Shanghai pool party: Motorola launches the RAZR2

Two-and-a-half years after we first saw the RAZR, the sequel has finally made an appearance.

The RAZR2 will be arriving in Australia in September, and to celebrate, Motorola held a pool party -- of sorts -- at the Portman Ritz Carlton hotel in Shanghai. With temperatures soaring to a muggy 36 degrees it was a hot night in more ways than one as CNET.com.au joined Sex and the City's Kristin Davis, naked ladies painted silver and a whole lot of excitable media to party on down. Here are some of the highlights.

After running the gauntlet of photographers and being issued a Motorola sticker to slap on a shoulder, party guests were greeted with the sight of four models in satin dresses, each cradling a RAZR2. The launch centred on the V8 (GSM) model, but Australians will be seeing the V9 (HSDPA) version first. It hits the country in September and will be available on Telstra's Next G network.

The model in the foreground sports the lightweight Bluetooth earpiece designed to coordinate with the RAZR2. The phone also supports the A2DP Bluetooth profile, allowing for wireless stereo music streaming.

Sex and the City star Kristin Davis provided the star quality. An owner of the original RAZR, she told CNET.com.au that her ringtone of choice is Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry. To the delight of the journos from various Asian editions of Cosmopolitan, she also confirmed that the Sex and the City movie looks to be going ahead, and is slated for release in 2008.

Giant RAZR2 models decorated the tables. CNET.com.au can neither confirm nor deny rumours that one of these wound up in our bag at the end of the night. Hypothetically though, wouldn't it be amusing to press one to your ear and pretend you had taken a bite of the shrinking mushroom from Alice in Wonderland?

No product launch is complete without dancing girls dressed like Barbarella. The silver outfits were rather saucy, but merely the entree for what was to come.

Asked to explain the "haptics technology" employed in the RAZR2's touch interface, a silver-painted model provides the physical embodiment of the phrase.

Earlier in the night someone had mentioned a "tub girl", which raised some concerns. Thankfully, what appeared before us was an innocent, albeit very bendy, water sprite.

The catsuited water nymph cheating at Marco Polo.

In case attendees fronted up to the hotel and forgot why they were there, Motorola wrapped the front of the building in a giant advertisement for the RAZR2.

Just how big was that banner? The white arrow at the bottom of the photo points to a human female inelegantly waving her arms for the sake of scale.