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

This New Health-Tracking Pet Collar Is Like a Smartwatch for Dogs and Cats

Tractive announces two new smart collars armed with GPS tracking, AI-powered health monitoring and other tech tools.

Our pets can’t speak up and tell us how they’re feeling, or why and where they are hiding. Tractive, an Austria- and Seattle-based tech company that creates GPS tracking devices for pets, announced on Wednesday two new smart collars that, according to the press release, «will redefine pet care for millions of families.»

Is your pet stressed, breathing unusually or scratching too much? Much like the basic health-tracking features you can find on a smartwatch, the collars — the Cat 6 Mini ($79) and Dog 6 XL ($89) — are designed to track this behavior and communicate the issues to help maintain your dog or cat’s quality of life.

«Pets can’t tell us when something is wrong, but their bodies can,» Michael Hurnaus, CEO and founder of Tractive, said in a statement. «With cutting-edge sensors on every tracker, learnings from millions of pets and AI-powered insights, we’re turning one of the world’s largest pet data platforms into clear, simple information so pet parents can act sooner and care even better.»

When it comes to tracking collars, dogs have usually been the target pet audience for such devices. Tractive’s new Cat 6 Mini collar aims to provide the same service for your feline friend. You can use it to monitor your cat’s respiratory rate and resting heart rate and identify any health concerns early. It’s expected to ship on May 31.

The Dog 6 XL collar, an upgrade from the company’s previous dog wearable, is designed for dogs weighing over 55 pounds. It’s more durable for outdoor use and offers up to four weeks of battery life between charges. It comes equipped with a scratch-monitoring system that flags unusual scratching behavior caused by allergies, skin irritants and other stressors.

You can also use the app to access your pet’s travels and mark safe zones regarding walks, entries and exits. An AI-powered health hub displays your pet’s overall health stats and also acts as a GPS tracker in case your dog or cat goes missing.

How would a veterinarian interact with the data collected on the device?

A Tractive representative told CNET, «In our experience, veterinarians are most interested in baseline resting heart and respiratory rate, so it’s less about monitoring these vitals in real time during recovery from anesthesia/acute care and more about understanding if the baseline is changing day to day to identify the onset of new conditions or manage existing ones.»

Even though the collars use a SIM card and require a strong cellular connection to work properly, they can capture activity, sleep and health data while offline. However, without connectivity, the devices «ultimately will not provide any utility,» the representative confirmed.

You’ll need to download the accompanying app and select a separate subscription plan at an added cost. The one-year plan costs $120, the two-year plan costs $168, and the five-year plan costs $300.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 9 #767

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for April 9, No. 767.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle could be tough, unless you’re an artist. Even then, some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: In the paint.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Hand me a brush.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

COME, PATS, SPAT, SLOE, MEAN, LEAN, MANE, RATE, PEER, LATE, RATER

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

FRESCO, PASTEL, ENAMEL, ACRYLIC, TEMPERA, WATERCOLOR

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is MEDIUM, the art term! To find it, start with the M that’s four letters down on the far-left vertical row, and travel straight across.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 9, #1755

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for April 9, No. 1,755.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle doesn’t have unusual letters, but it’s not a word that springs to my mind that often, so it might be a struggle to solve. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.