The Motorola Razr: A Legacy Reimagined – Is the Razr 50 Worth the Hype?
The iconic Motorola Razr, a name synonymous with stylish minimalism and groundbreaking design, has returned in a modern foldable guise. After several iterations, we now have the Razr 50, a compelling contender in the increasingly competitive foldable phone market. This in-depth review delves into the Razr 50’s design, display, performance, camera capabilities, battery life, and overall value, providing you with a comprehensive analysis to help you decide if this nostalgic yet modern device is the right choice for you. We’ll compare it to its competitors and determine if its compelling features outweigh potential shortcomings.
Motorola Razr 50 Design: A Refined Blend of Classic and Modern
The Razr 50 boasts a design significantly improved over its predecessor, the Razr 40. While maintaining the signature rounded corners and curved sides, the front showcases a more polished and sophisticated aesthetic. On the back, the flat hinge design is prominent, accompanied by a vegan leather finish on the lower part of the phone and a thin strip at the top. This leather finish adds both a tactile appeal and enhanced grip. The review unit’s "Spritz Orange" colour is a standout visually, immediately grabbing attention.
Ergonomics and Build Quality
Button placement mirrors last year’s model, with volume and power keys conveniently located on the right edge of the top half. The power button cleverly incorporates a fingerprint scanner, providing a seamless unlocking experience. The SIM tray is accessible on the left side, while the bottom edge neatly houses the USB Type-C port, speaker, and microphone.
The hinge mechanism is a key highlight. Motorola claims a 30 percent volume reduction compared to previous models, accompanied by enhanced durability and IPX8 water resistance. This improved hinge offers excellent dust protection, though caution is urged against leaving dust particles on the inner panel when closing the phone, as this may cause damage. The hinge’s construction utilizes stainless steel for the cover and 6000 series aluminum for the frame, lending a premium feel enhanced by a smooth satin finish. The short hinge range ensures effortless one-handed opening (though not completely effortless) and supports various use cases including tent mode, camcorder mode, and tabletop stand mode. The inclusion of a new floating plate within the hinge aims to minimize stress on the folding screen and reduce the visible crease. While Motorola promotes a "nearly creaseless" display, a crease is indeed present, although it’s less noticeable during everyday use, becoming more apparent only when closely examining the screen at certain angles or running a finger across it.
Motorola Razr 50 Display: A Significant Leap Forward
The Razr 50 marks a decisive upgrade in display technology, particularly with its external screen. Gone is the smaller, less functional display of the Razr 40, replaced by a generous 3.63-inch 10-bit OLED panel boasting a 90Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 1,700 nits, and HDR 10 support. The cutouts for the cameras and LED flash are neatly integrated into the design. Though not ideal for extended video viewing, it’s perfectly suitable for various tasks, including a selection of pre-installed cover screen games. Outdoors, visibility remains excellent.
Internal Display and Performance
Unfolding the Razr 50 reveals a 6.9-inch pOLED LTPO display with a 120Hz refresh rate, peak brightness reaching 3,000 nits, and HDR10+ support . Three colour modes are available: Natural, Radiant, and Vivid. The Natural mode is recommended for its balanced colour accuracy, while Radiant and Vivid tend towards oversaturation. The display’s 22:9 aspect ratio is advantageous for movie viewing but less ideal for standard 16:9 content such as YouTube videos. Readability is impressive even under direct sunlight, though minor reflections may be noticeable.
Both the internal and external displays support Widevine L1, enabling full HD streaming from services like Netflix.
Motorola Razr 50 Software: A Refined Android Experience
The Razr 50 runs on Android 14 with Motorola’s My UX overlay – A nearly stock Android experience. This clean interface is further enhanced by several Moto apps and features, including Moto Secure, Family Space, Moto Unplugged, and Smart Connect, but none feel overly intrusive. A few pre-installed apps are included, yet these are easily removable, avoiding the burden of typical bloatware. Motorola incorporates several AI-powered tools; Style Sync permits the creation of custom wallpapers from captured photos, while Magic Canvas (requiring a Moto account) leverages text prompts to generate unique images.
Cover Screen Functionality and Software Updates
A significant aspect of the software is its optimization for the larger external display. This enables a wide range of apps to be run directly from the cover screen, adding considerable practicality and convenience. This extends to game support, with several titles running smoothly and making use of the cover screen’s functionality. Integration with Google Gemini, including a complimentary three-month subscription to Gemini Advanced, adds another dimension, offering a unique interactive experience on the cover screen. Software updates are assured with Motorola’s commitment to three years of Android OS updates and four years of security updates.
Motorola Razr 50 Performance: A Mixed Bag
A notable shortcoming lies in the choice of processor; the Razr 50 employs a MediaTek Dimensity 7300X chipset, unlike the Snapdragon processor found in the Razr 50 Ultra. Paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, the performance proves adequate for day-to-day tasks such as messaging and web browsing, yet shortcomings appear during more demanding activities like intensive multitasking or app launching. Benchmark tests reveal results that, while not disastrous, lag behind competing devices such as the Tecno Phantom V Flip.
| Benchmark | Motorola Razr 50 | Tecno Phantom V Flip | Oppo Find N3 Flip |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnTuTu v10 | 647,833 | 706,648 | 1,027,655 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 12,932 | 14,392 | 15,150 |
Gaming performance, however, demonstrates a respectable level of capability; titles such as BGMI and Asphalt 9 run adequately, avoiding noticeable lag and excessive heating. Minor performance stutters are occasionally experienced when using the Camera app or when switching between camera modes.
Motorola Razr 50 Cameras: Capable, But Not Class-Leading
The Razr 50 shares its main 50-megapixel camera (f/1.7, OIS) with the Ultra model and incorporates a 32-megapixel internal selfie camera. Unlike the Ultra, though, the standard Razr 50 features a 13-megapixel ultrawide camera. The cover screen provides a convenient selfie-shooting interface using either the main or ultrawide camera, also incorporating a split-screen mode for enhanced control.
Photo and Video Quality
Daylight photos from the main camera reveal admirable detail and dynamic range with minimal noise. Yet, noticeable sharpening and oversaturation are present; colours appear slightly enhanced beyond their natural states. The ultrawide camera, Conversely, produces inferior quality images, showing less detail, darker shadows, and colour inconsistencies. It struggles with dynamic range and white balance. Low light performance from the main camera remains respectable, though white balance inaccuracies are sometimes encountered. The ultrawide struggles significantly in low light conditions. A Night mode is incorporated, beneficial primarily for the main camera. The 2x digital zoom and Macro mode offer additional capabilities, producing reasonably good photos, though noise increase is perceptible with digital zoom.
Video recording is offered in 4K at 30fps across all cameras. Daylight videos from the main camera are detailed, yet again, slight colour saturation is observable. Stabilization is acceptable, though shaking may become significant during movement.
Motorola Razr 50 Battery: All-Day Endurance
The Razr 50 houses a 4,200mAh battery, providing impressive all-day battery life, surpassing expectations even considering its dual-screen design. Screen-on time consistently exceeds 7 hours, and it easily handles a full day of fairly intensive usage due to optimizing usage on the cover screen.
Charging and Wireless Capabilities
Supporting 30W fast charging, the battery charges from 10 to 100 percent within approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes. A 33W charger is included in the box. Furthermore, 15W wireless charging is also supported.
Motorola Razr 50 Verdict: A Stylish Contender
The Motorola Razr 50, priced competitively, presents a strong contender in the foldable phone market. However, it faces direct competition from devices such as the Oppo Find N3 Flip, which exhibits better performance and camera quality, albeit with a less versatile external display. The Tecno Phantom V Flip, though an alternative, doesn’t offer improvements over the Razr 50’s features.
The Motorola Razr 50 ultimately excels in several key aspects. Its stunning design, impressive larger external display, excellent battery life, fast charging, IPX8 rating, compact form factor, AI features and refined software all contribute to a compelling user experience. Its camera system provides mostly satisfying results for everyday photos though it may slightly fall short of higher-end offerings.
The device’s primary weakness lies in its processor, resulting in occasionally underwhelming performance. Despite this, the Razr 50 remains a stylish and capable foldable device, especially for users prioritizing design and battery life over raw processing power. It presents a clear upgrade over previous-generation Razr phones, offering a compelling blend of nostalgia and modern technological advancements.
