hacking motorola razr lcd touch screen quotation

The Motorola Razr is many things. It"s one of the first foldable phones you can buy right now. It"s a feat of engineering from a storied mobile brand. It"s a Verizon exclusive. (Sigh.) What the Razr absolutely isn"t, though, is practical.

For some of you reading this, that"s not going to be an issue. The Razr is as style-forward as the classic model that came before it, and maybe that"s enough. But Motorola and Verizon are asking people to pay $1,500 for this thing — a certain degree of practicality is a must. At the risk of immediately spoiling the rest of this review, the Razr won"t run faster, last longer or take better pictures than literally any other phone in this price range. It"s a fashion statement, not a flagship.

Like I said, maybe that"s enough for some. But for everyone else, for people who are more likely than ever to hold on to their smartphone for years, is a compromised phone like the Razr really worth the splurge? I think we both know the answer to that.

When I first talked to Motorola engineers about the Razr last year, they were clear about one thing: They didn"t specifically set out to reinvent the Razr. Instead, internal research suggested that people really just preferred the idea of a regular smartphone that folded in half for easy storage over something more Galaxy Fold-y. The rest was just nostalgic kismet.

Motorola didn"t adopt that retro design whole cloth, though. This new Razr is considerably more square than the classic it drew inspiration from, and the hinge is stiff enough that you can"t flip it open with the same panache. It has a big, touch-sensitive external display and a grippy back to help you hang on to the thing. Oh, and it"s surprisingly heavy, too. Needless to say, this definitely isn"t the Razr you (or your parents?) might remember. Based on the attention the Razr has gotten from people around me this week, though, a phone that just flips shut like this when you"re done still has wide appeal. But has this mostly classic design really held up after 10 years? Well, yes and no.

The Razr cuts a sleek figure when it"s open — it"s 6.9mm thick, about the same as the Galaxy Fold — but that trim look meant Motorola had to make some interesting design decisions. For one, Motorola skipped out on the traditional SIM slot entirely. Instead, the Razr is the first phone I"ve ever tested that relies solely on a virtual eSIM. That"s not inherently a bad thing, but it does mean you can"t switch your Verizon service to another device with a simple SIM swap. There was no room for a microSD card slot either, so you"ll have to make the 128GB of onboard storage last.

And then there"s the Razr"s chin, which is far more controversial now than it used to be. In fairness, it serves an important purpose: Motorola squeezed the main speaker and fingerprint sensor in there, and it provides extra space for the bottom edge of the screen to slide into when you close the phone. I like the chin more than most do, because it means the on-screen navigation keys naturally sit a little closer to my thumbs, but when you factor in the phone"s tall, narrow design, it means your hands will have to do a lot of shimmying to reach the top of the display. The chin also has some sharp edges, which sometimes make the Razr uncomfortable to hold when you"re taking photos or (gasp) talking on the phone.

The original Razr had some very small volume buttons, and this one does, too. They"re wedged into the phone"s top half along the right side, next to a narrow textured power button. Using these buttons with any sort of regularity is going to get frustrating because they all feel pretty indistinct — they"re difficult to find when you"re blindly searching for them, and you"re almost certainly going to mix them up.

You may have also heard about the subtle creaking noise the Razr makes when you open and close it. It"s honestly not a big deal; it"s only really noticeable in quiet rooms, and Motorola says it"s a perfectly natural consequence of using such a complex hinge design. It"s not great to hear what sounds like a discreet fart coming from a $1,500 phone, but there"s more going on here than just some odd sounds.

A phone"s hinge might not seem particularly interesting, but now that foldables are a thing, it might be the single most important element a phone-maker has to nail. Motorola"s engineers went through 26 iterations to get the feel and stability just right, and I"d say they did a great job. The hinge is tighter than you might expect, so opening the phone with one hand requires practice, and yes, that means your thumbnail will dig into that big, flexible screen inside. So far it hasn"t been an issue, and there is something immensely satisfying about opening the Razr. Motorola gets credit for that, at least.

Having this many moving parts means the Razr can"t be nearly as durable as a more conventional slab smartphone. Part of that is down to normal wear — after just a week, the hinge feels slightly looser than it did on day one — but the rest of it is more fundamental. For example, the Razr doesn"t have an IP rating for water or dust resistance, because this hinge and screen configuration means something could potentially get inside and muck things up. The best Motorola could do here is give the Razr a water-repellent nano-coating meant to protect your $1,500 investment from stray raindrops. And since I have to return this phone to Motorola very soon, its long-term durability isn"t something I can vouch for.

There is one more tidbit from those early conversations that has stuck with me since then: Motorola repeatedly referred to the phone as a premium, "design-first" device, but specifically not a "flagship" phone. That goes a long way in explaining the many compromises Motorola had to make here, but this distinction still doesn"t feel right to me.

Once you"ve gotten over the novelty of opening and closing a smartphone in 2020, it"s time to come to grips with its screens. The Razr has two of them, and while Motorola has cooked up some ways to get things done when the phone is closed, you"re going to spend most of your time with the flexible, 6.2-inch OLED screen inside.

Before seeing the Razr for the first time, I was a little apprehensive — after all, Motorola isn"t exactly known for peerless smartphone displays. But at least some of those concerns were unwarranted. The colors are surprisingly vivid right out of the box, and its viewing angles are pretty generous, too — you can peer in from off to the side and still see everything perfectly. Motorola went with a 21:9 display, which really just means the screen is taller and narrower than other smartphones you"ve used. This turned out to be equal parts blessing and curse: Motorola"s screen choice means the Razr is very easy to hold in one hand, but it also means some things, like the on-screen keyboard, feel cramped.

If this were a more traditional smartphone, I"d be inclined to say this is meant to feel more cinematic — most movies are shot in 21:9, after all. I can"t say that this time because the Razr"s screen runs at a surprisingly low resolution: 876 x 2,142. In other words, this is far from the crispest, prettiest display you"ll see this year. You can"t even watch YouTube videos at anything higher than 720p. I will say, though, that this all sounds a little worse than it actually looks. In fact, because I spent most of my time using the Razr at a reasonable distance (as in, my nose wasn"t pressed up against the plastic) the dip in resolution often went unnoticed.

Speaking of things I just didn"t notice after a while, there are two very subtle creases above and below where the hinge actually lives. You"re more likely to feel them (plus a few other very shallow divots) than see them under the relatively soft plastic screen layer. Motorola says these sorts of lumps are normal, but they"re still far from ideal, considering just how much they"re charging. And beyond that, there are bigger things here to be concerned about.

For one: The screen is much dimmer than what you"d find on other phones in this price range. Using this thing outdoors can feel like a struggle sometimes. Under certain kinds of bright light, the screen also takes on a splotchy, almost oily look because of the anti-scratch coating Motorola used. It in no way impacts the screen"s usability, it"s just kind of ... ugly. And even though this internal screen mostly sits flush with the bezels around it, the panel on my review unit feels slightly raised on the left side, right near the hinge. Whenever I have to tap something over there, I can actually feel the plastic panel moving up and down when I apply pressure. Could this somehow impact the screen"s usability over time? I was very skeptical, but for what it"s worth, Motorola provided this statement:

"What you"re noticing can be attributed to the movement of the display into the chin. The razr"s dynamic clamshell folding system is comprised of several moving parts including: a flexible OLED display module, metal support plates and a state-of-the-art hinge system. The display moves into the chin slightly when folded and pulls out to keep it in tension when open. This in no way affects the quality of the product."

For now, though, the Razr"s screen has put up with my everyday punishment without issue. I"ve accidentally dropped the phone facedown a few times and the display still seems fine. It also survived a trip to the beach on a windy day when sand was whipping around like crazy, but I don"t know how often I"d want to press my luck like that. See, every time you close the phone, the screen directly above the hinge subtly and momentarily lifts away from the Razr"s body. It"s not hard to imagine some foreign junk — like that pesky, high-speed sand — could find its way inside and wreak havoc. That gap is only ever open for a split second, so it may well never be a problem, but I still can"t help but quietly worry.

Foldables like the Razr are most vulnerable when they"re open, so it"s not a huge surprise to see Motorola stick a 2.7-inch touchscreen on the outside of the phone. It"s mostly there to let you handle very quick tasks, like checking your notifications, by long-pressing app icons and sending canned responses to messages, but you can also use it to frame up selfies and toggle a few customizable settings like WiFi and Bluetooth. Even better, if you"re looking at a notification from an app — for me, that most often means Gmail or Telegram — you can open the Razr to immediately pick up where you left off.

For these kinds of little things, the Quick View display is usually enough. But, I can"t help wishing Motorola did more with it. I"d love to be able to whip out the Razr while it"s closed and see Google Maps directions to a restaurant or shortcuts to control my apartment"s Hue lights. (The Galaxy Fold"s external display is far from ideal, but at least you can use it for standard smartphone things.) Motorola says that it"s carefully evaluating what apps might work best on a small screen like this one, so maybe we"ll see it become more useful over time. In the meantime, Motorola really needs to make the Razr"s external screen easier to unlock. Theoretically, all it requires is an upward swipe, but I have never, ever been able to get this simple gesture right on the first try.

So far, this review feels bleak, but there is at least one semi-silver lining: The Razr actually runs pretty well, relatively speaking. The Snapdragon 710 chipset and 6GB of RAM Motorola chose certainly don"t offer flagship levels of performance, but at this point, expecting flagship-caliber anything is unrealistic. Still, the Razr has enough power to handle most parts of a person"s daily grind without issue — you"ll notice some slight stuttering when you"re playing more demanding games like Asphalt 9, but when it comes to standard daily use, I never felt like I was hugely behind the curve.

Part of what helps the Razr run as fast as it does is Motorola"s clean software. Well, clean-ish; there"s a ton of Verizon bloatware pre-installed. Beyond that, there isn"t much cruft here to bog down performance. Instead of the usual manufacturer-made email, messaging and web browser apps, you get the stock Google equivalents. Motorola"s classic actions are back, so you can karate chop while holding the phone to fire up the flashlight or give it the ol" double-wrist-twist to launch the camera. I"d exercise some caution when trying to pull off the latter trick, though: The Razr"s top half tended to flop around a bit, which is not reassuring.

There are a few more things to note about the Razr"s software. Unlike most other premium phones you"re likely to see in 2020 — including the new Galaxy Z Flip — the Razr only runs Android 9.0 Pie. Now, that"s a fine flavor of Android, but Motorola could"ve done better. Oh, and for you retro fanboys, there"s a classic Razr mode you can access from the Quick Settings panel — once enabled, it swaps the stock launcher out for a nearly pixel-perfect recreation of the original RAZR V3, right down to the jaunty boot chime and laser-etched keypad. It"s a total gimmick and not meant to be used seriously, but whatever, it"s a fun nod to a device this new Razr owes so much to.

More than anything, though, I was concerned about power management and battery life. How could I not be? The best Motorola could do is squeeze in two slim, discrete batteries with a combined capacity of about 2,510mAh — that"s far less than any other smartphone I"ve tested in the last year. (Even more troubling, a recent YouTube teardown suggests the actual combined battery capacity is closer to 2,400mAh.)

Thankfully, the reality wasn"t quite as bad as I expected. If you play your cards right and don"t use the phone constantly, the Razr could feasibly last for about 12 hours; I"ve gotten pretty close a few times. Things get a little dicier when we start talking about sustained use. If you"re the kind of person who sits around scrolling through Instagram for hours on end, you"ll probably want to keep the included 18W TurboCharger handy. The Razr"s screen-on time maxes out at around four hours. Plus, it gets pretty warm, pretty quickly. (I suspect that"s because there"s so little room inside for proper heat management, but Motorola wouldn"t say so on the record.)

Smartphone-makers left and right are embracing high-resolution camera sensors and ambitious multi-camera setups because they know people really give a damnabout taking photos. Motorola gets this. I know, because if you look at the brand"s affordable One-series smartphones, many of them have — you guessed it — high-resolution camera sensors and ambitious multi-camera setups. And what do we get with the Razr? A single main 16-megapixel camera with an f/1.7 aperture and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera in a notch cut into the screen.

In fairness to Motorola, that main camera isn"t bad — I"ve taken quite a few photos that actually came out pretty nicely, even if it"s mostly because San Francisco is very good-looking. (I even threw a few of them into our Samsung Galaxy Unpacked liveblog.) It"s just that the camera is mediocre compared to everything else in this price range.

The Razr"s photos are usually lacking in the dynamic range department, and exposure can be inconsistent. (Sunny skies almost always look a little off, for instance.) Still, when the conditions are right, you"ll find decently saturated colors and, if you"re very lucky, ample detail.

I should emphasize that this faint praise only applies when you"re in a well-lit environment — in anything less, your photos are going to start to get rough. Expect your results to be even softer and less satisfying with an extra dose of shutter delay because the camera has some serious trouble focusing in the dark. Night Mode is a necessity in those situations, but photos taken with it look considerably worse than those taken on an iPhone 11 Pro or Pixel 4 XL, two premium phones that cost hundreds less than the Razr.

Oh, and about that front-facing camera: The best thing I can say is that it exists. I have to assume Motorola squeezed one in here mainly for video calls, because you"d be kidding yourself if you expected quality selfies out of this thing — just use the main camera while the Razr is closed for much better results. Honestly, do yourself a favor and avoid this camera when you can.

Not all foldables are created equal, so even though a few are on the market, the Razr only really has one direct competitor: Samsung"s new, $1,380 Galaxy Z Flip.

You might have noticed I"ve only mentioned the Z Flip once in this review. That wasn"t an oversight; based on everything we"ve seen and experienced so far, the Z Flip is a more powerful, more capable take on the foldable flip phone concept, and it costs a little bit less. It is, based on everything we"ve seen and experienced so far, the better option for damn near anyone. The reason I didn"t mention it much here is because, well, even if the Razr was the only smartphone of its kind on the market, it still wouldn"t be worth the splurge for anyone but the profoundly style-obsessed.

If, after all this, you find yourself still wondering whether a Razr should be your next phone, I invite you to take part in a little thought experiment I just cooked up. Please, take a moment to consider the following statement: "In terms of performance and experience, the 2020 Motorola Razr is a $400 smartphone in a $1,500 smartphone body."

If you sort of naturally recoiled at the absurdity of that idea (like I just did), your choice is simple. You do not need a Motorola Razr. The best thing people like us can do right now is respect the work that went into building it and wait for something better. If that sentence barely made you raise an eyebrow, though, go for it. Have a great time, and let the rest of us know if you still like it in six months.

Ok, so I couldn"t resist it anymore and broke down and bought Motorola"s new RAZR V3 superskinny cellphone. Click to see a mess of pics and some initial impressions.

Without question, the biggest draw of the RAZR V3 is the looks, and in those incessant Cingular ads the RAZR slices and dices away, as if it really were razorsharp when it"s unfolded. What you don"t see in the ads is that the phone is a bit wide. Not obnoxiously wide, thankfully, but wider than my last two cellphones, the Motorola T720 and a Nokia 8290. I found that it"s still easy to hold even while talking for 30 minutes, and there"s no external antenna marring the RAZR V3"s shapey looks.

Motorola made the casing out magnesium and aluminum to keep the RAZR at a scant 3.3 ounces. The phone has a solid feel, with no creaking or cheap plastic feeling during normal use. It is easy to flip open or close with one hand, I prefer to open it up with my middle finger of my left hand as it is less stress than bending my thumb in an odd way to open the phone. One-handed operation is important to me, as I often do several things at once and try to be as efficient as possible.

While Cingular might be offering Motorola"s RAZR V3 for $500 (with two-year contract), they do skimp a little bit with what they include in the box. Regular retail versions of the RAZR V 3 include extras like a nice aluminum case, a Motorola PhoneTools CD, a USB sync cable, and 3 Java games. What Cingular does offer, though, is just about the cheapest price you"ll find on the slickest-looking new cellphone available this holiday season. They do lock the quad-band (GSM/GRPS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz) to Cingular service only, but there are stores that provide unlocking service or if you are so inclined, you can probably hack it yourself. Unlocked RAZR V3s are going for around $650 on eBay.

The packaging is very weak and is boxed like any other Cingular phone, there"s no wow factor at all to give the user of what they are getting. There"s not even a side shot of the phone on the box showing the RAZR slimness. I usually keep product boxes and I"ll probably keep this one, but the box is just flat-out plain and boring.

The main screen is absolutely gorgeous, a 176x220 pixel TFT LCD screen with 262k colors. It"s a beauty and there"s three skins included to choose from (Moto, Scarlet, and Silver) of which I"m partial to Silver. It"s the most "business" like color and isn"t overly colorful like the others. The front cover LCD looks good and also doubles as the self-portrait LCD (no look at the silver reflection here) after you turn on the camera and close the lid. Look, there"s Yoda, my Yorkshire Terrier, posing for my wallpaper.

The keypad buttons have a tactile feel to them, I"ve found them to have a slight sticky feel to them even after cleaning. While the buttons are flat and do not stick up from the keypad, you can push them in and get a good responsive feel. I found the buttons on the top lid (on the side of the phone) to be a bit of a reach, as you have to move your thumb quite a bit to press those buttons on the left. The top left button on the lid is for Voice Records, the button below that is for Volume (up and down). The button on the right of the LCD is for Voice Name dialing, which is in an easy position to press. Since the keypad lights up blue, it"s easy to dial and use the phone at night or in the dark.

I find the Cingular branding to be obnoxious. There"s the cingular logo (at least it"s in white and not over the top) on the back of the phone, and when the phone is in use, the bright orange Cingular logo shows up on the top cover LCD until you close the phone. It"s one thing to have the LCD display the cellular network you are on, but the orange logo turns you into an easily seen walking billboard for them. I"d definitely be interested in learning how to hack the phone to remove or change this picture.

The RAZR V3 can take VGA resolution pictures, at 640x480 resolution. There is a 4x zoom, but it"s digital and as digital zooms go, it"s pretty awful. The pictures it takes are of a okay quality, but the camera is definitely not this phone"s strong suit. It"s there and it works, but in the age of cheap multi-megapixel cameras, the RAZR"s onboard camera isn"t that impressive. When considering that Nokia has quality 1.3 megapixel cellphone cams, it"s yet another knock on this phone"s camera. Here"s some images (resized) taken with the RAZR"s camera:

Built-in storage is only 6MB, and to top it off, there"s no memory card slot at all. So while the RAZR can play MPEG-4 videos, MP3s, and view JPGs, you"re not going to be able to store many of the space hogging videos or MP3 files on the phone. This is a glaring omission, and with some Nokias having 96MB onboard, with even more possible with a memory card, 6MB is just flat-out pathetic.

The RAZR V3 battery is rated for 7 hours talk time and 10 days of standby, during my testing (talking quite a bit, taking many pictures, Bluetooth file transfers, and playing around with menus) I found that the battery lasted about a day and a half, which is quite a bit, as this would translate to three days with my usual phone usage. I"m satisfied with the battery life, you can"t expect too much out of 680mAh battery. The back cover is a bit awkward to take off and put on, I still can"t do it smoothly. Removing the battery cover will need a fingernail, it"s a tight fit to push in the cover release button.

I was able to successfully connect via Bluetooth to my Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop, a Dell Axim X30 Pocket PC, and a Motorola HS810 Bluetooth headset after some initial difficulty. I still think it should be easier (I spent quite a while getting them all to talk to each other), and the Motorola manual was pretty lacking when it came to Bluetooth instructions. For the record, the default passkey for the RAZR V3 is 0000 (are all Bluetooth passkeys set to 0000 as default?), which I couldn"t find anywhere in the manual. That is, I set the passkeys to 0000 on every device and it worked in my case. Bluetooth connectivity definitely should be easier to use.

Using Pocket Informer 5 on my Axim X30, I am able to send a number from my contacts list to be automatically dialed on the RAZR. Pretty neat and useful, however, due to the phone"s limitation, I was not able to use my Motorola HS810 Bluetooth headset if I wanted to use the Axim X30 to dial. I believe it"s the phone can only have one Bluetooth connection at a time, since I successfully used Bluetooth with two devices simultaneously on my laptop, sending a file from the RAZR to my laptop while syncing my Axim X30 at the same time.

Yes, even this chic phone isn"t flawless. The front cover does not sit flush with the bottom of the phone. I"m not sure if it"s just my phone, but when closed, the cover sticks up about 1 or 2mm and isn"t smooth when running your fingers up and down. When I push the cover down as much as I can, the cover will sit flush, so it may just be my particular phone (I have yet to see the phone in person at a Cingular store). There also seems like there are some imprints on the LCD screen of the keypad graphics. I don"t think the LCD has been scratched at all, but it is something to watch out for in the long run.

Ideally, I"d like the top cover LCD to always be on so that a thumbnail of my wallpaper and the time would always be bright, but I couldn"t find anything in the options menus to do so. It would also probably be a battery drain, but it"d be nice if I could choose to have that. As it is now, the

LCD backlight turns off 10 seconds after the lid is closed. After the cover is closed, the top LCD shows the current time and wallpaper. But without the backlight on, it"s rather hard to see the top LCD without some light shining on it. In a completely dark room, there"s no way to see the time without flipping the cover open. As I use my phone quite a bit to check the time (no watches for me), I would like to easily see the time without having to fumble with it.

Overall, I like this phone a lot. Yes, I"m a sucker for good design, but the phone functions as it should and its features work as advertised. Did I mention the phone looks cool? Do I even have to mention that? Motorola has a winner here and I"m sure that more designer fashion phones are headed our way since this phone will be a success. The only real critical aspect missing in the RAZR V3 is the lack of a memory card slot, or perhaps more onboard memory. The average fashion phone buyer may not care about memory and only about looks, but the fact is there are power users that like nice-looking phones as well, and many will be put off by the lack of memory.

Unlike theSamsung Galaxy Fold, which transforms from a phone to a tablet when you open it up, the Razr looks like a regular smartphone when it’s open and is much smaller and compact when it’s closed. So this is the first foldable smartphone where the screen folds vertically, different from the foldable phones I have seen so far.

Yes, initial reviews have not been kind to the $1500 foldable phone. There are a lot of controversies going around the new Razr, and comparisons to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is another headache for Motorola.

Since I got to spend a little time with the Razr ahead of its launch, it would be unfair on my part to jump to the conclusions without testing it extensively. Let’s not forget: this is a foldable phone with a new form factor and hinge design. And most importantly, this is the first generation of foldable smartphones.

First off, the new Motorola Razr does look amazing. It gives you the vibes of the original Razr, which I always wanted to own, but couldn’t due to its high price.

Anyway, Motorola has tried to make the best out of the iconic Razr which, of course, is the clamshell design. And I would like to give full credit to Motorola to think differently.

As I mentioned in the beginning, the Razr’s screen can be folded in half. The phone has a screen that measures 6.2 inches on the diagonal — about the same screen size as the Galaxy S20. When it’s folded up, you will find a 2.7-inch “Quick View” display that can show your notifications, music controls or snap a selfie. It has always-on functionality, like Motorola’s other smartphones.

So the new Razr opens and folds, just like the classic Razr. I actually liked the usability of this form factor. That means, when closed, the phone is not much thicker than a gents’ wallet. Sure, it’s a bit wider and taller than the original Razr, but when I opened the new Razr, it felt a lot like a normal smartphone. This is not a one-handed foldable smartphone, as I struggled to open the device with a single hand.

One design trait of this foldable phone that immediately reminds of the classic Razr is the “chin” on the bottom edge of the phone. Motorola executives told me that the chin holds the phone’s antennas and speakers. This chin also accommodates the optical fingerprint reader. What’s also impressive about the Razr is the size and thickness of the phone.

The Razr is constructed out of stainless steel and Gorilla Glass, so you know you are holding a high-quality smartphone. Flip the Razr over, and you will notice textured back and a classic etched Motorola batwing logo. The right side of the Razr has the power and sleep button, along with a volume rocker. Though it is very hard to tell apart. On the bottom is a USB-C port — there isn’t a headphone jack, but a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter is included in the box.

The hinge can break or make any foldable phone. In the case of the Razr, Motorola designed a custom “zero-gap” hinge system that allows the phone to fold without a gap. There is, however, a small gap between the display and the hinge where it folds. Even a tiny gap between the hinge and screen can attract dust and particles, leading to screen damage.

A lot of tech reviewers have claimed that their Motorola Razr review units were making a weird creaky sound while holding it half-open. I can confirm that my demo unit had a noticeable cracking sound when the phone was opened or closed. Motorola, in its defense, has claimed that the sound is normal.

At the moment, I can’t say how long this foldable smartphone holds over a longer period of time. But this weird squeaking noise the Razr makes when it’s opened or closed is not a good sign.

The Razr has a 6.2-inch pOLED 2142×876 display with a 21:9 display ratio. In my limited time with the Razr, I found the display just fine. I don’t expect it to be as nice as the screen on the Galaxy Z Flip but the Razr’s display seems to be high-quality.

But more than the brightness and viewing angles of the display, you need to remember that the Razr’s display is made of plastic and not glass. Plastic foldable screens are easily susceptible to scratches, whereas glass screens are more sturdy. The Galaxy Z Flip uses an ultra-glass screen, for that matter. That said, both Motorola and Samsung have cautioned users to be extra careful with foldable screens.

As you open the box, the first thing you will notice is a sticker that comes with the Razr. It says “Do not apply a screen protector, as it will damage the display.” There is a long list of warnings that you need to keep in mind when using a foldable phone and you can’t avoid them. And another trade-off of buying a foldable phone is the lack of waterproofing, though the Razr is water-repellent.

Somewhere I feel Motorola has been less transparent about how durable the folding display is. That’s my concern, considering a person investing $1500 should be using the phone for at least three years. Samsung, however, clearly claims the Galaxy Z Flip display can last for 200,000 folds. That said, I have neither used the Razr or Z Flip so it is very hard to say which foldable phone is more durable than the other.

One of the not-so-wise choices Motorola has made while designing the Razr is going with mid-range specifications. I get it, the Razr is more of a fashion statement and less about the specifications. Still, I feel that the phone as pricey as the Razr should come with the top-of-the-line specifications.

Right now, the only model Motorola is making available to consumers comes with a Snapdragon 710 chipset with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. In my brief time with it, apps opened fast and there wasn’t any stuttering while scrolling web pages. The performance should be fine but not spectacular as it also runs the older Android 9.0 Pie. I am more worried about the longer-term; we already know how mid-range Android smartphones perform after six months.

There aren’t major software customisations being done to make the Razr standout. I liked the feature where apps seamlessly transition from the front display to the main display. By the way, the new Razr also comes with a special retro mode that emulates the old style of the Motorola Razr, which is full of nostalgia.

I am also curious to know if the battery will last as long as Motorola claims. With a 2510mAh battery (it’s being split into two pieces), I am not so sure that the Razr will even last a full day. I may be wrong, though.

When the Razr is shut, there is a 16MP rear camera which can also be used to take selfies. The top of the display, when unfolded, has a small earpiece and a 5MP camera.

The Razr’s camera can’t be compared to other flagship devices like the iPhone 11 and Galaxy S20. That’s for sure. I didn’t take many pictures, but what I shot looked underwhelming.

The $1500 smartphone coming with a single 16MP is a big joke. I don’t know how Motorola will justify the price of this smartphone. Even a consumer not so interested in photography might expect a slightly decent camera. This is a bare minimum.

After spending an hour (I will repeat again: this is not a review) with the Razr, I have mixed feelings about a smartphone that will retail for over Rs 100,000. Even though I haven’t fully tested the device, I felt that the Razr lacked many basic fronts. The hardware and mediocre camera are the Razr’s biggest flaws. Any consumer, who will spend over a lakh on a smartphone, would expect flagship-level performance.

I know Motorola wants to pitch the Razr as a status symbol. But this phone would be a hard sell. But then I admire Motorola for thinking foldable phones from a new perspective.

When it came out in February, the Motorola Razr was a hyped-up vision of the future with roots planted firmly in the past. It was the first modern smartphone that could fold in half with a foldable display -- but it packed nostalgic appeal too, because it looked like a clamshell from the early 2000s. In short, the phone was very, very cool. But there was a problem when the $1,500 phone launched, and it was called the Galaxy Z Flip.

Because the Z Flip had premium 2020 specs (compared to the modest 2019 specs on the Razr), was available on more carriers and had a lower price, Motorola"s foldable flip phone suddenly didn"t look so compelling anymore.

Despite all this, Motorola is giving it another go six months later. It might have helped that in August, Samsung added 5G to the Z Flip and raised the price of its phone from $1,380 to $1,450. Motorola also made numerous refinements to the Razr, added 5G and managed to drop the price to $1,400, which is $50 less than the

It"s as if the February Razr was a haunted house and this new version is Motorola"s attempt to exorcise the ghosts. Everything about the new Razr is better: the build, the specs, the cameras, the software and the cost. But it doesn"t have everything. The new Razr lacks dual speakers, a headphone jack, headphones, wireless charging and a high refresh rate display.

The phone comes in three colors: polished granite, blush gold and liquid mercury, which also happens to be the name of my Queen cover band. Before even picking it up, I noticed the phone"s new refinements. This Razr"s chin is more tapered. The back is no longer plastic but glass. There"s a new aluminum frame. All this adds up to a solid, premium look and feel.

At the core of its foldability is the same Zero Gap hinge mechanism from the February Razr, but some important adjustments were made. For one thing -- my favorite improvement, actually -- the hinged screen doesn"t squeak like a leather baseball glove when I open and close it. At least it doesn"t on the review unit I"ve been using.

The springs are tighter, making the screen more taut and (along with that new tapered chin) easier to flip open with one hand. The ends of the hinges are more pronounced, almost like they"re wearing shoulder pads. The volume rocker and power button are no longer on the same side of the phone, which made them easier to distinguish for me.

The Razr still has a 6.2-inch internal OLED display made of five different layers and sealed with a hard coating on top. Motorola claims the screen is rated to be opened and closed 200,000 times. To give you an idea how much that is, you could open and close the Razr 100 times a day for five years and still not hit that number.

In certain lighting, when the screen is off, I could make out the edges of the steel plates that are at the top and bottom behind the screen. Your pickiness on this may vary. That said, the screen looks good and it still doesn"t have that permanent crease like the one the Galaxy Z Flip has (which to be honest doesn"t bother me either).

The new Razr has 256GB of storage and runs Android 10, which brings a slew of new and useful features, especially to the exterior Quick View display. When the phone is locked and closed, just wave your hand over it or tap on the power button to use the outside screen in Peek Display mode. This lets you see notifications just by pressing and holding on an icon.

When the phone is closed and unlocked, the Quick View display turns into a mini Android phone. You can swipe down to get to the control panel, swipe up to see the notification shade, swipe to the left to go to the camera and swipe right to see a grid of apps you"ve selected. You can use apps like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Gmail on the petite display complete with a mini keyboard. Motorola also threw in an addictive game for the display called Astro Odyssey. Honestly, it has the best music.

Perhaps the Razr"s biggest improvement is that it isn"t exclusive to Verizon anymore. It goes on sale this fall and you can get an unlocked version and use it on AT&T and T-Mobile with their sub-6 5G networks.

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Foldable phones are all the rage these days and this year, we will be seeing the likes of Samsung, Huawei, and even Motorola debut foldable devices. Motorola recently confirmed rumors that it is indeed working on a foldable device, which in all likelihood will be a resurrection of the iconic RAZR brand. Now, XDA Developers has managed to source more information about some of the software aspects of the device, particularly about how the closed screen functions, and it looks like there will be some limitations.

According to XDA Developers, the closed display of the RAZR phone codenamed "Voyager" offers the following functionality:The closed display when unfolded can act as the trackpad. The functionality is currently limited to scrolling web pages in Chrome and the apps timeline.

The user can tap in the camera app on the primary display to take a photo and swipe up to zoom in. This should help in taking selfies. The dual screen also helps in showing a countdown timer.

The user can choose to show the Google Assistant animation on the closed screen when triggered. Otherwise, the user is prompted to flip open the device to access the Assistant.

So far, it appears as though there are some limitations in how Motorola uses the closed display. The only apps currently allowed on the closed display are first-party apps such as Moto Display, Moto Actions, and Moto Camera. The Samsung Galaxy Fold on the other hand allows for seamless app transitions between the primary and the closed display and also allows for features such as Multi-Active Window.

The foldable Motorola RAZR is speculated to cost around US$1,500. Motorola couldn"t get to demonstrate the phone at MWC 2019 so we expect Lenovo to showcase it during their annual conference in August.

The leak posted by Blass shows someone holding the device, unlocking it and then folding it. What’s impressive is that the smartphone doesn’t seem to feature a visible crease until it folds. As someone who reviewed theZ Flip 3, I noted that “the crease is still present and very visible, and eventually you do get used to it.” However, Motorola’s phone seems like it won’t have that problem, at least based on this leaked gif.

It’s worth noting that this GIF corroborates with past leaks indicating that the Razr 3 will lose some of its Razr elements like the bottom chin and now offers a more modern appearance.

This article is about the Motorola mobile phone called "Razr" sold until February 2013. For the more recent mobile phone of the same name, see Motorola Razr (2020).

The Motorola Razr (styled RAZR, pronounced Siliquamobile phones by Motorola, part of the 4LTR line. The V3 was the first phone shown in the series and was introduced in December 2003Apple Inc. for iTunes to be built-in. It was launched in 2006.

The Razr series was marketed until July 2007, when the succeeding Motorola Razr2 series was released. The succeeding models were the V8, the V9, and the V9m.Samsung and LG in market share for mobile phones.

In October 2011, Motorola revived the Razr brand for a line of Android smartphones: the Droid Razr for Verizon Wireless (known simply as the "Motorola RAZR" on other networks) and an improved variant, the Droid Razr Maxx.Razr again as a foldable smartphone, which is styled after the clamshell form factor of the original models.

The V3 was first released in Q3 2004. The team of the V3 put together a number of design choices that set the device apart from the competition. The phone had the thinnest profile at the time on a clamshell set, sported an electroluminescent keypad made out of a single metal wafer and used an industry-standard mini-USB port for data, battery charger and headphones, housed in an aluminum body with an external glass screen. It sold 130 million units during its lifespan, being the best selling clamshell phone to date.

Some owners complained about dust accumulating between the V3"s plastic screen and LCD glass, possibly through an external side button. Access to the dust required peeling off the plastic cover, usually followed by a replacement cover.

The first pink version was released in October 2005, and as of June 2006, was available in the United States from T-Mobile as the Razr V3 Magenta (after T-Mobile and its parent Deutsche Telekom"s corporate color). It was called the Razr V3 Pink and available on other carriers, including on T-Mobile networks in other countries in addition to Verizon, Cingular Wireless, Suncom Wireless, and Cellular One (each in a different shade). It was also available in Canada from Bell, Rogers Wireless and Telus, and in the United Kingdom from T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse. $25 of sales from the Rogers-branded pink V3 went to Rethink Breast Cancer. It was also available in all Movistar-serviced countries and Claro (Telcel).

Another version of the phone was released in South Korea on June 1, 2005. This version had a similar physical appearance but instead of using the GSM standard, it used CDMA to operate on SK Telecom. It was the first CDMA version of the Razr without expandable memory, Bluetooth, and SIM card, since Motorola Korea"s system was able to produce its own model before worldwide GSM format release. It had a 1.3-megapixel camera, video recording, 80 MB of internal memory, and a variety of UI features, such as a mobile blog, Yoga graphic book, diet diary, and lottery number generator for wellness theme. It also came in black, pink, and lime models versions. On February 8, 2006 Motorola Korea released its own slide-phone model for the Razr named Z model name MS600. Unlike most other versions, the MS500 version was packaged with a charging dock and had three metal terminals on the backside immediately under the battery cover.

Also, as the add-on to the MS600, the MS500 Lime Razr was in circulation in South Korea since October 2006 along with the Motorola KRZR Black and Motorola KRZR Fire (Red).

The Razr V3re (also known as V3_06) was a GSM model updated to support EDGE and CrystalTalk technology. It was nearly identical to the original V3, having no memory card slot and including a VGA 4x zoom camera. It can be identified by a slightly larger notch under the Motorola logo when closed,Vivo in Brazil (using both 850 MHz and 1800 MHz). It was available in three colors: orchid pink, silver, and stone grey.

The V3r and V3t were models sold by T-Mobile, AT&T (formerly Cingular), and Canadian cellular providers such as Rogers. These models were virtually identical to the V3 and V3i, except for featuring Motorola"s Digital Audio Player (DAP) instead of iTunes. T-Mobile"s V3r offered a voice notes feature which permitted forwarding audio recordings to voicemail as the only storage method.

The V3i was announced in November 2005 and addressed some of the faults of the original Razr V3, including a better (1.23-megapixel) camera with 8x digital zoom, an improved external and internal display, and support for microSD cards of up to 512 Mb maximum. V3i was functionally very close to the Motorola V635. The V3i came in two versions: one with iTunes and one with Motorola"s Digital Audio Player (DAP).iTunes version of the phone had a 50 or 100 song limit restriction depending on where the phone model was made.Dolce & Gabbana (D&G) to produce a Special Edition Gold Razr V3t. Only 1,000 of these were made and sold for a premium price.

On June 1, 2006, Motorola and Dolce & Gabbana released another limited edition gold phone. This model included a D&G cell phone holder, a signature leather pouch, Bluetooth headphones, and FM earphones. It was available from all major Motorola retailers and select D&G boutiques.

The Motorola Razr V3i was released to most worldwide markets in Q4 of 2005–2006. In the U.S. the phone was released through Cingular Wireless on September 6, 2006, with a new activation price of $299, while T-Mobile released the Dolce & Gabbana V3i exclusively in the United States.

On November 21, 2005, a CDMA2000 version of the Razr, known as the Razr V3c, became available to Alltel and SaskTel users. Verizon Wireless followed suit on December 7, 2005. Unlike models for Alltel and other carriers, Verizon"s V3c features a proprietary user interface and disables, in software, Bluetooth file transfer capabilities (called OBEX).

In January 2006, Canadian Telus, Bell Mobility and Aliant Mobility, Venezuelan carriers Movistar and Movilnet, and Brazilian Vivo began carrying the V3c. In April 2006 Cricket Communications began selling the V3c. The handset was also made available for Metro PCS. The Razr V3c supported CDMA 2000 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO third-generation wireless technologies.

V3m was a CDMA version of the Razr. As an upgrade to the V3c, it featured a microSD card slot for up to 2 GB of memory expansion, a longer-lasting battery, and 40 MB of internal memory. The V3m came in silver, pink, and red although the original release, as well as models that used to be available on the Sprint CDMA network, featured the gunmetal gray color of the V3c. For a limited time Alltel and US Cellular offered a Fire Red color. Partnering with Motorola, US Cellular and Sprint released a special PRODUCT(RED) Razr and Bluetooth H500 headset to help support Global Fund programs which positively impact the lives of women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Announced in March 2005, the V3x was formerly known as the Motorola V1150. Externally, it appeared to be a larger V3, albeit with enhancements such as a 2.0-megapixel camera. Internally, it was quite different, utilizing a different microprocessor, chipset, an Nvidia GoForce 4200 GPU, and radio ICs. As a 3G product, its feature set was closer to that of phones such as the Motorola V980, e.g., two cameras instead of the single camera typical on GSM or CDMA products. It was not as thin as the V3. It won the "Best 3GSM handset" at the 2006 3GSM World Congress.

Announced in July 2006, the V3xx was a 3G category 5/6 (3.6 Mbit/s) HSDPA and EDGE supported handset. It was extremely similar in appearance to the compact V3i design, but incorporated an improved feature set with a 1.3-megapixel camera, 50 MB of internal memory, support for microSD and Bluetooth A2DP. Like the V3x, it was also equipped with a secondary screen and a higher resolution 240x320 pixel (QVGA) main screen.3 network in November 2006 and was available on AT&T (formerly Cingular). The secondary camera was not available in the United States. The built-in GPU, manufactured by Nvidia (model GoForce 4800) was capable of rendering 3D images through OpenGL ES. The phone included a much faster CPU as well, improving the performance of all features, including 3G/data. With the new CPU, the V3xx also included a fast USB V2.0 for rapid ringtone/image/mp3 file downloads. Older V3"s were limited to USB V1.1.

Motorola Razr maxx (or MotoRazr maxx) was released at the end of 2006 in Europe and on April 27, 2007, elsewhere. The maxx was an upgrade to the popular V3x and was Motorola"s second HSDPA 3.5G phone after the Razr V3xx. Although almost identical to the V3x in use and features, the maxx supported additional external touch keys for music control and retained the size of the original Razr V3.

This handset was released on Telstra"s NextG network under the original name "Motorola Razr maxx V6". It featured compatibility with both the original 2100 MHz band and the NextG band, 850 MHz. The phone was branded with the Telstra logo and on-screen graphics. The phone was released by Telstra for outright purchase in late 2006 at a price of about A$800. The phone was repackaged late in 2007 and sold with a prepaid plan for $250, locked for use only with Telstra SIM cards. Many of the post-paid phones sold by Telstra in 2007 were inadvertently locked.

This handset was released on Hutchison"s 3 network under the name "Motorola Razr maxx V6". The phone and home screen were branded with the 3 logo. Internal memory was increased to 60 MB.

The Razr maxx Ve was available exclusively in the United States for Verizon Wireless customers. The maxx Ve featured EV-DO instead of HSDPA and CDMA2000 1x instead of GSM/UMTS.

The Razr maxx was a 3G HSDPA and EDGE handset predated by the Razr V3x. Initially known as the "maxx V6," it was released in Europe by the end of 2006. The original version had a 2.0-megapixel camera with LED flash, a large 2.2-inch (56 mm) screen with 240x320 QVGA display (like the V3xx) and 50 megabytes of internal storage.

Like the previous Model MS500, Motorola Korea announced its Korean version of WCDMA Razr HSDPA, known as Razr Luk. The MS500W upgrades its screen to 2.2 inch TFT QVGA, 1.3-megapixel camera with Bluetooth, and microSDHC support. The model features different color pattern compare to previous MS500, and hit the Korean market by late February 2009.

The Razr VE20 was an updated CDMA model of the original Razr. It was released in the U.S. for Sprint, Alltel, and US Cellular. It incorporated some of the design elements of the Razr² V9m at a reduced price. Its rounded clamshell body was almost as thin as the Razr V3m. It featured a QVGA main display, outer display with virtual touch keys, 2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and a microSD memory card slot up to 8 Gb.

The Razr2 was the successor to the Razr series. The Razr2 was 2 mm thinner than its predecessor but slightly wider. Some versions featured Motorola"s MotoMagx operational platform, based on the MontaVista Linux OS. The Razr2 was made available on every US carrier, and EVDO, GSM and HSDPA versions of it were released by late 2007. The Razr2 line consisted of 4 models: V8, V9, V9m, and V9x.

The phone improved picture quality, speed, and multimedia capabilities over the original Razr. It also featured an external screen with touch-sensitive buttons which allowed users to use some of the phone features without opening it, and Motorola"s CrystalTalk technology to improve call quality and help reduce background noise.Ferrari Edition.

The Razr brand returned in 2011 with the introduction of the Motorola Droid Razr smartphone (the "Droid" name only used by Verizon in the USA), featuring a thin body like the original Razr V3. The line included:

The Razr (2020), also called the Razr 2019, depending on the source,foldable smartphone with a design reminiscent of the classic Razr V3. It was designed with nostalgia in mind – its design was supposed to remind people of the early 21st century, a time many look back at with fondness and sentiment. It was supposed to be a capable, modern, Android-running smartphone with a "high-tech" folding display and advanced modern features such as a fingerprint sensor, inside of a body that already felt familiar to many. It features a display that folds horizontally, like the familiar V3 and other Razr models from the 2000s, unlike most folding smartphones, which fold vertically.

Motorola presented the phone on November 14, 2019.PC Magazine summed it up: "Motorola"s gorgeous folding Razr doesn"t deliver the performance you expect from a $1,500 phone".The Verge wrote harshly: "I wish I could tell you exactly where I think the Motorola Razr went wrong, but there are too many options to choose from".

Being the slimmest phone during its release in 2004, the Razr easily stood out amongst other phone models. It was one of the most popular mobile phones since its first release, having been spotted in the hands of celebrities and business people alike until the advent of smartphones, and it is frequently seen in reruns of movies and TV shows.

The Razr became identified as a "fashion" product and an iconic cell phone in the mid-2000s.season three finale of the TV series Jack Shephard used a Razr (an important plot point which anchors the episode"s chronology), the HBO hit sitcom Entourage had characters specifically Ari Gold using it, and the US hit series Michael Westen used a Razr until 2009. In Season 5 of 24, President Charles Logan used a Razr as his personal cell phone. Contestants on the NBC adventure reality show "Treasure Hunters" were given Razrs for communication with the host and each other throughout the season.Product Red edition of the Razr was launched by Oprah Winfrey and Bono for charity.Jeremy Clarkson on BBC"s Rex Matheson"s phone in the 4th season of India through the movie Kamal Haasan was seen using the phone. In the computer game Counter-Strike: Source, the character Leet can be seen holding one. In Alexander Mahone used the Motorola V3. Also, in the 2006 film Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci used Moto Razr phones.

What a difference eleven months makes. That’s how long it took Motorola to iterate on the original remake of the Razr. In that time, Motorola has crammed in 5G and improved virtually every aspect of the phone. Virtually every aspect of the original 2019 Razr needed improvement — it was a mess.

This 2020 Razr is fine. But at $1,399, it’s also still incredibly expensive when compared to any other non-folding phone with similar capabilities. Whether that price is anywhere near worth it depends on how much you are willing to give up to have a cool, nostalgia-inducing flip phone with a folding screen.

The new Razr is a cool phone, there’s no doubt. And now that it’s passed a minimum bar of usability and quality, I’ve mostly enjoyed using it. But I wouldn’t enjoy paying for it.

Motorola has done a great job maintaining the classic look and feel of the Razr with this iteration, right on down to the curved edges and jutting chin at the bottom. When closed, it is an elegant, pretty thing. Opened up, it feels thinner than it actually is — it’s about the same thickness as your standard-issue iPhone, but the overall design has that Razr ethos.

The plastic screen feels better, too, thanks to some subtle changes to the hinge system that makes it all just seem a little sturdier. There are still some weird bumps in the middle, but no folding phone has figured out a way to avoid that yet. It’s not the prettiest screen — at 876 x 2142 pixels it has a super tall aspect ratio, and overall its color and clarity looks middling.

Motorola has also added a little more springiness to the flip. It’s possible to flip it open with one hand, but it takes some practice. Once you figure out how to do it, it’s fun. The Razr can’t hold itself up at an angle like the Samsung Z Flip can, but the Z flip isn’t quite as satisfying as a physical thing.

So, nostalgia box checked. But that wasn’t the problem with the original Razr reboot. That 2019 phone literally creaked and made grinding sounds when you opened it. This one is silent and smooth except for the faint hiss of the plastic screen sliding into place as you close it. And unlike Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, it closes completely with no gap since the screen can form a teardrop inside the hinge itself.

The Razr comes in three colors: gold, graphite, and silver. The rear of the phone is flat glass with curved edges, which feels nice but is slippery as all get-out and weirdly doesn’t have a wireless charging coil underneath it. The best you can do there is a 15W USB-C fast charge.

Surprisingly, my major complaint with the hardware has nothing to do with the hinge or the screen, it’s with the fingerprint sensor’s placement. It’s on the back now, hidden within the Motorola logo. It turns out that is an awkward spot, smack in the middle of the phone when it’s open. It doesn’t require contortions to reach it, but it does make unlocking feel like a whole extra step.

The leg up the Razr has over the other flip phone on the market, Samsung’s Z Flip, is that big display on the outside of the phone. Motorola calls it a “quick view” display and it has a few features that are genuinely useful — but sometimes it’s a little buggy.

You can put certain apps on an approved list for the quick view display, letting you run them on its 2.7-inch 800 x 600 screen. Most Android apps are straight up terrible at that size, but it is convenient to reply to a message with it — the keyboard works well with swipes.

The best part of the outer display is that you can use it as a camera viewfinder, letting you take selfies with the better of the two cameras on the Razr.

The new Razr has 5G, though it doesn’t support the higher-speed mmWave version of 5G (no big loss there). It’s also available unlocked and will take a standard SIM card — two things you couldn’t actually get with the original, believe it or not.

Motorola is using the processor you’ll find on most midrange Android phones (like the Pixel 5 and 4A 5G), Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G. It’s paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The upshot of all that is the Razr ran fine in my testing, but I wasn’t throwing a ton of massively complicated games at it.

There are two cameras on the Motorola Razr. The selfie camera on the inside, next to the screen, has a 20-megapixel sensor crammed into a tiny little space. You should use it for videoconferencing and nothing else, as it’s not great.

Luckily, you can take selfies with the main outer camera easily. It has a 48-megapixel sensor that puts out 12-megapixel images. You can use one of Motorola’s custom gestures (a twist of your wrist, in this case) to launch it and then snap photos of yourself all day long.

I just can’t really predict what the Razr will choose to do. In twilight, it would jump to night mode even when it’s not at all necessary. It takes time to get familiar with any new camera, but this one will take a little more getting used to than most to learn its quirks.

As with most phones, you can get really nice photos out of the 2020 Motorola Razr in the right conditions. Most times, colors are a little muted and there’s not much sharpness in the details, then out of nowhere it’ll blow out a flower for no particular reason. Every now and then it’ll seriously impress me, as with the sunset shot in the gallery above. Mostly, though, it’s merely okay, including for selfies and especially in low light. Overall, the thing is mostly competent enough for Instagram.

Add all of that up and you have a camera that is a significant improvement over the camera on the 2019 Razr and a significant disappointment compared to the camera on pretty much any Android phone that costs $600 or more (to say nothing of the $349 Pixel 4A).

I feel like a broken record when it comes to reviewing folding phones, but here goes anyway. At some point, I have to believe that the cost of these flexible screens and carefully engineered hinges will come down. If they did, a device like the 2020 Razr would be a perfectly acceptable midrange phone.

Judged just as a phone, there’s nothing standout on the Razr. The camera could be better, but otherwise it has decent battery life, performance, and even build quality. Judged as a flip phone, the Razr occupies its own well-designed niche next to the main competition, the more ho-hum but better in many ways, Galaxy Z Flip.

I think that $1,400 should get you a phone that is amazing in nearly every possible regard, not just a cool design and a satisfying flip. At half the price, I’d be ten times more excited about it. At this price, the 2020 Razr cuts too sharply into any reasonable budget.

A pair of leaked images from reliable leaker Evan Blass (via 91Mobiles) gives us a first look at what