Motorola Resurrects Razr as Droid

Motorola has brought back an old name for its new entry into the smartphone market. The Droid Razr takes its name from the company's line of ultrathin flip phones that were produced between 2004 and 2007 and became the world's best-selling handset. The new Razr, which runs on Google's Android Gingerbread system, is "the world's thinnest 4G smartphone" at 7.1 millimeters thick and a "marvel of engineering," the company says.

Motorola execs say they decided to revive the name after seeing some "amazingly thin" components their engineers had created, although not everybody is convinced that resurrecting the brand is going to work for the firm. The name "has more going for it than not," a brand analyst tells the Chicago Tribune. "It was the first innovative phone that was thin—I can see why they would use it. But I think initially, consumers are going to associate it with a tired brand." (More smartphones stories.)