Motorola Razr Plus (2023) review: The best flipping foldable right now

Motorola Razr Plus (2023)

Pros and cons

pros

• Solid performance with minimal form factor issues
• The 3.6-inch external display is useful and considerate
• First foldable with dust resistance

Shortcoming

• Moderate battery life with slow charging
• no telephoto camera
• Some LTE Signal Problems

More Buying Choices

As LL Cool J once said, “Don’t call it a comeback. Motorola has been here for years.“Okay, I moved a word or two in there for context, but the point is right there.

with new motorola razr plusThe company is leaving no stone unturned to establish itself as the leading foldable phone maker in the US, even though its two previous attempts have been flops and flops.

It now has a larger 3.6-inch outdoor display, the phone comes in some of the trendiest colors on the market, and the overall design really makes you question how much progress Samsung has made with its foldables over the past four years.

And as its closest rival plans to unveil its 2023 foldable in a month’s time, there’s no better opportunity for Motorola to break into the market. After spending a little over a week with the Razr Plus, here’s what Moto got right — and what it got wrong.

Specifications

What’s new in this model

With the Razr Plus, Motorola is in stiff competition against Samsung’s popular Galaxy Z Flip model. So, to win the hearts of early adopters, tech enthusiasts and the everyday user, the company must tread carefully while balancing innovative benefits without jeopardizing the fragility of foldable form factors. Here’s how Moto did it.

1. An External Display That Does More

There is no denying that the main feature of the Razr Plus is its 3.6-inch, 144Hz, OLED display. It’s something I’ve been waiting for with Samsung’s four-year-old Galaxy Z Flip series. And while Samsung was rumored to have granted that wish during its Unpacked event in July, Moto’s interpretation has stolen all the thunder — and for good reason.

In addition to serving as a quick access portal to notifications, alarms, and text messages, the external display on the Razr Plus gives the phone — hear me out — a second life. Using the Moto Display feels more like a secondary, smaller phone than a large smartwatch. You can interact with apps and services just as you would when you opened your phone. That aspect alone makes the Razr Plus more attractive than its clamshell competitors.

Naturally, I’ve found the handset to be an ideal car companion. With the display folded and mounted (shown above), swiping and controlling Spotify playlists, glancing at incoming notifications, and making phone calls are within arm’s reach. Should I need the larger 6.9-inch panel for clear navigation, I simply lift up the top half, and voila.

Also read: Motorola Razr Plus vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4: Who did it better?

External performance is not perfect; Notifications often wake up the screen, triggering the error vibration because I’m not actively looking at the automatic face unlock detection, and the high refresh rate panel feels excessive. But I respect Motorola’s thoughtfulness and volatile mindset when designing the Razr Plus. You are getting your money’s worth here.

2. Software That Just Works

I’ll admit: I’ve only recently gotten back to testing Motorola phones, so my expectations for My UX, its custom skin over Android, were mostly neutral in this review. Furthermore, designing software for a foldable is no easy task; It only requires opening the Instagram app and a few split-screen gestures to see the system’s flaws. But this is different. This is a flip phone.

Also: AT&T is selling the Motorola Razr Plus for $180 off, no trade-in required

Unlike phone-to-tablet foldables, flip phones are basically regular slabs that can bend in the center. The physical change in form factor doesn’t affect the way you tap, scroll and swipe through the user interface – at least not completely. The experience for surfing the web, scrolling through news feeds, and answering calls is still the same, except for angling the internal display for hands-free pictures and videos. This commonality not only makes it easier for manufacturers to customize the software, but also makes it easier for users to master its utility.

During my one week of use, I was pleasantly surprised by the Razr Plus. Old-timey features like Moto’s chop and twist gestures to activate the flashlight and camera, respectively, are still present. And given the lack of bloatware, except for the pre-installed games and Moto’s own apps for the external display, I felt comfortable with it. 256GB onboard storage,

3. Dust Resistance Is Game-Changing

Durability remains one of the biggest questions with foldables, and with the Razr Plus, Motorola has managed to solve half of this equation. The phone is given an IP52 rating, which isn’t quite as water-resistant as Samsung’s foldable at IPX8 (emphasis on the “8”), but notably more protective from dust and particles.

The “5” in IP52 means resistance to limited dust ingress Rainford Solutions, That’s a first for a foldable, and means there’ll be less wear and tear from dropping the Razr Plus in a dusty pocket, backpack or even sand than if you dropped one of its competitors .

Also: The Galaxy Z Flip 4 Solves These Two Big Problems for Me

This feat becomes all the more impressive when you realize that the two halves of the Razr Plus fold together perfectly, and there’s a minimal gap at the hinge. The hinge has also been engineered to exert less pressure on the flexible glass display, leaving a less prominent crease on the centerfold. Galaxy Z Flip 4as shown above.

what i would like to see in the next model

Although Motorola gets a lot of things right with the Razr Plus, it also has flaws. How small the phone is, let alone the fact that it’s foldable, is one of the most obvious tradeoffs that exist with this device.

1. Bigger Battery, Faster Charging, or Both

Starting with battery life and charging. I get it: You can’t have a compact phone, a big external display, and a big battery at the same time. But when you’ve got two displays running at high refresh rates, an older, less efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor under the hood, and a motherboard that gets hot when you play a video for more than 3 minutes, you’re going to need a hard drive. Will have to work hard. To get more than a day’s worth of battery life out of this thing.

My review unit’s aggressive dialing between 4G LTE and 5G signaling may also play a role in its moderate endurance.

Also: This is by far the most convenient power strip I’ve ever used

The biggest thing for me is the amount of time it takes to charge the phone. Motorola has limited the charging rate to 30W, which is much lower than 45W, 65W and even 100W solutions on similarly priced handsets. For how much the company is focusing on Gen Z and content creators as the Razr Plus’s target audience, I’d argue that battery life and charging speeds are just as important as the camera features.

2. A telephoto camera for distant pictures

The larger outer display also means Moto will need to house two camera lenses on the back, a 12MP wide and a 13MP ultra-wide. I was from what I caught just satisfied How the Razer Plus handled dynamic range and sharpness. Sure, subjects can appear colder and washed out than they are in real life, but the camera has an innate sense of when to focus on a single subject and when to focus on everything in the frame , as shown in the samples below. The ability to quickly focus, snap, and shoot should appeal to most people.

When I was testing the Razr Plus’s camera system, I had a particular desire for a telephoto lens – something that could let me get that far without losing much detail or relying on post-processing to reproduce the scene flawlessly. Will allow the subjects to be physically captured. Portrait mode is present in the Camera app, and I’ve seen it work to some extent on phones without telephoto lenses (eg iphone 14), but the Moto camera proved to be a hit or miss.

ground level

razor plus It’s a return to form from Motorola, modernizing a classic flip phone into one of the best foldables out there today. Most impressively, at $999, it costs the same samsung galaxy z flip 4 (and possibly the upcoming Z Flip 5), you’re getting a noticeably better handset thanks to its larger external display, 256GB of base storage, and higher refresh rate. And I haven’t even talked about that Viva Magenta, vegan-leather finish that makes the Razr Plus uniquely Motorola.

should i buy one?

If you’ve been undecided about making the switch to a foldable phone, this might be the most accessible ticket on the innovation wagon. The clamshell form factor, paired with the external display, makes the Razr Plus as applicable to aspiring content creators as it is to users who seek memories of early 2000s flip phones.

options to consider

best folding option

samsung galaxy z flip 4

Arguably Samsung’s best clamshell foldable since the Motorola Razr Plus, comes with more water resistance and a higher chance of being on sale.

Best alternative to big screen

google pixel fold

For something bigger, Google’s new Pixel Fold matches stock Android with a phone-to-tablet form factor.

best motorola alternatives

Motorola Edge Plus (2023)

If you like Motorola’s features but not the foldable aspect of the Razr Plus, check out the company’s cheaper Edge Plus.