Motorola's no stranger when it comes to foldable phones, but it's in desperate need of a home run with its third-generation device.
Thankfully, the Motorola Razr+ is a bolder, more polished clamshell foldable that's perfect for content creators and vloggers. For the company, it looks like the third time is a charm.
Thankfully, the Motorola Razr+ is a bolder, more polished clamshell foldable that's perfect for content creators and vloggers. For the company, it looks like the third time is a charm.
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00:00 Motorola, for example, is now on its third generation foldable, and you know what?
00:06 It could be its best one yet.
00:08 Hey guys, it's Jon V here with Tom's Guide, and this is our review of the Motorola RAZR+
00:15 Okay, so the design of the RAZR+, I like it.
00:21 It's thin, lightweight, holds in the hand very nicely, rounded edges, you get this combination of this polished metal finish with the vegan leather back.
00:29 So it looks really good, and you gotta hand it to Motorola's engineers, they really did a great job as far as designing the phone,
00:35 because now, there's no gap when you fold the phone into one, so that's good.
00:39 But I know some people were complaining about it on other phones, to me it's not a big deal, but Motorola solved it here.
00:45 I want to also tell you that this phone is IP52, so while it does withstand some splashes, you really can't submerge it, so that's one thing to know.
00:54 Besides that, you know, it's compact, really lightweight, I love the design, looks good,
00:59 I'm just kind of questioning about the vegan leather, how that's going to hold up over time.
01:03 While it looks good now, who knows what it's going to be like in a couple years.
01:07 So to stand out, of course, is the foldable display.
01:10 Here you have a 6.9 inch full HD OLED display, it looks good, the aspect ratio is a lot wider,
01:16 so it might look weird watching videos, but it's great otherwise.
01:20 Detailed, bright, so if you're using it outdoors, it's not a problem.
01:24 You do kind of see the crease here in the middle of the phone where it folds in half.
01:28 You see it only when the phone's off, to me it's not a big deal,
01:31 especially when it's on and you're watching a video because you don't even notice it at that point.
01:35 But the other thing I want to take note of is the display on the outside of the phone.
01:40 This is what makes the Razr really special.
01:43 There's a 3.6 inch plastic OLED display, it's super sharp and quite usable
01:48 because you can actually do some of the stuff with the external display as you would with the internal display.
01:54 So you can run apps, and I find this level of utility is great
01:58 when you just want to use the phone without having to actually open it up.
02:01 Alright, so let's talk about the camera here with the Razr+.
02:07 There's a 12 megapixel main camera that's paired with the 13 megapixel ultra-wide camera.
02:12 The ultra-wide camera also doubles as a macro.
02:14 I want to point out though, there is no telephoto, which I guess you kind of expect with most of today's high-end phones,
02:21 especially at this price range, but to be fair, the Flip 4 also didn't have one.
02:25 As far as the image quality, I say it's usable.
02:28 It's good for outdoor shots when there's a lot of light, you get some good details.
02:33 Colors though, they seem to skew a little bit on the greenish side, so that's something you want to take note of.
02:37 Unfortunately though, when it comes to low-light photography, it's pretty much more or less the same as the last two Razrs.
02:44 It doesn't get the job done because it just looks muddy, there's a lot of noise in the shots,
02:49 and when I compared its night vision mode versus the low-lighting mode in the Flip 4,
02:54 the Flip 4 just beat it. It was bright, it was better exposed, and just looked better overall.
03:01 Now I've got to say though, if you're into vlogging, if you're into YouTube videos, TikTok videos,
03:06 the Razr Plus is the phone for you, just because you're going to get that handy external display,
03:12 you'll be able to see yourself in the frame, know what you'll look like before you shoot the video,
03:17 and it's just great for that. The stabilization is also wonderful.
03:20 If you're doing live vlogging, it keeps it steady for the most part,
03:24 and you can switch between the main camera and also the ultra-wide, so you get more of yourself in that frame.
03:31 So in that regard, while yes, it doesn't do well in the low-light performance,
03:36 it's still a usable camera, and especially given the utility of the way it folds like this,
03:41 you could handheld using the front or rear cameras,
03:44 it just adds more to the experience that you're not going to get on other phones.
03:48 So the Razr Plus is running Android 13 right now, and I think it's a pretty useful experience
03:54 because it has the minimalist UI, you have some elements there for productivity,
03:58 but most of all, I want to say that I love the gestures that Motorola continues to have in its phones
04:03 because I find it very useful. For example, you do the flip gesture to actually launch the camera,
04:08 you do the chop gesture to launch the light, so these are all handy features that I still enjoy having,
04:14 and it's nice that Motorola has kept them here.
04:17 Besides that, like I said, it's running Android 13, it's responsive for the most part,
04:21 it's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8th Gen 1 chip, so pair that with the 144Hz refresh rate display,
04:29 everything looks buttery smooth, whether you're scrolling through the interface or playing games,
04:34 I didn't find too many instances of it slowing down. Overall, the experience is what you expect from Motorola.
04:40 It's really thin, right? So Motorola has put in a 3800mAh battery into this,
04:46 it's not quite the beefiest battery in a smartphone, but I would say, compared to other clamshell foldables
04:52 like the Flip 4, the battery life is average. So in our own custom battery benchmark test,
04:57 it kind of edged out the Flip 4 by only an hour, it's an hour difference there.
05:02 From my real world experience, I still find it average too, because I got at least a day out of it,
05:07 by the end of the night, it was at 20%, so it's not really the longest lasting battery life,
05:13 nor is it actually the shortest, so it gets the job done in my opinion.
05:17 There is built-in wireless charging, which is a nice feature of course, when you have a foldable,
05:22 and on top of that, it has a 30W charging, so if you're in desperate need to recharge it quickly,
05:27 you have that ability to quickly get it charged to a decent level.
05:31 Alright, so I didn't have high expectations for the Razr+ when I first got it,
05:37 but the more I got to use it, got to experience what it could do,
05:40 especially the utility of those cameras paired with the external display,
05:44 I did find it to be great for video, so self-shoots for YouTube videos,
05:49 so in that regard, if you're into content creation, I think it's great.
05:53 It's priced at $999, which is exactly like its competitors, like the Flip 4,
05:59 so it has an advantage that there are a lot of deals going on right now for it,
06:02 but the thing that stands out here is that yes, it's still missing optical zoom,
06:07 I'm not going to be nitpicking too much about that, but I know for some people,
06:11 who are used to paying $1000, you're expected to have at least one optical zoom lens.
06:16 It still kind of doesn't do well with low-light photography,
06:19 so if you're going to do a lot of that, then this might not be the phone for you,
06:23 but besides that, it's a polished looking phone, great design.
06:27 So if you guys want to learn more about the Motorola Razr+,
06:30 you can check out our website, tomsky.com.
06:32 Don't forget to check us out on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook @tomsky,
06:37 and I'll see you in my next video.
06:39 (upbeat music)
06:44 (upbeat music)
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