Motorola Razr foldable smartphone in-hand-review

Motorola resumes its attempts in the foldable clamshell market after a brief sabbatical. The most recent model and unquestionably the best-looking one to come out of the line is the Motorola Razr 2022. It has been available internationally for only a few weeks after becoming official for about two months. Despite the fact that the clamshell design is still popular, the Razr 2022 deviates from the original Razr design—possibly for the better.

The distinctive “chin” on the bottom is no longer present in the Razr 2022. Instead, it has a larger display that fills the entire top and bottom bezels and has a smaller punch hole for the selfie camera.

The distinctive “chin” on the bottom is no longer present in the Razr 2022. Instead, it has a larger display that fills the entire top and bottom bezels and has a smaller punch hole for the selfie camera.

The Razr 2022 is not just more aesthetically pleasing than its predecessor, the Razr 5G is now a true flagship with top-notch internals. Among its many features are the top-tier Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, a stunning 6.7-inch, 144Hz, HDR10+ display, and stereo speakers.

This time around, Motorola is obviously going all out to produce a truly flagship-level foldable that will be able to compete with products like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 and the Huawei P50 Pocket. The Razr 2022’s price is in line with Motorola’s vision, so the only remaining concern is whether it comes up to the hype.

Before we go any further, let’s take a quick look at the opulent retail box that the Razr 2022 comes packaged in.

Unboxing of Motorola Razr

The Razr 2022 comes packaged in a large, fashionable black box with embossed branding and a magnetic cover. The latter is a perfect allusion to the phone’s hinge because it is incredibly “clicky” and pleasurable to open and close.

The Razr 2022 is tucked inside a durable plastic tray and is the first item you notice when you open the package. A 30W TurboPower Type-C PD charger and a Type-C to Type-C cable are also included in the box.

A quirky but useful two-piece hard, transparent snap-on cover is also available for the phone.

Another SIM ejector and some pamphlets round up the collection of things. Not the most luxurious retail bundle available, but yet not terrible.

Design

The striking look of the previous Motorola Razr range was probably its best selling point. Up until the 2020 Razr 5G, the revived Razr foldable display versions did a very good job of replicating and reproducing that classic look. With the new Razr 2022, though, that isn’t quite the case.

For want of a better description, Motorola has chosen to improve the design this year and stick with a more “classic” clamshell. One that is considerably more in line with what Samsung or Huawei are releasing. Not everyone will like or find this alteration to be polished, and it may create some division. In our perspective, the new Razr 2022 design is far more developed and streamlined in terms of foldable structure than its forerunner.

The distinctive “chin” at the bottom of the phone is gone. Instead, Motorola has completely enlarged the display, giving it this time a significantly larger diagonal of 6.7 inches and substantially more screen space. The useable display area increases when a selfie punch hole rather than a display notch is used instead Motorola Edge 30 Fusion on the hands.

Interestingly, depending on how far you can extend your thumbs, the Razr 2022 is significantly broader than the majority of flip phones, often uncomfortable wide.

Another, less evident manner that the new display is more “polished” is also present. The display must constantly be folded almost flat and tightly in order for the two sides of the recognisable Razr clamshell design to settle almost on top of one another with little room in between. Motorola developed a clever way to allow this with previous foldable display and hinge designs by tucking components of the display assembly into the phone’s bottom chin when it was closed. Such tactics are no longer required on the Razr 2022. The redesigned hinge design and the display’s r-curve are both tightly enough to enable the almost ideal fold-over.

We only have positive things to say about the hinge. Since it is tension-based and extremely smooth, the phone may be partially opened at (nearly) any angle. It has hardly little flex to speak of and a very pleasant “snap” at both ends. The hinge doesn’t seem especially rigid or harsh, either.

The Razr 2022 opens with significantly less initial force than flip phones like the Galaxy Z Flip4 or the Huawei P50 Pocket. Although the hinge is exquisite, it is unclear what Motorola did with it or whether anyone else contributed to its creation.

Another area where Motorola excelled was the display crease. There is no getting around the fact that fading is still an issue with current foldable display technology. While we are unable to comment on the mechanism’s durability or how the crease will appear after extensive use outside of the box, it is so little that it is hardly evident. Nice, even creasing can be seen on both display half. Additionally, it is fairly wide and shallow. The final part can appear to be a drawback, but there isn’t one since it causes a very little curve that descends towards the hinge’s centre. This makes it nearly hard to truly feel the crease with a finger. Overall, really great work!.

To wrap up the design area, we must point out that Motorola made a fantastic job of curved and sloping the Razr 2022’s outside edges to mimic the distinctive feel of the family, chin or no chin. We also appreciate the improved camera position and the way the cover display is connected to it.

For those of you who are curious about whether you can operate the Razr 2022 one-handedly and open and close it, we also have some unfavourable news. Simply said, the phone is too broad to comfortably open and close with one hand. It is possible, but not if your hands are smaller.

Build quality and material

The Razr 2022 is an exceptionally well-made gadget. The hinge’s smooth actuation and absence of flex have already been commended. Actually, stainless steel is used to make it. The only long-term issue we can see with it is harm from accumulated dirt around the moving parts. However, right out of the box and throughout early use, it runs really well.

Gorilla Glass 5 is used for the upper portion of the Razr 2022, while matte Velvet AG glass is used for the below portion. Although we wish Motorola hadn’t made the top glass piece protecting the display nearly as shiny, everything feels wonderful. It is a true fingerprint magnet as it is right now.

Another good material for durability is Series 7000 aluminium, which is used for the central frame of the Razr 2022.

Even though the Razr 2022’s bill of materials is great overall, it is still a foldable. The usage of a plastic frame surrounding the foldable display appears to be required by current display technology, as it is in this case.

Additionally, it is not simple to answer the topic of ingress protection. The Razr 2022, according to Motorola, features a “water-repellent” construction that should shield it from “moderate exposure to water,” such as light rain, splashes, and spills. The Galaxy Z Flip4’s IPX8 rating, for example, offers much more water resistance than Moto’s claimed IP52 grade. But perhaps here, dust is less likely to get inside the gadget.

Concetivity and controls

Although it has a unique physical factor, the Razr 2022 features a rather conventional control arrangement. The secondary noise-canceling microphone is the only item on the top bezel of the phone.

The third microphone was placed by Motorola near the top of the phone’s left bezel. The only thing on that bezel is a few antenna lines.

The Razr 2022’s power button, which doubles as a capacitive fingerprint scanner, is located on the right side of the device. The reader itself reads quite quickly and precisely. We had absolutely no problems with it. It can be configured to turn on automatically or only when the power button is pressed.

On the Razr 2022, the volume rockers are located directly above the power button. Despite being large and “clicky,” they are not particularly user-friendly because of where they are on the frame—way up high. Positively, when using the cover display, the Razr 2022 switches the volume up and down buttons in accordance with its orientation.

The Razr 2022’s bottom is fairly crowded. Here is one of the two speakers. The other is located above the primary display and serves as an earpiece. Additionally, we can see the lone Nano-SIM slot here.

Although the Razr 2022 doesn’t feature a second physical SIM slot, it does support eSIM, allowing you to use two active SIM cards.

However, the built-in storage cannot be expanded.

The Razr 2022’s USB Type-C connector can handle USB host or OTG capability and is capable of up to 30W USB-PD charging. Additionally, it supports video output via Type-C alt mode. The “ready for” platform from Motorola operates in wired mode in this manner.

The Razr 2022 contains an accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass in terms of sensors. A genuine hardware proximity sensor and at least one ambient light sensor are also present inside the phone, under the primary display. Although we couldn’t locate it, we believe there may be another one somewhere outside the phone. In case you were wondering, the device has no place for a notification LED.

NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.2 with LE support, and Sub6 SA and NSA 5G network support are all features of the Razr 2022. FM radio is not present on board.

Display

There are two unique displays on the Motorola Razr 2022, and each is compelling in its own right. Take the internal one first. It has a foldable 6.7-inch AMOLED panel. Beyond its obvious trick of folding in half, the internal screen of the Razr 2022 is a fantastic display for a number of reasons. It can refresh at up to 144Hz, for starters. Additionally, it supports 10-bit colour and has HDR10+ certification. It boasts a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, which equates to a crisp 393 ppi and a 20:9 aspect ratio. It’s important to note that this aspect ratio is noticeably broader than, for example, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4.

The Razr 2022’s 6.7-inch display performs admirably as well. The slider’s maximum brightness was little around 500 nits. Beyond that, there is a max auto mode that boosts the panel’s brightness to over 1000 nits, making it enjoyable to use even in bright sunshine.

Color aquraccy

Compared to its sibling, the outside 2.7-inch AMOLED panel isn’t quite as dazzling. We recorded 370 nits or such. It is important to keep in mind that using it outside can be a little challenging. Positively, despite the slightly strange aspect ratio, its resolution of 573 x 800 pixels is quite high, making most apps at least somewhat usable on it.

Returning to the primary display and its functionalities, we were pleased with the panel’s colour accuracy. Saturated and natural colour modes are both available on the Razr 2022.

With a focus on the DCI-P3 colour space, saturated comes quite close to being color-accurate. Motorola slightly boosts each of the three colour channels to produce the distinctive OLED “pop”. The Natural setting will suit your needs if colour fidelity is what you are looking. It is incredibly colour accurate and completely covers the sRGB colour space.

HDR support

The Razr 2022’s display is HDR10+ certified, as we already noted. In addition, the phone claims to offer HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG decoding.

Additionally, it has the highest Widevine L1 DRM certification, which enables streaming services like Netflix to saturate its quality and provide FullHD feeds.

Modes of Refresh rate

A customizable refresh rate of up to 144Hz is available with the Razr 2022. Variable refers to the fact that the phone has a number of refresh rate “steps” accessible that are concealed by the vague “Auto” mode under settings.

The Razr 2022’s primary display supports 48Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz refresh rates. The external monitor is set to run at 60Hz as far as we were able to test. A somewhat dynamic refresh rate management system has been put in place by Motorola. The Razr 2022 operates at 120Hz when you interact with the phone while in Auto refresh rate mode and at 120Hz or 90Hz when something is actively moving on the screen.

After a brief period of motionless display, the phone will automatically switch to 60Hz to save energy. We only sometimes noticed a decrease to 48Hz on the always-on display.

There appear to be more “smarts” at work as well; specifically, the phone is much more aggressive in aggressively lowering its refresh rate to 60Hz while a video is playing.

The Razr 2022 is only designed for gaming at 144Hz. The Motorola Games launcher, which is exclusive to each game, is the only way to enter the mode. The good news is that most of the games we tried, which we know can render at over 60fps, happily did so.

While there were still a few exceptions, most games and several graphical benchmarks ran without any issues in 144Hz mode.

The Razr 2022’s automatic refresh rate mechanism performs admirably overall. Its actions are fluid and extensive. We would want to see Motorola eventually provide the ability to establish a fixed refresh rate to any programme because we really value the flexibility to do so for individual games. Apart from that and the occasional game that defied our refresh rate setting, we have no complaints about the system.

Battery Life

Modern foldables’ battery life has historically been somewhat of a sore area. It sort of goes along with the territory. The Motorola Razr 2022’s battery capacity is only 3,500 mAh. The flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, which is not the most effective component available, is nonetheless powering it.

In our in-house test, this adds up to a somewhat low total endurance rating of 64 hours. The Razr 2022’s network standby functionality turned out to be somewhat of a weakness. Other than that, its screen-on times and testing are generally not that bad.

Charging Speed

There is a 30W TurboPower charger included with the Razr 2022. It is fundamentally a USB Power Delivery charger with output ratings of [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected] Although we like the utilisation of current, standardised charging protocols and a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, we had some problems with the reversible connector. In particular, inverting the connector frequently led to a slower rate of charge. Just be aware that this is a problem; we’ve seen it on other phones, so it’s not an uncommon occurrence.

The Motorola Razr 2022’s charging speed isn’t very quick, even when it functions properly. In reality, given the very modest battery pack, it is somewhat sluggish. The Razr 2022 was able to charge from 0% to 19% and 37% in 30 minutes. It took just over an hour and a half to charge fully.

It is important to note that the Razr 2022 has a peculiar charging behaviour. After approximately a minute of receiving roughly 22 wats from the charger, it abruptly decreases to about 8 to 9 wats and maintains that level for the length of the charging session. There is no logical reason for why the phone charged so slowly over the course of two charging sessions,Motorola Edge 30 Fusion on the hands, despite the fact that we used the included charger and cable and the phone wasn’t getting hot either.

Speakers

The Razr 2022 has the traditional hybrid stereo speaker arrangement with an additional channel provided by the earpiece. In portrait mode, it is given the left channel; in landscape, the phone switches channels based on the orientation. There is no outsourcing of some (lower) frequencies from the earpiece to the “primary” speaker at the bottom; rather, each speaker receives its own channel.

In our test, the phone managed a strong “VERY GOOD” rating for volume, which was rather impressive. The Moto’s output quality is strong, with especially strong mids. For what it’s worth, it has clear vocals and even a little bass, and it sounds fine to our ears.

To enhance your multimedia experience, the Razr 2022 has equalisers and Dolby Atmos optimization.

Software

The Motorola Razr 2022 runs Android 12 and has some of the most stock-looking and -feeling features available. Several internal adjustments have been made, although they only serve to enhance the overall Pixel-like aesthetic.

We’ll get to those in a moment, but there are also a few Razr-specific details here and there that take advantage of the capabilities of the unique form factor.

Three OS updates and four years of security patches were all promised for Motorola’s most recent flagship devices. The Razr 2022, on the other hand, would only receive two OS updates.

Anyway, one of Android 12’s more dramatic visual changes is the new Quick Settings UI and notification shade. That refers to the full-screen notification shade and the huge bubbly buttons, of which you only get 4 on the first pull and up to 8 on the second.

I’ll move on to widgets, which got a makeover with Android 12. For widgets of various sizes, the widget picker provides responsive previews. By integrating with the Material You theming engine, the new API allows dynamic colouring, enabling widgets to adjust to the background.

Even though it’s hidden behind a slightly modified Moto-specific theming engine, the Material You auto-theming feature—another Android 12 staple—is present. The Google apps and settings menu can still use accent colours based on your wallpaper.

The interactive wallpapers are one type of customisation offered especially for the Razr 2022 form factor. A specialised programme can be used to download animated backgrounds, as well as to open and close the phone’s hinge.

On Android 12, privacy is particularly important, and the Razr 2022 has the newest privacy features Google has developed. Included in this is the brand-new Privacy dashboard, which presents a consolidated picture of which permissions are being utilised by which app when, and when. Additionally, there are camera and microphone indications in the upper right corner of the screen providing a clear indication that you are being viewed or heard, as well as easy toggles to completely restrict access to those. You can choose whether an app uses your precise coordinates or an approximation of your location.

The Moto app easily groups all the exclusive features and functionality that the Razr 2022 offers but that Google does not. Most of these are established Moto features that we have seen time and time again.

The OS-native autotheming has found a foster home in the first category, personalisation. In addition to Google’s own wallpapers, there is a large selection of Moto wallpapers available. You can also use AI to design your own wallpaper using images from your gallery.

The gestures follow. You’ve probably already noticed Moto’s karate chop action for turning on and off the flashlight, as well as his twisting motion for opening the camera app. Both continue to function even when the device is locked and closed.

There is also a swipe-to-split feature that launches split-screen multitasking. Additionally, you can perform a custom action by double-tapping the power button on the phone.

Peek Display and Attentive Display are features that pertain to displays. The former performs admirably as a second-best substitute for the Always-on display feature, which is actually absent but is compensated for by some additional functionality.

When you pick up the phone or the device detects motion nearby, the screen illuminates. When you receive a notification of any kind, you may tap on it to view the message and even respond to it from the lock screen.

As long as a face is looking at the screen, Attentive Display turns off the screen timeout. Quite helpful when reading lengthy articles, even though you probably scroll frequently enough to prevent screen locks in the first place.

Performance

The top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset is installed in the Motorola Razr 2022. It comes with 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of non-expandable UFS 3.1 storage and either 8GB or 12GB of RAM. The Octa-core (1×3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510) CPU configuration and potent Adreno 730 GPU are features of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.

When it comes to the chipset in the Razr 2022, Motorola obviously didn’t cut any corners. It decided to use the most powerful and advanced silicon available because of its many features and power. Given its unique form shape and constrained cooling capacity, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 does not really come as a surprise to feel a little “crammed” and constrained inside the Razr 2022’s body.

Nevertheless, thermals are not a huge issue for brief bursts of load, and GeekBench clearly demonstrates that the Razr 2022 has plenty of power to spare for these.

The same is true for AnTuTu, which has a considerably more complex set of exams with a score of 965260. The Razr 2022 performs admirably, if not quite at the top of the charts, which puts it on par with or even better than some of its other foldable clamshell rivals. Simply put, we must lower our standards and accept that the Razr 2022 will not achieve all of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1’s potential performance.

The GFXBench results displayed on screen are not especially noteworthy. The Razr 2022’s Adreno 730 functions as expected. The phone appears to routinely struggle and perform poorly in off-screen circumstances, which is a somewhat strange development. Not that it really matters in the real world.The GFXBench results displayed on screen are not especially noteworthy. The Razr 2022’s Adreno 730 functions as expected. The phone appears to routinely struggle and perform poorly in off-screen circumstances, which is a somewhat strange development. Not that it really matters in the real world.

Although these benchmarks are rightly not classified as games by the phone, it also becomes apparent as the graphics runs become less intense that the refresh rate is not locked at 60Hz. It’s encouraging to see that Motorola’s automatic refresh rate change is considerably more intelligent than we first believed.

The Razr 2022 unexpectedly achieves 144 frames per second in the Manhattan 2.0 off-screen 1080p rendering test, which raises suspicions that the 144Hz refresh rate cap is being applied somewhere in the overall graphics rendering pipeline because it appears to be effecting off-screen rendering. Once more, not anything that would matter in the actual world, but nonetheless a fascinating observation.

We were forced to use the Wildlife Extreme test, where the Razr 2022 performed unexpectedly well, because the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 managed to max out the scoring on the Slingshot, Slingshot Extreme, and Wild Life tests inside of 3D Mark. However, the short length of the test can account for the high result.

When everything is taken into account, we cannot criticise the Razr 2022’s performance. Even when handicapped, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1’s performance is still adequate, especially in terms of practicality. Sure, it can’t fully extend its legs inside that constricting flip shell. It’s a bit of a catch-22 issue because Motorola could have chosen a lower-quality chip, but it would have damaged the reputation of their flagship device.

Thermal thorttling

Since Motorola packed a top-tier Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip into the Razr 2022, heat generation is an immediate worry. Under heavy loads, the phone does certainly get rather warm. Fortunately, the most of the heat is concentrated under the external display, directly above the phone’s hinge where the chipset lies, thus actual comfort in the hand is not greatly impacted.

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset’s performance is aggressively throttled down by the Razr 2022 in order to reduce the amount of internal heat it generates.

Our tests indicated significant performance losses and a throttling curve that was highly aggressive. Given the device’s form factor, both of these are plausible. Positively, there don’t seem to be any jarring or abrupt drops in performance, and all of the declines in performance seem to be planned and managed. These are the ones that frequently cause stutters in games, and the Razr 2022 appears to be proactively reducing its performance to prevent them.

Camera

The Razr 2022 features a few cameras on the outside, and as you unfold it, another one pops out. We have yet to see a genuine tele on a small foldable, but the outer ones are a conventional pair of a “normal” broad main one and an ultrawide. While the exterior display turns the outer cameras into higher-quality selfie shooters, there are certain limitations to that statement. The selfie camera on the inside, on the other hand, is primarily restricted to video call duty.

The OmniVision OV50A sensor, a 1/1.55″ optical format imager with 1.0 m pixels and a 4-cell (Quad Bayer) colour filter array, serves as the foundation for the main camera. It is coupled with an f/1.8 stabilised lens with a 23mm equivalent focal length.

SK Hynix Hi-336 13MP sensor with 1.12 m pixels is what the ultrawide camera is equipped with. The Motorola specifications state that the field of view is 120 degrees, which should translate to a 12.5mm equivalent focal length, but the EXIF data indicates that the field of view is actually 16mm, and the relatively limited coverage (for an ultrawide smartphone camera) we’re seeing makes the 16mm number seem much more likely. The Razr’s camera setup is therefore somewhat constrained in terms of its native coverage due to a very wide main camera and a relatively small ultrawide. However, the ultrawide cam’s focusing feature does increase its usefulness.

A different OmniVision sensor, the OV32C4C, is used by the internal camera. It contains 32 million 0.7 mm pixels and a 1/3.2″ optical format. The fixed-focus lens has an f/2.4 aperture and a 25mm equivalent focal length.

The software package for the Razr 2022 looks rather generic, however the camera app is customised. Its execution on the unfolded phone is basically the same as what you get on conventional Motos with bar-style controls.

The essential features remain the same: the camera modes are arranged in a carousel layout that can be customised, with the less often used shooting modes being found under the “More” tab at the right end of the carousel.

Pro mode, which is compatible with both rear cameras but not the front-facing one, provides you complete control over the camera’s settings, including white balance, ISO, focus, shutter speed, and exposure compensation. There is only a little live histogram offered; neither focus peaking nor zebras are present.

Swiping down in the viewfinder will reveal more options for each camera mode. If you miss the tiny bar at the far end that indicates that, you might be left wondering where some controls are, such as the frame rate and flash settings in video mode and the self-timer and self-flash settings in photo mode.

Even more settings are contained in the gear icon for the general settings menu, albeit there isn’t a clear division between them. One may access full-res capture for the rear cameras via the “Ultra-Res” mode on the carousel, while the 32MP mode for selfies is located in the settings menu.

The small icon in the upper left corner that activates the outside display’s live view when the phone is unfolded is the only feature that distinguishes the Razr’s viewfinder from your standard Motos. This button alternates between three settings: the outside screen is off, it is on with live view, and it is on with a vibrant animation that takes the place of the “say cheese” prompt.

For when you want to take pictures (or record video) with the phone folded shut, the outer screen, which has semi-full-fledged UI capabilities, receives a camera app of its own. A toggle for the zoom level, a mode selector (which you must tap to choose between modes), and an arrow button for more options are included.

The most notable restriction while utilising the outer screen is that you cannot see the whole output of the camera sensor. You can choose between the standard 1:1 crop or a 4:3 crop across the imager’s shorter side.

Given that the orientation of the display with regard to the sensor is 90 degrees, Motorola has chosen not to provide you with the option of letterboxing the live preview in order to provide you with the entire coverage. Funny enough, letterboxing is permitted when shooting with the phone’s outer display preview turned on and the phone unfurled.

The orientation mismatch and the resultant cropping also affects video recording – with the phone closed, you can only record in 1080p, be it at 30fps or 60fps. You can’t enable the live preview on the outer display for video recording when the Razr is unfolded, either. All of these seemingly arbitrary limitations could very well end up being addressed, but as it stands at the time of reviewing, some things are just not possible.

Daylight photos

The Razr 2022 takes decent photos in daytime, if a little too expressively. The images lose some dynamic range at the extremes due to the strong contrast, giving them a very midranger-like appearance. Too much colour saturation is also possible.

However, the detail is excellent and has a lovely natural rendition; this helps the leaves and grass look better. These are some of the grainiest skies we’ve seen in a while, so noise levels can be higher than average.

You do get a small boost in terms of detail from the 50MP “Ultra-res” option, but at the expense of much more noise and some false colour.

There is no zoom camera on the Razr 2022, and there is no 2x toggle in the viewfinder to entice you to zoom in. Pinch to zoom does function, and we tested it at a 2x magnification, but we can understand why Motorola doesn’t publicly promote it; these are too soft in our opinion. It’s strange because the 50MP photographs above offer essentially the same topic magnification while being clearer and more detailed. Therefore, if you want a 2x zoom shot, take a full-res image and simply crop the middle of it.

The results from the ultrawide camera are passable. Although a tad soft, its photos are acceptable for ultrawides. Contrast is also high—too high, that is—but colour rendition is more restricted than on the primary camera, which is better. It’s important to emphasise that this ultrawide isn’t particularly wide and that the coverage isn’t significantly different from that of the primary camera, which is already quite wide.

The Razr’s macro mode, accessed from the zoom selector, is enabled by the ultrawide’s focusing capabilities, which is a feature. It’s appropriate because, although it uses the ultrawide to capture the photographs, it actually alters the zoom level by giving you the main camera’s field of view. Although cropping and scaling actions are required, the images are still quite sharp and detailed.

Low-light photos

Unless you turn off Night Vision in the quick settings, Motorola’s night feature, which is referred to as Night Vision, will automatically activate in Photo mode. In reality, the main camera’s low-light photos are among the best in its class. The exposures are bright but not overly so, the noise isn’t distracting, and the dynamic range is very good to exceptional. Moreover, colours endure quite well.

The shadows can be slightly raised in the full-on Night Vision mode, but there isn’t much of a difference. It can make sure that the phone uses the increased processing in situations with somewhat better lighting when it might not otherwise, such as the first scene.

If you turned off Night Vision, your images would be louder, softer, and less detailed in the shadows, with a smaller dynamic range. So maybe just leave the Night Vision on.

The photographs would be the same whether the toggle was on or off because the Auto doesn’t function at a 2x zoom. The Night Vision makes everything appear softer and oversharpened at the same time, but you get reasonable detail and sharpness without it, so we’re inclined to say that’s preferable for your images. On the other hand, turning on Night Vision improves dynamic range.

At 1x zoom, the ultrawide behaves just like the main camera; auto-night vision operates and essentially produces the same images as the standalone Night Vision feature. The Auto never failed to participate in any of our scenarios here; we didn’t experience that anywhere else.

That’s actually a positive thing because it guarantees properly exposed pictures with a wide dynamic range, which the Night Vision-less images can’t. These have a lot of noise, but the detail is also quite good. Also very appealing is the colour reproduction. Overall, a very impressive performance.

Portrait mode

The Razr 2022’s Portrait mode does a decent job of separating your subject from the background, but by default it uses a very liberal amount of blur that makes the picture look staged.

Selfie camera

The Razr provides a variety of selfie-taking alternatives because it is a foldable with a sizable outside display. Sure, you can always utilise the internal selfie camera, but you can also make excellent use of the better external cameras, whether the phone is closed or open.

As already shown in the portrait mode images above, the primary camera produces decent portraits of individuals with likeable (albeit occasionally oversaturated) skin tones. Although the extreme contrast may be somewhat damaging to dynamic range, the subjects are still very well illuminated, especially in backlit environments.

Video recording

The primary camera of the Razr 2022 has a resolution of up to 8K30 and can also record in 4K60 and 4K30. On the other side, the ultrawide is limited to 4K30. When the device is used as a “normal” smartphone it is unfurled, that is. However, you can only record in 1080p if you select to record with the phone closed.

Due of the 90-degree difference in orientation between the sensor and the outside display, you are fed a cropped image to fit the aspect ratio of the display. This limitation is similar to what we discussed in the selfie section above. The trouble is, there isn’t a provision for this for video recording, but for still photos, you do have the option to shoot with a live preview on the outside display while the phone is unfolded, letterboxed as it may be. You can’t currently record 4K with the back cameras and get a live stream on the outside display. That’s possible that no one just considered that, and a software upgrade might remedy it.

In any case, you have the standard selection of codecs—h.264 by default, h.265 as an alternative. In contrast to 8K, 4K supports stabilisation up to 60 frames per second. Stereo audio is captured at 256 kbps.

Although that’s not a very high bar to cross, the Razr’s 8K footage (131Mbps bitrate) is above average in terms of clarity for smartphone 8K. The Razr’s 8K utilises the entire width of the sensor, unlike 4K clips, which is another better-than-most feature.

our verdict

The Razr 2022 is a genuinely high-end gadget in every way. This time, Motorola definitely made the decision to go all-out with the clamshell foldable, and it shows.

The phone’s exceptional quality and clean, elegant appearance are some of its standout features. Additionally, the stunning, powerful, foldable display and reliable stereo speakers. The Razr 2022’s camera arrangement didn’t disappoint either, despite having a few difficulties, mostly related to strange software limits.

In terms of some of the less positive features, we have a space-constrained flagship chipset that performs poorly and the same sort of subpar battery life that is often associated with the physical format. Additionally, the charging speed might have been much faster. However, the high cost is the real problem.

The Moto Razr 2022 now sells for a staggering EUR 1,200 in its 256GB/8GB form, and we are unable to understand how that price can be justified. Even then, some of you out there could find what we consider to be exorbitant to be completely affordable. If you fall into this category, there aren’t any significant or obvious drawbacks in the Razr 2022 as long as you’re realistic about what it’s like to live with a 2022 clamshell foldable.

Pros and Cons