The rebirth of the Motorola Razr has been rumoured for several months now and the Lenovo-owned company is embracing diversity in the world of foldables, with the return of one of its most iconic smartphone models.
As much as Motorola has kept the Razr name alive in some form or another well into the Android era, nothing so far has been able to recapture the magic of the once-mighty brand.
However, from the looks of things, the new Motorola Razr (2019) is a lovely bit of symmetry. The android smartphone was announced on 13th November in Los Angeles, and It’s a flip phone in an age when no one makes calls anymore.
Motorola Razr (2019) specs and features
Motorola Razr (2019) comes with a 6.20-inch touchscreen primary display with a resolution of 876×2142 pixels and an aspect ratio of 21:9. It also features another Quick View screen on the outside of the device with a 2.7” OLED panel and a resolution of 600 x 800 pixels with an aspect ratio of 4:3.
It is powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor and comes with 6GB of RAM.
Running Android 9.0 Pie (for now), the Motorola Razr (2019) packs 128GB of inbuilt storage and is powered by a 2510mAh non-removable battery and supports proprietary fast charging. The device is a single SIM smartphone that accepts an eSIM card.
As far as the cameras are concerned, the Motorola Razr (2019) on the rear packs a 16-megapixel camera with an f/1.7 aperture and a pixel size of 1.22-micron. The rear camera setup has laser autofocus. It sports a 5-megapixel camera on the front for selfies, with an f/2.0 aperture and a pixel size of 1.12-micron.
Connectivity options on the Motorola Razr (2019) include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/No, GPS, Bluetooth v5.00, NFC, USB Type-C, 3G, and 4G (with support for Band 40 used by some LTE networks in India). On the phone, sensors include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, compass/ magnetometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, and fingerprint sensor.
The Motorola Razr (2019) measures 172.00 x 72.00 x 6.90mm (height x width x thickness) and weighs 205.00 grams and was launched in Noir Black colour.
For all that, it costs $1,500, which is roughly $500 less than Huawei and Samsung are charging for their (albeit larger) folding phones, but it’s $500 more than a new iPhone 11 Pro or Galaxy S10. That’s a hefty price to pay for updated nostalgia.
As it hits shelves early next year, pre-orders are to begin on December 26, 2019, at select retailers before a release date sometime in January 2020 in the US.
The camera and battery life aren’t anything to write home about, although the camera is good on paper, except Motorola have never been known for top-notch camera software. The screen is plastic. The processor is slow. It’s mad expensive, cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Fold, yet pricier than the iPhone 11. But … the new Motorola Razr is a phone you’d still want to have in your hands.
Despite its shortfalls, the Motorola Razr looks so cool, and whether intended or not, the folding mechanism is a piece of engineering genius that could solve a smartphone problem that no one else is trying to solve. Why? Because the Razr is perhaps the most pocketable smartphone on the market. It will actually fit in your pocket!
Motorola achieved this ultimate pocketability with an ingeniously well-engineered hinge. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Razr is perfectly flat when folded: it has no gap. The Razr has two pieces of metal that snap up against the screen to hold it firmly in place when it’s opened.
Another byproduct of the flip phone is a second screen. The good thing about this is that it lets you use the phone without unfolding it for almost all important features like calls, taking selfies, turning some basic settings off/on and talking to the Google Assistant.
However, Motorola is well aware of the troubling releases of other foldable phones, and in a statement, the company noted:
“We have full confidence in the durability of the Flex View display, and based on our research, it will last for the average lifespan of a smartphone. We acknowledge this is a brand new technology and we are committed to continue improving as the industry evolves. Therefore, we’ve created a world class service package to make sure every Razr customer has an exceptional experience.”
Should defects occur during normal use, Motorola will repair or replace the device free of charge. For anything outside warranty – which lasts one year in the US – the device’s display can be swapped out for $299.
Non-US service plans will be announced later.
