Just before Christmas I took a trip to London with Tots 100 to meet the Motorola brand and PR team to talk about their new smart phone the Motorola RAZR i and how to take great photos of kids in general as well as with your phone.  I met up with some lovely bloggers and acclaimed photographer David Green of People Portraits at the Soho Hotel.

David shared some great tips and here are my favourite pieces of advice that I took away from the morning:

  1. Photos don’t happen you have to make not take photos.
  2. Avoid the forced grin/gurn – use distraction techniques, never ask them to smile or say cheese, make them smile by what you are doing, bob towards them and tap their nose!  Play games such as “Mummy says” put hands in air, bob down, catch with ball etc and everyone laughs at toilet humour!
  3. Its all about the light – squint to see most light & soften light with tracing paper over the flash.  Don’t be afraid of the flash especially outside, force the flash on outside to fill in where subjects are often back lit.
  4. Think about where you are & how tall you are vs subject, compose your shot with the “rule of thirds” in mind and shoot wide, crop later

It was a great morning and I set off with a new Motorola RAZR i to see what I made of this new smartphone and its first impression was that of a good looking handset.

Motorola-RAZR-i

After a few weeks of using the phone, least of all for making and taking phone calls and more like a computer in my pocket!  Here are the ten things we really like about the Motorola RAZR i:

  1. The battery life – I am talking days where my iPhone 4S can barely make it to 11pm.
  2. The memory – can be increased and added to with memory sticks, I am regularly having to manage storage in my iPhone 4S to which is tedious at best and down right infuriating at worst.
  3. The screen size – the Motorola RAZRi is a smaller phone but a larger screen, right up to the edge there is barely any bezel to this phone.  Size matters and bigger is better when it comes to screens!
  4. The outside – this is a tough, but a slim piece of kit, made with Corning Gorilla Glass and KEVLAR splash guard coating makes it a durable phone, especially important if you like me you use it to entertain toddlers and children with yours!
  5. The Intel inside – this makes browsing and apps super fast, I noticed the difference & to date it has never “frozen”.
  6. The android Play store – well this was a revelation, android apps are often free in Google play when there Apple equivalents are 59p+ *frowny face*
  7. The camera’s multi shot function – 10 shots in 1 second – what’s not to love?
  8. The camera’s capture button, a button to push rather than tapping the screen, I didn’t even think there was a difference. There is. A button is better.  Also easier for other people to use, like my mother for instance!
  9. The charger – android have a universal standard across all brands, the only smart phone that is different is Apple, hmm, ok not a big one but it is when Apple change them *grrr* and it is rather useful being able to use the chargers of others.
  10. Price – sim free the Motorola RAZR i can be found online for £325 with contracts and tariff deals starting at £20 per month making it excellent value for money.

My verdict:
I think Apple started the smart phone race with a sprint and I think the Android contenders and their connectivity with Google may actually win the marathon.  Essentially this is a midrange Android, the Motorola RAZR i packs a lot of style and function in for the price.  The handset is light and slim, the screen is beautiful and it is satisfyingly speedy to use, throw in a pretty good 8 megapixel camera with flash and exceptional battery life, and you’ve got a very decent smartphone indeed.

Visit the official Motorola RAZR i site here:  http://www.razri.com/uk/
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/MotorolaUK
You Tube:  http://www.youtube.com/motorola
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Motorola