These two razors—Braun's Pulsonic and Gillette's Phantom—are actually quite different. The Pulsonic comes from the top branch of the electric shaver tree, whereas the Phantom is a regular blade razor with a vibrating twist (the twist is that it vibrates).

As I said before, I am a surprisingly hairy man. I'm consistently hairy around all of my body, face included. With the Pulsonic, however, it takes a couple passes to get rid of all the hair, leaving no rough patches. The neck pivots nicely, and the 10,000 "micro-vibrations per minute" really feel like it's working. The razor itself is heavy and has a nifty e-ink-like readout on the bottom that tells you how much charge is left, as well as how dirty the razor is. The first is self explanatory, but here's what the second is for.

The razor docks into the cleaning station, which allows you to automatically clean the razor with the touch of a button. Jets of cleaning fluid squirts into the tip while the razor sporadically turns itself on and off in a symphony of hair, facial oil and alcohol-cleanser. After an hour of this, your battery should be charged and the head should be clean. You don't even have to remove the foils beforehand.

Louis covered the Pulsonic a bit before, but I'm actually a dry-shave electric razor guy myself (as opposed to his blade razor preference). And from my point of view, it's pretty much the best electric razor around, and can get fairly close to a plain razor if you give yourself some time to master it. If you're still looking for a very last minute gift this year, you can't go wrong with the Pulsonic. That is, if you're shopping for someone you care enough to spend $200 on. [Amazon]

On the other hand, if you're a blade razor kinda guy, there's the Fusion Power Phantom. It looks like a Mach 3, but instead of three blades it has five. Not only is it 166% bladier, it's also got a vibration function. One flip of the switch and the thing starts trembling. This might sound like a bad thing—blades + shaking + face usually ends up like the elevator scene in The Shining—but it seems like it helps.

Being from the electric razor world, I'm usually pretty clumsy with the safety razor type. However, this Phantom seems to be the best of both worlds, meaning that I didn't cut myself silly when shaving. The next time you're on the road looking for a razor, check out the Fusion Power and try out them vibrating blades. It's only $10, and works slightly better than a standard razor. [Amazon]

I got my Fusion last night (1/26/06) in Houston. I used it and I think it's a winner. The blade cartridge is much larger but the individual blades are about 50% smaller than the Mach3 Turbo. The shave feels much different than the M3T. Maybe it was because it was a new cartridge, but the shave seemed closer with less razor burn. The single blade on the back is a great addition too, but I think it will take some practice to get the perfect sideburns.

Gillette Fusion is Available! [Shavingstuff]

Best pricing on Gillette Fusion products [Amazon]

From Rain Man to Spider-Man:
A Tale of Two Products

Gillette recently introduced its Fusion razor for men, to inevitable jokes about the jump from three blades to five, leapfrogging competitor Schick with its measly four blades. Really, where will it end?

But this move was so predictable that The Onion mockingly anticipated it a year and a half ago. Predictability is bad for Gillette—it makes Schick s job easier—but it s also bad for us bathroom products consumers too.

I wake up in the morning, I want something that makes me smile a bit before my coffee and gets me going. Something like Alessi s Mr. Suicide bath plug. Essentially a handle for pulling the plug out of a drain hole, he s a cute little blue plastic guy with a Charlie Brown head, X-ed out eyes and gritted teeth. Mr. Suicide drowns under water until you rescue him by emptying the bath. He s morbidly funny, an example of the humor that European design effortlessly pulls off and at which mainstream American products such as the Fusion utterly fail. By contrast, the design of the Fusion is all steroids and turbos, brute force over finesse, void of personality.

Let's see if we can uncover how we arrived at this situation. To assist, I have in mind two films: Rain Man and Spider-Man, and the protagonists in each.

In Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman played Raymond, an autistic man who could perform amazing feats of memory and counting, like memorizing an entire phone book. However, he would store and recall data apparently randomly, such as repeating the lines to Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" routine over and over. But his telling of it had all flatness of an Iowa cornfield since he didn t understand the humor driving it. Raymond had instant access to enormous amounts of information, but the meaning was empty to him, and therefore he was unable to respond to it in a useful way.

Let's contrast this with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Spidey has always been one of the darker comic book heroes, especially as portrayed by Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 2, driven by forces that are not entirely under his control. Like his 8-legged brethren, he acts on instinct in spite of better judgment. Most reasonable guys would take Kirsten Dunst over wounds and torn Lycra, right?

Spider-Man is not rational in the normal sense. We admire him precisely because he goes beyond the rational, doing the right thing and winning over the hearts of the citizens, despite attempts by the Daily Bugle to defame him in the meantime.

What does this have to do with the Fusion? It's a perfect example of a product made by a Rain Man company. Rain Man companies are highly data driven, and don't make a move without their tighty-whities being as tight and as white as they can get. You can just see the executives in their conference room sweating the latest metrics. Schick had captured the high ground with four razors, putting Gillette s Mach 3, the Cadillac of razors, into has-been land. The data didn't lie: if three is good, four is better, five must be even betterer. Onward and upward!

Such is the pitfall of Rain Man organizations. Because they have no instinctual insight into information, its larger meaning is lost on them. As a result, they make new gadgets in a robotic fashion, much the way Raymond repeated the lines to "Who's on first?"

Products made by Spider-Man companies are quite different. They have a personality, an unexpected flavor to them that immediately engages you. Mr. Suicide is a perfect example. Can you imagine Gillette having the guts to bring out something so quirky? Nope, not gonna happen.

The days of one-size fits all products governed entirely by Rain Man decision making are over. Motorola unexpectedly discovered this with the RAZR (but slipped back into Rain Man mode with the ROKR—where it collided head-on with Spider-Jobs). The MINI Cooper defiantly sidesteps the trend of bigger SUV s by injecting bubbly personality—a quality Rain Man companies have a hard time comprehending.

Spider-Man products inspire passion because they tap into people s latent emotions, creating a bond that goes beyond reason. Just as importantly, Spider-Man thinking allows envisioning radically better products. Rain Man thinking is all about benchmarking and making products that are good enough. Spider-Man thinking draws on an a larger vision and says, Don t follow the numbers, make others follow you.

Gillette logically followed three and four with five. Six would be the obvious Rain Man response for Schick. The more interesting question is: which company will embrace Spider-Man first, and do something that makes their competitor irrelevant?

Adam Richardson is Strategy Director in frog's San Francisco studio, where he helps companies identify user needs and new market opportunities.

Read more frog Design Mind. The column appears every Monday on Gizmodo.

Gillette Fusion
Release Date: Early 2006
Price: $11.99
That's right my friends, five blades. Count em. FIIIIIIIIVE. Didn't think it would happen in your lifetime did you? Well, neither did most of us. So how does everyone feel about the new Gillette Fusion? So far, it's receiving mixed reviews. "The Gillette Fusion, which comes in powered and unpowered versions, is here and it wants its man back. Basically, it has one more blade, but to hear Gillette talk about it should you encounter God, God would be cut."

But how do you really feel? "We didn't claw our way to the top of the razor game by clinging to the two-blade industry standard. We got here by taking chances. Well, five blades is the biggest chance of all." That's right, "this is our chance to make razor history. Let's dream big. All you have to do is say that five blades can happen, and it will happen." Hallelujah! And we haven't even gotten to The Onion yet.

But why? Why are we at this crossroads of razor crossroads? What is the Fusion all about? It's "a wet-shaving system with a lot more bells and whistles than the company's Mach3Turbo and M3Power, currently the top-selling shavers." Ok, and..."Gillette Fusion is 'the future of shaving." At stake for Gillette? "American men spent about $1.7 billion on blades and razors last year, and another $300 million on shaving creams and gels. Globally, shaving products accounted for more than $10.4 billion in sales." Fascinating. And the company feels, for sure, that they can pull this off, "When you're on top, people talk. That's the price you pay for being on top. Which Gillette is, always has been, and forever shall be, Amen, five blades, sweet Jesus in heaven."

Look for the "Precision Trimmer blade on the back of the blade cartridge, to be used to trim sideburns or shape facial hair," and other high-tech advances like "Its cartridges—which will also fit on the manual version—have a super-thin coating that Gillette says provides for an even closer shave." WOOOO-WEEEEEEEEE. Throw in an electronic chip "to regulate voltage and otherwise ensure that the 'shaving experience' is consistent as the battery drains" and you've got something special.
Heres' to you Gillette. God bless the Fusion and the number five.

Do Men Want an Even Closer Shave? [The New York Times]
Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades [The Onion]
Gillette 5 Blade Razor [Gizmodo]

Nokia 6682
Release Date: This Week
Price: Between $300 and $350
This week, Nokia brought another Smartphone to the US market, and reviewers are happy with the new Finnish offering. "The 6682 is distinctly more consumer oriented, from its fashion-friendly candy bar style pearl case to the 1.3 megapixel camera that can also shoot video," and "If you're the kind of person who tends to take off at a moment's notice and needs to bring along a phone that can serve as a phone, camera, email device and maybe even something to do a little work on, the 6682 will suit your needs just fine," and of course, "the Nokia 6682 is a powerful, flexible device for people who want a phone that happens to do more than just make calls."

Sounds like a good start, but how does it work? Again, mostly good things are being bandied about. As a phone, which we sometimes forget is the most important aspect of a cellphone, "the 6682 is excellent. Sound quality is loud and clear both on the earpiece and speakerphone, and we easily connected it with Nokia and Sony Ericsson Bluetooth headsets." But the keypad is still far from perfect. "The left and right softkeys are each very large but the numeric keypad keys are still tiny and scrunched at the bottom of the phone. To enhance usability, Nokia used a more standardized keypad layout , and also beveled each key, creating rows you can physically feel—making it a bit easier to use the cramped keypad. Those with large hands will still find the keypad difficult to use."

The display is a little small for a PDA but about average for a Smartphone. The best part of it, however, is "the light sensor embedded in the upper left corner of the front. The sensor actually detects light levels, adjusting the display accordingly. So in a dark room, the screen will dim while the keypad backlight will engage. In the sun, it's just the opposite. This level of power management makes it much easier on the user, since the changes are quick and accurate for the lighting conditions." I think this technology was last used in the GameBoy title Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand.

In terms of Smartphone capabilities, it has "built-in e-mail client supports POP3/IMAP accounts with attachments. You can get Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes e-mail through the third-party Smartner Duality (now changing its name to Seven Always-On) program, available from Handango, and the free Agile Messenger IM program is the best for any mobile platform." Throw in a "Class 10 EDGE data modem, running at 108 to 120 Kbps on our tests" and things are looking good.

The verdict? "I feel like this device serves well as a notebook compliment, for someone who doesn't really need the features of a full-fledged PDA, but needs more than what a typical mobile phone can deliver."

Nokia 6682 [PC Mag]
Review: Nokia 6682 [Phonescoop]
Nokia 6682 Review [BargainPDA.com]

Anyway, the Schick Quattro, that nasty-assed bitch of a razor, can just get itself out of the house and back into the street where it belongs. The Gillette Fusion, which comes in powered and unpowered versions, is here and it wants its man back. Basically, it has one more blade, but to hear Gillette talk about it should you encounter God, God would be cut.

Gillette Introduces Five-Bladed Razor. I'm Not Kidding. [ShavingStuff - I know! Who'd a thunk it!]