It is not uncommon in the prepaid market to see “new” phones turn out to be simple rebrandings of older devices that a specific carrier has found to be falling into disuse in the contract-pay setup. It helps the shelf life of a device extend beyond what is typically expected and also, at times, manages to get a good and, sometimes surprisingly, powerful phone into the hands of those who aren’t looking to locking themselves into a contract to get the discounts needed to often afford a normally highly expensive device.
Verizon is no stranger to this action and today launched the Motorola Luge.
If it looks familiar, it should. The Luge is simply a rebranded DROID RAZR M that is being brought into their steadily growing prepaid service. There is absolutely no difference in the “new” Luge and the two-year old RAZR M. Every feature of the phone, apart from the name, has been left the same and it doesn’t seem that Verizon really cares if anyone knows this little fact or not. It’s support of both devices is listed in the same place. Still maintaining the 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage with an included microSD slot and a 4.3 inch display, it is, or was, a good mid-to-high range phone on it’s release. Now, in the face of Android giants such as the LG G3 and the upcoming iPhone 6 and current 5S, it’s hard to understand how Verizon can price the Luge at what it does.
The Luge is priced at, and no you’re not reading this wrong, $299.99 at full retail price or just $199.99 for use through the prepaid service. $199.99 for a phone that is currently multiple versions of KitKat behind and unlikely powerful enough to run the soon-to-be released Android L well enough to take full advantage of the new OS. $199.99 for a phone that is over two years old.
The Luge, or the RAZR M, was a wonderful phone when it first hit the market. Durable and strong with it’s Kevlar back piece making the phone able to withstand quite a bit of punishment, it was surprisingly powerful for something as bulky as it’s designed maintained. And even today, the phone would lend itself well to parents looking to place their child into their first smartphone. Android is classically easy to use and the phone is still snappy and fast, though not near as quick as it’s much more modern counterparts. However the price is huge obstacle for an aged piece of technology when competitors, both in the prepaid market and beyond, are offering better devices for much less money.
However, if you are so inclined, the Motorola Luge is now available through Verizon’s prepaid service and works well on it’s popular and powerful LTE network, though there are many alternatives that will grant you much more bang for your buck while giving you something that just looks and feels better than the brick-sized RAZR M Luge. The Luge is a good phone, but not what you’d expect for what you’ll have to pay.
