Six years ago, the original Razr was the phone to have. Stick thin, black and with a flip lid, it was the blower of choice for celeb and civilian alike.

Then smartphones came along and ruined Motorola's party.

It's a hangover the company has struggled to shake off ever since, launching a succession of substandard handsets that failed to match up mobile design's new front-runners - Apple.

That was until the launch of the new Razr, an impressive piece of kit that boasts a sizable touch screen, speedy web browsing and a unique design that has critics cooing.

It's not all good, though. The battery life is questionable (especially if you spend the day on 3G) while the adoption of the mini-SIM (meaning you can't transfer SIM from one phone to another) is more than a little irksome.

But overall, this is top class hardware, powered by Android software (with the Ice Cream Sandwich update expected to be available early next year) and boasting a 4.3-inch high-resolution screen, an 8-megapixel camera, lightening-quick processor and all the other trimmings you find in the modern smartphone package.

Yet what is most impressive is the look. It's a RAZR in the classic sense.

At a third of an inch thick, its waif-like design make other handsets, including the iPhone, look glutton, while its 4.5 ounce weight barely registers in the hand. It also has a KEVLAR back plate and toughened glass.

Whether the RAZR is a new beginning for the beleaguered manufacturer or one last hurrah is as yet unknown. Let's hope it's the former. The mobile market is a richer place with this type of kit on the shelves.

The RAZR is available now. Price dependent on contract.

The original Motorola RAZR: