Motorola Razr is futuristic and familiar
Motorola Razr is futuristic and familiar
12:33

Motorola Razr is futuristic and familiar

Foldable Phones
Hello Moto. [MUSIC] This is the Motorola Razr, this is Motorola's answer to the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Huawei Mate X and its vision for the future of foldable phones, but what's more than that. This is the rebirth of an icon, the original Motorola razor from 2004. That was Motorola's best selling phone yet everybody had one. It was a really special device and here it's really envisioned for 2019, 2020 and beyond. What makes the razor unique is that this is the first working from that we've seen that folds Vertically from top to bottom instead of horizontally from side to side. Now, I'm gonna go into all the details, the specs, how it feels, the hinge mechanism, but first, lets get pricing and availability out of the way. So we know that the phone will sell some time in January, it goes on preorder December 26. It will cost $1,500 or 1499 to be specific and it will sell exclusively with the Horizon app first. We also know that it will come to other countries eventually but we don't have any other information after that. So now, let's get back to business. [MUSIC] Using the razor I feel like a kid in a candy store because I had a flip phone. So for me, this is pureness Soulja, I love opening and closing it feels so natural and so tactile and that's something that I think that we've really lost using just phones that look like roof shingles, which you're probably dying to know is what does it feel like to use to open into clothes and is there a crease? The closing and opening mechanism is actually pretty good thanks to these hinges. I can actually hear it. I can hear the gears kind of grinding and moving, which is sort of interesting. But I can see them as well. Motorola has left the hinges exposed on purpose a little bit on the outside and the also on the inside and you can just see the seamless zipper of them. It feels controlled. You can feel the tension and the reflection, and it snaps together in a satisfying way. There are magnets that are helping that. There is also virtually no air gap, you can see just a tiny little bit and that's not something that exists in the galaxy fold, where you do see a little bit of a loop at the end. And a lot of that has to do with the hinge system Motorolla has actually created a hollow in the hinge so that when the phone folds the part of the disaply that burns is sitting in the hollow. So the aircap exists in this plastic display, but it's not visible to make an eye. It just feels like a cohesive solid. Heavy because it's compact kind of device, and it also just feels really finished and really complete. I've been using this phone for few hours and [UNKNOWN] as bezel bull to me on the Razr as it does on other devices. Part of that might be because it is horizontal and there is just less of it. It's a more narrow device I think that whenever you have any texture or color or movement, or when you're reading something, you're not gonna notice it. And normally I noticed the crease a little bit more when I've got a mostly black or mostly white background, and I'm just not really seeing it. If I put my finger here I can feel it. But I think that the design is good enough that this is going to largely convince people who are really anti-crease that this is a decent way to design a phone. The screens durability is gonna be a major concern for anybody who's seriously considering a foldable phone and not just the wear and tear of folding and unfolding it. You could crush pixels if you press too hard. You could gouge the display with a ring or a fingernail or a set of keys. So you do wanna be careful, but I don't know if you necessarily need to baby this one quite as much. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] The razor has two screens, there's this external screen and then the one you see when you unfold it. The external screen is 2.7 inches from side to side. And this is where you're going to see the time, your battery life, any notifications where you're able to kind of toggle any control so if you're playing music, you'll be able to pause from here skip tracks. Respond to alerts and see them and of course access some very basic settings. Right below that you've got the 16 mega pixel camera. This is gonna be the main camera display which is great news because you can use it to take a photo of yourself. And you can flip open the phone and use it to take photos of other people. You've got dual LED flash there's microphone on the front at the bottom of the phone is the chin and yes, this does echo the original Motorola razor design. But it serves another purpose. First it houses the fingerprint scanner placement here is pretty good because you'll be able to unlock the phone really easily when it's open and when it's closed. And you'll also be able to use Google pay really easily. So you unlock the phone and authenticate all in one movement because the phone is so thin. This chin down here is also what houses all of the antennas WiFi, your GPS and the vibration modules. This chin is pretty thick and clunky and I haven't always liked them in the past. I wanted to see what it would do when I was watching video. And in fact I find that it offers a really good hand hold. [LAUGH] So I can comfortably hold the phone with one hand and that keeps my fingers from accidentally pressing the screen while I'm watching something. Here, you've got the speaker that runs across the entire base and you've got a USBC port. There is no headphone Jack, but you will be able to use the USBC headphones that come in the box and there is a dongle in the boxes. Well, this phone is made from From three materials you actually have Gorilla Glass three that is protecting this external display. You will also have a lot of stainless steel inside the phone in here outside on the frame and then you've got resin on the back which is a nice way of saying plastic. Famous Motorola dumped on the back with the bat wing logo. And it is pretty durable feeling I would not be afraid to drop it on its back. [MUSIC] This is a long tall phone. It's got a 6.2 inch screen here and a 21 by nine dimension. So that's not your usual three by four dimension that you're going to get on the outer display. The whole purpose of this is that you can comfortably use it in one hand if you need to. I can hold it easily with one hand, closing it and opening it with one hand has been a little bit of a struggle. I'm getting used to it. I could definitely fit it into my back pocket, a little bit more easily than my front pocket, but my purse is absolutely no problem. So, you do have that massive portability here. I mean, this is super easy to carry around, and I can see myself using the device, using the outer display a lot, very easily, especially one handed. The keyboard is really narrow, so I was worried about typing accuracy, but we've got Google's baked in keyboard here, and actually, it hasn't been a problem at all so far. Because it's got an Android nine on board. That also means that you can split the screen into two with certain supported apps, I tried it out and I don't think that I would use it very often, because of the dimensions. Each app is just a little bit too. Too small. Motorola has, of course, worked really closely with Google to make sure that the apps work seamlessly from the outside to the inside. But there are a lot fewer apps that you can initiate on the outside of the razr to open up on the inside. Google Assistant is one, the camera, if you start taking a selfie, you can open up the phone and access the camera from the interior screen. Messages and Gmail will also work. For the most part, if you're using any apps on the interior screen and you close the phone that kind of closes them out, you're done, but there are a couple exceptions. For example, if you've got a phone call on and then you turn it on speakerphone and close the device, you can keep your call going while you're walking down the street. [MUSIC] Motorola phones run a pretty pure version of the Android but there are extra touches. For example, I can twist the phone to launch the camera and I can chop it to turn on the flashlight. There's an inside Entire list of things that you can do inside the phone. One that I really like is being able to turn on this cartoon on the outside, to get people's attention when you're taking photos of them. You can expect that to be really useful for kids, or dogs, or I don't know. Yes, the Motorola razor does have a notch. This is where the speakers live and also the front facing camera five megapixels, why so low? Because most of your photos are gonna be taken with this main 16 megapixel camera and the one on the inside is mostly gonna be used for video calls. One thing I do want to draw your attention to is this perimeter that runs across the outside of the display that sort of separating this plastic display from the bessekls and it's actually wide enough for me to put my fingernail in and run all the way around the device. This concerns me a little bit just because if you get your finger or some other item in here and add leverage in the wrong way, could that potentially lift up the size of the display. We've seen that kind of damage happen before and on such an expensive device that's really worrisome. Also, even in the short time that I've used this phone several hours, but not even a full day. I've noticed that dust particles have already started collecting, especially around the top of the device. So this might be an area that you would have to clean, but clean very carefully. The phone isn't exactly waterproof. It's not rated. But it is nano-coded on the inside and it is splash resistant even on the outside. So, I think you would be able to gently clean it without worrying about doing damage to the screen itself. Motorola is pretty confident that the screen is gonna be durable eventhough it's made out of plastic, the company has a lot of experience building a more durable plastic display. Back to 2011 when it has something called shattershield So what happens is the display does get damaged at the time of this filming. We don't have exact details but we do know that Motorola will have a plan in place. The Motorola razor is a premium phone so you might expect premium photography, but from what I've seen so far, you may not be buying this phone for the cameras. You do have portrait mode for front and rear facing photos. And there's also a night mode built into here as well HDR all the usual. However, you don't have telephoto, you don't have wide angle lenses, and those are features that you would expect to see on other premium devices. The Samsung Galaxy Fold, for example, has six camera lenses. That might be a little bit overkill, but it might definitely also have an edge there, because there's more that you can do with your photography. So you might be asking yourself how long battery will last on the RAZR, and Motorola says it will last a full day. There are actually two batteries here, one on either side of the Fold. Together, they give you 2,500 milliamp hours. I'm really curious to see how battery life will actually be just because I used the full and that had the same system of two batteries on either side but it didn't seem to last as long as I had expected, that's because two batteries usually aren't quite as efficient as one. [MUSIC] I think that this foreign factor could actually work, this is something that people know how to use, we've done it. [MUSIC] And we want that screen size, and having the foldable screen actually gives us access to more of that display to do the things that we're gonna do. And so far, I could see how I could use it everyday. There are minor refinements that I might wanna see. And of course, I wanna test the heck out of this phone to make sure that battery life is good. See how the photography is and see how that screen durability holds up over time. But I've got to say, at least initially, this is a phone that I'm pretty excited about. I think it could be a real competitor to the galaxy fold. I think we're gonna see other manufacturers creating something with this kind of top down folding design. But this isn't going to be the end of the road either. There's still gonna be a lot more foldable phone designs, as the industry figures out where we're going with this and even if we're going with foldable phones I also think that the pricing is pretty competitive for now. Foldable phones are expensive, and when you're looking at $2,000, $2,600 for this premium, huge foldable tablet device, that you can't even fit into your own pocket. Then $1,500 relatively speaking, is starting to look pretty good. [MUSIC] There's obviously so much more to see and do with the Motorola RAZR in the coming months. I'm personally gonna be testing the crap out of this device, including the durability of the screen and the hinge, so stay tuned for so much more. [MUSIC]

Up Next

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist
240225-site-motorola-rollable-concept

Up Next

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist

Samsung's Concept Flip Phone Can Bend Both Ways
samsung-booth-tour-seq-00-03-28-11-still002

Samsung's Concept Flip Phone Can Bend Both Ways

Camera Test: Google Pixel Fold vs. OnePlus Open
thumbvs

Camera Test: Google Pixel Fold vs. OnePlus Open

Honor Reveals Concept Phone Purse at IFA 2023
purse-phone-site-image

Honor Reveals Concept Phone Purse at IFA 2023

Foldable Phones May Be the Future. In South Korea, They're the Present
1080-00-04-47-14-still001.png

Foldable Phones May Be the Future. In South Korea, They're the Present

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Flip Phones Are Cool Again
z-flip-5-review-cnet-00-00-18-22-still003.png

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Flip Phones Are Cool Again

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Is Thinner, Lighter and Gapless
230803-site-galaxy-fold-5-review-2

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Is Thinner, Lighter and Gapless

Galaxy Z Flip 5: First Impressions From Seoul, Korea
cnet-24-hours.png

Galaxy Z Flip 5: First Impressions From Seoul, Korea

Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Z Flip 3 and 4: How Do the Specs Stack Up?
230726-site-galaxy-z-flip-5-vs-z-flip-4-and-3-spec-comparison

Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Z Flip 3 and 4: How Do the Specs Stack Up?

Everything Revealed at Samsung's Summer Unpacked
samsung-unpacked-2023-clean

Everything Revealed at Samsung's Summer Unpacked

Tech Shows

The Apple Core
apple-core-w

The Apple Core

Alphabet City
alphabet-city-w

Alphabet City

CNET Top 5
cnet-top-5-w

CNET Top 5

The Daily Charge
dc-site-1color-logo.png

The Daily Charge

What the Future
what-the-future-w

What the Future

Tech Today
tech-today-w

Tech Today

Latest News All latest news

PlayStation 5 Pro Leaked: Everything We Know
playstation5pro-leak-clean

PlayStation 5 Pro Leaked: Everything We Know

Everything Just Revealed at Nvidia's GTC AI Conference
nvidiastill

Everything Just Revealed at Nvidia's GTC AI Conference

Nvidia Reveals Omniverse Cloud Streams to the Vision Pro
nvidia-vision-pro-image

Nvidia Reveals Omniverse Cloud Streams to the Vision Pro

Nvidia Shows Project GROOT and Disney Bots at GTC Conference
robot-2

Nvidia Shows Project GROOT and Disney Bots at GTC Conference

Expert vs. AI: Is Now the Time to Buy an EV?
gettyimages-1178244881

Expert vs. AI: Is Now the Time to Buy an EV?

The PlayStation Portal Built-In Volume Is too Loud: Here's How to Keep It Low
playstation-portal-audio-options-thumb2

The PlayStation Portal Built-In Volume Is too Loud: Here's How to Keep It Low

Most Popular All most popular

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)
innovation

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost
240123-site-samsung-galaxy-s24-ultra-review-4

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen
circlesearchpic

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop
asus-preces-00-00-25-11-still003

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions
samsung-galaxy-ring-clean

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024
240111-site-best-of-ces-2024-1

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024

Latest Products All latest products

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day
240304-site-nothing-phone-2-first-look-v3

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day

Best of MWC 2024: Bendable Screens, AI Wearables and More
240229-site-best-of-show-at-mwc

Best of MWC 2024: Bendable Screens, AI Wearables and More

This Concept Laptop from Lenovo Has a Transparent Display
240225-site-lenovo-translucent-laptop-concept-v3

This Concept Laptop from Lenovo Has a Transparent Display

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist
240225-site-motorola-rollable-concept

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist

See Adobe Lightroom on the Apple Vision Pro
adobe-lightroom-00-02-58-03-still006-1

See Adobe Lightroom on the Apple Vision Pro

This $400 Cane Has a Built-In Phone
p1022441-mp4-15-35-32-23-still001

This $400 Cane Has a Built-In Phone

Latest How To All how to videos

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features
240311-site-windows-11-hidden-tips-and-tricks-v2

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3
VisionOS 1.0.3

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra
240216-site-galaxy-s24-ultra-tips-and-hidden-features-2

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro
tiktok-on-vision-pro-clean

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips
superbowl-tv-settings-thumb1

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro
240202-site-spatial-computing-on-meta-quest-3

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro