Being retro is sometimes popular, at least Motorola hopes so. The Motorola Gleam is a feature phone that has much of the same looks as the venerable Motorola Razr of yesteryear. Get a closer look at the Motorola Gleam here in this quick article.

Look ! A flip phone from Motorola ! This is not something from back in 2004 though. This is a new model with a clonish looking resemblance to the Motorola Razr. For those who believe in a second chance, this is it. The phone is slim and shiny. It is only 13.9 millimeters thick. That is .55 inch for all those in the United States. The exterior is smooth as polished metal, so look for it to attract fingerprints.

The inside is showing off a 2.4 inch screen. It is 320 by 240 pixels of resolution, which is the same as many of the cheapest phones from last year. There is touch input, so there is no expectations of “pinch to zoom” and all that. This is a simple, cheap feature phone. The Motorola Gleam does come with an external dot matrix display. It can show icons, hearts, the time, and other animated messages. There is one more visual effect on the Gleam, the chin on the phone has a blinking light in it. This will come in handy for some extra visual notifications of text or calls.

Speaking of texting and calling, that is all the Motorola Gleam is designed for. There is no Wi-Fi, no EDGE, nor 3G data radio. This phone uses the GSM networks for Asia and Latin America. The texting will have to be done on the laser cut buttons. These do not have much feedback to them, but that “Razr feel from yesteryear” seems to the goal of this phone. The Gleam phone comes with a FM radio and a 3.5 millimeter head phone jack for cooking up some local tunes or talk. Bluetooth is included for hands-free operation.

There is no operating system and no processor for the Motorola Gleam. There are just the basics here. The email and web browser are present and accounted for, but using a 2.4 inch screen will make small text a major challenge in the web browser. Otherwise, there is a two megapixel camera that records video at 25 frames per second. There is no auto focus or flash. Java games are included, making the phone a small mobile game player. The music player handles three formats of music, MP3, WAV and AAC+.

The price on the Gleam is not going to be high. Motorola did not put much into this phone. It seems created for those who want a good looking simple phone that can handle basic tasks. There is a doubt that this phone will ever come to the United States. It has specifications that work for Europe, Asia and perhaps Latin America. Good on Motorola, they are offering this phone in three colors; red, thistle and black. There is no price yet, and the release date is set for the second quarter of this year.