Motorola RAZR Hands-on: It a throwback

It a throwback from Motorola this year and I present to you, the official foldable smartphone called RAZR (Pronounced Razer). I know some of us to own this type of device that can be flipped back in days and here is the modernized version of that very slim fashionable smartphone by Lenovo sub-company, Motorola.

This year has brought a lot of new technology alive and we are hoping to see more next year. This is the second foldable device I am reviewing this year based on my research and I have been unable to review others from LG, SAMSUNG, and HUAWEI due to some tiny reasons.

Ok, let’s get to the newest of the foldable mobile device. The RAZR is actually the foldable smartphone we have been waiting for, others like the Royole FlexPia, Samsung own foldable device, Huawei Mate X are like 2-in-1 (mobile and tablet) and the foldable device from LG isn’t actually a foldable device, it more like a dual-screen smartphone but this is something different guys, Motorola took us back to 2004 when we had the actual RAZR.

The design adopted on the new RAZR looks so similar to what we have in 2004 and if you are not careful, you might mistake it for the old version. We have a slim body design with 14mm thickness when it folded and 6.9mm when it is unfolded which is the slimmest mobile phone you will find out there, a single camera design, a notch screen design, a bigger chin compared to the 2004 version which houses the fingerprint reader.

The body is made of polycarbonate materials which feel like plastic but it strong as it won’t break easily and I know you might worry a little about the foldable screen. Well, Motorola developed a very good mechanism to make folding the device easier and durable, the display goes into the big chin when it about to be folded and it stretches out when unfolded and this has been tested over a thousand times to make sure it doesn’t fail as said by Motorola.

We have a 6.2-inch notch pOLED display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 2,142 x 876 screen resolution. we have the second screen that has been redeveloped to a 4:3 touchscreen to be used to display users when taking selfies as we only have a single camera mode for both front and back snapshots. The front display can also be used for the following activities; displaying song timeline, skipping songs, viewing notifications, and messages. The display is though not very good but it is sharp, bright, vibrant and displays good colors.

The selfie on the RAZR is really good, we have a 16MP camera lens with f/1.7 large aperture but here is a surprise, we have a hidden 5MP camera lens with f/2.2 aperture when unfolded, so it practically for face unlock system and for those who want to take selfies without folding the RAZR, but it not advisable as the quality isn’t nice compared to the physical camera lens.

There is a google assistant present even when RAZR is folded, and RAZR is running on Android 9 Pie which is quite disappointing if you ask me personally because the device is to start shipping Globally in the year 2020 and moreover, it is launch after the Android 10 was rolled out on premium devices and even mid-ranges.  We have a loudspeaker at the bottom alongside a USB Type-C charging port (15W) and I am sorry guys, there is no headphone jack on the RAZR but we have an adapter for a headphone in the box.

The battery capacity is also annoying if I may say, RAZR is equipped with 2,510mAh battery, it thin, yes, we know but we want big battery capacity too if it is premium but according to Motorola, Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor is used instead of the premium Snapdragon 855 or 855+ to avoid rapid battery drainage, so I guess it balanced then, a not too bad chipset for a small battery capacity, it ok, I feel you.

There is a new technology here, the box serves as an amplifier, so yeah, you don’t get to throw the box away after unboxing, sounds cool.

According to androidauthority “Motorola wants you to use its box as a sound amplifier. When you take the top off the box you’re greeted with the phone in a special cradle, with a sound chamber in the bottom, it blasts sound into the sound chamber which is then amplified out of the holes on the side.”

The Motorola RAZR is set to go on sale for $1,499.99 which is equivalent to 540,999 Niara and it set to on sale in January 2020.