Ah, the Motorola Razr.
The most iconic, best-selling phone series from Motorola. Headlined by the V3 series, the Razr sold more than 130 million units during its original four-year run—the best-selling clamshell phone in the world to date!
The great news is that Motorola has brought the Razr back. Forget the Samsung Fold and Huawei Mate X. This, i think, is the foldable phone done right.
Launched in Los Angeles last week, I got a brief hands-on with the razr at Lenovo Tech World in Beijing. I have to say, I like it. I really do.
Here are my initial thoughts on it.
So, OK, I really didn’t have much time with it. About 15 minutes to be exact, and shared amongst other Lenovo Insiders I was with in Beijing. My opinions here are strictly nothing conclusive; just very early impressions.
First, the design. Motorola stayed true to the much-loved razor thin design, even down to the prominent chin. The chin this time around houses the optical fingerprint scanner, vibration motor, antennas and connectivity modules like GPS and Wi-Fi.
It feels rock solid in the hand with a good heft to it. Being compact in folded form, it fits the hand nicely and also your pocket. Flipping it open is satisfying when you get it right. It’s slammed shut pretty well, so you’ll need to dig your finger in and flick the top panel. With some practice, it’s extremely satisfying!
If you’re worried about durability and fragility of the flipping mechanism, well, let’s just say you don’t have to treat it like a Samsung Fold or Mate X. Motorola is confident of the special hinge the developed for the Razr. Check out this video.
Speaking of which, the display is a 6.2-inch pOLED panel with HD resolution and 21:9 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, technology hasn’t quite caught up with our obsession with folding screens, so no glass based one just yet. The display on the Razr isn’t bad though, and the unique hinge has enabled it to have less of a notable crease.
Inside, at the top, there’s also a 5MP selfie-camera, although technically you can shoot selfies in clamshell form via the 16MP f/1.7 main camera. There’s a 2.7-inch external display on the front that shows the time, notifications and alerts. And also to take and check on selfies.
To take a selfie, you can twist your wrist twice with the razr in hand and it will launch the selfie camera. Smile and it will take your picture! This is probably familiar to you if you’ve owned a Moto device before (part of Moto Actions).
Under the hood, the Razr runs a mid-range Snapdragon 710 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The 4G phone supports on eSIM and comes with an average sized 2,510mAh. It remains to be seen how far the battery can take the phone in daily use but Moto claims a full day of use. It charges up via USB-C by the way, and in the box you’ll get a 15W Turbo Power fast charging power brick.
It’s a shame it doesn’t run Android 10, with instead Andoid 9 Pie out-of-the-box. But this phone has been four years in the making, and I’m sure the update will come soon enough.
I must say I love how it feels in the hand, and the fact that Motorola has made the Razr true to its original design makes it pretty compelling. You must agree with me here, it looks cool right?
The USD1,500 price tag might draw a “are you flipping mad?” reaction from some, but honestly, you can’t stop a fanboy from getting this. This one is clearly for die hard fans, early adopters and collectors.
For the moment, you can pre-order from 26 December. It’s going to be a Verizon exclusive in the US, and you’ll be able to get it directly from Verizon, Motorola and Walmart. It hits stores in January 2020.
TL;DR version
Special thanks to Lenovo INsiders who donated their sexy hands for the video:
- Laura Fasano – https://instagram.com/tecnolaura
- Arthur Walker – https://Instagram.com/arthurwalker
- Lawrence Mann – https://instagram.com/lawrencecandraw
- Carsten Kay Olhoeft – https://instagram.com/technikfaultier
For more Lenovo Tech World stuff, follow hashtags #LenovoIN #LenovoTechWorld
Disclosure: I attended Tech World as a guest of Lenovo as part of the Lenovo INsiders programme. All opinions are my own.
So, what do you think of the 2019 Moto Razr? Leave your comments below!
