It’s time to rejoice if you are among those people who remember the most iconic Motorola Razr Flip mobile phone way back in mid-2000. It is back and now it’s an Android phone with a foldable screen.
The new Motorola Razr has the same name with a nearly identical design, yet modernized. This new gadget is an ultra-sleek smartphone that has a large screen and folds into a square-like device.
But the design of the new Motorola phone does not imitate the Samsung Galaxy Fold. It has a different take on the designing of a foldable form factor. There are lots of things to know about this brand new smartphone, so continue reading for all the details like the release dates, its price, design, and many more.
Motorola Razr price and release date
The 2019 Moto Razr will cost around $1500 when you will pre-order through Verizon on 26th December. A bit of relief when considering this phone to the Galaxy Fold, priced for $1980. Verizon will offer a $62.49 monthly payment plan spread over 24 months if you don’t want to pay at once.
The Motorola Razr price may not be that high for a foldable smartphone, but so far as the hardware specs of the new Motorola Razr is concerned, it’s a bit expensive. In the United Kingdom, the Razr 2019 will be available on EE with pre-orders opening in December.
The company gave some hints that there will be pre-orders in European countries, Asia, Australia, and Latin America in December. The final Motorola Razr release date would be somewhere in January 2020. The executives at Motorola have confirmed that this phone will be out for sale in Asia, Australia, and Latin America at some point in time.
The company is yet to announce the price for these markets, although it can be assumed that Razr 2019 will have a price tag of £1500 in the UK.
Motorola Razr specs
Going through its specifications, the new Razr will not have the processing power as other foldable phones like the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X. According to reports, the company will employ Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset coupled with 4 gigabytes RAM and 64 gigabytes of storage. Another model with 6 gigabytes RAM and 128 gigabytes of internal storage will be made available.
Although the 710 chipset supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology, still it’s not clear exactly what type of fast charging the new Razr will offer. The company has equipped this phone with a battery capacity of 2510 mAh.
That’s significantly a small battery when compared to the battery in Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X phones. However, the short battery life of the new phone will not have a negative impact because the device is not that big. It was expected that the company would fit a much bigger battery in its flagship foldable phone.
Motorola Razr 2019 design
Motorola kept the design of its original version that came in 2004, albeit with a modern twist. The new Razr will retain the iconic flip design seen on the original handset and a secondary screen on the outside casing for notifications.
The new Razr will have a hinge that will remain hidden from your view by the display when you will use the phone. It has an expansive screen with accurate aspect ratios that will make your multimedia content look vivid without noises.
It may not feel like the old rugged light Razr because the new one is a little denser, wider, and a bit harder to open with one hand. Other than the nostalgic feeling, this phone has less impressive specs compared to other smartphone brands. Even the central display screen is similar to an average phone, and the resolution isn’t remarkable.
But the innovative hamburger-style’ folding design of this phone is pretty much impressive. This foldable phone fits in the pocket perfectly. When folded, this device fits in your hand quite easily. It has a black metal textured back and a glass cover. Under the screen is the rear camera. When the phone is folded, this camera becomes the front-facing shooting camera.
The rear panel of the phone is made of metal, which affirms that the phone will not support wireless charging. The bottom part comprises antennas, USB Type-C ports, speakers, and fingerprint touch sensors. The Razr 2019 doesn’t have a facial unlocking feature, and the touch sensor is a bit awkward to use.
The Motorola Razr uses eSIM and has no extra slots for SIM cards or expandable memory cards. There is an absence of a 3.5 mm headphone jack as well. A lock button and a volume rocker are present on the right side, which is too slim.
Moto Razr 2019 display
The clamshell smartphone features a 2.7-inches external display of 800X600 resolution with an aspect ratio of 4:3 and an internal 6.2-inches OLED display of 2142X876 resolution with an aspect ratio of 21:9.
The phone’s external screen displays notifications about phone calls, messages, and emails. You can respond quickly to the messages with the help of canned responses or by voice message. The playback control buttons are displayed on the exterior screen when you are listening to music.
Google Assistant is incorporated in the Quick View display, and responses pop up on the screen. The Quick View displays hands over the task to the interior display whenever you tap on the message on the external screen. Suppose you want to reply to an email, tapping on the external display will prompt you to continue on the interior display screen.
The 6.2-inches OLED panel may not be impressive when viewing streaming videos. Many contents will not get the full-screen resolution and far less sharp. Some video samples had black bars on the bottom or top and side of the screen. The display quality needs further improvement compared to other phones, and hopefully, these things may get rectified.
Although you might feel the hinge while running your fingers in the middle portion of the screen, but it is still better than Galaxy Fold, where the visible seam will catch your attention, the exterior screen is far sharper and makes selfies enjoyable. The phone captures a photo as you tap the screen or press the volume button or even better; just turn on a smile for the shutter’ option.
Moto Razr durability
The company approached the foldable technique from a completely different perspective, and that seemed to have worked miraculously to Motorola’s advantage.
For example, taking a dip at the Galaxy Fold design, you will notice that two phones were piled facing each other, which unfolds into a tablet that is connected by a hinge with a minute gapping. The Razr, on the other hand, is a phone that gets halved upon folding, and the two pieces sit against each other.
There is no gapping because the steel hinges connect the sliding support plates. The display gets support from the plates and keeps it stiff when it is fully extended. The hinges push the plate out of its way. Hence you will not find any crease in the center display, unlike Galaxy Fold.
There are reports that indicate the company was working with Lenovo for a few years and evolved many prototypes before finalizing the foldable display of the new Razr. Motorola is very much confident in its hinge design and hasn’t disclosed how many folds the phone can withstand before giving up. The company won’t even caution the buyers about taking care of the display screen.
The company will provide a 1-year warranty which will replace broken screens and alternatively you can buy the screen with $299 if the warranty period is over. Motorola thinks that the new Razr will be vulnerable to kinds of problems Galaxy Fold experienced that forced the company to push back its launch.
Moto Razr cameras
The Moto Razr 2019 has put a 16 megapixels rear camera and a 5 megapixels camera front camera. The 16MP camera is housed at the phone’s center, which turns in to a rear-facing camera as soon as the phone is flipped open. The 5MP camera is placed in a notch in the interior display.
The exciting part is that both these cameras can click selfies, but the exterior lens can capture better and really fun to use. Gently twist your wrist with the phone held in your hand to get a preview of the selfie-cam on the small Quick View display.
Down to a single-lens camera and improved software, the new Razr takes quality photographs. The camera app on the phone is just like other Motorola phones that have a simple menu for standard photography, video, and different modes such as panorama, night mode, etc.
The primary camera lens is equipped with a night vision mode that will capture stunning photos in low light. The Smart Recognition feature will help to frame your captures as a professional photographer would. The 5MP camera lens perched at the top of the interior screen captures images less sharp than the other one.
Moto Razr performance
For the price range quoted above, it was expected that the phone would be rich in high-end features that include Qualcomm’s top-performing Snapdragon 855 processor, a robust camera, and sleek design. However, the design and camera features appear to be fine, but the specs may seem to lag behind from expectations.
The new Moto Razr 2019 will be powered by Snapdragon 710 2.2 GHz octa-core processor combined with 6 gigabytes RAM. This CPU is designed for optimum power consumption rather than raw performance. So you can be sure that you cannot derive enough performance from this phone.
You may wonder why a device that is highly-priced cannot have a robust performance. But if you go through the designing of this phone, you will realize that the sleek design will not support bigger hardware for high performance, and it will drain more battery.
The new Razr will run on Android 9, which means that you will miss many features of Android 10. The device will support Motorola gestures that work even when the phone is closed or opened. The Snapdragon 710 CPU powers the AI (artificial intelligence) features, which include Smart Recognition and Night Vision.
Motorola Razr 2019 battery
The company says that much emphasis was put on the designing of the gadget, and for this reason, some sacrifices have to be made. The biggest weakness of the new Razr might be the battery, which has a capacity of 2510mAH.
The company assures and claims that the battery will not dry out and keep juiced up for a whole day, although you may get some relief to learn that the Snapdragon 710 CPU helps to maximize the battery power by optimizing the usage of the software.
It is not sure whether the battery can stand for long hours, but the battery life can be improved by some behavior changes of the user. Using the small front screen instead of the bigger screen might help a little bit to preserve battery and watching fewer media content.
High-end users may face challenging situations. The Moto Razr comes with a TurboPower charger of 15 watts and doesn’t support wireless charging.
First impression
The rebirth of the new Motorola Razr after 15 years from its original one isn’t just nostalgia, but it is a fully equipped foldable smartphone with lots of functional and fun features. It is true that the processor might not be the best and robust one, cameras have decent features, and the battery life is very average.
But on a broader spectrum, the Razr 2019 may be the complete foldable phone because it solves issues relating to screen crease and builds quality in a convincing and proper way rather than solutions provided by Samsung or Huawei.
The phone may have average specs and too expensive compared to other powerful phones, but the feeling that it still exists can excite you in many ways.
Conclusion
Motorola Razr will be the most exciting phone to be launched in 2020 and what a great year it would be. Once again Motorola enters into the big league of extraordinary creation.
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