We have been seeing foldable smartphones for a while now, with the likes of Samsung and Oppo leading the way, but so far these devices have been out of reach for most smartphone users. Plus, there seems to be that early days' feeling to this category. Moto launched its retro-themed Razr 40 series of foldable smartphones recently, and I have been using the Rs 59,999 priced Moto Razr 40 for a while now. Does this lower-priced flip phone deliver while keeping the utilities of a foldable phone? Let's try and find out.
Design: The phone comes with vegan leather around its exterior back with a range and a noticeable crease where the display folds. The main display inside is a 6.9-inch 22:9 aspect ratio tall display, while the exterior one is a small 1.5-inch 2.1 aspect ratio display on a rectangular cutout with Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus on top. Importantly, the hinge mechanism seems to work well, and there doesn't seem to be any cackling or anything alarming to put you off from folding or unfolding the device. Having said that, the hinge sections in the middle go apart (when unfolded), and they are a bit of an eyesore and can hinder your finger-scrolling every now and then, especially if you aren't used to such a phone. The crease on the main display's middle can be very much felt while scrolling or tapping on it. Another thing to notice is the thick display protector that the device comes with (same as other foldable phones we have been seeing), and the company suggests you not remove it. The right side of the phone features the volume buttons as well as the Power/lock (also has the fingerprint scanner) key, while the left side houses the SIM card tray. The back has the dual-camera setup and also the familiar Moto logo centered. The top has the secondary mic, and the bottom carries the loudspeakers, USB type C port, and the primary mic. The device's sides here are made out of aluminum series 7000 aluminum combined with the vegan leather back make the phone really comfortable to carry around, even though Moto Razr 40 feels like a flip phone that's sufficiently well put up when it comes to the hinge and folding mechanism. It's an IP 52 water and dust-resistant device and comes in Sage Green, Summer Lilac, and Vanilla Cream (which is the one I tried) color options.
Display: When unfolded, the main is a 6.9-inch pOLED LTPO (1080x2640) 10bit display that supports refresh rates of up to 144Hz and HDR10+ playback. The screen is quite bright and usable under direct sunlight in general. For the display, I can't help but feel the thick screen protector does make colors and output, in general, a little dull. It’s not a huge deal, but it's something still noticeable, especially if you care about your display quality at all times. In general, the display does a good job of viewing high-resolution images and videos and is smooth in higher resolution situations (saw 120Hz more frequently than 144Hz here). The external display is a 1.5-inch AMOLED (194x368) 8bit display that does the job well enough for its limited use (more on that later), is bright enough, and decent in color contrast, too.
Camera: The phone sports a dual-camera system on the back – 64MP (f/1.7) main camera with OIS and a 13MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide camera. You can expect to get quite detailed and well-colored shots when your subject is locked in focus and isn't moving. Dynamic range could have been a little better in outdoor shots, but it's still not bad that you might have to retake shots frequently. There's very little shutter lag, and the camera app is generally smooth to operate most of the time, no delay or anything when switching between different modes. Performance from the ultra-wide is quite good with balanced output not overexposing on colors in various kinds of shots. The front-facing 32MP can take nice shots for your social media use, but it can oversharpen the subject every now and then.
Performance and software experience: The device uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon on 7 Gen 1 chipset (2.4Ghz octa-core processor, Adreno 644GPU, and x62 5G modem) along with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GBFS2.2 storage. It runs on Android 13 with the June security patch installed. As you can see, the phone doesn't use the latest and greatest chipset or storage disks for the budget, but that's one of the corners cut by Motorola to provide a flip phone at this price point. In daily use, the phone feels really responsive and doesn't lag while switching between apps or watching videos and browsing the Web alongside. There is a slight dropping of frames when scrolling inside a few apps at times when the high refresh rate is enabled, but that isn't happening too frequently or reproducible by the same pattern every single time. When it comes to gaming, you shouldn't really expect to play graphic-intensive games such as CoD: Mobile or Genshin Impact anywhere close to the highest settings, but other games, even BGMI, can be played at around 40-45 frames per second with the Smooth Graphics preset. The OS here is very much like stock Android with very few add-ons from Motorola's side, but some useful ones. One addition I really liked was from double-tapping the back (Moto logo) to start any app, including a third-party app, which can be selected from Settings. For the external display's functionality, you can add from a list of widgets; you can control music playback, see what app just sent a notification or check temperature and of course time. There's also the good old one-handed mode where you can shrink the UI to a smaller dimension if you have to use the device with one hand or just find it more comfortable to use since this is a tall phone. There's also a classic Razr mode where the phone shows the classic Razr layout that we had on the Razr flip back then, which can be used to dial numbers but nothing much else. The Razr 40 series will get three years of OS updates and four years of bi-monthly security updates.
Battery: The Razr 40 comes with a 4,200mAh battery unit and a 33-watt charger with a USB type C to C cable in the box. Using the default charger, I found the phone to charge from 1% to full in about 70 minutes (Turbo Charging). Regarding its battery life, it lasted me just about a day most of the time, and about 18-20 hours on a heavy day, which is decent, considering you would be using the main display nearly every single time. Worth noting that the phone heats up a bit when charging, more so when it’s done so in the flipped closed mode.
Other stuff: The loudspeakers on the phone are punchy and just loud enough, though you can experience some extra vibration on the back panel when playing at the loudest volumes. Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS performance here is top-notch, but 5G network reception isn’t the best I have seen, latching on to 4G/LTE more frequently in the same places that I have been getting 5 consistently on other 5G devices. The fingerprint scanner on the side is quick and reliable for frequent use.
Verdict: All in all, the Moto Razr 40 seems to have enough goodness of a flip phone with a bendable display that’s priced under Rs. 60,000, making it comfortable to carry around in your pocket or clutch when folded. It has a hinge mechanism that doesn’t have you worried, a nice display, a capable set of cameras, and decent battery life. Plus, there's no bloatware to be dealt with out of the box. Though performance-wise, there could have been a little more firepower provided, it still performs well for daily use. So, if you're looking for a phone with a bendable display that doesn’t go anywhere close to Rs. 75,000 in the price tag, the Moto Razr 40 is one worthy Android contender.
