With the new Razr 40 Ultra, the company is not going overboard to establish itself as the first manufacturer of foldable smartphones, even if its two previous attempts were a success and then a flop.
The Razr 40 Ultra marks Motorola’s return to a familiar but modernized form of the classic flip phone to make it one of today’s best foldable smartphones.
The 3.6” external display is now bigger, with the phone coming in some of the trendiest colors around and the overall design makes us wonder how much progress Samsung has made in foldable smartphones over the years. of the last four years.
And with its closest competitor expected to unveil its 2023 versions of foldable smartphones very soon, there’s no better opportunity for Motorola to take on the market. After spending just over a week with the Razr 40 Ultra, here’s what Moto does right, and what it doesn’t.
The advantages of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
- Solid performance with minimal format constraints.
- The useful and well-thought-out 3.6” external screen.
- First dust-resistant foldable device.
The disadvantages of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
- Moderate battery life and slow battery charging.
- No telephoto lens.
- Some 4G signal issues.
The specifications of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
-
Screen : 6.9” POLED at 165Hz - Weight : 184.5g
- Processor : Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
- RAM / Storage : 8 GB / 256 GB
- Battery : 3,800mAh recharging at 30W wired and 5W wirelessly.
- Camera : 12MP for wide angle, 13MP ultra-wide, 32MP front.
- Sustainability : IP52
- Price : 1200 €
What’s new in this model
With the Razr 40 Ultra, Motorola is back in the race against Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip. To win the hearts of early adopters, tech enthusiasts and everyday users alike, the company must therefore exercise caution and balance the benefits of innovation with the greater delicacy of the foldable format. Here’s how Moto does it.
1. An external display that does more
Believe me, it’s more fun than just connecting the phone via Android Auto. June Wan/ZDNET
There’s no denying that the standout feature of the Razr 40 Ultra is its 3.6” 144Hz OLED display. It’s something I’ve been waiting a long time with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip series, which is now four years old. . And while Samsung is supposed to showcase these features at its Unpacked event in July, Moto’s rendition seems to steal the show, and for good reason.
In addition to serving as a quick access portal to notifications, alarms and text messages, the Razr 40 Ultra’s external display gives the smartphone (listen up to me) a second life. Using the Moto display feels more like a secondary, smaller smartphone than a smartwatch. You can interact with apps and services as you would when the smartphone is unfolded. This aspect alone gives the Razr 40 Ultra more appeal than its clamshell competitors.
Naturally, I found the device to be the perfect companion for the car. With the screen folded (see above), controlling and browsing Spotify playlists, glancing at notifications and making phone calls are all at your fingertips. If I need the larger 6.9” screen for clearer navigation, I just lift the top half of the screen and that’s it.
The external display isn’t perfect though; frequent notifications, popping up on the screen, trigger an error vibration as I don’t look towards the face detector to ensure unlocking. The screen refresh rate also seems excessive. But I appreciate Motorola for pushing its thinking and trying to move the lines in designing this Razr 40 Ultra. At least you get what you pay for.
2. Software that works
The Razr 40 Ultra features a 6.9-inch POLED display with a 165Hz refresh rate. June Wan/ZDNET
I admit it: I only recently started testing Motorola smartphones again. My expectations of My UX, its personalized Android overlay, were therefore rather neutral at the time of writing this article.
Unlike foldable smartphones and tablets, flip phones are normal slabs that can bend in the middle. This physical shape change doesn’t affect the way you type, scroll, and swipe the UI, not completely, at least. Besides tilting the interior screen for hands-free photos and videos, web browsing, scrolling through news feeds and answering calls remain unchanged. This similarity not only allows manufacturers to optimize the software, but also users to benefit from the user-friendliness of the whole.
After a week of use, I was pleasantly surprised by the Razr 40 Ultra. The features of yesteryear, like some specific gestures, like turning on the flashlight and opening the camera, are still present. And the lack of bloatware (pre-installed, unhelpful software), except for pre-installed games for the external display and Moto’s own apps, made me feel comfortable with the Razr 40 Ultra.
3. Game-changing dust resistance
The crease in the internal screen is barely noticeable. June Wan/ZDNET
Durability remains one of the biggest questions with foldable smartphones, and with the Razr 40 Ultra, Motorola has managed to solve half of the equation. The phone is rated IP52, which isn’t as water resistant as Samsung’s foldable phones with IPX8 (and the emphasis is on the “8”), but Motorola’s product is significantly better protected from water. following this standard against dust and particles.
The “5” of IP52 corresponds to a limited resistance to the ingress of dust. It’s a first for foldable devices, and it means that if you drop the Razr 40 Ultra in a dusty pocket or backpack, or even in the sand, the wear and tear should be less than if you dropped it. one of its competitors.
This feat is all the more impressive as both halves of the Razr 40 Ultra fold completely flat, with minimal hinge clearance. The hinge has also been designed to exert less pressure on the flexible glass display, leaving a less prominent crease in the center compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 4, as seen in the illustration above.
What I’d like to see in the next Razr model
While Motorola has achieved a lot with the Razr 40 Ultra, it’s not flawless. Considering the small size of the smartphone, not to mention the fact that it is foldable, the most obvious compromises are indeed present in this device.
1. Bigger battery, faster charging, or both
June Wan/ZDNET
Let’s start with battery life and charging. You cannot have a compact smartphone, a large external screen and a large battery at the same time. But with two displays running at high refresh rates, an older and less efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor under the hood, and a motherboard that heats up whenever you play a video for more than 3 minutes, you’ll struggle. to get more than a day of battery life out of this phone.
My device’s frequent switching between 4G and 5G signals may also have played a role in the poor battery life.
What struck me the most was how slowly the phone charges. Motorola has limited the charging rate to 30W, which is disappointing compared to 45W, 65W and even 100W solutions on similarly priced smartphones. Given the company’s focus on Gen Z and content creators, I’d say battery life and charging speed are just as important as camera features.
2. A telephoto lens for shooting from a distance
June Wan/ZDNET
Having a larger external display also means Moto has had to stick with two camera lenses on the rear, a 12MP wide-angle and a 13MP ultra-wide-angle. From what I captured, I was just satisfied of how the Razr 40 Ultra handled dynamic range and sharpness. Sure, subjects can appear colder and washed out than they actually are, but the camera quickly picks up on when to focus on singular subjects and when to focus on everything in the picture. frame, as shown in the samples below. This ability to quickly focus, shutter and shoot should appeal to most people.
June Wan/ZDNET
During my test of the Razr 40 Ultra’s camera system, I particularly wanted a telephoto lens (something that would allow me to physically capture subjects further away without losing a lot of detail or relying on post-processing to reproduce vaguely the image). Portrait mode exists in the camera app, and I’ve seen it work to some extent on non-telephoto phones (like the iPhone 14), but the Moto’s camera showed hit and miss results.
The Portrait mode blur naturally fades into the background, although some of the cat’s fur is lost in the process. June Wan/ZDNET
To conclude on the Razr 40 Ultra
Most impressively, for €1200, which is around the same price as the Z Flip 4 at launch, you get a significantly superior device thanks to its larger external display, and 256GB base storage and a higher refresh rate. And I haven’t even mentioned the Viva Magenta finish, in vegetable leather, which makes the Razr 40 Ultra a unique product from Motorola.
Should I buy one?
If you’ve been hesitant to upgrade to a foldable smartphone, this might be the most accessible ticket to get on the innovation wagon. The form factor of the shell, combined with the external display, makes the Razr 40 Ultra equally suitable for budding content creators and users seeking early 2000s flip phone nostalgia.
Source: “ZDNet.com”