The Motorola Razr Plus stands out in the clamshell industry

The Motorola Razr Plus / Razr 40 Ultra represents a significant advancement in smartphone technology, surpassing the capabilities of any previous flip or foldable device. With the screen open, it’s remarkably thin for such a large panel. When you close it and start using apps on the external screen, you’ll have a completely new gadget that’s unlike anything you’ve ever used. It’s not flawless, but it’s so far ahead of what other phones have to offer that there aren’t many flaws that can’t be overlooked. The Motorola Razr Plus is a winner, and if you want to rediscover your enthusiasm for phones, you should check it out.

The Motorola Razr Plus (also known as the Razr 40 Ultra outside the United States) is more than just the best foldable phone you can purchase (in terms of flip phones); it’s a whole new category of smartphone that offers more than any previous handset. When the phone is closed, it functions as a tiny micro communicator, pocket mirror, and palm-sized map. This is the phone that finally justifies folding a display in half, and it makes you wonder when the rest of the top phone manufacturers will catch up. That external display is neither a gimmick nor low-quality. It’s big enough to type on the keyboard comfortably. The map is large enough that you can read the street names as well as the driving directions.

When you close the phone and switch to the cover screen, you get a whole different device. With the large Galaxy Z Fold 4, you have a smartphone on the exterior and a tablet inside. The Motorola Razr Plus 2023 has a smartphone inside, but the outside is something fresh that we haven’t seen before. It’s little, powerful, and incredibly cool.

Price when reviewed: $999.99 | Check price at Amazon

Motorola Razr Plus KEY FEATURES

The Motorola Razr Plus (Motorola Razr 40 Ultra) is the peak of clamshell foldable in 2023, including a premium design, game-changing outside display, excellent camera performance, and reliable everyday use. The battery may leave some wanting more, but for the most part, this will not be an issue.

The most elegant and snugly fitting flip phone ever, with a game-changing exterior display. Big on the outside, bigger on the inside, and the external display is far more than an afterthought. The Razr 40 Ultra boasts the largest, most capable external display available, measuring 3.6 inches and running at 144Hz. Although the cameras are not the best, the amazing design allows for unique images that other phones cannot offer. Some apps are optimized, but everything functions with the external screen, making it quite helpful. It’s capable of handling any activity, however it may become warm when used for video recording or gaming. The larger battery, paired with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 battery efficiency and LTPO display technology, can provide all-day battery life – but not for more than one day.

The Motorola Razr Plus has forgivable problems, but the cameras aren’t one of them. They’re not very good for typical shots, but the main lens works well for selfies. Unlike other flip phones, the Razr Plus does not go to sleep after you hang up. It’s generally more enjoyable when it’s closed, but if you enjoy tuning out, stick with the original model Razr.

MOTOROLA RAZR PLUS UNBOXING

The device is shipped in conventional packaging that includes the typical user instructions, a 30W TurboPower wall charger with USB-A, and a USB-C to USB-A cable for charging and data transfer. However, the charger is not included in the box for North American purchasers.

There is also a two-piece protective case with a hard and clear casing.

CAMERA

• The weakest link in the Razr Plus network.
• Image processing is horrible.
• More suitable for selfies than most competitors.

The Motorola Razr Plus (Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s) dual 12MP rear camera may not be able to compete with the Oppo Find N2 Flip on paper, but cameras are about much more than just megapixels. Interestingly, the highest resolution sensor appears to be the internal selfie camera—aka the one users will use the least—clocking in at 32MP.

The main 12MP camera performs admirably in well-lit situations, like the below photos of Madrid’s streets, with amazing vibrancy and abundance of light thanks to the wide f/1.5 aperture and OIS capabilities. The camera can also pick up on tiny details in photos, such as individual stands of my dog Luna’s hair.

Colors are often bright but not overpowering, however, this varies depending on the photo. Some shots, such as those of my flower basket, the greens of the grass, and the blues of the sky, may appear overly colorful, but this is a frequent trait among smartphone photographers. Vibrant colors make for better social media photos.

The f/1.5 aperture also offers a more natural bokeh to close-up photographs than much of the competition, resulting in a more subtle effect than the OTT blur available in the phone’s specialized Portrait mode. I wasn’t anticipating much in terms of low-light performance given the phone’s tiny proportions and very low megapixel count, which prevents it from adopting pixel-binning technology to boost overall levels of light and detail, but I was pleasantly surprised. Even in situations with little to no light, such as my garden, which has a few low-brightness LED lights, there is adequate detail available.

My only concern is that, although having PDAF focusing technology, it occasionally misses the mark in low light, producing soft shots. In my experience, that does not happen with technology such as Laser Autofocus, which is interestingly accessible on the cheaper regular Razr Plus. It’s difficult to determine whether Motorola did any significant work with the accompanying 13MP ultrawide lens, which has the same resolution and wide angle as the Razr (2022). There are at least some new software smarts, as the phone can employ the ultrawide lens to capture macro pictures for extreme close-ups.

Macro photography, as expected, remains challenging to shoot with a fixed-focus camera, making it impossible to acquire nice close-ups of subjects like bees in flowers or a ladybird that landed on a table in front of me. I almost made it, but there were a lot of missed shots before I found ‘the one’.

Ultrawide images are good in well-lit locations, but some shots appear a little too soft, despite the substantial noise reduction technology on display. Take the shot of Luna below as an example; it’s a good-looking image overall, but there’s a noticeable blur in sections of her fur where the camera couldn’t identify enough detail. Don’t expect much in low light, though, as the f/2.2 aperture produces significantly darker, muddier, and overall softer photographs than the main sensor.

The folding form factor allows you to use the rear-facing cameras as selfie cameras, replete with a digital viewfinder on the 3.6-inch external display for high-quality selfies with both the main and ultrawide lenses. It may also be set on a table and opened halfway to form a makeshift tripod, making it a versatile solution for on-the-go photography.

If you don’t like the notion of using rear-facing cameras to snap selfies, or if you spend a lot of time chatting on video calls, the 32MP internal selfie camera should suffice. My selfies are generally sharp and lack the washed-out color palette found in Motorola selfie cameras.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

• Loses chin, but it’s for the best
• External display is far more handy than expected
• Larger and brighter than comparable flip phones
• The external display is a true game-changer

At first appearance, the Motorola Razr Plus appears to take heavily from Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip design while removing some iconic Razr design aspects, most notably the chin. Motorola wouldn’t say it deleted the chin because it was ugly, but let’s be honest: it was.

When folded, the phone’s two halves slam together like pursed lips, with a modest curve around the edges that allows them to cleave together in a sealed seam. Perhaps the Viva Magenta hue of my review unit contributes to this impression. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 appears boxy and square. In contrast to every other rival flip phone, the Razr Plus has no visible gap when closed.

It was an excellent choice (apologies for the speculated Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 cover display camera corner cutout), and Motorola has even made games in which you drop marbles into the holes created by the lenses, embracing the design. I’ll go into more detail about what this screen is capable of later, but for the time being, suffice it to say that it’s quite large for a second screen on a flip phone and makes a significant difference. As previously said, my review device is in the Viva Magenta finish, which also features a so-called ‘ vegan leather’ substance. It may be plastic, but it feels fantastic. Also, the phone never slipped off a surface, even in my car, when I left it on the center console while driving in stop-and-go traffic.

Motorola should strongly consider releasing additional (read: all) colors in this vegan leather finish. It feels stronger than glass, weighs a few grams less, and looks fantastic. I’m bored of glass. While Moto is shaking up the phone market, let’s also shake off the glass back. Even if the Motorola Razr Plus didn’t have a great external display, it would still stand out for its large folding internal screen, which is great news if you’re waiting for the Motorola Razr 2023, which will have the same internal screen (though the slower chipset will run it at ‘only’ 144Hz).

Motorola’s display has the same ‘FHD+’ resolution as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, measuring 2640 x 1080 pixels. It unfolds to a magnificent 6.9 inches, which is truly a marvel of modern technology when you think about it. When the first tablets were released, the smaller models had a 7-inch display; now, that same display size – and a higher-quality display – is accessible on a tiny smartphone that folds up to fit in your pocket.

For example, the iPhone 14 Pro has about 2.5 inches less screen space but weighs more. No matter what phone you’re used to, when you open the Motorola Razr Plus, you’ll be surprised by how much screen you can fold up and store in your pocket. Here’s another stunning iPhone comparison. The original iPhone featured a 3.5-inch display (480 x 320 resolution) with a screen area of slightly more than 5.6 inches. On the Moto Razr Plus, the external 3.6-inch square display provides over 6.5 square inches of screen space and runs at a breathtaking 1056 x 1066 resolution, which means it has the same clarity (pixel density) as the internal screen.

In other words, this is the first flip phone that does not give lip service to the cover screen. This is not a screen for monitoring the weather or receiving simple notifications, nor is it intended to display cute animations. This is the real stuff. You can run full applications on this display, as explained in the Software section below. Apps are not always drawn correctly, but you can run practically everything, as opposed to prior external screens, which could run almost nothing.

I wish both displays were much brighter, but that’s because I used them a lot for outdoor photography and from unique angles, which made them difficult to view. The inside screen can be slightly brighter than that of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4, but the external panel requires a significant boost. Neither display matches the brightness of an iPhone 14 Pro.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

• Fast performance in games and running both monitors
• Improved performance compared to last year
• Snapdragon 8 Plus Generation 1 chipset

Surprisingly, given the smartphone’s ‘Ultra’ designation, which typically implies the finest of the best, the chipset housed within the Razr Plus isn’t the most powerful one money can buy. No, the smartphone uses the (almost one-year-old) Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 CPU, which is also present in the previous-generation Razr (2022) and other 2022 foldables such as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4.

That’s not to say that performance isn’t good — the smartphone hasn’t shown any stuttering or lag during normal use — but it feels like an area where Motorola could have won easily, especially since I expect Samsung’s upcoming Z Flip 5 to use the same exclusive Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset as the flagship S23 range.

So, while it’s currently a premium experience, we expect the competition to outperform Motorola’s top-end foldable in the coming months. Not amazing for one of the most expensive flip-style foldables around right now. Regardless, the Snapdragon CPU is paired with a respectable (but not outstanding) 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for those who require it. Probably a good idea, given the lack of a microSD card for future storage expansion.

When it comes to gaming, the Motorola Razr Plus falls short. While it can handle light gaming (think Candy Crush and Survivor.io), it struggles with higher-end titles like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile. The phone becomes hot quickly, resulting in a significant decline in performance, with frame rate reductions after only 20 minutes of gaming.

Benchmarks back up this claim, with the Motorola Razr Plus performing well in typical CPU and GPU tests but experiencing a significant drop in performance while running 3DMark’s Wildlife Extreme Stress Test. That particular test ran a high-end gaming simulator 20 times to compare performance, and it began to lag after only three runs.

Buy it if...

• Nice design, with some intrusion protection.
• Excellent primary display with an inconspicuous wrinkle.
• Excellent external display that impresses and supports full-fledged applications.
• Polished software with three years’ worth of important updates.
• Excellent selfie performance and ultrawide camera.

Don't buy it if…

• Despite the 165Hz rating, the main display is typically limited to 120Hz.
• Thermal throttling is aggressive while under load.
• Average battery life with slow wired and wireless charging.

FULL SPECIFICATION