A little while ago, I wrote a piece on nostalgia marketing within which I briefly reminisced over my childhood want for a hot pink Motorola Razr. Other than providing a slightly humorous and hopefully relatable anecdote through which to frame the rest of the article, it wasn’t meant to really go anywhere. Yet in a surprising and unexpected turn of events, Honi received an email asking whether I’d be interested in reviewing their latest hot pink (magenta) Motorola Razr. And of course, what could I say but yes?
Before I begin, I must put out a disclaimer that I know next to nothing about phone specs and performance. My usual threshold of assessing tech is ‘does it work’ and ‘do I have the capacity to use it to do what I need to do’. So, this review will mainly consist of my assessment of things I usually use my phone for — doomscrolling, listening to music, taking subpar photos — as well as what most enthralled me about using a foldable smartphone. And so, without further ado, I present to you the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra.
A quick rundown
For those unfamiliar, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is an Android phone that boasts a foldable display, good quality cameras and a foldable design that allows you to open and close the phone. It comes in three colours – Glacier Blue, Infinite Black and Viva Magenta, and while all the colours seem lovely, I am nostalgically attached to the Magenta — which is the model I received for review, thank you Motorola for letting me live out my hot pink flip phone dreams. All in all, the Razr 40 Ultra is currently the slimmest flip phone on the market in Australia, with its design ensuring the phone is easily pocketable, even in the smallest pockets of women’s jeans.
In the box, you receive the phone itself, a USB-C cable, a charging brick which supports turbo charging, and a two-part clear shell protective case. The Razr 40 range also comes with a factory-applied screen protector that cannot be removed (many warnings are provided on the phone and in the box about not removing this since it would damage both the screen and phone, so beware!).
Flip displays (and Retro Mode?)
Features-wise, the Razr 40 Ultra has a 3.6-inch external display which not only displays the time and shows notifications, but also allows you to open and interact with apps on the outside with relative ease. Have a text you need to reply to? Want to tap and pay or read through an Honi article? You can do all that and more without even needing to open up the phone. There’s also a custom interface that you can set up here that allows you to add widget shortcuts for your commonly used apps which is extremely handy for any quick browsing needs.
Inside, there’s a large 6.9-inch display which sometimes felt slightly too tall, but that’s a small quibble since I had no issues actually navigating through the displays. For you tech-inclined people out there, the internal screen has a 413 pixel-per-inch density, a peak brightness of 1400 NITs and a 165Hz refresh rate that goes up to 360Hz in gaming mode (which I have been told is good? I don’t exactly know what any of those terms mean).
Most apps also supported a ‘continuation’ feature of sorts, that lets you keep on using a particular app on either screen without need for reopening the app which I found very neat. For example, if you’re reading an email on the external display and need to switch to the internal one to reply, simply opening up the phone lets you continue on the big display inside.
Something I also found quite fun (though perhaps not so useful…) was the Retro Razr mode, which brings back the iconic original 2000s Motorola Razr display. You can’t do much other than just dial out numbers for calls, but it did spark joy, so I appreciated it.
How’s the doomscrolling hold up?
In terms of battery life, the Razr 40 Ultra seemed to hold up pretty well. I don’t tend to use my phone for hours and hours on end, so I found that I could actually get through a good day without needing to charge the phone. I’m assuming the battery would drain quicker if you’re someone who uses their phone for more than just an occasional social media use and taking photos of the sunset moment, but for my personal use I was quite happy with it. In any case, there’s a low power mode to stretch out battery life, and the TurboPower charger tops up the battery pretty quickly.
Smile for the camera!
Moving onto the camera, the Razr 40 Ultra has a dual camera array on its rear where the main camera has a 12MP (f/1.5) wide lens, and the 13MP (f/2.2) wide angle and macro lens next to it. Once again, I’m not exactly sure what these specs mean, and while the quality is not as amazing as those from Apple, Samsung or Google, the photos are still pretty great, especially in low light settings. While there is a lack of a zoom lens, the foldable nature of the phone definitely makes up for it.
There are some great selfie options when the phone is shut (honestly you don’t even need to use the front camera), and the hinge design allows for Razr to be used as a tripod if it’s partially unfolded. Additionally, the external display actually lets whoever’s on the other side see a preview of the photo being taken which was especially neat, and probably the best feature of the camera setup according to my circles. There were definitely several joyful shouts of surprise from my friends when I was testing the camera out on them.
My final thoughts
Overall, I think as a phone Motorola Razr 40 Ultra does what it needs to do. It provides a pretty integrated and smooth experience; the displays are roomy and useful; and the interface is quite clean and easy to use. I’m not looking to replace my phone any time soon, but if I were, I would probably consider the Razr, not just for the novelty of having a flip phone, but because the flip aspects actually retain usability continuously. Definitely a nostalgia marketing product that has emerged triumphant in my books.