Technologies

I’ve Been Testing the Motorola Razr for a Day and It’s Already a Fun Companion

After 24 hours with Motorola’s 2025 Razr, the flip phone scores high marks for its looks.

It’s amazing what a nice shade of green can do for your mood. After unboxing the 2025 edition of Motorola’s Razr, I was immediately struck by the $700 flip phone’s vivid shade of green — specifically Pantone’s Spring Bud. It’s somewhere between the lightness of mint and the medium shade of flower leaves. Even though I usually put my phone in a case, the Razr’s «leather-inspired» textured back makes me not want to.

That «fun to hold» feeling may be the most notable thing about Motorola’s new Razr line, which gets even more unique with Alcantara fabric and wood options on the $1,300 Razr Ultra. But thanks to the bold color, a cover screen that’s just big enough to knock out the essentials, and a variety of half-folded modes, even this lower-cost edition of the phone feels expressive. The Motorola Razr is a breath of fresh air compared to standard rectangular phones that are typically in the $700 price range.

Motorola is quite aware that the Razr’s striking looks are a selling point to new customers. The company cited during the Razr’s unveiling that 25% of its customers are coming from an iPhone. Since this Razr costs $700, its price is just above value-oriented flagships like the $650 Samsung Galaxy S24 FE — yet lower than an $800 iPhone 16. And even though this year’s base Razr is a refinement of last year’s Razr design, it’s one that remains eye-catching. I still have a lot of testing to do, but I wanted to share some of my early impressions of the Motorola Razr 2025, after using it for a day.

My day with the Razr

The Razr is easy to grip whether it’s open or closed, and having the rest of the phone’s body match the green shade makes it feel fun from the start. The Razr also comes in a Parfait Pink color with a similar leather finish, Gibraltar Sea (blue) with what Motorola describes as a «nylon-inspired» finish, and Lightest Sky (silver) that is «acetate-inspired.»

The Razr’s style and shape made it a fun companion for a dinner out with friends. I kept it folded on the train and used the cover screen to manage my subway directions to a restaurant in Queens. I flipped it open to take a few food and street photos. And I used Moto AI on both screens to look up quick facts as they came up over dinner. All in all, though, one of my friends found the new Razr so cute that she said she wanted to steal it — but because it’s such a pocketable size, she won’t get the chance.

I’ve also enjoyed using the Razr in ways that I simply can’t use similarly priced phones from Samsung and Apple. I often attach kickstands to phones for video calls, but with the hinge, I can instead use the phone half-folded like a stand and (in supported apps like Meta’s Messenger and Google Meet) have the video call on the upper half with call controls on the lower half. When in this stand mode or partly folded like a tent, the cover screen can be set to show ambient information like the time, while a wave of my hand in front of the phone can activate Moto AI for quick questions.

More to come with the Razr

As I continue to test this Motorola Razr, I’m focusing on how functional the smaller 3.6-inch cover screen is. That display is like a «mini» phone and is one of the biggest ways the Razr sets itself apart from other sub-$800 phones. You can set it up to run nearly every Android app, as with prior Razr phones.

The Razr is also the entry-level device for Moto AI, which highlights Motorola’s own efforts alongside features built in partnership with Perplexity, Meta’s Llama AI and Microsoft Copilot. Moto AI deeply integrates these services into the phone so it can make suggestions based on what’s on your screen. Separately, you can still summon Google’s Gemini to access the AI services built directly into Android 15.

There are a lot of different ideas inside Moto AI for conducting quick research or organizing data. AI is a particularly competitive space right now, and I hope to see if Moto AI’s features will help me get the most out of the phone’s cover screen.

As a result, this year’s $700 Razr gets to dance on two different stages of interest. It could be a nice minimalist phone, thanks to its cover screen that can do more functions than the $800 Light Phone 3. And it could also serve as a refreshing alternative to buying the $800 iPhone 16 while saving significant money over the $1,100 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. I’ll be seeing how the Razr fits each method as I continue testing it out.

Technologies

WhatsApp’s New Update Lets You Encrypt Chat Backups Using Passkeys

Use your face, finger or code instead of a password or 64-digit key.

Face, finger or lock-screen code: These passkeys are all you will need to encrypt your WhatsApp chat backups in the near future, the messaging app announced Thursday. Meta-owned WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app in the world, said it would be rolling out the changes over the upcoming months.

«Now, with just a tap or a glance, the same security that protects your personal chats and calls on WhatsApp is applied to your chat backups so they are always safe, accessible and private,» the company said.

A representative for WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Passkeys are rapidly overtaking passwords as an easier and more secure way to allow computer users to log in or sign on. Instead of remembering our average of 301 passwords, passkeys use facial or fingerprint recognition — or a lock screen code — to sign in. According to recent research, passkey adoption is growing quickly, speeding up sign-in times and reducing IT help desk incidents.

What are passkeys?

We explain the concept in depth here, but the simplest explanation is that passkeys are password-less logins. To log in, you must look at the screen (facial recognition), tap on the screen (fingerprint recognition) or enter a multi-digit lock screen code.

Many smartphone users already use facial recognition or codes to get into their devices.

In 2021, WhatsApp initially allowed customers to secure their encrypted chat backup with either a password or a 64-digit encryption key.

How to do it, and why

Many WhatsApp consumers have a vast trove of messages, images, videos, and voice notes stored on their phones dating back years. They can either live only on your device or be backed up to Google Drive (for Android devices) or iCloud (for iPhones).

If you haven’t set up a backup schedule, here are the steps:

Go to Settings
Select Chats
Select Chat Backup
From there, you can back up to iCloud or Google Account, if you have one, and set your auto backup schedule.

You can still encrypt your chat backup now with a password or 64-digit key, but WhatsApp’s upcoming passkeys rollout will eliminate the need for those.

Technologies

Here’s How to Watch the New ‘Scream 7’ Trailer and Stream All the Past Movies

You like scary movies, right? The original Scream from 1996 is streaming for free with ads.

Do you like scary movies? Scream fans will recognize that line, and they received an early Halloween treat on Thursday with the release of a new trailer for Scream 7. Neve Campbell’s return as series heroine Sidney Prescott battling a new Ghostface killer could be the reason to revisit earlier spooky films in the franchise.

The upcoming Scream 7 revolves around Prescott’s facing a masked, knife-wielding murderer (yeah, you know what the mask looks like) who targets her family. It doesn’t hit theaters until Feb. 27, but if you’d like to get prepared and nab some Halloween scares, here’s how to stream Scream 1-6.

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How to stream the Scream movies on Halloween

Scream (1996) — Pluto TV (free with ads), Paramount Plus, Peacock
Scream 2(1997) — Pluto TV (free with ads), Paramount Plus, Peacock
Scream 3 (2003) — Pluto TV (free with ads), Paramount Plus, Peacock
Scream 4 (2011) — Tubi (free with ads), Paramount Plus, Peacock
Scream(2022) — Hulu, Paramount Plus
Scream VI (2023) — Paramount Plus
Scream 7 (2026) — Due out in theaters on Feb. 27, 2026.

Technologies

ARC Raiders Beginner’s Guide: 7 Tips You’ll Need to Thrive Above Speranza

When a new extraction shooter drops, players quickly learn how brutal death can be. Here’s how to avoid the sting of losing hours of progress.

Developer Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders is the latest extraction shooter that’s set to take the gaming world by storm. As genre veterans and newcomers alike emerge from the underground town of Speranza to take on killer robots — and their fellow humans — players quickly learn how brutal it is to lose loot on death.

Luckily, ARC Raiders is the most «casual» extraction shooter I’ve ever played. That isn’t to say that it’s an easy game, but there are built-in mechanics that make the hardcore gameplay loop far more accessible to a wider audience.

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This guide will equip you with the knowledge you need to make real progress in ARC Raiders before, during and after a raid. Read on to find out about what keybinds you need to learn, what loot to focus on first and how you can quickly recoup some wealth after a string of failed runs.

Figure out your shoulder swap keybind before you ever load into a match

ARC Raiders is a third-person shooter with high-stakes player-versus-player combat. If you want to stand a chance against an enemy player in a serious firefight, you need to know how to swap your camera view from aiming over your character’s right shoulder to aiming over their left shoulder so you can peek around corners without exposing yourself too much.

The default bind for this action on PC is «X,» so get used to pressing that key — or swap it to something you’re more comfortable with. Switching the camera from shoulder to shoulder will help you peek around corners before you expose your body, eliminating blind spots and giving you a competitive advantage. In a game where one death could eliminate hours of progress, you certainly don’t want to give up crucial lines of sight.

Nothing to lose, everything to gain: Utilize the free loadouts

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve just suffered consecutive squad wipes, you’ll never be without a gun, simple medicine and other basic supplies. You can opt to enter a raid with a «free loadout,» which will provide you with a hodgepodge of low-grade gear. Unlike in other extraction shooters (looking at you, Escape From Tarkov) there’s no cooldown period on taking a free loadout into a match — you can do so whenever you like.

You can’t carry as much weight or pack out as much loot as you’d be able to with any other class mod on, but this is a great way to try to hit a heavily trafficked zone without the risk of losing your good weapons. As a bonus, if you manage to extract with a free loadout, you can trade the «free loadout» mod for a basic green-tier class mod at the vendor named Lance in Speranza.

Focus on completing quests for the denizens of Speranza

ARC Raiders largely cuts you loose to raid, engage in gunfights with other players and loot whatever you like at the start of the game. But it’s highly recommended to follow the guided progression path to get some extra equipment, learn what activities you can get involved in topside and unlock harder missions with more valuable rewards.

Always check in with Speranza’s traders after each raid to see what quests you can take on (or turn in). Some quests will require you to bring certain items back from a raid, and others will have you battling ARC robots or completing objectives throughout the world. Make sure to keep completing quests in order to discover all of the secrets ARC Raiders has to offer.

Loot the dog collar ASAP

Scrappy is a rooster that sits around Speranza collecting crafting materials while you’re out fighting killer machines. He brings the scrap back home to you because he’s a very good boy. Reward him with a dog collar so he feels loved — and so that he levels up and brings you loot even more quickly.

The looting rooster can be upgraded multiple times, but you should focus on finding the dog collar while on a surface run to bring him up to level two at first. The dog collar can be found in random containers, but during the press previews I had the good fortune of finding one at The Dam map’s research and administration area.

When you’re searching for scrap, prioritize big pieces of loot

You’ll find lots of metal scrap, plastic tubing and miscellaneous wires as you rifle through loot containers topside. These are definitely worth stuffing into your pockets; they’re the bread and butter of crafting materials and something you’ll want to stash away early on.

You’ll probably run into what’s a «good problem» to have sooner or later: running out of carry space mid-raid. Raw materials can quickly overflow your inventory, forcing you to extract early. Instead, focus on larger pieces of tech like TVs, radios and big chunks of ARC robots.

Once you successfully extract these items from a match, you can break them down into their parts to gain a variety of crafting components. In a way, they act like compact storage units for multiple raw materials at once.

Grow your net worth. No, seriously

I know, this sounds like the mantra for a bad internet con artist. But building up a small nest egg in ARC Raiders is a great way to ensure you can throw together backup loadouts if you meet an untimely end multiple times in a row. This is bad enough on your own, but if you’re squadding up with friends, you don’t want to be the only one without a good loadout.

If you can’t find the specific materials you’re looking for during a raid, it’s well worth looking for valuables instead. Jewelry, vases and other creature comforts fetch a pretty penny when you sell them to the traders in Speranza. Once you’ve saved up a couple thousand coins, you can trade them in for new weapons, attachments and even stash upgrades.

Guns aren’t the end all, be all of ARC Raiders combat

While it’s incredibly gratifying to run into the thick of battle and wipe a squad out with a strong submachine gun or pick off straggling raiders from afar with a leveled-up bolt-action rifle, you can’t always rely on your guns to win a fight. ARC Raiders features tons of gadgets and deployable equipment that can quickly turn the tide of a fight if used correctly.

Grappling hooks and ziplines add a new level of verticality to gunfights, while high-explosive grenades can flush enemies out of cover. Deployable walls and smoke grenades can counter these tactics or let players safely blitz a wide-open area. If you want to get really clever, you can bring throwable noise lures that will cause ARC robots to converge on your enemies — the AI will do the dirty work and won’t even loot the bodies.

Your strategies are limited if you don’t bring a couple pieces of gear. Consider leaving that extra stack of shield rechargers in your stash — if you need 10 of them in a single match, you probably have bigger problems — and grab a couple of grenades for your next raid instead.