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The Motorola RAZR finds itself in an awkward situation at the moment. Back in 2019 when the company introduced the flip phone with the twist of having a touch screen, the entire smartphone community got hooked. This is because Motorola was the very first company to introduce a hand-held mobile device, and was also the one who eternalised the flip phone.
Unfortunately, things weren’t meant to be for the tech giant when the world saw the release of Android OS. Motorola’s downfall was further exacerbated by the rise of Apple and its iPhones. Eventually, they did try their luck with Android and were a bit successful as well.
Banking on this, they combined the world’s most popular operating system with their legendary foldables, the RAZR. The result was the Motorola RAZR, a flagship smartphone with a foldable screen. Now the question is, should you buy the Motorola RAZR in 2023? Let’s find out.
What does the Motorola RAZR get right?
The foldable screen is well-made and looks good
It is a testament to how far the foldable technology has come that the crease is barely visible or felt on the RAZR. The screen, when flipped open completely, exudes elegance in design and quality in finishing. Surprisingly, Motorola managed to hide the crease much better than Samsung did with their flip-and-fold series.
On top of this, the RAZR has a 6.7 inch OLED main screen that is capable of HDR10+ and refreshes at 120 Hz. The pixel density is slightly on the lower side compared to most flagships. The secondary screen too is OLED based, and measures at 2.7 inches, which is more or less optimal for viewing notifications, interacting with widgets, and text.
The internals are up to the mark and easily comparable to any flagship
Thankfully, Motorola decided to go with a flagship processor on the device. Since it costs over $1000, employing a mid-range chip was not justified. Combined with a good 8 GB of RAM and fast UFS 3.1 storage, the device flies through everything effortlessly.
The day-to-day usage feels like a breeze and gaming, too, is handled remarkably well. The device does get warm when using 4K recordings on cameras and high-end gaming for prolonged periods. The heat generation, thankfully, doesn’t feel anything out of the ordinary.
Motorola has opted for stock Android feel with some enhancements
Say what you will about lighter Android skins like Pixels, Nokias, and Motorolas, the lack of bloatware does make the device feel that much more responsive in general operation. This is also evident in the RAZR’s UI, which works smoothly without any lag or stutter.
The phone was shipped with Android 12 out of the box, and is awaiting an upgrade to Android 13 soon. On top of this, there are several Motorola enhancements in the UI that are intended to amplify the clean and simple experience of the software.
What does the Motorola RAZR get wrong?
Less than average battery life
Unfortunately, for Motorola, the above positives don’t cancel this massive negative. A phone is only as good as its battery life, and the Moto RAZR features a 3500 mAh battery that doesn’t give it good endurance. The device struggles to last an average working day and needs to be charged twice in 24 hours.
The lack of high-powered fast charging is also puzzling as Motorola opted for a meager 30 W support. For a phone that struggles to last an average day of usage, a minimum of 50 W of fast-charging implementation would have been ideal.
Software support cycle is too short in modern times
At a time when Samsung is providing four years of OS updates and five years of security updates, and Apple is providing five to even six years of support, phones with a mere two years aren’t going to cut it.
What’s even more painful is realizing that this ultra-expensive phone from Motorola is yet to receive Android 13, something which has seen its presence in even mid-range Samsung phones for about a month now. It is quite confusing as to why the Edge 30 Ultra from Motorola gets three years worth of support, but not the RAZR.
Mediocre cameras compared to competition when considering price
At over $1000, the Motorola RAZR is not a cheap phone, not by far. Since it will compete with other similarly priced flagships, and those that are foldable, it makes no sense as to why the cameras aren’t up to similar standards.
The wide-camera performance is decent, the details are captured well, and there is little-to-no noise in the picture. However, the ultrawide does dial up the contrast much higher than normal.
Low-light shots are again decent on the device, but not something you would expect from an ultra-premium phone. Indeed, they suffer massively from noise and lack of consistent detail. Furthermore, videography on the Motorola RAZR is more or less okay, and the phone is capable of delivering 8K at 30 fps.
So should one invest in the device in 2023? The answer, unfortunately, is that it depends. The screen is well-made and the software feels fluid when paired with a stock Android skin and up-to-date internals. Then again, the lack of a good battery life, average cameras, and little-to-no longevity does ask some serious questions about the device.
Of course, the massive price tag doesn’t help. Anyone looking to enter the waters of foldables for the first time, and who prefers light Android skins, may consider the RAZR, albeit with some drawbacks.
For the vast majority of users who are genuinely interested in good foldables, which are also reliable all-round devices, Samsung is doing a better job than Motorola at the moment.
