Motorola Razr (2023) review: A midrange foldable that isn't cheap enough

Motorola’s attempt at a mid-range foldable cuts too many corners. While it has a premium, bright 6.9-inch internal display, its tiny external display isn’t as useful (or as big) as rival flip-phones. Camera performance is also lacking, but battery life is a standout for this form-factor.

Video transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MAT SMITH: I wouldn't go as far as to say foldables are cool, but they're kind of cool, right? They're definitely not going anywhere, but they are still so expensive for what they are, often matching the same price as the very latest iPhones. The flagship iPhones or the flagship Galaxy S devices sometimes costing even more. Hello, Google's Pixel Fold.

So what about a cheaper foldable? Is anybody willing to give us a more budget-friendly foldable smartphone? Maybe Motorola is. Yes, Motorola is one of the other companies, besides Samsung, trying to make foldables happen, and earlier this year, it announced two new Razr foldables, the more expensive and premium Razr plus with an expansive display that actually beat the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to the scene, and technically a more budget-friendly foldable here in the Razr, also known as the Razr 40 here in the UK.

While pricing and availability in the US is still TBC, here in the UK, it's priced at 800 pounds, which is roughly $1,000, but that's probably not the price you're going to see if this device does eventually land in the US. In the world of foldables, it should be cheaper, but it also is a little bit more limited with a pretty small external display. At least, that's balanced out by a pretty large battery for this form factor as well as some impressive cameras, at least judging by its specs.

After rival Samsung revealed its very latest foldable phones, how good can a cheap foldable smartphone be?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[BEEP]

So let's start with some Razr family resemblances. Both the Razr and Razr plus have the same body and internal flexible 6.9in display. And on both devices, there is no more Razr chin. Sorry about that. No corners have been cut on the foldable screen, with a crisp 413 pixels per inch and up to 1,400 nits of brightness. This is a flagship display, at least internally.

However, this cheaper Razr has a much smaller external display, just a 1.5in panel, which puts it somewhere between Samsung's original Z Flip and the Z Flip 3. You know it's going to feel constrictive when it's smaller than the last two Samsung Flip phones. This is all exacerbated by the fact that Motorola announced the Razr plus alongside this phone, with a 3.6in external display, pretty much covering the whole of the front of the folded device.

But on this Razr, it's pretty small in comparison, sharing the lower half of the front with two camera sensors, a 64 megapixel primary sensor with optical image stabilization, and a 13 megapixel ultra wide. This is one of the major differentiators between the Razr plus and the Razr, with the Razr plus going for two matching 12 megapixel sensors. Motorola has also given the Razr an IP52 rating, which should protect it from a little bit of light splashing. Just don't try dunking it and don't drop it in the toilet. It probably won't survive.

Also, I'll say this. I really love the vegan faux leather texture on the Razr here. I'm still petrified of breaking or damaging foldable phones when they're in for testing or for review. But the satin finish hardcase, which is handily in the box, isn't nearly as tactile as the phone itself. So I've often risked using it during this review without the case. Yeah, I'm pretty much the bad boy of tech journalism.

Also, like the Razr plus, this middleweight foldable can also fold completely shut. So there's no gaps between it's two edges, meaning less debris should get inside and, hopefully, there's less chance of it getting broken.

So let's explore that external screen. Don't worry, it really won't take that long. It's pretty much limited to basic phone functions. You can swipe through to your calendar, weather forecasts, a music player, or swipe up from the clock to show your notifications, swiping down for quick toggles for things like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It's functional, but weirdly, a little dated already for foldables. This is what we got with the very first flip smartphones. I need a little more in 2023.

Even last year's Z Flip 4, likely to be heavily discounted soon, does more than this Razr. The Razr's second screen is most useful when it comes to shooting selfies with those external cameras. Double tapping the power button will quick launch the camera app. You can even do a cool wrist flip motion on the Motorolas to launch the camera as well.

You can tap to capture images with a timer, swipe up and down to switch between the camera lenses, swipe left and right to switch between video, photo, and portrait, and even use gestures to capture an image as well.

The Razr's 2640 by 1080 resolution screen can also refresh at up to 144hz, a little shy of the Razr plus' 160hz. But if you're coming from phones with a refresh rate of around 90hz or less, you're still going to sense the improved smoothness here. It's bright, responsive. It's a flagship smartphone screen and a foldable. It's exactly what you'd expect it to be. Foldable hinges and the screen technology covering over it continue to improve.

But if you're looking for visible hints of a crease, they're still there. Beneath that screen, you'll find a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor. It's not a flagship processor, but then this technically isn't a flagship phone. I noticed a little bit of lag when I tried editing some lengthy video files on the phone, but it still managed the task eventually.

One pleasant surprise with the Razr was the size of its battery. It comes with a 4,200 milliamp hour battery. That's bigger than pretty much all the foldables we've seen up until this point. In a video rundown test, it lasted 18 hours, beating both the Razr plus by about three hours and even the Z Flip 4 from last year. The Razr can also fast charge at 30 watts, and I found I could pretty much juice the entire phone from 0 in under an hour, which is always super handy.

There's also support for slower 5 watt wireless charging. But no reverse charging if you're looking to top up any wireless earbuds, or another device like that. Touching on the software, Motorola is generally pretty hands off here. There's the little cartoon mascot you'll see pop up here and there, and there's some useful tutorials if you've never used a smartphone before. But otherwise, it's pretty lightweight. It's very easy to use.

Just touching back on that external screen, though, just to complain some more, I just wish there was more customization. It's especially jarring when we know Motorola is capable of so much more, as seen in the Razr plus. But customization options are pretty much just limited to different fonts, colorways, and designs of the clock. The clock.

So let's move on to the cameras just to refresh your memory. There's a 13 megapixel ultra wide and a 64 megapixel primary camera here. That's a pretty high Res sensor, so maybe this is where the Razr shines, right? Sadly not. In pretty much every shot I took, this Razr wasn't able to match the Razr plus nor last year's Z Flip 4. Motorola's claims of ultra fast and accurate laser autofocus really don't bear out in reality, especially when it comes to video.

When recording, the Razr seems to twitch and jump in and out of focus while recording and really struggle to keep things consistent. There weren't many images where the Razr was able to outperform these other foldables, despite that higher resolution sensor.

I think, unless you activate the high Res mode on the camera, which is kind of hidden on the side of the menus inside the camera app, when the razor camera uses that 64 megapixel sensor, it seems to aggressively Pixel bin, group those pixels together, to the point of taking out pretty much all the detail you might want to see and not even really improving the image quality when it does.

Affordable is the future of smartphones. I'm not sure yet, but Motorola's bid for a cheaper, if not that much cheaper flip phone, misses the mark in a few ways. Its external display just doesn't have enough utility to warrant this form factor in 2023. The pricing of this Razr, at least here in the UK, doesn't warrant recommending it over normal phones, let alone other foldables. And we have the Z Flip 5 in for testing as I speak.

However, Motorola is yet to announce the pricing in the US. And if it's around $800, I could see it being at least an intriguing option for people that buy like the iPhone 14 or the Galaxy S23, around that similar price point. But for anyone intrigued by the idea of a foldable smartphone, you'll probably be better served by a heavily-discounted Galaxy Z Flip 4. I say heavily-discounted because the Z Flip 5 is almost here.

Thanks for watching. Make sure to check out all of our other reviews of all the other foldable phones as well as reviews of phones that don't fold. Make sure to check out the full review of the Motorola Razr over at engadget.com, including plenty of photo samples. And I'll see you next time.

[MUSIC PLAYING]