The Moto Razr has been many things to many people. It was an early 2000s status symbol (only ’90s kids understand), an early iPod alternative with full support for iTunes, several entries in Verizon’s long-running Droid series, and finally, an also-ran launched ahead of Samsung dominating the clamshell foldable space. And, for the past three years, it’s been missing in action from the United States, as the Razr skipped a 2021 release andkept the 2022 model limited to international regions.
Consider the Motorola Razr+ a reintroduction to this phone. With an all-new look and feel — not to mention a head-turning 3.6" exterior display — the company’s revitalized flip phone is back and better than ever. Continuing an incredible year for Motorola’s smartphone lineup, the Razr+ might be the device that finally convinces me foldables are the future of this industry. It might just not be in the shape I expected.
Motorola Razr+ (2023)
The Motorola Razr+ is the company’s first stateside foldable in nearly three years. Thanks to a flagship-quality SoC and an expansive 3.6" outer display capable of running nearly any app on your phone, it’s a huge step up for the series. While it isn’t without some flaws, it’s hard not to find the Razr+ fun.
Availability and network
The Motorola Razr Plus is available through carriers and unlocked for $1,000 in a single 8GB/256GB tier. If you’re willing to pay through the carrier of your choice, you can save a chunk of change on your next foldable.AT&T has a jaw-dropping feature timed to the Razr+ launch, offering the phone for $5 per month for 36 months (for a total of just $180). T-Mobile is also selling the phone at a steep discount — that is, completely free — though you’ll need to add a Go5G Plus or Magenta MAX line to score the deal. God, I love carrier branding.
Due to the lack of mmWave, Verizon has opted against stocking the Razr+ in its stores, but the device does work on the network when purchased unlocked. Motorola’s latest foldable also supports MVNOs like Google Fi, Consumer Cellular, and TracFone; you can check the company’s website for an impressively comprehensive list.
Finally, T-Mobile is the only carrier where you can buy the Viva Magenta color, though Motorola also sells it unlocked through its storefront. The Glacier Blue and Infinite Black colors are available through all stores, including unlocked at Amazon and Best Buy.
Design and display
The Razr Plus abandons Motorola’s previous design language, particularly from its first two generations. That instantly recognizable chin, the one that was supposed to call back to the early aughts, has been completely replaced by something that feels in line with Samsung’s recent clamshells. The rounded edges employed by Motorola here make the phone feel a little softer, a little more fun, than theGalaxy Z Flip 4, but otherwise, this device could easily be mistaken for Samsung’s upcoming successor.
Although some may feel like the Razr+ has lost its unique identity, this is a change for the better. The frosted glass on the back of my unit feels great; I almost wish it wrapped around to the front to border the front display. I’m less in love with the shiny side rails, but that’s a design trend companies can’t seem to get enough of these days. The matte frame on the cheaper Razr is more my speed, but it does act as a nice contrast to the glass (or, you know, the vegan leather, if you opt for the magenta variant).
Believe it or not, the Magenta version is actually four grams lighter.
I’ll be honest: I love this design. I didn’t realize just how much I missed clamshell phones until this became my daily driver, but there’s simply something so nice about throwing this in your jacket pocket or backpack. It always fits, no matter what you’re wearing. Even at 15.1mm when folded, it never felt chunky on my person (although YMMV once you throw a case on it). And at either 184g or 188g — that vegan leather back is just a touch lighter — it feels as light as it looks.
But really, the reason the Moto Razr+ design works is that outer screen. The 3.6" 1:1 display is the highlight of this phone, something that only gets better the longer you use it. I’ll talk more about this in the software section, because as you’d imagine, there are some growing pains when it comes to learning the ins and outs of what Motorola is doing here. But once you have a general feel for what this screen can and can’t do, it’s glorious.
Everything from firing off responses in Telegram to finding your favorite playlist on Spotify looks great on this screen. It’s bright and vivid, and just large enough to get basic tasks done without feeling cramped. It’s good enough to feel like the small phone you’ve dreamt of for years, even if it’s just a touch smaller than most consumers would really want.
Thankfully, it’s not a small phone. It’s a foldable, and flipping open the Razr+ reveals its second display. Motorola has done a great job reducing its crease here. It’s only noticeable in direct sunlight, and while youcanfeel it under your finger while scrolling, it’s far more shallow than what competitors like Samsung have brought to the table.
In fact, the entire hinge system is great. Not once did I hear any grinding sounds — something I can’t say on my Galaxy Z Fold 4 — and it’s capable of closing without a gap, something Samsung has yet to accomplish. When open, the Razr+ is nearly flat by default; I’d say it’s off by just a degree or two, though admittedly, I’m eye-balling it. A little extra pressure closes that last degree, and it’s usually maintained at that angle until the device is closed again.
The Razr+ is nearly flat when unfolded, give or take a degree or two.
The Razr+ is just 7mm thick when unfolded, and you feel it. It’s an ultra-thin phone — partly by necessity — but in a certain way, that means it lives up to its pedigree. Both screens are visible outdoors in direct sunlight (even if some of my photos make it seem otherwise). The internal panel can feel a little too tall at times — it’s like if Sony maximized its approach to phones — but if you’re able to adjust to using two hands to reach the very top of the phone, it’s more than usable.
My biggest gripe about that massive 6.9" inner display is one that applies to practically every foldable. The look and feel of its plastic coatings just can’t measure up to high-quality glass. Motorola’s device is less reflective than, say, myearliest impressions of the Pixel Foldunit I held at Google I/O this year, but it’s a far cry from the premium look and feel you’ll find on something like the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Overall, the Razr’s design is its best feature. It’s so fun and cute, it’s impossible not to be charmed by it, something that really helps to relieve the pain of some of its more frustrating elements.
Other hardware and what’s in the box
Perhaps it’s unsurprising, but the haptics Motorola managed to squeeze into such a small chassis are merely fine. They aren’t the disasters you’d see on Android phones circa 2017, but they’re a far cry from what $1,000 usually buys you these days. It’s one of the many sacrifices likely made due to size constraints — we’ll get to the rest of them.
Like most foldables, Motorola uses a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone. It’s super sensitive — maybe a little too sensitive, as on more than one occasion, I took the Razr+ out of my pocket to find it already unlocked. There’s a setting to require a push to unlock the phone, and I recommend keeping that checked. Still, if you’ve had bad luck with side-mounted sensors before, you can breathe a sigh of relief here.
That sensor doubles as the power button, which felt a little mushy to my touch. Thankfully, the volume up and down buttons are much clickier, though they’re both a tad small for my taste.
Although the Razr+ is one of the most dust-proof phones I’ve ever used, its IP52 rating leaves me a bit concerned about how well it can handle water. Motorola says it’s using the company’s typical approach for making the internal components resistant to splashes, but you’ll still want to be careful around pools this summer.
Speaking of dust, when Ifirst tried out the Razr+ ahead of its announcement, I was particularly concerned about dust building up between the (non-removable) screen protector and the bezel. To date, I actually haven’t had much of an issue here, and whatever does get caught from regular use can be brushed pretty easily with a microfiber cloth.
In the box, you’ll find the phone, a USB-C cable, a SIM tool, and the usual assortment of paperwork. Although Motorola usually provides a charger in the box with its flagship phones, you’ll have to provide your own with the Razr+.
Software and performance
Let’s start with the inner display, because it’s the easiest to sum up. When flipped open, the Razr Plus is identical to any other modern Motorola smartphone on the market right now. It has the same advantages, like gestures for activating the flash or camera, Peek Display for seeing incoming notifications, and some truly helpful clock and weather widgets. It also has the same downsides, like the lack of a true always-on display.
I only have a couple of quick notes about performance, too. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 continues to hold its own against the competition, though the Razr+ seems to run hotter than, say, the ThinkPhone from earlier this year. My best guess is it’s a size issue, with a thinner and smaller overall chassis than classic slab phones. We’re also (finally) hitting real summer temperatures in my area, so that could be part of the problem.
It’s the front screen where all of your attention should be centered, because it’s something totally new for both Motorola and clamshell foldables as a whole. And, if recent rumors are to be believed, what this company is doing with the exterior display on the Razr is unlikely to be copied anytime soon. Frankly, I hope this changes, because this 3.6" screen is everything I hoped it would be.
Rather than delivering a pre-selected set of apps that work on the outer panel — or just mirroring the regular launcher for a scrunched experience — Motorola decided to split the difference. The exterior screen uses its own launcher with up to nine panels to swap between. Most of these are pretty self-explanatory: Home, Apps, Calendar, Contacts, Games, Spotify, Google Fit, and Google News. Check out how each of them look below and I think you’ll get a good idea of the experience.
I used all but Google Fit and News regularly during my time with the phone, and for the most part, it’s a good way of interacting with the phone. There are a couple of small issues here, though. The Calendar panel, for example, is suffering from a bug where it doesn’t properly refresh unless you toggle views back and forth. I also wish the Spotify panel came in addition to a generic music player page. I might use Spotify, but that’s not true for everyone.
All of the panels I used, plus the “Manage apps” screen.
I’ll have more to say on the outer display games in a future piece, but rest assured Motorola has included a fun time waster here. Nearly every reviewer I spoke to was absolutely obsessed with at least one of the pre-installed titles.
Motorola has also customized a couple of elements of its launcher — namely, the notification tray. Notifications now live next to a permanent battery icon alongside the cameras. You can scroll through your incoming messages by tapping this interface. Quick settings, meanwhile, still appear by swiping down on the display, though you’ll need to open the phone to actually access the proper settings menu.
Really, it’s the Apps panel I want to focus on here, because it’s the star of the show — and, depending on what Samsung does with the Galaxy Z Flip 5, could be the sole reason to choose the Razr+ over its main rival. Rather than giving you a full app drawer, Motorola supplies you with a customized list of whitelisted apps for running on the main page. You can add more options at any time by hitting the pencil icon in the top-right corner, and sorting your apps is as easy as dragging them to a new spot.
Opening an app presents you with, well, a condensed version of whatever usually runs on Android. This can be really hit or miss, which is why Motorola gives you a warning every time you select a new app. Frankly, I think this is overkill; more often than not, the experience was totally usable. Selecting a podcast episode in Pocket Casts? Easy. Scrolling through messages in Messenger or Telegram? No problem. Calculating your portion of a split bill at a restaurant? The calculator feels right at home.
Not everything’s perfect, though. Spotify’s Now Playing page displayed album artwork as nothing more than a few pixels, but as I was preparing to publish this review, an update blew it up to full size — while also overlapping certain text elements. Be glad for that panel, I guess. Likewise, many webpages can be just too condensed on this phone, though your mileage may vary depending on what you’re reading.
Spotify, before and after an update. Neither of these is great, but at least the one with the tiny album art is usable.
The Razr+ does include a trick to make the most of its 3.6" display. While most apps run in a condensed format by default, pressing and holding the gesture bar at the bottom of the screen drops it down to expand to the entire screen. Motorola is aware that its camera cutouts will block certain UI elements in apps, so reversing this shift is as easy as repeating the action.
Does all of this sound a little complicated? On paper, maybe. But in practice — especially after using the phone for a few days — I found myself really integrating the smaller display into my everyday tasks. It turns out replying to a text message or cashing out at the grocery store doesn’t require a 6.9" display, and that makes the Razr’s exterior screen a real winner. If you’ve beenturned off by previous foldablesfor fear of having to open the phone every time you want to do anything, Motorola’s new phone makes that concern a thing of the past.
I’ll cut to the chase: most (all?) clamshell foldables to date have featured middling-to-poor cameras, and the Moto Razr+ is no exception. It’s not unusable, by any means — you can get decent, social media-ready shots in good lighting — but compared to the image quality you usually see on $1,000 smartphones, it’s simply not there. Even within Motorola’s own collection, the Razr+ is a massive downgrade from, say, theMoto Edge+.
The 12MP main sensor and 12MP ultrawide sensor try their best, but if you’re a photobug, I can’t imagine being particularly satisfied with any of the shots here.
These images (along with the collection below) aren’t great. The Razr struggles with motion, especially in low-light, and has a habit of making certain subjects — like my cat — look completely blown out. The shot of the concert hall is purely acceptable at best, but the ultrawide shot is terrible.
It’s not all bad news. Those night shots (of, you know, non-moving buildings) are fine, and the shots at the bar ended up okay. But largely speaking, the Razr+ can’t get past its “adequate” status, and regularly fails to reach even those heights. Motion is an issue here, and you can forget about zooming in on subjects — these shots of deer I captured on a run are borderline laughable.
All told, this is a bummer, but I’m not sure how much it really matters. Like,obviously, I’d prefer a Pixel 7 Pro-quality camera on this device, but once again, size constraints (and Motorola’s own subpar processing) rear their ugly head. What the Razr+ can offer is a fun photo-taking experience, something that isn’t available on every smartphone lining the walls of your local carrier store.
Some of the tricks are obvious. Flipping the phone closed to take selfies with the main two lenses? Of course that’s fun — and, naturally, a quality boost over the interior 32MP lens.
A selfie using the outer screen versus a selfie with the inner camera. Yes, that square image is the default.
Snapping a shot is as easy as tapping anywhere on the screen. But what happens when you switch away from photo mode? Mirror mode seems identical, but holding your finger on the screen adds silly — if not gimmicky — effects, like cracks and frost. Photo Booth is much more useful; it takes four images in a row, three seconds apart, just like a real photo booth. Take it to your next party — I promise you it’s a hit.
This is very silly, but I kind of love it?
There are a couple of fun tricks when the screen is flipped open, too. Bending the phone at a 90-degree angle moves the viewfinder to the side, delivering a camcorder-like experience. you’re able to shoot photos or videos here; it really feels like something straight out of the late 2000s. And while it’s not amode, per se, if you’re after sheer specs, you’ll be pleased to know all three lenses are capable of recording at 4K60. The video quality isn’t up to par with the best Android devices, but it’s a great addition nonetheless.
I’m not thrilled about a $1,000 device delivering mediocre shots, but it’s clear the Razr+ is it isfunctionality. Will you be wowed by the quality something like Photo Booth delivers? Probably not, but you’ll be too busy laughing at the faces your friends made to notice. If you know what you’re getting going in, the Razr’s lenses can do what you need them to do.
Battery life
In the same vein as the poor camera quality, most clamshell smartphones can’t compete with standard slabs on battery life. Recent Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered flagships are pushing into the nine hour mark when it comes to screen-on time, and — no surprise here — the 3,800mAh cell in the Razr+ can’t quite compete.
But — and honestly, I can’t believe I’m saying this — the Razr’s battery life is totally acceptable. It’s not great, and some users might have a hard time calling it “good,” but not once did I fail to get through a full day on a single charge. And on the occasion when I did run the phone into the ground (quite literally to one percent), I ended up just shy of five full hours of screen-on time.
That chart on the right was after nearly 45 minutes of browsing with just the front screen.
Or did I? Android is only tracking the internal display in its battery metrics, which means any time you fire off a text message, or spend a couple of minutes in line browsing through your email, or skip through a song on Spotify — none of it counts. At minimum, you may add at least an additional hour of external screen usage to any of the battery charts here. Not too bad at all.
Motorola didn’t pack the Razr+ with the 68W fast-charging seen on some of its recent flagships, but it can power up at 30W. Using my go-to 60W charger, I powered up from 6 percent to 42 percent in about half an hour. That’s more than enough to get you through a night out.
Competition
In the US, Motorola only faces one clamshell competitor: Samsung. TheGalaxy Z Flip 4might be just shy of its first birthday, but it shares shocking familiar specs, along with a similar build. Its cameras are somewhat more versatile — though, frankly, not enough toreallygive it a leg up over the Razr — and the exterior ticker display is an obvious downgrade. Considering it also costs $1,000, the only real reason to choose one over the Razr+ comes down to a preference for One UI.
In some ways, the real competition for the Razr+ arrives in July. TheGalaxy Z Flip 5may only exist in rumors right now, but every leak points towards a phone ready to rival Motorola. The outer display seems on track to be a similar size, though it’s unclear whether it’ll be as capable. Crafting a more restricted experience could win over general audiences, but the occasional bump in the road doesn’t dissuade us from recommending Motorola’s latest phone. Of course, we’ll have to wait for an official reveal to make up our minds.
Should you buy it?
If any phone is more than the sum of its parts, it’s Motorola’s new Razr+. It’s far from a perfect phone, and at $1,000, that might not be enough to satisfy the pickiest of shoppers. But if you can forgive the poor camera quality — a major hurdle for many, to be sure — this is some of the most fun I’ve had with a smartphone in years. Just flipping the device open and closed (and open again) reminded me of fidgeting with my earliest cell phones, back when a T9 dialer was enough to impress me.
This is also the phone that convinced me foldables might just be the future. Gluing a small screen to the front of a massive 6.9" slate might sound like a bad idea on paper, but in reality, the two work hand-in-hand in a way that feels surprisingly harmonious. If you’re missing the early days of adventurous, weird, or quirky Android phones — or you just want a smartphone capable of turning heads again — the Razr+ is a total winner.
Motorola might have taken some time off from launching its foldables in the US, but it’s raging back with the Moto Razr+. This year, the focus is all on the outer 3.6-inch display, which promises to let you do virtually anything without opening the phone. And when you need a larger screen, the 6.9-inch display inside feels just like the company’s other smartphones.
