Motorola Razr 2019: Features | Pricing | Specs

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It's hard to understate just how heavily Motorola owned the mobile market when the original Motorola Razr burst onto the scene back in 2004. One part style icon, one part super-durable feature phone, the Razr was the desirable handset of its time.

Motorola is now hoping its first foray into foldable phones, adorned with the Razr name, can recapture that magic. Where competitors in the folding phone space have opted for designs that add size when unfolded to a regular phone, Motorola is instead betting on portability, with a design that more or less halves itself to fit easily into a pocket or purse.

Design

• 6.2-inch primary POLED display
• 2.7-inch Quick View display
• Hinge completely seals up the phone, just like the classic Razr

• Read more about the Motorola Razr 2019's design

  A huge part of the original Razr's appeal was its design, with a flip-open display and glowing number pad that felt impossibly futuristic... at least by 2004 standards.

  Motorola has taken that idea and applied it to the world of smartphones with a design that really isn't like any other foldable phone released to date. With the Motorola Razr 2019 unfolded, you're facing a 6.2-inch POLED display, which isn't the largest you can get on a phone. Indeed, it's almost a standard size for smartphones these days, although it has a 21:9 aspect ratio screen, which isn't common at all.

  In keeping with the classic Razr style, the Motorola Razr 2019 has a prominent lower "chin", which is where much of the phone's actual connectivity hardware, including antennae, speakers and USB C charging ports, reside.

  That chin also gives the 6.2-inch screen a clean space to fold down into, at which point you switch to the external 2.7 inches Quick View display. Motorola's intent here is exactly the same as it was on the classic Razr. It's not the intent that you'll use the external display on an ongoing basis – instead, it can be used quickly check notifications as and when they come in while keeping the overall size of the Motorola Razr 2019 as small as possible when it's folded up.

  As for colourways, back in the day, Motorola ended up making a whole slew of different Razr designs, but for now, if you want a Motorola Razr 2019, you'll have to get it in black.

Camera

• Single flippable 16MP camera
• 5MP front-facing camera on the primary screen

• Read more about the Motorola Razr 2019's camera

  What we've seen in foldable phones to date have been devices pitched at the premium market, and that's meant that multi-camera arrays have been the expected default.

  Once again, Motorola has taken a different approach, although it's one that ties in very closely with how that Razr hinge works. The primary camera has a single 16MP sensor, but because of the vertical nature of the folding mechanism, it's only the "rear" camera when the Motorola Razr 2019 is fully unfolded.

  Fold it down, and it sits underneath the Quick View display and effectively becomes the "front-facing" selfie camera. It's an interesting design idea, although clearly not as flexible as the multi-camera setups on foldable phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold or the Huawei Mate X.

  The Motorola Razr 2019 does have a selfie camera with a 5MP resolution, but it's only accessible when the full screen is unfolded. Because that screen folds into itself, it doesn't become the "rear" camera when folded down, so you'll need to have the phone fully unfolded to take both front and rear shots.

Performance

• Snapdragon 712 processor
• Android 9
• Motorola actions onboard

• Read more about the Motorola Razr 2019's performance

  Other foldable flagships have gone to market with cutting-edge high-end processors, but again, the Motorola Razr 2019 differs from the pack. It's running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor, quite mid-range for a high-cost phone. Apparently Motorola's take here is that higher-end processors such as the Snapdragon 855 chew too much power and create too much heat for the Motorola Razr 2019's thin frame.

  It's also only an Android 9 phone, which is a little disappointing for a handset due to release in late 2019. Motorola's track record of updates isn't always one of smooth sailing, but we're hopeful that by the time the Motorola Razr 2019 reaches our shores it'll be packing Android 10.

  Motorola's approach to Android is at least fairly hands-off, with the inclusion of its own custom gestures the only notable additional software that we can expect from the Motorola Razr 2019. If you're a fan of chopping the phone in the air to flick on the flashlight, you'll have another party trick to play with. Although, we are curious to find out if that works with the Motorola Razr 2019 folded up, because presumably, the light would be facing – and blinding – you if you did.

Battery life

• 2,510mAh battery is very low for a flagship phone
• 15W wired charging
• No wireless charging

• Read more about the Motorola Razr 2019's battery life

  As phones have become increasingly thinner, there's been a precarious balance between battery capacity and performance. It's an issue that's clearly affected the Motorola Razr 2019 because it only has a 2,510mAh battery on board. It's almost half of what we've seen on some other flagships (or even Motorola's own Moto G7 Power), but it appears to be the necessary trade-off to keep the Motorola Razr 2019 so particularly thin.

  Motorola, of course, claims that the phone is capable of all-day battery life, and the lower-performance Snapdragon 712 may have a role to play there too. We'll have to wait and see how it stands up under real-world testing to be sure.

  To keep it charged up, Motorola will supply a 15W "TurboPower" charger in the box for wired charging, but disappointingly, wireless charging is not supplied. Again, that's almost certainly a design consideration around the placement of the wireless charging coils and the additional bulk that they would introduce.

Early outlook

• Do consumers want portability more than screen size?

• Read our early Motorola Razr 2019 verdict

  It's been a long while since Motorola really played in the premium smartphone space, but that's undeniably where the pricing of the Motorola Razr 2019 places its latest flagship.

  Motorola is betting on the idea that consumers would prefer a smaller, more easily pocketable phone, and that they're prepared to both pay a premium and put up with a few less-than-premium features as a result. It's certainly a different take than we've seen so far from Huawei or Samsung, although the latter does appear to have an upcoming foldable that takes the same approach.

  Like the rest of the foldable phone market, we're still very much in the "version one" phase of development, with prices to match. The original Motorola Razr was a style icon, but it was very much an affordable one. The Motorola Razr 2019 may become a style sensation all over again, but its price point means it'll be a phone for only a select cashed-up few.

Pricing and availability

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Motorola Razr 2019 specifications

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