on 25 July 2006, 1:34pm

For some time now, we've been banging on about rumours of new Motorola phones, with a variety of codenames, shapes and sizes. It was our US colleague Kent German who first let loose in April the rumour of a Motorola slider phone called the Capri, and recently Engadget posted pictures of a clamshell phone it called the Motorola Canary.

According to Reuters and Motorola's global Web site, Motorola has unveiled two new phones, but they're called the Krzr (pictured far left) and the Rizr (pictured second from right), not the properly spelt Canary or Capri. The Krzr is a clamshell phone that features a 2-megapixel camera and an expandable memory slot. The Krzr is made of magnesium, polished chrome and hardened glass, so it's very shiny and probably a magnet for fingerprints.

It will come in grey and blue and should hopefully be available in the UK by the end of the year. At 46mm wide, it's less wide than the V3, but apparently it's thicker than the original Razr, which has us bewildered -- slim is in these days, but we'll reserve our final judgement until we get one in for review.

The Rizr is a slider phone and is 4mm wider than the Krzr. It also features a 2-megapixel camera, an expandable microSD slot and will be available in blue, red and black around the same time as the Krzr. Amusingly, our MP3 player reviewer noticed that Rizr, if pronounced 'rizer', is actually slang for a cannabis ritual and given that a Razr, or 'razor', is associated with cocaine use, we wonder what's going on. Of course we decline to comment on what Krzr, possibly pronounced 'cruiser', could mean. What creative double-entendre will it come up with next? The Motorola Dogr?

There were also a further three phones unveiled, the Razr V3xx (pictured second from left), the Razr Maxx (pictured far right) and the Slvr L7c. The Razr XX and Maxx will work on networks based on HSDPA, also known as Super 3G. This means you will be able to download data faster and have higher quality video calling. The Slvr L7c is made for EV-DO, a faster version of CDMA that is not used in the UK, and therefore it will not be available here. For more details, visit the Motorola Web site. -AL

Update: a full review of the Motorola Krzr K1 is now live.