Motorola launches its new and improved Razr phone
by Craig Risi
Samsung has shown that their second take on the whole folding phone idea with the Galaxy Z Flip 2 is far better than the original, though also far more expensive and way overpriced. Can Motorola achieve the same sort of improvement for their upcoming Razr phones (hopefully without the drawbacks)? Well, according to a new report from The Verge, it appears they might be.
The first Razr showcased a flip screen design that I think could be a lot more practical for many people – having a regular smartphone fold in half to make it even more compact and easy to hold/store, rather than expand to provide even more screen real estate. The only problem is that – much like Samsung’s troubled Galaxy Fold – its screen quality proved a problem and the camera, battery life, and internal specs weren’t able to live up to the premium pricing.
From a design perspective, Motorola hasn’t done anything different with this new model, with a 6.2-inch, 21.9:9 foldable display on the inside of the phone, while a 2.7-inch OLED “Quick View” display is found on the outside. The company claims to have resolved most of the creasing issues of the screen though so that excessive folding shouldn’t affect the screen too severely this time. The only real change in design is the shifting of the fingerprint sensor to the back of the phone
The insides of the new Razr is a different matter though as they have bolstered things quite severely with a faster Snapdragon 765G (which helps add 5G support), more RAM (8GB, which is an increase from the 6GB of the original), doubled the internal storage to 256GB, and provided a larger 2,800mAh battery. Which is better, but perhaps still not impressive.
As far as cameras go, the front facing camera is a 20-megapixel sensor that shoots quad-pixel 5-megapixel stills with the rear camera jumping up to a 48-megapixel sensor with an added laser autofocus time-of-flight sensor and optical image stabilisation. It’s an improvement on the original, but specs alone are not the whole picture and Motorola will need to prove that their software is up to scratch in capturing the perfect image. Especially for the smaller selfie-camera on the folded front screen.
Motorola is releasing the phone in the US for the same price that they launched the original – $1399 (around R25000) – which is still a lot of money for a phone like this. I’m not sure Motorola will release it here given the high price point and unlikeliness of people here paying that sort of premium on the phone, but I guess if Samsung things we could spend R50 000 on their folding phone, Motorola might feel we’re just as gullible to spent it on theirs. I’d rather get a new far cheaper and more powerful gaming console instead.