Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Evaluate

Motorola is again with its yearly replace for its Razr collection. The brand new Razr 50 Extremely is just not out to alter the clamshell foldable however is extra about including a number of enhancements in its try and refine its foldable formulation. Whereas final 12 months’s foldable perfected the duvet show with a radical and daring design, it fell behind with its cameras and was additionally plagued with heating points.

This 12 months’s Razr 50 Extremely seems acquainted to final 12 months’s mannequin. However there are a ton of {hardware} upgrades on the within that make an enormous distinction with this 12 months’s mannequin. After utilizing it for greater than every week, I can conclude the identical. So, learn on to seek out out why it ought to be your first foldable.

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Evaluate Design: You win some, you lose some

• Dimensions – Closed – 73.99 x 88.09 x 15.32mm
• Dimensions – Open – 73.99 x 171.42 x 7.09mm
• Weight – 189 grams

Whereas its total look and design have remained primarily the identical because the Razr 40 Extremely, there are some delicate adjustments that not everybody could discover. When closed, the clamshell foldable is now a few millimetres thinner, which supplies it a cross-section (when folded) simply as thick as most smartwatches. That is primarily right down to the brand new hinge, which, aside from promising higher reliability (with fewer transferring components) can be compact.

In keeping with Motorola, the hinge, aside from offering a smoother opening and shutting expertise, additionally protects towards mud. Nevertheless, the cellphone will get an IPX8 ranking this time, which is on par with the older Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, however loses towards the brand new Galaxy Z Flip 6’s IP48 ranking, which works for each mud and water. Satirically, Motorola’s Razr 40 Extremely provided an IP52 ranking.

The brand new hinge lets the Motorola Razr 50 Extremely lie completely flat when open

The brand new hinge refines the talents of the earlier mannequin. Whereas Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip is all about delivering excessive hovering angles, it nonetheless wants two palms to be opened. Oppo’s Discover N3 Flip is the precise reverse, with a clean but easy-to-open hinge that has a smaller candy spot (45-120 levels) for hovering. Motorola’s Razr has at all times been about flipping the highest half open. It has a small hovering vary (past which the cellphone folds shut or opens flat), making it one of many best foldables to flip open and shut shut with one hand.

Regardless of having a smaller hovering vary, the Razr 50 Extremely can maintain up one-half of the show nicely at this V-shaped angle. Motorola has taken benefit of this with some sensible software-based options.

There is a Sleep show function which prompts the duvet show’s AOD function. This mode prompts when the highest half (with the cameras and the duvet show) is angled at a slant (round 70 levels) within the Stand place. It reveals an everyday white over black AOD display screen with all the required particulars, however you’ll be able to wake it up (to the lockscreen) by tapping the show or simply bringing your hand nearer to it when on this mode.

The brand new leather-based rear panel, aside from feeling nice, additionally provides loads of grip

The second function, the Desk show, takes benefit of the duvet display screen’s low refresh price (LTPO). It really works in each Tent or Stand positions and reveals preselected images out of your gallery or customized photographs from Motorola (like Hi there Moo or Hi there Moto). Photographs might be accompanied by customized textual content as nicely, turning the duvet show right into a digital photograph body, which barely sips energy (1-2 % an hour) when in use and may stay on on a regular basis offered it’s set to Tent or Stand positions.

The rear panel now will get the vegan leather-based therapy for all finishes. These finishes have a minor distinction due to how they’re spliced. The Spring Inexperienced unit we obtained for assessment had fantastic vertical grooves, which supplies the cellphone a stable grip. The truth is, it has a lot grip I nearly mistook it for supporting the brand new Qi 2 requirements (which it doesn’t).

Desk show turns the Motorola Razr 50 Extremely’s massive cowl show right into a mini photograph body

I wish to see a real always-on-display mode (like on an iPhone 14/15 Professional) used for the Razr’s cowl show. Because it basically covers the entrance half of the clamshell, it may well double up as a colour-changing customisable entrance panel that may present an identical print design and extra. However nicely, perhaps subsequent time!

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Evaluate Shows: A notch above the remainder

• Cowl show – 4.0-inch, 1,272 × 1,080 pixels, 165Hz
• Primary show – 6.9-inch, 2,640 × 1,080 pixels, full-HD+, 165Hz
• Show sort – pOLED (LTPO)

Whereas I used to be blown away by the Razr 40 Extremely’s cowl show, the Razr 50 Extremely’s bigger 4.0-inch panel has higher cutouts for the 2 floating cameras and the LED flash unit, making it seem extra polished. The quilt show, with a peak brightness of three,000nits, is loads brilliant outside and can be HDR10+ licensed, which is nice for scrolling by images, capturing images and when watching supported content material on the duvet show when in tent mode (which I surprisingly did).

The brand new bigger cowl show with its floating cameras is a deal with to have a look at

Color replica of the primary show is kind of good offered you set it to the Pure color mode. The brilliant show can be fairly tall or large (22:9 facet ratio) when viewing movies, so I did find yourself with some letter-boxing on the edges when streaming the reveals within the ordinary 16:9 format, but it surely works completely nicely when watching motion pictures with their wider cinema codecs. The utmost 300Hz contact sampling price (220Hz regular) is barely out there whereas enjoying video games, but it surely’s nearly proper for some high-end FPS gaming in case you are into it.

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Evaluate Software program: A fantastic steadiness

• Software program – Hi there UI
• Model – Android 14
• Newest – Safety Patch: 01 Might, 2024

The software program expertise with Motorola latest Hi there UI is kind of good within the sense that it isn’t reached the purpose the place it feels overwhelming for the person neither is it slowing down the {hardware}. There are some preinstalled third-party apps (that may be uninstalled), and Motorola has additionally began including a number of of its personal which can’t be uninstalled, however most of those are helpful (Household House and many others.) Briefly, it doesn’t have that near-stock really feel of the outdated Motorola telephones however provides a ton of personalisation with themes, fonts, AI wallpapers and extra.

Motorola allows you to invert the orientation of the duvet show relying in your app’s format when in full-screen mode

As with each clamshell foldable nowadays, Motorola nonetheless stays on the forefront (now that Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip 6 is out) on the subject of the capabilities of its cowl show. Its larger dimension immediately makes it extra helpful and I usually discovered myself beginning and finishing duties on the duvet show itself. Motorola additionally goes all weapons blazing by supporting Google’s Gemini AI on the duvet show, and it is as helpful because it claims it’s. And when you get your outcomes, it’s also possible to copy paste these between apps on the duvet show itself since there’s a full-width keyboard out there. And since you’ll be able to entry any app on the duvet show with out points (in full display screen that too), all of this makes the duvet show on the cellphone as helpful because the one inside.

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Evaluate Efficiency: A little bit of a hothead

• Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
• RAM – 12GB, LPDDR5X
• Storage – 512GB, UFS 4.0

By way of uncooked efficiency, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 we examined final 12 months continues to be finest in school. Regardless of its odd moniker, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen Three processor is just not as highly effective because the Snapdragon Eight Gen 3. So, this places it in keeping with final 12 months’s Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 (we anticipate the Z Flip 6 to carry out higher), which has a Qualcomm Snapdragon Eight Gen 2 for Galaxy SoC as you’ll be able to see from the benchmark scores within the desk under.

By way of on a regular basis usability, I confronted no subject or notable bugs with the whole lot operating easily and flawlessly as one would anticipate from a Motorola gadget, regardless of the model’s inclination so as to add extra native apps 12 months after 12 months. The transition of apps from the duvet show to the primary show and again nonetheless works nicely and is one thing different producers have but to perform efficiently.

One space that also stands proud is heating. The cellphone doesn’t get as sizzling whereas enjoying demanding video games and doesn’t warmth up with common use, however I did discover it warming up fairly a bit when utilizing the digicam. I couldn’t really feel the warmth on my fingers when holding up the gadget, however it may be felt on the internal folding show. One may also inform that one thing’s improper as a result of the digicam interface begins to lag after about 5-10 minutes of combined utilization. That is most noticeable when recording video, the place the animation of the recording button itself slows down.

The Razr 50 Extremely’s primary show is so much more durable than the earlier one and has a virtually invisible crease

For individuals who like to play video games, I like the easy cowl show video games which have good haptic suggestions and make good use of the floating cameras nicely. For severe players, the cellphone might be able to operating Name of Obligation: Cellular at Medium graphics and Extremely body price with no issues and the identical applies to Excessive graphics and Max body price as nicely. The UTG display screen safety additionally lastly appears to be sturdy sufficient to withstand scratches whereas enjoying video games.

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Evaluate Cameras: New cameras, outdated issues

• Primary Digital camera – 50MP (OIS), f/1.7 aperture, AF
• Telephoto Digital camera – 50MP, 2x optical zoom, f/2.Zero aperture, AF
• Selfie digicam – 32MP, f/2.Four aperture

Motorola has accomplished away with the same old ultra-wide-angle digicam and gone with a telephoto digicam this 12 months. This certainly appears to be a very good transfer, and the first digicam (wide-angle) is often sufficient for many common taking pictures eventualities, leaving room for a wonderful telephoto shooter with 2x optical zoom.

The first digicam captures barely saturated colors (whether or not or not you may have AI Shot optimisation switched on in Settings) and reveals good dynamic vary with sufficient particulars within the shadows and the intense areas. Autofocus was fast whereas capturing images however a bit gradual when recording video. Outcomes are fairly good in low gentle, with noise nicely below management and loads of element within the textures.

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Daylight Digital camera Samples. High: Major digicam, Center: 2X Telephoto digicam, Backside: 4X digital zoom (faucet photographs to increase)

As for the brand new telephoto digicam, it serves its goal nicely in daylight and indoor lighting. Photographs pack good element so long as your topic is regular. The telephoto is primarily utilized in portrait mode, and the outcomes are detailed and sharp. It may also be used to zoom right into a body and the ends in daylight as much as 4X (digital crop) are fairly usable with simply sufficient element. The pictures captured in dim gentle or low gentle come out a bit gentle and blurry primarily as a result of it lacks optical picture stabilisation (OIS), which is current on the first digicam.

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely selfie digicam samples: High: Selfie digicam, backside: selfie from the first digicam through a canopy show (faucet photographs to increase)

The built-in selfie digicam similar to final 12 months’s mannequin is not nice. Daylight selfies are satisfactory by way of high quality and element, however low-light selfies have a special color tone and are available out fairly gentle and blurry. Fortunately, it is a foldable. In order that 4.0-inch cowl show can be utilized with the first digicam to seize some clear low gentle selfies when folded shut which have good pure bokeh lowering the necessity to hearth up the Portrait mode even at night time.

Video captured at 4K 30fps or 4K 60fps reveals good element with barely restricted dynamic vary. Stabilisation when strolling and panning is nice offered the cellphone has not heated up until then or you’re blessed with nice or windy climate. As soon as the cellphone heats up, you’ll discover the continued video recording showing fairly stuttery on-screen. The cellphone’s {hardware} clearly can’t sustain with the digicam, so the digicam’s software program interface additionally steadily slows down.

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely low-light digicam pattern (major digicam)

Fortunately, the recorded footage seems to be higher regardless that it, too, struggles with bitrate points because of the built-up warmth when taking pictures. In low gentle, 4K 30fps footage hits the candy spot with good element and stabilisation. 1080p video recordings appeared a bit gentle and scaled-down, so it isn’t best to shoot at this decision, particularly in low gentle.

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Evaluate Battery: Pretty much as good because it will get

• Battery Capability – 4,000mAh
• Wired Charging – 45W (68W in-box charger)
• Wi-fi Charging – 15W

Battery outcomes are actually spectacular even with the always-on-display function (AOD) switched on

The quilt show being as helpful because the one inside, mechanically ends in higher battery life. Regardless of utilizing the AOD (black and white) function, I discovered that the cellphone can simply final a complete day with heavy utilization (together with digicam and gaming classes) and might be stretched to the following afternoon with informal use. In our video battery loop check, the cellphone managed to final a powerful 20 hours and 28 minutes. The cellphone additionally prices up rapidly going from Zero to completely charged in 51 minutes. It additionally provides 15W wi-fi Charging when positioned on its proprietary charging dock (offered individually).

Motorola Razr 50 Extremely Evaluate Verdict

Foldable clamshell smartphones certainly have discovered a candy spot within the compact flagship phase which at all times struggled with restricted choices to select from. Presently it is simply the Samsung Galaxy S24 (Rs. 74,999) and the Google Pixel 8 (Rs. 61,999) in India.

Whereas beforehand riddled with fixed heating points, poor battery life and lacklustre digicam efficiency resulting from their slim designs, clamshell foldables have now lastly reached some extent of refinement the place they are often really helpful as day by day drivers as an alternative of compact and even plus-sized flagships.

That mentioned, the Motorola Razr 50 Extremely might be your first foldable. In contrast to final 12 months’s mannequin, Motorola has remodelled the Razr (in a great way), and it checks the lengthy record of containers with options that consumers anticipate from such a tool. This features a succesful set of cameras, a compact type issue (when folded) and a big show when opened with good software program, good battery life and quick charging as nicely. Motorola even throws in a premium pair of its Buds+ (Evaluate) TWS earphones within the field to sweeten the deal.

The corporate even jumped onto the AI bandwagon and provided Google’s Gemini on the massive and useful cowl show, which in itself is one thing to have a look at. Oppo’s Discover N3 Flip (Evaluate comes shut because it provides a very good set of cameras, whereas Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 (Evaluate) and the brand new Galaxy Z Flip 6 (First Impressions) are excessive on AI. However Motorola’s cowl show and glorious software program integration nonetheless makes it the clamshell foldable to beat.