The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is undoubtedly one of the most interesting phones to date. Will foldable smartphones really take over the world again?
It’s hard to find a more iconic foldable phone than the Razr. It once made the company a lot of money, because the total sales of this line exceeded hundreds of millions of dollars. But that was in the past. Now the market is dominated by smartphones. However, there is a place for folding tablets here too. Now it’s a foldable smartphone with a flexible screen.
Motorola has made a strong entry into the flexible phone market. The company does not yet have a “phone and tablet in one” model, but it is trying to dominate the niche of compact foldable phones. In addition, Motorola already has quite a lot of experience with this type of device, because the updated Razr series continues the traditions of several generations of foldable cell phones. So, they have already managed to release several generations of folding mobiles, starting with the Razr 2019, which were welcomed approvingly not only by fans of this legendary series, but also by other users.
This year, Motorola unveiled another reincarnation of the brand in the form of the flexible Razr 40 Ultra. Most interestingly, the novelty offers the largest external display among its competitors and an innovative design.
Of course, I was very interested to test the Razr 40 Ultra. I wanted to see if it could really compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Flip series.
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When you write about a foldable smartphone, you always ask yourself the question, “How to convince the user to buy such a cell phone?”. There are several answers, but the most important one is that you must have an ultra-modern smartphone that will make you stand out from the crowd and attract attention. Yes, such smartphones are still quite expensive, but it’s cool to be at the peak of technological progress, to try something new and unusual. There is some adventurism in it, but it’s worth it.
But let’s get back to the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. A device that is the successor to the Razr folding phone that marked an era in the early 2000s, and one that attempts to do so in a very modern way, raising the level of today’s folding smartphones.
It’s a bid for success that is particularly appropriate this time around, as the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is one of those smartphones that can mark a watershed moment. It’s that moment that will likely incentivize other manufacturers to try to beat the company on its own playing field. We’re talking about a foldable device finally offering an external display that is not just an aesthetic fad, but one that actually has a wide range of capabilities.
It should be noted that Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is still quite expensive device. So, in Ukraine this smartphone can be bought for $1015. But this price is quite acceptable, if you compare it with other devices from this category. Motorola is trying to convince users that their Razr 40 Ultra can be worth such money. So let’s see if they succeeded, but before I start my story, I suggest to get acquainted with the technical and functional features of the device.
Looking at the specifications of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, you can see how little has changed here compared to the previous model. Partly because of the difficulties of Android smartphone manufacturers after the supply chain crisis, partly because of the very design of foldable devices, whose positioning in the market allows them not necessarily to be high-tech monsters.
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While the previous Razr had unconventional (and not very eco-friendly) plastic packaging, the latest Razr 40 Ultra comes in a regular oblong black box made from recycled materials using soy ink.
In addition, as in the case of the recently tested Motorola Edge 40 Neo, upon opening the packaging of the Razr 40 Ultra, the user will smell a pleasant perfume fragrance. Motorola has officially announced a collaboration with dsm-firmenich, which has created a fragrance inspired by Pantone’s Viva Magenta color of the year.
Potential buyers will also be pleased with the fact that, by modern standards, the Razr 40 Ultra has a large number of accessories. Inside the elegant black box, in addition to the phone itself, there is also a 33W adapter with USB-A (although the smartphone supports charging with a maximum power of 30W), power and data cable USB-C/USB-A, a paper clip for opening the SIM card tray. And, of course, a variety of paper instructions, promotional booklets and warranty cards.
Another surprise is a two-piece protective case made of clear plastic that clasps and sticks to each part of the phone, separated by a hinge like clam shells.
In short, it’s the perfect companion in your pocket. Although flexible smartphones are admired for their clever designs, what I personally like about these devices is how easy they are to store.
The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is no exception as it fits easily into any pocket, whether the owner is wearing skinny jeans or wants to quickly put the Razr in a jacket pocket. In addition to its light weight (188g), it is also important to note the width of 74mm, which is ideal for comfortable use.
The new Razr 40 Ultra has lost the usual design of the original Razr, because the novelty is much more reminiscent of the Galaxy Flip models. However, as for me, this is a step in the right direction, I like the new model. At first sight I was pleasantly pleased with the rounded edges of the device, thanks to which it lies comfortably in the hand.
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra has an aluminum construction with glass on the back, or with faux leather, as in the case of the Viva Magenta color variant. The phone looks very attractive, I would say even cute, it has no shortage of elegance and charm. In the black variant that I had on review, it is more sedate but beautiful, the orientation here is towards more conservative customers.
The device is quite compact, which is expected from a foldable phone. When closed, it measures only 88.4×74.0×15.1 mm, but when opened, it resembles a regular smartphone, only slightly elongated thanks to the 22:9 aspect ratio.
We must praise the developers for the fact that there is almost no slit when closed. This reduces the amount of dirt and dust that gets from your pocket to the internal display.
Before we look inside, a few words about the appearance of the smartphone. At first glance, a large display catches the eye. Personally, I like it very much, because I always had a problem with previous folding smartphones. If I wanted to quickly find something, or quickly reply to a message, it was difficult to do it – every time I had to open the smartphone and reply from the main screen.
But here you can do all this on the 3.6-inch display, which is very convenient. You can even run any program on it, the manufacturer doesn’t limit it in any way.
From my experience, you can use anything from Google Maps, Gmail, Youtube, Chrome, Twitter, Instagram, and I could go on without a problem. But of course, the aspect ratio isn’t exactly ideal for displaying, for example, storizas on Instagram. You can also type on the keyboard without any problems, and it’s convenient to reply to messages with one hand without opening the phone.
When closed, besides the classic menu, Launcher offers several widgets adapted to this format. There we find the calendar (which I had a problem with, it wouldn’t update), weather, contacts, Spotify, Google Fit, Google Messages and games. A few simple retro games are already pre-installed here, and some of them are really fun.
If you launch the app, by default it opens in a smaller window above the cameras. However, you can also make it run on the entire screen. Sometimes this can be useful.
With Google Pay you can easily make payments even when it’s closed, and the same goes for calls. So you can answer a call by opening the phone, or you can make a call through the speaker from a closed Razr. The phone’s speaker is cleverly designed to point outwards from the device, even when the phone is folded.
You won’t open the Razr 40 Ultra with one hand (without risking breaking it), and such a large external display makes sense. You don’t need to open the phone many times, because you’ll handle many tasks on the outer panel.
I was also pleased with the rigidity of the hinge, no extra effort is needed to open the phone. In addition, the hinge can hold the phone in different positions, and the automatic full opening feels to be at an angle of about 140º. From 60º, the phone stays open and doesn’t click. Opening and closing with both hands is definitely safer.
While it is still possible to open the Razr 40 Ultra with one hand with a little effort, I personally would be careful about doing so and would prefer to save the flexible display.
I have a few reservations about the design of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. Although the steel mechanism holds the position of the top half of the display at almost any angle from 1° to 180°, it is a bit wobbly and doesn’t seem very sturdy.
The worst part is that when it’s open, it doesn’t actually open fully. The back of the phone isn’t as straight as a ruler, and instead of 180°, it opens more like 178°. A small thing, you’ll say, but it’s noticeable. I also miss the increased water and dust protection. Limited dust protection is understandable, but unfortunately IP52 water resistance is only basic. The phone will withstand light rain in your pocket or bag, but I’d like more in this price segment.
The back side of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is pleasantly matte, and in the sun it sparkles faintly. The presence of wireless charging, albeit slow, is pleasing. I tested the black version, but the colors Viva Magenta red or Glacier Blue look very interesting.
I will also note the high-quality tactile response of the display and the large and very fast fingerprint scanner in the power button. By the way, its location is ideal for use both closed and open – the engineers have thought it through. As for the SIM card slot, it is on the left, and it can fit only one nanoSIM, which can be supplemented with an eSIM.
On the right edge, in addition to the lock key with built-in capacitive fingerprint scanner, there are also separate volume buttons.
They are very small, I haven’t seen such small buttons in a long time. They can also be used as a camera trigger, but in the most natural grip you can cover the camera’s field of view with the index finger of your right hand.
The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra also has quality stereo speakers.
Now about what interests most of the haters and supporters of foldable smartphones. Yes, the line at the bend. It is not as noticeable as in Samsung, and after a few days of use you won’t even pay attention to it.
When it comes to foldable smartphones, it’s clear that we’re dealing with two displays – an external display and a primary display. Let’s start with the latter.
It’s a 6.9-inch pOLED matrix with a Full HD+ resolution of 1080×2640 and an aspect ratio of 22:9, with a density of 413 ppi, so individual pixels on the display are no longer distinguishable to the human eye. This screen is one of the few on the market that can be defined as “true” LTPO: this means that the refresh rate changes dynamically from 1 to a maximum of 165 Hz, depending on the type of content displayed. Many devices hide behind this acronym a stepping system that changes preset values, whereas the Razr 40 Ultra’s display frequency can actually drop to 1 Hz, for example when viewing a static screen.
What we have in front of us is a great display with excellent technical characteristics. At the same time, however, certain structural limitations of the folding screen remain, such as the presence of a center crease, above all.
My biggest stumbling block in evaluating modern flip phone has been the fact that they don’t offer a full-fledged secondary display that can be used as a decent replacement for the main, flexible one. The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is the first smartphone of its kind on the market that fully addresses this shortcoming.
Figures that might even seem excessive for an “ordinary” foldable device, if it weren’t for the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s external screen, which can be used almost on par with the main screen. While competitors actually have to settle for a few widgets (they are also present here and undoubtedly useful), in this case you can actively interact with the external touchscreen full-fledged.
That is, you can browse the web, exchange messages, even play mobile games without opening the device. Another positive is that you can control almost the entire operating system from an external display, including third-party applications or the Internet browser. It’s like having a microsmartphone always at your fingertips, a versatility that other foldable devices can only dream of right now.
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The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is equipped with a pair of speakers at the top and bottom in the open state. They pleasantly surprised with their volume, as well as the quality of sound delivery, especially a very solid bass component. That is, you can watch YouTube or TikTok videos without any problems, or even sometimes listen to music from the phone.
I was also satisfied with the quality of communication. Of course, the ability to end/receive a call by opening/closing the phone should also be mentioned. The owners of folding table phones will understand me.
In terms of performance, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra clearly belongs to the elite of mobile devices. It runs on an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, which is not the best of the best, but rightfully belongs to the cohort of high-performance modern processors. This 4-nanometer chipset delivers a maximum processor clock speed of 3.19 GHz, and is also equipped with an Adreno 730 graphics chip. Fans will be a bit disappointed, because this year’s top processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 would have suited the smartphone better. But is this a problem in practice? No, because the power is more than enough.
In practice, the performance really exceeds what the average user needs. Transition in the system is extremely smooth, which is also helped by the 165Hz display frequency, and performance is also sufficient for gaming (I tried Fortnite or the new Payday: Crime War, for example). Demanding games run at 30-40 frames per second with maximum detail. And if you lower the requirements, you’ll get even smoother performance.
You won’t notice anything strange or revolutionary in the tests. This is the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, powerful, fast, but sometimes hot. If you are interested in the figures from benchmarks, you can see them.
As we can see from the tests, the Motorola RAZR 40 Ultra performs admirably, matching the high-end smartphones released last year. It’s not at the highest level on the market, but the difference is quite minimal and not noticeable in daily use.
Motorola RAZR 40 Ultra supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/g/n/ac/6e, Bluetooth version 5.3, NFC, USB-C 2.0, GPS and the like. As for mobile connectivity, we have 5G support thanks to dual SIM configuration (physical SIM + eSIM).
Motorola has traditionally equipped its phones with an exclusively pure Android operating system, modified with a few extra features hidden under the Moto banner. In this stylish novelty we find Android 13 with a valid security patch from September 2023 (at the time of writing the review).
But enough about Android, what’s more interesting is what Motorola brings to the system. These are Moto’s special features and Android’s own elements (like desktop settings and themes), as well as special gestures.
My favorite features remain quickly turning on the flashlight with a double shake or activating the camera with a quick twist of the wrist.
The last stop for Moto features is Gametime’s artificial performance boost. While playing a game, you can choose between Standard, High Performance and Economy modes. To do this, a small widget appears on the side that gives you access to quick toggles, brightness and volume adjustments, and gives you the ability to instantly record what’s happening on the screen.
Interesting is the Ready For mode, which is nothing new, but allows you to mirror the phone on a large screen with a customized interface reminiscent of Windows. It is similar to the Samsung DeX, for example. And it’s important to note here that this mode is not offered by a competitor, the Galaxy Flip5. I tried Ready For on my TV and it works without any problems.
The relatively small 3800 mAh battery is backed by an efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. The result is endurance that’s enough for one hard day’s work. But you can’t cheat physics – in short, a bigger battery simply won’t fit in a cell phone of this form factor, and the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra confirms that even in 2023, flip phone are at most one-day smartphones.
The battery lasted one day without any problems. I can’t specify the active display runtime, the smartphone only tracks it for the internal display. But the smaller battery does make itself felt when you need to play games on the internal display for a long time.
When you compare it to its direct competitor, the Galaxy Flip5, the stamina is not much worse at all, but it really just depends on how you use the smartphone and what you want from it. Lasting a whole day is not a problem for it.
However, charging is a bit disappointing considering the technological maturity, bundling and cost of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. It supports a maximum charging power of 30W with a cable and 5W with a wireless pad. Nevertheless, the novelty from Motorola can be charged with the original adapter from 1 to 100% in less than an hour. As for the speed of wireless charging, the numbers are already different – it took me almost two hours for a full charge.
The camera doesn’t stand out in any special way. It has already been said that the lenses are part of the external display. In particular, there are two slightly protruding modules: the main one with 12MP resolution, f/1.5 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS) and a wide-angle one with 13MP resolution, f/2.2 aperture and 108° viewing angle.
Yes, both lenses take up a significant portion of the larger external display, which takes a bit of getting used to, as they’re much more noticeable than the small cutout of the selfie camera. But because of this, you can use the main camera for selfies even with the phone closed – twist your wrist and go. The camera app functions are also available on the secondary display. The front camera itself has a 32-megapixel sensor.
In the dark, the camera often failed to properly capture a sharp light source, such as an illuminated advertising banner and neon. I also expected more consistent results from portrait mode – the bokeh effect was not always perfect.
The quality of photos from the wide-angle module does not differ significantly from those taken from the main module. In terms of color, the photos are also not significantly different from the main camera. I was somewhat surprised by the insufficiently wide frame. The standard angle is about 120° – anything with a lower angle of view, in practice, can spoil the impression of shooting.
The wide-angle lens is also responsible for macro photography, which can be considered a somewhat ill-conceived move. This camera doesn’t offer optical image stabilization, and without it, macro photography turns out poorly. During macro shooting, it is especially clear that you need to hold the phone very firmly, otherwise the result will be blurry.
Photos taken with the main camera in low light and in the dark contain quite a lot of noise, and it often happens that homogeneous motifs blend into each other (sidewalk pattern, lawn). A wide-angle camera without perfect lighting is practically unusable, and this is the biggest disappointment for me.
The front 32-megapixel selfie camera takes default images in 8 megapixel resolution. To these photos I have no special complaints, they are clear enough, only the colors are sometimes too natural. Thanks to the presence of a second display, it is not a problem to make clearer and more colorful selfies directly from the main camera.
The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra can record video in both 4K and Full HD, at 30 and 60 frames per second. However, there are some pretty significant differences between these modes. At the faster frame rate, you can’t change lenses on the fly, and HDR10+ doesn’t work. What’s most frustrating, however, is the lack of proper optical stabilization when shooting 60 fps. 8K, oddly enough, is completely absent. The ability to “bend” the display at right angles and hold the cell phone like a retro camcorder from the turn of the millennium may be a consolation for some.
ORIGINAL PHOTOS AND VIDEO HERE
If you’ve made it to this point, you probably want an answer to the question of whether the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is the perfect convertible smartphone for 2023.
There is an aspect that, in my opinion, elevates the Razr 40 Ultra above all competitors. The new product from Motorola has really pleased me a lot. In my opinion, it is the best flexible cell phone in the form of a clamshell when it comes to a large external display that completely changes the game and the way you use it. Starting with the first Flip from Samsung, I really wanted the phone to have a large and functional secondary display. And this new product from Motorola fulfills my wish. It’s really cool because you don’t have to constantly open/close the flip phone.
The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is a really interesting smartphone that impresses above all with its external display and usability, has good performance and a great design. Only the mediocre photo equipment can cause some disappointment, but this is still typical of all clamshells.
The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is a truly innovative smartphone because it has proven that there is a path that all competitors are likely to follow soon. That’s why it deserves a recommendation from me.
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