After years of dormancy, Motorola has finally resuscitated its iconic Razr brand. But don’t think you’ll be flipping your phone like it’s 2004, no, the company has traded in a retro keypad and an archaic display for a single pliable OLED.
From the outside, you’d be forgiven for thinking Motorola dug up a dusty box of old Razr V3’s and slapped a foldable display inside. The new Razr really looks like the original but actually has a number of contemporary upgrades, such as a physical fingerprint scanner on its bottom lip, to bring it up to 2019 standards.
The new Razr has two screens, a 6.2-inch HD Flex View display inside with a notch at the top and an external Quick View Display that provides quick access to notifications and can be used to interact with apps such as skipping songs on Spotify for instance. Selfie lovers rejoice, you can also use the panel as a camera viewfinder.
Additionally, you can also seamlessly transition from one display to another while keeping apps intact. That means if you’re choosing your tunes on Spotify on the Quick View Display, you can flip the device open and you’ll be whisked into a fully fledged version of the app on the 6.2-inch OLED.
To construct the handset, Motorola had to completely rethink the hinge that made the 2004 Razr so intuitive (and let’s admit, incredibly fun) to open and close. The firm’s new design trades in its circular appearance for one that’s squared off at the top – personally, we think this makes the device look more compact overall.
Motorola is making a big song and dance about its new hinge mechanism. More specifically, the firm has declared, when folded, the Razr’s Flex View display sits in a relaxed position which should prevent creasing. This has been a particular issue for a number of other foldable devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
The body of the device is made of stainless steel and not the aluminium present on most other smartphones on the market.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 710 chipset should keep the device ticking along. Although it’s worth noting this isn’t as powerful as the American manufacturer’s flashy Snapdragon 855 Plus silicon. The 710 is accompanied by 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Camera-wise, the new Razr boasts a single 16-megapixel shooter on its outside. The sensor offers a regular wide field of view, so you won’t be treated to improved zooming or a flashy ultra wide-angle. There’s also a single front-facing camera for selfies that’s five-megapixels.
Motorola is claiming the new Razr can deliver up to 36 hours of battery on a single charge. However, there 2,510mAh battery inside certainly isn’t huge by today’s standards, so we’ll have to put that to the test.
There’s a couple other things you should know about the Razr. It’s not waterproof, so if you accidentally drop the device in a puddle while showing off its retro flipping design to your friends it might not survive.
Additionally, the Razr comes pre-installed with Android 9 Pie and not Google’s all-singing, all-dancing Android 10. So if you pick up the handset you won’t have the latest and greatest software on offer.
So what’s the price of all this glorious nostalgia? Brace yourself. The new Motorola Razr costs $1,499.99 in the US (UK pricing hasn’t yet been confirmed). Motorola has declared the foldable mobile will launch in the US and “select European markets” from December. Unfortunately, we don’t yet know if the UK will be included in the initial roll-out.
The Chicago-based firm has said the new Razr will come to Asia, Latin America and Australia in January.