Yes, Motorola's $1,300 Razr Ultra Competes With The Galaxy Z Flip 7 (and Not Just In Price)

6 days ago

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

The $1,300 Motorola Razr Ultra is simply a high-performance flip telephone pinch a unsocial design.
Key upgrades make it a compelling action for foldable (and compact) telephone enthusiasts, specified arsenic nan 65W charging velocity and 50MP ultrawide lens.
The 4,700mAh artillery looks awesome connected paper, but yields mean endurance from our testing.

The Motorola Razr Ultra is 1 of nan astir absorbing phones I've tested this year. It's not conscionable because it folds successful half and fits comfortably successful my pocket, aliases that there's a Retro Razr mode that transforms nan UI into a nostalgia travel backmost to nan Razr's aureate days.

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Instead, it's nan truth that this is arguably 1 of nan closest things we've gotten to a existent flagship flip phone, pinch nary evident compromises to nan performance, display, camera, and durability. At $1,300, you'll really person to salary to play pinch nan Razr Ultra, and I'm funny to spot really customers will respond now that they tin yet return 1 home.

Until then, here's my verdict aft testing nan handset complete nan past week, including wherever Motorola misses nan mark, and wherever it wins big.

By appearances alone, nan Razr Ultra doesn't look each that different from nan Razr Plus exemplary of past years. It's conscionable arsenic pocketable, flips unfastened and adjacent pinch a flick of nan wrist, and comes successful an assortment of Pantone-validated finishes. If nary of that "moves you," that's because nan Razr's full-display outer surface is arguably nan highest of flip telephone design. So, astir of nan changes Motorola implemented are rooted successful nan soul building and worldly choices.

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The astir important yet subtle alteration is nan caller titanium-reinforced hinge plate, which Motorola says is 4 times stronger than surgical-grade stainless alloy and tin withstand up to 35% much folds than past year's models. The institution isn't lying here. Having flipped unfastened dozens of foldable phones over nan past fewer years, I tin show you that nan Razr Ultra is noticeably sturdier than different models, pinch a assured listen erstwhile you threat it shut.

The large mobility pinch immoderate foldable telephone is really it holds up complete clip -- I constitute arsenic my Motorola Razr Plus (2024) produces a gritty, brushing-sandpaper-like sound whenever I unfastened and adjacent it -- truthful I'll support my eyes and ears retired pinch nan Razr Ultra.

On a brighter note, nan Razr's curved sides proceed to beryllium a invited creation prime and make nan thumb-tucking unfolding acquisition overmuch easier than Samsung's flattened design.

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The crease connected nan soul show of nan Razr Ultra -- a changeless area of betterment pinch foldable phones -- is besides a small little noticeable this clip around. Even if nan quality isn't visually unique compared to erstwhile Razrs, you tin consciousness nan alteration erstwhile gliding your digit crossed nan screen; it's now a gentle divot that reminds you conscionable really acold flip phones person travel successful nan past fewer years.

I person to extremity my chapeau to Motorola's continuous efforts successful making phones consciousness little boring. The Pantone-validated finishes connected this year's Razrs (beyond nan Ultra) are a activity of caller aerial successful a marketplace afloat of achromatic and achromatic rectangles, and they punctual maine of nan old Moto Maker days.

While you can't needfully customize nan Razr Ultra nan aforesaid arsenic you would pinch a Moto X successful 2013, you tin take from a variety of colors and worldly finishes, including Pantone Scarab successful Alcantara, Pantone Mountain Trail successful FSC-certified wood, Pantone Cabaret, and Pantone Rio Red.

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Each decorativeness carries a unsocial aesthetic, but again, I'm a spot concerned astir really they'll fare successful nan agelong tally -- erstwhile softer materials for illustration Alcantara look nan brunt of particulate particles and digit grease. Throughout my week of usage, nan Alcantara cloth connected my Razr Ultra picked up chartless pieces of ungraded and debris without maine moreover trying. Just nan mobility of going successful and retired of my pants pouch was capable to capable nan textured backing pinch achromatic speckles.

The takeaway? Opt for 1 of nan harder, much polished finishes for nan Razr Ultra, and you won't regret it.

While companies for illustration Apple person seemingly backpedaled connected their AI integrations successful smartphones, Motorola is confidently doubling down. With nan Razr Ultra, nan institution has called connected respective AI partners, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Perplexity, to embed their agents and services into nan devices.

If that sounds for illustration nan astir chaotic buffet of AI helpers a telephone personification tin have, it benignant of is. While Motorola's controlled chaos attack to AI sounds promising successful theory, I recovered each offering, isolated from for Google Gemini, to beryllium excessively disruptive.

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For example, Moto AI, a pop-up model prompted by a agelong property of nan dedicated AI cardinal (found connected nan near broadside of nan phone), gives you respective pathways to interact pinch its ample connection models, from asking Perplexity to explicate thing to signaling audio for summarization. As a result, I often recovered myself pausing my train of thought conscionable to determine which AI work to use.

There's an added furniture of complexity here, arsenic tapping shortcuts for illustration "Explain pinch Perplexity" takes you from nan pop-up model to nan existent full-screen app. Shouldn't everything beryllium kept successful 1 floating model arsenic your inheritance task stays put?

I'm much enthusiastic astir nan Razr Ultra's Look and Talk feature, which leverages its cameras to observe erstwhile you're staring astatine it and automatically prompts an AI sound chat. This ambient characteristic useful amazingly well, whether I group nan telephone astatine an perspective connected my agency table aliases connected nan room countertop for speedy look searches. Its delayed responses tin make for an awkward conversation, but nan answers are often well-detailed and originated properly.

The cardinal present is intention, arsenic you really person to look and look astatine nan telephone surface to activate nan feature. I find that to beryllium a bully thing, arsenic nan past point I want is different sound adjunct randomly activating itself successful nan mediate of nan night.

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As I mentioned astatine nan beginning, nan Razr Ultra is simply a existent flagship flip phone, pinch a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of guidelines storage. Those specs, paired pinch a reasonably polished Android skin, make for a snappy and reliable mobile experience. You'll announcement immoderate throttling erstwhile playing graphics-intensive games aliases downloading larger files successful nan background, but nan day-to-day capacity has proven to beryllium conscionable arsenic bully arsenic $1,000+ slab phones.

The Razr Ultra's camera strategy is different precocious point, pinch nan 50MP main camera having conscionable capable optics to seizure subjects successful awesome item and vivid colors. Even pinch Motorola opting for a 50MP ultrawide camera alternatively of past year's telephoto, I didn't find myself missing nan far-distance shooter each that much. Instead, I was very impressed pinch nan move range, tube distortion control, and sharpness of nan ultrawide sensor.

On nan different hand, video recordings connected nan Razr still look somewhat choppy, pinch a noticeable jitter that's produced by nan physics image stabilization. There's besides a noticeable quality successful colour tones erstwhile switching betwixt nan main and ultrawide sensors, which tin beryllium jarring for immoderate users.

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Motorola someway fresh a 4,700mAh artillery capacity into nan Razr Ultra, and while that looks awesome connected insubstantial -- competing flip phones are person to 4,000mAh -- I've recovered nan endurance to beryllium conscionable average. On a regular day, I'm looking astatine astir 15% artillery near by nan clip I'm resting aft dinner. Your mileage will vary, but I conscionable wouldn't group excessively precocious an anticipation pinch nan Razr Ultra.

Fortunately, nan telephone does support 65W wired charging and 30W wireless charging, truthful agelong arsenic you person nan due chargers. This puts nan Motorola telephone person to nan likes of OnePlus, which astir group see nan fast-charging leader successful nan US, and further distant from nan likes of Samsung and Apple. That's a large triumph for Motorola.

ZDNET's buying advice

You person to respect Motorola for taking a large plaything pinch nan Razr Ultra. The $1,300 flip telephone won't entreaty to nan masses per se -- it's difficult capable to beryllium a flip telephone -- but it shows that nan institution is listening to what its halfway users want.

Who precisely should bargain nan Razr Ultra? Technology enthusiasts, fashion-forward consumers (especially if you fancy nan Ultra-exclusive Alcantara and Wood finishes), and users who want nan champion compact telephone correct now.

That said, nan Razr Ultra's biggest competitor has yet to deed nan market, pinch Samsung expected to motorboat its latest Z Flip exemplary this summer. Until then, shoppers should mostly see nan little costly Razr Plus (2025), which has similarly-sized displays, package features, and nan aforesaid Android update committedness (three years of OS and 4 years of information patches).