Something can be said about simplistically designed phones and how great they can be. By nature, a foldable phone isn’t that, but the Motorola Razr (2023) tries. At $699, it’s the cheapest clamshell foldable you can buy; just don’t expect too much beyond that.
Closed, the base Razr couldn’t be any better looking. On the physical looks front, I think Motorola does a fine job of giving the Razr a modern lifestyle design. Motorola sent us the purple colorway, and while it isn’t my favorite color choice, I think it works well for the phone. It also comes in a gorgeous sage colorway and cream. The aluminum rails act as a second tone that gives the phone a bit of contrast, and the colors work rather well.
The hinge, side rails, and buttons all have a high-end matte finish. The flat panels on either side of the closed Razr are made of a faux leather material that feels good in the hand. That paneling covers the majority of the edges and flows into the matte aluminum well, bringing together an overall pretty device.
At its core, the Razr has the same hinge design and components as the Razr+ – it’s just packaged a little differently. The hinge action feels good, but I noticed something a little strange about this model. When closed, there is a little play between both ends of the phone. When pressed together and jiggled a little bit, the Razr makes a slight squeaking sound. It feels well-built, but that play was a tad concerning to me at first.
The font of the Razr is where the price begins to show. Where the Razr+ has a large cover display that takes up the entire front panel, the less expensive Razr holds a small 1.5-inch AMOLED screen that’s just big enough to show the time and a couple of other bits of information.
The widgets are limited to proprietary apps, and it’s hard to see any notifications or info at a glance on the thin display. Motorola does offer a few nice clock options that make the phone look a little better sitting on a table. At $699, a full front display would be incredible, but Motorola had to make a few cuts, and this is one of them.
Opening up the Razr showcases the inner display. It comes in at 6.9-inches and 1080 x 2640. The panel itself is an LTPO AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of up to 144Hz.
Truth be told, the inner aspect ratio startled me because it’s just a little more extreme than I’m used to on current-generation foldables. From top to bottom, the screen spans about 6.5-inches, which makes one-handed use a bit difficult at times, especially when you want to check notifications or toggle Quick Settings.
As a foldable display goes, it’s good. Motorola does a fine job of incorporating displays with good colors and decent brightness. At peak, it reaches 1,400 nits, which is reasonably plenty for any day in the sun.
As for the dreaded crease that’s so prevalent in every foldable now, I was genuinely surprised at how well the Razr handled it. After a couple of months of use, the crease is still very obvious, but it’s nowhere near as visible as on the Galaxy Z Flip 5. Of course, when you look straight at the screen, you can’t see it, but even a side view shows just a small dimple through the middle. That turns out to be much more tolerable than other clamshell foldables we’ve had in the past.
Alongside the monstrous length of the phone, I did take issue with how Motorola decided to place the volume and power keys. I get it – placing a button in the middle of the rail on a foldable is a no-go, but maybe consider placing it below the hinge?
The volume rockers on the Razr are just so high they make it very difficult to change the volume. To get around this, it looks like they shrunk the size of each key, which does help, but it’s still such a sore point for me on flip phones in general.
Interacting with the Motorola Razr’s software is a different story, and it gets a lot easier to tell. The past couple of years have proven that Motorola is still in this fight with devices like the Motorola Edge+ on the market. The Edge+ showcased what good software could look like, with minimal changes made to Android on the company’s end.
The Razr continues that streak with an almost-stock version of Android 13 right out of the box. The Quick Settings page, regular setting page, customization options, and so on all take the bulk of what Android 13 offers and only minorly tweaks it. It’s inoffensive and easy to use.
It is powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, which is an older SoC. With that, you’re not getting a speed-of-light device. Even still, to my surprise, I didn’t come across any stuttering or performance issues while I used it. The Razr+ packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which was a modern chip for when it was released. It’s, of course, going to be faster and stronger in performance, but the lifestyle Razr still has held up phenomenally.
The battery has also been good, with my usage lasting a little over a day’s worth or more. You can buy Motorola’s 30W fast charger to bring that battery top-up around faster, which is always nice.
Motorola does bring its own little stylizations into the mix, like an option to change the cover screen’s setup with one long tap to the homescreen. It also tries to push Moto Connect to tie in other devices, but it’s easy to ignore if you don’t plan on using that suite of features.
You will need to use the camera, on the other hand, and it’s another area where the budget foldable price tag comes into play. If you’re an avid mobile photographer, the Razr might not be for you. If you’re not, let me explain a little.
The past couple of years have shown us that Google’s post-processing is king, hands-down. Devices from other manufacturers haven’t really come close to that, and the disparity between image quality samples is rather large.
That being said, I did think Motorola’s processing isn’t the worst out of all OEMs, but it’s not going to be the best out there. To give it a good start, there is a 64MP main sensor and 13MP ultrawide unit for wider shots, and they do a decent job of capturing images.
From the images I’ve taken, I haven’t been absolutely blown away, but I don’t quite dread them. It’s almost as if Motorola went in the opposite direction of HDR and evened out color tones during processing. Normally, that would mean a low contrast, but somehow, that’s not quite it. The images in the example slideshow convey that. Keep in mind these are the best shots I could find.
I did, however, have an issue with the cover display’s preview mode for selfies. If you close the Razr and double-tap the power button, it enters camera mode and shows you a preview so you can take a quick selfie. It initially offers two methods of doing this. The first is palm capture, which allows you to show your open palm to start a capture timer. The other starts a timer when you smile. In theory, these are awesome ways to begin a one-handed photo. In practice, they don’t work.
I spent too many minutes trying to get the Razr camera to start a timer with my open palm or a smile. I suppose I have an undetectable smile, but either way, these two features did not work. You can also tap the volume button to start a countdown, but the two previous options are presented by default, and they need to be dismissed. That wouldn’t be an issue if they worked properly.
If you take the Razr and compare it to its bigger and better brother, you’ll immediately see all the reasons it’s less expensive. It doesn’t have a big screen on the front, uses a chip that some would consider outdated, and brings a plastic panel design into the mix.
But consider who this phone is aimed at. It has a simple lifestyle design, performs well for everyday browsing and messaging, and folds in half! For $699, you really couldn’t ask for much more from a foldable. With good software that’s easy to use and an uncomplicated design, the Motorola Razr is a really good option for a lot of users who want something that conveniently pockets and can get everyday tasks done, all while looking classically modern.
Considering we’re entering the holiday season and are coming up on rolling deals, the Motorola Razr has been seen at prices as low as $499 consistently. That brings the phone down to an even easier sell for what it offers.
Buy the Motorola Razr (2023)
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