Motorola Razr 50 Review: Exploring the Features of a Premium Foldable at an Accessible Price

Motorola Razr 50 Assessment: So far, all foldable phones have been in the flagship category, despite the fact that the form factor compromises in more than one aspect. Motorola, one of the first companies to release foldable smartphones, given its legacy with this form factor going back decades, is now attempting to make foldables popular at much lower prices than where they were positioned so far. This is interesting, given that rival companies see this range as the only way to upsell, taking their common selling price up significantly. But does the concept of a mid-range foldable work? I took the Motorola Razr 50 for a spin and found four reasons this smartphone may work.

asensible layout

The Motorola Razr 50 has a practical layout because it fits nicely in your hands despite its large 6.9-inch display screen and flip shape factor that offers multiple use cases. The spritz orange color I received for review was lovely, to say the least. Additionally, I don’t think any other company has included a case in the box that matches the phone as well as this one does. The phone also features a fingerprint scanner in the power button for unlocking, which may seem a bit old school but works well in different environments.

Sensible use instances

I found that the turn and fold layout simplifies some use instances, mainly because of how Motorola configured the 3.6-inch outside display. For example, when I was in the US for the iPhone launch, I could easily create videos by holding the phone half-folded with the external display facing me and recording videos using the main camera. All I needed to do was tap the external screen to start the recording. There’s also a handy cam mode, where you hold the phone semi-folded like a video camera and use the part near your thumb to switch on recording or to zoom with a swipe motion as you get the video preview on the part facing you.

A full outside screen

The 3.6-inch external display screen is nearly fully functional and can run all of the apps you’ll find on the main screen. In settings, you can choose which apps you want to open on this screen when the phone is folded. Additionally, Motorola has included games specifically for this display screen. I enjoyed the simple Marble Mayhem game that reminded me of my childhood. You can pinch in on this display to view all of the tabs you have open, from weather to calendar, and tap on the one you want to access. Simple, yet practical. It’s great that Motorola hasn’t added any unnecessary features here. Even when the phone is folded, you can tap on the screen to quickly take a selfie.

Quite effective

The Motorola Razr 50 is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300X processor that is capable of handling everything you throw at it. I did not experience any lag, especially when the phone needed to change its form factor on the fly from a full screen to a semi or fully folded device. While gaming or recording long 4K videos, the phone does not heat up. Overall, Motorola has maintained a battery life of well over a day with the Razr 50.

Are there any negatives with the Motorola Razr 50?

The only factor that I did note is that with the duvet, this seems like a thick cellphone although it isn’t always plenty heavier than everyday smartphones. While I won’t advocate using any foldable without a cowl, you should hold this in mind.

Regardless of Motorola adding quite a few precise tweaks to the smartphone, the Razr 50 too does not include a UI that is made for foldable. It simply adapts the cellphone UI — in this situation more in the realm of pure Android — for a folding display or a smaller outside screen.