Hello Moto: this is the new foldable-display Motorola RAZR
Hello Moto! 2019 may not be the year of 5G, but it’s certainly the year that major brands are betting big money on foldable-display smartphones. Say hello to the new Motorola RAZR, the third major foldable-display smartphone to be officially unveiled this year.
Since nearly all slab smartphones pretty much look identical these days, you’d be forgiven if you assumed that the Motorola RAZR was just like the other smartphones in its category. Sure, the phone features a flexible AMOLED panel on the inside, just like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Motorola is using the display technology to bring back the iconic design of the original RAZR. That’s right, what you’re looking at here is the comeback of the flip phone, with all the high-tech features you’ve come to expect from an Android smartphone.
Naturally, the main attraction here is the phone’s 6.18 inches AMOLED display which packs in 876 x 2142 pixels with a 21.5:9 aspect ration which is comparable to Sony’s latest smartphones. On the inside, the phone is powered by a mid-range Snapdragon 710 from Qualcomm which is a respectable chipset that should provide decent battery life thanks to the built-in 2510 mAh battery. The pone will come with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage options along with a 16MP IMX 519 main camera and an 8MP selfie camera located in the notch above the foldable-display.
While we haven’t yet tested the quality of the cameras, the Motorola RAZR should have an advantage over the competition when it comes to taking selfies since the main camera can be used for this purpose as well since the phone also features a secondary display on the front for notification and as a selfie viewfinder.
As for the phone’s foldable display functionality, there really isn’t anything special to talk about besides the interactions between the two displays which allow you continue where you left off when you move from the outside display when you flip the RAZR open.
The display itself is quite similar to that of the Galaxy Fold, but Motorola’s unique hinge allows the flexible display panel to fold completely without a visible gap since the hinge has enough space for the panel to create a teardrop shape inside of it. The AMOLED panel is also coated with a nanocoating to make it water-resistant and Motorola seems to be quite a bit more confident about the foldable display’s durability than Samsung has been with the Galaxy Fold.
The usual Motorola gestures have naturally been included as well, allowing you to turn the flashlight or camera on with a few flicks of your wrist. The build of Android that’s being used is Android 9 with very new tweaks to it, just like all other Motorola devices.
Despite the Motorola RAZR making its debut in mid-November, you won’t be able to get your hands on the phone until 2020. Motorola will start taking pre-orders of the RAZR on December 26th with phone shipping out on January 9th for $1,500. It’s certainly not cheap, but we doubt Motorola will have any issue selling the new RAZR for those looking for an alternative to Samsung’s foldable-display smartphone.