Introduction
In the ever-evolving world of smartphones, innovation knows no bounds. The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra has taken a leap into the future with its cutting-edge features and remarkable design. This review delves into the various aspects of the device, from its striking display and robust hardware to its impressive camera capabilities and connectivity options. Join us as we explore the world of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra.
Aesthetics and Durability: Design Charisma of Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
The design of the Razr 40 Ultra seamlessly merges aesthetics with functionality. Crafted with an aluminum frame, the device exudes premium quality. It’s worth noting that the device is IP52-rated for resistance to dust and water, providing added durability.
So design is where the Flip form factor trumps the more traditional glass slab smartphones, and every flip phone so far has been more of a style statement than a gadget so far. However, there are moving parts and that isn’t always good in terms of the design. But we will get to functionality later, first let’s just talk about how the Moto Razr 40 Ultra looks and what we like about the smartphone.
The first thing that catches your attention is the front or outer display, which is a 3.6-inch AMOLED panel with a hole-punch implementation that houses the two primary cameras, along with the LED flash. From the front, the smartphone looks very futuristic. We only see a display with the cutouts for the camera, which looks nice.
At the back, we get two options – glass back for the black color and vegan leather for the red color. The back is plain, we don’t get much there, but the smartphone looks and feels super premium in the leather back panel. The glass back also feels very nice and premium, but I’m more of a leather back person.
Unveiling the Remarkable Display of Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
Once we flip the screen open, we get a nice 6.9-inch AMOLED display with a rather tall aspect ratio, which makes the smartphone quite unusable with one hand. Here also, the front camera is placed in the middle and we get a nice curved metal frame on all sides.
One thing I didn’t like about the Moto Razr 40 Ultra is that the smartphone doesn’t open completely flat. When we open the smartphone, it appears a bit bent, which is a bit of a bummer. And if you were wondering, the crease is prominent and you will notice it at first. Over time, we’ll know if this turns into an air bubble, but for now, the hinge has been designed in a way that won’t let dust in.
Coming to the displays, first let’s talk about the outer display. This is the first time we are seeing this big a display on a flip smartphone. We get a very crisp 3.6-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, something we don’t even see on flagships these days. This display is also bright enough to be used in all kinds of bright conditions and very nice in terms of sharpness. We weren’t able to measure the colour accuracy and the brightness on this display, but it seemed brilliant for a secondary display. Plus, you can do a lot on this display, so that is something that made me just fall in love with this outer display.
The main display on the Moto Razr 40 Ultra, however, has a very tall aspect ratio, which not only makes the smartphone unusable with one hand, it also brings black borders around the display during gaming or watching videos.
In terms of brightness also, this display is very good, but not the best. Using a Lux Meter, I tested the maximum luminance on the Moto Razr 40 Ultra to be 773 nits, and the minimum on a plain white screen came out to be 4 nits. This is good, but we get similar or better results in some mid-rangers of today, let alone flagships.
Unleashing Power: The Hardware of Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
Under the hood, the Razr 40 Ultra boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SM8475 chipset built on a 4nm architecture. With a processor configuration of 1x 3.2GHz Cortex-X2, 3x 2.75GHz Cortex-A710, and 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A510, this device ensures seamless multitasking and speedy performance. The Adreno 730 GPU enhances graphics rendering, catering to gaming enthusiasts.
Enduring Power: Battery and Charging Innovations of Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
Moto Razr 40 Ultra doesn’t seem as impressive on paper. We get a 3,800mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging. Now, for someone in the Android flagship space, those numbers will seem miniscule as against the 5000 or 6,000mAh batteries we have seen on flagships. However, since this is a different form factor and with the tight space, the company was still able to fit a bigger battery as compared to the last generation.
The battery backup is good. The Moto Razr 40 Ultra lasted a good 742 minutes in our video loop test, which is more than 12 hours and 20 minutes. That is superb backup for only a 3,800mAh battery and on a flip smartphone. While playing Call of Duty Mobile, the smartphone only lost 6 percent of the battery. Further, one hour of GPS navigation made the smartphone lose about 8-9 percent of the Moto Razr 40 Ultra’s battery, and 30 minutes of streaming a video on YouTube on the highest-possible resolution drained only 4 percent of the battery.
Useful Software Features
Motorola has always had a very basic, as close to stock Android as anyone, Android skin. Don’t let that fool you though because they have included a lot of added features. Unlike some manufacturers where many of their “features” amount to nothing more than pretty gimmicks, a bulk of the Motorola features are actually used, a lot.
Rather than run through every single feature I’m going to mention a few of my favorites. Most of the Motorola enhancements are featured around gestures, be it onscreen gestures, physical button gestures, or what they are calling kinetic gestures.
The kinetic gestures are what I use most. The ability to launch the camera using the double tap the power button is available but Motorola has an even easier gesture to launch the camera – twist the phone.
Capture the World with Precision Camera
Flip and fold phones are limited with the camera hardware they can include due to their thickness. Few people want a flip/fold phone that is so thick that it struggles to fit into your pockets and as such manufacturers need to make the foldables as thin as possible.
For this reason we are yet to see a foldable smartphone with a flagship quality camera setup even though foldable carry a flagship price (and then some in some cases). Motorola have famously included what can best be described as spud cams in their Razr foldable in previous iterations but this year that has changed.
The outside camera setup includes a 12MP f/1.4 Dual Pixel PDAF with OIS which is actually the same sensor that is in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 – that is now 12 months old so we will have to see what Samsung include in the Flip 5 in a couple of weeks time.
Partnered with the 12MP main camera is a 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide and macro camera which seems to be a step down from the 50MP in last year’s camera setup but the proof will be in the pudding of the resultant images — see below.
The results are much better than the photos produced from last year’s Razr flip smartphone. The colors are reproducibly bright and colorful but you do lose some detail when zooming in the resultant image, likely due to the 12MP only camera. Detail of animals and humans is good and if this was your only phone you would be relatively happy with them.
The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra has two rear-facing cameras embedded into its cover display. This includes a 12-megapixel primary camera with OIS and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide which has a 108-degree field of view (FOV) and can also capture macro photos. Selfies are handled by a 32-megapixel camera which is embedded into the inner folding display. Both the front and rear camera systems are capable of capturing video at 4K 60fps.
The dual displays enable a couple of tricks for the camera app. The rear cameras, when folded, can also be used for capturing selfies. These can be captured in a squarish 1:1 ratio or the usual 4:3 ratio as well. Next up, the cover display can also be used as a viewfinder, and lastly, the external display can also be propped up in tent mode to capture selfies or selfie videos, hands-free.
Verdict
Motorola has a real winner in its hands with the Razr 40 Ultra. It attempts to innovate in a market segment that is loaded with cutting-edge technology and manages to pull it off without any noticeable gimmicks. Its cover display is by far the best we have currently, although that could quickly changed. The fluid display and software optimization also makes this cover display one of the most practical user experiences of its segment.
It has a capable set of cameras and also offers a macro mode. Of course, the Razr 40 Ultra is not without flaws. The heating issue when using the camera app is the primary one. But at Rs. 89,999, it is still hard to find a foldable which is oozing with so many features, and looks slick while pulling it all off. The new flagship Razr should appeal to a lot of premium Android users who are looking for something new and refreshing in a smartphone.
