Two peas in a pod, 2019 Motorola Razr and 2000 Motorola Razr share an uncanny resemblance. Both are foldable. (Image via BBC)

Nostalgic, Motorola to release the all-new foldable Razr phone

Remember Motorola’s clamshell-type phone, Razr? Debuted in the 2000s, the phone was like an all-in-one phone. With long battery life, metallic chassis, and glow-in-the-dark electroluminescent keyboard, Razr was a Cleopatra in its time.

As the year passed by, Motorola never forgets about Razr. Its flagships were named Droid Razr, Droid Razr HD, and Razr Maxx. However, compared to the smartphones of in its time, Razr’s charm was nothing like its predecessor.

The foldable phone was not a new idea for Motorola to build a foldable phone as they already came up with it in 2015, but they were unconfident. However, as the trend of foldable smartphones began to sweep the market, “How about, we make another Razr? But, it flips,” said Motorola.

Voila, on Wednesday, Motorola announced the all-new Razr in a press conference in Los Angeles, United States (U.S).

The new Razr looks just like an ordinary smartphone. However, it has a flexible 6.2inch OLED display with a 21:9 aspect ratio, called Flex View, making it foldable just like the good ol’ Razr. When it is folded, the display turns to 2.7inch.

Normal mode, Razr is 6.9mm thick, slimmer than the iPhone 6. Fold mode, it is a bit thicker with 14mm dimension, but still way slimmer than Galaxy Fold.

No sophisticated catchphrase, Motorola came clean with “Motorola Razr”.

For the specification, it runs on Google’s Android Pie 9.0 OS. Razr also runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 with a 6GB RAM and 128GB internal memory.

For the camera, Razr has a 16 MP rear camera and 5 MP selfie camera. You can use the 16 MP rear camera as your selfie camera in “Fold mode”.

THE DRAWBACKS

It stores 2,510 mAh with USB-C. Compared to Samsung Galaxy S10, Google Pixel 4, and other latest iPhone series, Razr is weaker. Furthermore, it does not feature wireless charging just like other latest smartphones.

It does not have strong biometric security such as a fingerprint scanner.

Unfortunately for audiophiles, Razr removes 3.5mm headphones jack. In other words, to listen to music you can either connect your headphones to USB-C jack or BlueTooth.

The pricing is also a drawback. Razr will be sold in January 2020 for US$1,500. It is not a cheap smartphone relying only on the compactness as its strongest point. However, compared to Galaxy Fold sold for US$1,980, Razr is cheaper.

Motorola stated that you can pre-order the foldable smartphone starting in December.

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/motorola-razr-2019/