Ultrathin Motorola Razr phone is back

New Razr cuts a fine, thinner figure

Motorola's original ultrathin and popular Razr has returned. This time around, it drops the flip-phone design in favor of a standard-issue multitouch smartphone. But the phone does hark back to its predecessor's look with an "impossibly thin" shell with a stainless-steel core, a Gorilla Glass screen and a nanotechnology splash-guard that protects even the electrical boards inside.

At only 7.1 millimeters thick, it the world's thinnest smartphone, Motorola Mobility president Sanjay Jha declared at a news conference. Not only is it thinner than other 3G phones, it will run on Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network.

"You can stream content from your computer straight to your pocket [or purse] so your personal content is always within reach," according to a Motorola statement.

It's similar to cloud computing -- except that all of a user's media -- music, pictures, videos and documents -- are downloaded in real time from a computer that's in the user's house, instead of some remote servers from Apple or Amazon. The Razr is set to hit Verizon stores Thursday for $300 with a two-year contract.