Motorola Razr+ Review

Tom's Guide

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.

Transcript

00:00Motorola, for example, is now on its third generation foldable, and you know what?

00:06It could be its best one yet.

00:08Hey guys, it's Jon B. here with Tom's Guide, and this is our review of the Motorola RAZR Plus.

00:18Okay, so the design of the RAZR Plus, I like it.

00:21It's thin, lightweight, holds in the hand very nicely, rounded edges.

00:25You get this combination of this polished metal finish with the vegan leather back.

00:29So it looks really good, and you've got to hand it to Motorola's engineers.

00:32They really did a great job as far as designing the phone,

00:35because now there's no gap when you fold the phone into one, so that's good.

00:39But I know some people were complaining about it on other phones.

00:42To me, it's not a big deal, but Motorola solved it here.

00:45I want to also tell you that this phone is IP52,

00:48so while it does withstand some splashes, you really can't submerge it, so that's one thing to know.

00:54Besides that, you know, it's compact, really lightweight.

00:57I love the design. It looks good.

00:59I'm just kind of questioning about the vegan leather, how that's going to hold up over time.

01:03While it looks good now, who knows what it's going to be like in a couple of years.

01:07So the standout, of course, is the foldable display.

01:10Here you have a 6.9-inch full HD OLED display.

01:13It looks good. The aspect ratio is a lot wider, so it might look weird watching videos,

01:18but it's great otherwise.

01:20Detailed, bright, so if you're using it outdoors, it's not a problem.

01:24You do kind of see the crease here in the middle of the phone where it folds in half.

01:28You see it only when the phone's off.

01:30To me, it's not a big deal, especially when it's on and you're watching a video

01:33because you don't even notice it at that point.

01:36But the other thing I want to take note of is the display on the outside of the phone.

01:40This is what makes the Razr really special.

01:43There's a 3.6-inch plastic OLED display.

01:46It's super sharp and quite usable because you can actually do some of the stuff

01:51with the external display as you would with the internal display.

01:54So you could run apps, and I find this level of utility is great

01:58when you just want to use the phone without having to actually open it up.

02:04All right, so let's talk about the camera here with the Razr+.

02:07There's a 12-megapixel main camera that's paired with the 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera.

02:12The ultra-wide camera also doubles as a macro.

02:15I want to point out, though, there is no telephoto,

02:18I guess you kind of expect with most of today's high-end phones,

02:21especially at this price range, but to be fair, the Flip 4 also didn't have one.

02:25As far as the image quality, I say it's usable.

02:28It's good for outdoor shots when there's a lot of light, you get some good details.

02:33Colors, though, they seem to skew a little bit on the greenish side,

02:36so that's something you want to take note of.

02:38Unfortunately, though, when it comes to low-light photography,

02:41it's pretty much more or less the same as the last two Razrs.

02:44It doesn't get the job done because it just looks muddy.

02:47There's a lot of noise in the shots, and when I compared its night vision mode

02:52versus the low-lighting mode in the Flip 4, the Flip 4 just beat it.

02:56It was bright, it was better exposed, and just looked better overall.

03:01Now, I've got to say, though, if you're into vlogging, if you're into YouTube videos,

03:05TikTok videos, the Razr+, is the phone for you.

03:08Just because you're going to get that handy external display,

03:11you'll be able to see yourself in the frame, know what you'll look like

03:15before you shoot the video, and it's just great for that.

03:18The stabilization is also wonderful.

03:20If you're doing a live vlogging, it keeps it steady for the most part,

03:24and you can switch between the main camera and also the ultra-wide,

03:28so you get more of yourself in that frame.

03:31So, in that regard, while, yes, it doesn't do well in the low-light performance,

03:36it's still a usable camera, and especially given the utility of the way it folds like this,

03:41you could handheld using the front or rear cameras.

03:44It just adds more to the experience that you're not going to get on other phones.

03:48So, the Razr+, is running Android 13 right now, and I think it's a pretty useful experience

03:54because it has the minimalist UI, you have some elements there for productivity,

03:58but most of all, I want to say that I love the gestures that Motorola continues to have in its phones

04:03because I find it very useful.

04:05For example, you do the flip gesture to actually launch the camera,

04:08you do the chop gesture to launch the light,

04:11so these are all handy features that I still enjoy having,

04:14and it's nice that Motorola has kept them here.

04:17Besides that, like I said, it's running Android 13, it's responsive for the most part,

04:21it's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8th Gen 1 chip,

04:25so pair that with the 144Hz refresh rate display,

04:29everything looks buttery smooth, whether you're scrolling through the interface or playing a game.

04:34I didn't find too many instances of it slowing down.

04:37Overall, the experience is what you expect from Motorola.

04:40It's really thin, right? So, Motorola has put in a 3800mAh battery into this.

04:46It's not quite the beefiest battery in a smartphone,

04:49but I would say, compared to other clamshell foldables like the Flip 4,

04:53the battery life is average.

04:55So, in our own custom battery benchmark test, it kind of edged out the Flip 4 by only an hour.

05:00It's an hour difference there.

05:02From my real-world experience, I still find it average, too,

05:05because I got at least a day out of it. By the end of the night, it was at 20%.

05:10So, it's not really the longest-lasting battery life, nor is it actually the shortest,

05:15so it gets the job done, in my opinion.

05:18There is built-in wireless charging, which is a nice feature, of course, when you have a foldable,

05:22and on top of that, it has a 30W charging,

05:25so if you're in desperate need to recharge it quickly,

05:28you have that ability to quickly get it charged to a decent level.

05:33All right, so I didn't have high expectations for the Razr Plus when I first got it,

05:37but the more I got to use it, got to experience what it could do,

05:41especially the utility of those cameras paired with the external display,

05:45I did find it to be great for video, so self-shoots for YouTube videos.

05:50So, in that regard, if you're into content creation, I think it's great.

05:54It's priced at $999, which is exactly like its competitors, like the Flip 4,

06:00so it has an advantage that there are a lot of deals going on right now for it,

06:03but the thing that stands out here is that, yes, it's still missing optical zoom.

06:08I'm not going to be nitpicking too much about that, but I know for some people

06:11who are used to paying $1,000, you're expected to have at least one optical zoom lens.

06:16It still kind of doesn't do well with low-light photography,

06:19so if you're going to do a lot of that, then this might not be the phone for you,

06:23but besides that, it's a polished-looking phone, great design.

06:27So, if you guys want to learn more about the Motorola RAZR+,

06:30you can check out our website, Tom's Guide.com.

06:32Don't forget to check us out on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook,

06:36at Tom's Guide, and I'll see you in my next video.

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