Motorola Razr: We got a peek at how the screen is tested

This is the new Motorola Razr. It has a folding screen that turns this from a 6.2 inch smartphone into half the size. But as you might wonder, how long will that screen last? And what did Motorola do to make sure it could handle being folded so many times? Well, let's find out. [MUSIC] Before we jump into the razors durability, I need to acknowledge that it was 2019's Samsung Galaxy fold review units, that gave foldables a bit of a bad rap. A number of review units had defects that led dust or other particles get underneath the display and weak. Having, any concerns people had about folding displays were instantly amplified that in February of this year, Motorola released the razor with a foldable screen and Cnet's video team decided to test the displays durability. My colleague Chris Parker used to fold bought and attempted to open and close the phone 100,000 times. But that's not quite what happened. After 27,000 folds the Razor wasn't able to be tested further and the full bought. Yeah, that's- Yeah that's not good. That's not good. So are foldables Screen's durable, and if so, how do we know? Well, Motorola invited me to visit one of their testing labs, wearing a mask and social distancing, of course to see for myself how they've tested the screen of the new Motorola Razr. [MUSIC] Now this is a small version of the machine used to fold and unfold the Razr. It holds four phones at the same time and fully opens and fully closes each phone. Unlike the galaxy z flip, which is designed to be open to a variety of positions, the razor is designed to be either open, flat or completely closed. Unlike the fold bought the machine and Motorola's testing lab uses a wire to open the razor fully open, and an arm to close it all the way shut. Motorola claims that the razor screen can be open and closed 200,000 times to give you an idea of how many times that is. You could open and close the phone 100 times a day for five years and still not hit that night. Number. In fact, over the past six months, Motorola reached out to people who own the razor that came out in February to learn about how they used it. And it turns out that razor owners open and close their phones on average 40 times a day. And for super razor users, aka the 99th percentile, that average is 100 times. Today, hence the new razor being able to handle 200,000 volts. Now to recreate hundreds of thousands of volts and less time than five years, the machine fully opens and closes the phones once every four seconds. There's actually something calming about hearing phones shutting closed. Every four seconds take a listen. [BLANK_AUDIO] At that rate it takes voter roll at 10 days to fold each phone 200,000 times So what allows the razor to achieve this screen durability. When it comes down to three things, the phones design, the screen and the head. In fact, if you want to learn more about the hinge, take a look at a video I made last year about its design and how it allows the razor to fold flat. The new razor largely uses the same design as The February Razor albeit with a bunch of tweaks. The screen itself is made of five different layers and then sprayed with a hard coating. When the layers are combined, the screen has a thickness of 355 microns, that's 3.5 millimeters. To give you a sense of how thin that is, the Motorola Edge Plus uses a similar OLED panel for its curved edges. The razors display stack is a third of the thickness of the one found on the Edge Plus. And remember, it's not just the display that's folding in half. There are a number of connections including ones for the new 5G antennas that have to traverse the hinge, to help keep things sliding smoothly and quietly Motorola adjusted the sliding mechanism which allows the screen to move up and down as it opens and closes, as well as added friction adhesives and tapes to enable everything to slide past one another more easily. With all this design, with all these improvements with all this research and testing Motorola is confident about the new razors durability. In fact, the company runs over 40 different lab tests to check both the design and the quality of the phone as it is developed and manufactured. That said. The true indicator for how durable the screen is on the razor or any foldable phone will be time. But in lieu of that, as well as the numerous other refinements and improvements Motorola made to the razor, I feel much more confident about using it just like a regular phone. I'll be at one that costs 1400 dollars. For more about the Motorola razor, make sure you check out my review but you know what I want to hear from you. What do you think of how Motorola test the screen. You have questions about his design or testing process. If so, throw them in the comments last. If you liked this video, give it a thumbs up.