The Motorola Razr is the third commercial foldable smartphone in the market from an established tech company. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is already available for purchase across the globe, and the Huawei Mate X went on sale in China today. Now, the Motorola Razr is here to challenge these two foldable smartphones, with a unique design. Instead of adopting a form factor that transforms your regular-sized smartphone into a tablet, the Motorola Razr makes your regular smartphone a lot more compact by folding it in half.
The Razr 2019’s design is inspired by the iconic Razr v3 clamshell smartphone from the 2000s. However, the new model gets rid of the physical keyboard and brings an all-screen design on the inside, featuring a flexible pOLED display panel. This enables the phone to transform from a regular-sized smartphone into something as compact as the Nokia 110 when folded in half.
But do we really need a super compact smartphone like the Motorola Razr? Especially when it’s only half a phone, literally, with its less than impressive hardware?
A lot less phone at $1500.
Today’s smartphones pack in a lot of features in an incredibly tight space. So if you are going to add some cool new tech without increasing its size, some features have to be axed.
First, a foldable flip design divides a regular-sized smartphone into two sections for hardware. The manufacturer has to work with these two sections to fit in the components. Not to mention, it will need a robust hinge design, as seen in the Motorola Razr, which will further take up some precious space. So you are left with limited space for essential hardware like processor, battery, and even cameras.
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Now let’s take a closer look at the Motorola Razr.
The phone features an incredibly tall form factor (172 x 72 x 6.9mm). However, some space is taken up by the hinge at the center. So it’s not surprising that the Razr packs in a below-average 2510mAh battery. That’s less than what Pixel 4 brings to the table and do you recall how terrible its battery life is?
You may argue that the 2.7-inch small display upfront will help in conserving this battery but what’s the use of a foldable phone if you are always afraid to use its larger sized display?
Now let’s take a look at its camera setup. It has a 16MP f/1.7 primary sensor above the secondary OLED panel and a 5MP secondary sensor on the flexible display’s notch. While the 16MP single sensor may turn out to be good, you are still missing out on major camera features like telephoto, wide-angle, and even macro, which have become standard among flagships of 2019. For a phone that costs $1500, this camera setup lacks a lot of important features.
Also, you have to settle for a decent but still mid-range Snapdragon 710 chip. The SD710 usually powers smartphones that cost only about a third of the Razr’s selling price. Ideally, you would have expected something like the Snapdragon 855 inside such an expensive device. And the phone doesn’t impress us in its software department either. It will come with the old Android 9 Pie when it ships in January 2020!
I agree that the Motorola Razr looks cool. If it was any cheaper, I would have probably thought about getting one, despite its hardware limitations. The flip design makes it one of the coolest smartphones of 2019. However, when I’m paying $1500, I would definitely expect top-end hardware as well. After all, a smartphone is not just defined by its design.
So despite the innovative hinge design (which is really cool btw) on the Motorola Razr, you have to settle for a limited camera experience, terrible battery life, and an average CPU if you are going to get the phone.
Are these sacrifices worth the foldable flip design?
I don’t think so.
And when you have competitors like the Galaxy Fold that features top of the line hardware, including fantastic battery life and powerful camera performance, it makes you think whether it’s a good decision to spend $1500 on the Motorola Razr. If you want a compact yet powerful smartphone, get the S10e. Or if you want a foldable, it’s probably a good idea to spend a little more and get the Galaxy Fold.
What are your thoughts?
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