Hello Moto! What’s the Latest Motorola Razr Phone?

Remember when phones were used primarily for calling and texting people? Let’s go back in time to the early 2000s, when Motorola devices were all the rage. You might recall the catchy ‘Hello Moto’ slogan, Paris Hilton proudly showing off her hot pink phone or the satisfying snapping sound of closing our devices to end calls. Motorola is a brand which many of us will think about fondly even if we haven’t stayed loyal to it over the years, and with the rise of folding devices entering the market, it was an astute business decision for Motorola to reinvent the classic Razr V3 2004 for the modern era of smartphones. We’re going to discuss the Motorola Razr 2019 and our thoughts on it.

Motorola Razr V3 announced in 2003

Folding Phones

In April 2019, Samsung attempted to begin the process of launching the Galaxy Fold, until early reviewers reported that their devices’ screens were breaking after only a few days of use. This came after concerns had been raised that industry analysts weren’t able to try the phones out, despite the potential for durability issues with folding devices. To cut a long story short, the launch of the Galaxy Fold was a total fiasco. It called into question whether smartphone manufacturers were ready to launch folding devices into the mainstream. However, just as we thought that folding devices were doomed to fail, Motorola surprised us all by reviving their iconic Razr for 2019.

Samsung Galaxy Fold

Motorola Razr 2019

The Motorola Razr is pocket-friendly when it’s folded and when it opens out it becomes a 6.2-inch device. Its compact form makes it easy for putting it in your pocket and getting it out easily when you need it, which is a welcome change to the market dominated by very large handsets. Not all of us want to put our devices in our back pockets in case they get stolen, so a folding device which can become smaller could be ideal for front pockets. The convenience of the folded Razr is that it has the Quick View display on the exterior which displays the time and notifications, while the interior display has an OLED panel like those found on other smartphones today.

While the Razr does offer some interesting features, and although Motorola have done an admirable job of disrupting a very homogenous market, there’s a lot left to be desired. In terms of the cameras, there’s only a 16-megapixel camera lens in the middle, which becomes a rear-facing camera when the device is opened and a 5-megapixel lens in the interior display, which doesn’t exactly wow us when you consider the exceptional camera phones that are currently available on the market.

In terms of performance, the Motorola Razr is power efficient but isn’t the best available. It comes with the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 710 chip which doesn’t perform as well as some other Android flagships that have the Snapdragon 865 chipset. This device also raises other questions regarding consumer choice, such as: do consumers want to buy a chunky hinged device with a hefty price tag? It’s certainly not for everyone. With a design that’s so radical, it remains to be seen if nostalgia and a desire to relive the past will override consumers’ desire to have all of the up-to-date and modern features on their devices. This is all within the context of price, which is fundamental to mention. Currently the Motorola Razr is exclusive to EE and is available for pre-orders with the cheapest contract of £2,356 over two years. This is an extortionate price for a smartphone which doesn’t even meet the standards of the rest of the competition.

While folding devices are arguably the most exciting innovation to occur in the smartphone industry for quite some time, it remains to be seen how Motorola will fare with this foray. We wouldn’t recommend this phone to anyone unless they have money to burn and their desire to return to the early 2000s erodes any common sense.