Motorola’s Razr lineup had one of the best flipping phones and the iconic Razr v3 was a huge hit among consumers back then. Last year, Motorola rebooted the nostalgic factor with its Razr 2019 foldable smartphone and it was a premium phone with a premium price tag. This year, the company announced the sequel of the razr 2019 – Motorola Razr 5G 2020 in the USA and has now launched it in India. I spent a brief time with the phone and this is my first impressions of the Motorola Razr 5G (not a review).
Motorola Razr 5G specifications
- 6.2-inch (2142 x 876 pixels) HD+ 21:9 Cinemavision foldable pOLED screen, external 2.7-inch (600 x 800 pixels) SD 4:3 gOLED screen
- Octa-Core (1 x 2.4GHz + 1 x 2.2GHz + 6 x 1.8GHz Kryo 475 CPUs) Snapdragon 765G 7nm EUV Mobile Platform with Adreno 620 GPU
- 8GB (LPPDDR4x) RAM, 256GB storage
- Android 10
- Dual SIM (1 Nano SIM + 1 eSIM)
- 48MP rear camera with LED flash, OIS, laser autofocus, f/1.7 aperture
- 20MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture
- Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
- Dimensions: 169.2 x 72.6 x 7.9mm (Unfolded), 91.7 x 72.6 x 16mm (folded); Weight: 192g
- Water-repellent design
- Bottom-ported speaker, 4 Microphones
- 5G SA/NSA, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, NFC, USB 3.0 Type-C
- 2800mAh battery with 15W TurboPower fast charging
Box Contents – Familiar unboxing experience
Similar to last year’s Motorola Razr, the Razr 5G comes in a triangular-shaped box that opens vertically (the box’s shape is similar to that of a spaceship;) and the bottom part of the box can be used as a stand for the Razr 5G. Upon opening up the box, you will find the Razr 5G smartphone itself which comes with attached with a film with a text that warns users not to install any screen protector as it will damage the display. The sides of its base are dotted with the tiny holes of a speaker grill, so it amplifies the volume when playing music and this is a pretty useful I’d say. Moving on, other accessories include headphones, USB Type-C cable, TurboPower wall charger (9V 1.5A), 3.5mm to USB-C adapter, and user guide.
- Motorola razr 5G
- TurboPower wall charger (9V 1.5A)
- USB Type-C cable
- 3.5mm to USB-C adapter
- User Guide
Physical Overview
The Moto razr 5G hasn’t got a major design overhaul, but the textured back that was present on last year’s Moto razr is now replaced by glass which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Notably, there is no case provided in-box and the phone is slippery as well. The position of the fingerprint scanner is moved up a bit compared to last year’s razr and as expected, it is fast and gets the job done. The 2.7-inch external touchscreen display can do a lot of things now and I’ll get to that functionality in a bit.
Coming to the ports and button placements, the position has been altered compared to last year’s razr. The power button is now present to the left edge of the smartphone, volume rockers to the right edge, and the SIM tray (nano + eSIM), USB Type-C port, speaker grille, microphone are present at the bottom.
Hinge – Significant improvement
In my limited time with the Motorola razr 5G, one of the major improvements that I noticed was the updated hinge design which is much smooth and sturdy than last year’s razr phone. Motorola says that the zero-gap hinge allows the razr 5G to close with both sides perfectly flush, and thus protecting the main display. Similar to last year’s razr phone, when folded, the main display of the razr 5G slides a bit and the bottom portion of the main display touches the base of the chin to achieve the zero-gap.
Thanks to the updated hinge, the noise that was produced when opening and closing the phone was not present and Motorola seems to have done a good job with the updated hinge design on the razr 5G. Moving on, the phone can withstand up to 2,00,000 flips, according to the company which is quite good. The phone is well built with a combination of glass and metal and does has a premium feel to it. It has narrow dimensions and is also lighter compared to last year’s razr at 192 grams.
Quick View Display – Good use of the space
The functionality of the 2019 Motorola razr’s 2.7-inch Quick View display was limited to checking text messages, managing calls, notifications from apps, etc. This time with the Motorola razr 5G, the Quick View display (glass OLED) is more interactive as you can add your favorite apps for quick access right from the external display, reply to messages with a full-sized keyboard, play videos from YouTube, get turn-by-turn navigation from Google Maps, control music, and more. You can use the installed apps from the external display without having to flip open the phone and this is a nifty feature in my opinion. That said, it to be noted that not all apps work flawlessly with the Quick View Display as there are issues with aspect ratio and some apps simply fail to load. Another great feature of the external display is that you can use the Quick View Display as a viewfinder to capture selfies from the primary 48MP camera.
Further, you can choose which apps can open on the external display, choose the order of the screens on the external display (Home→Apps→Contacts or Home→Contacts→Apps), and more. While the Quick View Display is more interactive now, I noticed that there is a slight delay in app continuity i.e., when switching between the Quick View Display and the main display. On the whole, in my limited time with the device, I liked the improvements Motorola has done with the Quick View Display.
Primary Display — Familiar
The Motorola razr 5G flaunts a 6.2-inch foldable HD+ pOLED notch display with an aspect ratio of 21:9 and a resolution of 2142 x 876 pixels. The phone is not crease-free, but it is not jarring as well and doesn’t hinder the experience. That said, you’ll feel the hollow portion when you move your thumb across the center of the display.
Moving on, in my limited device with the device, the display quality seemed better than last year razr and the outdoor visibility was quite decent as well, in spite of sporting the same screen size and resolution. Having said that, this is not the sharpest or brightest display that we have seen on a flip phone. Furthermore, you can get the usual customisable Moto Actions and it worked fine on the razr 5G.
SoC- Major upgrade
The Motorola razr 5G is now powered by the Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G Mobile Platform paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. This is a significant upgrade from the Snapdragon 710 SoC used on last year’s Motorola razr. In my limited time with the device, it was fast and snappy, and I did not notice any sorts of lag or whatsoever. The back panel felt warm most of the time, but it was nothing uncomfortable as such. While it is too early to comment on the performance, we can talk more about that when we do a full review.
Cameras- 48MP primary and 20MP front
As for the optics, the razr 5G sports a single 48-megapixel (f/1.7) main camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a 20-megapixel (f/2.2) camera inside. You can use the Quick View Display as a viewfinder to capture selfies from the primary 48MP camera and when you are capturing a portrait of someone, you can set a face smile animation to display on the Quick View screen to grab their attention. Nifty feature!
Moving on, the camera app has also got a facelift and you get a bunch of photo modes like Portrait, Spot Color, Night Vision, Pro, and more. Coming to videos, it can record 4K videos at 30fps in 21:9 or 16:9 aspect ratio, FHD at 60/30fps in 16:9 or 21:9 aspect ratio, FHD Slow-motion videos at 120fps, HD Slow-motion videos at 240fps. Check out the camera samples below.
Battery
As for the battery, there is a 2800mAh battery with support for 15W TurboPower charging. I couldn’t test the battery extensively on this one in my limited time with the device and will have more to say when we do a full review.
Pricing and availability
The Motorola Razr 5G comes in Polished Graphite colour, is priced at Rs. 1,24,999 and will go on sale from October 12th on Flipkart and leading retail outlets with pre-orders starting today, October 5th. HDFC card users get Rs. 10,000 instant discount making the effective price Rs. 1,14,999.