The Motorola RAZR V8 - popularly known as the "RAZR squared." is a stylish ultra-thin clamshell phone. In the opinion of more than one reviewer it is one of the most beautiful phones ever released and certainly the best Razr since the original. It offers a great upgrade for existing Motorola users or if you simply want a sleek-looking multi-featured phone. Its industrial design does justice to the "RAZR" reputation and the software is a step-up from the previous RAZR offerings.

The case is made up of stainless steel chrome and chemically hardened glass but it feels like plastic. The touch-sensitive external screen is "haptic-feedback" sensitive: this is the amazing technology that interacts with you via your sense of touch vibrating or moving at your touch. It gives you a similar level of tactile feedback as you get when pressing mechanical keys. You can read text messages on the external screen too which is very useful if you do not want to open the clamshell.

The RAZR2 V8 provides quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) coverage and EDGE connectivity with a 2 megapixel camera without flash (acceptable if average for a leading-edge phone) and 8 x zoom. The operating system has been updated to Linux/Java.

There are two 240x320 TFT screens (one internal 2.2" and the two-inch external touchscreen mentioned above). It supports Bluetooth 2.0 for wireless connectivity with other compatible devices and is is a notably thin phone at only 11.9 mm (103 x 53 x 11.9 mm) but is satisfyingly substantial weighing no less than 117 g.

The default Web browser for the V8 is Opera 8 sporting cookie support the ability to fit viewed pages into the screen (and also full-screen mode) font settings dynamic scaling Javascript and many other options to choose from.

The phone has the usual array of business applications - file manager has lots of options and information: a calendar alarm tasks SyncML support email SMS MMS photo dialling a multimedia navigator and two pre-installed games (sudoku and football).

The RAZR2 V8 uses microUSB charging/data/audio port which is a bit slimmer and thus differs from the now conventional miniUSB slot (microUSB is expected to become a standard solution for household appliances - and the handsets in particular - in the near future).

There is a generous amount of on-board memory (up to 2GB) but surprisingly no option to expand via a memory card slot but expect a healthy four hours' talk time battery life.

Although not a 3G device nor compatible with Apple's iSync the V8 is a super-slim superbly crafted phone

* Stylish eye-catching design

* EDGE connectivity

* Bluetooth 2.0

* 2.2 inch QVGA internal display with 262k colours

* 2 megapixel camera with 8 x digital zoom and video

* Runs on Linux

* Touch sensitive controls