If you would have told me last year that in 2020 J.Lo and Shakira would be starring in
the Superbowl, Hummer would be making a new vehicle, and I'd be reviewing the Motorola
Razr Flip phone...I'd say you were crazy and ask what year you time traveled from. But
here we are. This video is sponsored by Audible.
This strange box contains the world's first hot dog style folding smart phone...you know,
where it folds long ways instead of the fat hamburger-style way, right? Anyone else learn
that in school? We've tested folding phones here in the past on my channel with the Galaxy
Fold and the Flexpai. But both of those were kind of like folding tablets, and this guy,
well, it's more like a folding phone. This might also be the first phone where you want
to keep the box. It's got a built-in rubber stand that will redirect the phone speakers
out the base towards the front. Kind of interesting.
Let's see what else is in the box before we say “hello” to Moto. In this fancy magnetic
case we get some instructions, along with the headphone dongle, 18 watt charger, braided
headphones, and a braided USB-C cable. Seems like a pretty nice package. I've heard many
people ask if this new Motorola Razr can still handle those angry closes...you know, like
after a phone call, and the phone gets aggressively shut. Today we'll be answering that question
once and for all. Now I think it's time to review our new friend. Hi there.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
Now the thing I like most about this Motorola Razr is the form factor When it's open it
takes up just about as much space as my Note 10 Plus, which I'd say is a pretty common
phone size these days. But the Motorola Razr has the ability to fold in half and quite
literally take up half the space when it's shut. It's a form factor that actually makes
sense.
Taking a close look at the hinge of the Razr we can see some exposed gear looking things
along the side. These don't actually spin like we saw in the Galaxy Fold. These teeth
just keep the two sides, both left and right, folding at the same speed so one side doesn't'
fold quicker than the other. The paper thin screen lifts away from the phone body as it
starts shutting, and you can quite literally see the light shining through the components
At first glance, this does seem kind of sketchy, but it still feels pretty solid, even if the
screen lifting off is slightly unnerving
The bottom edge of the screen tucks a little bit into the base of the phone as it slides
down to compensate for that crease-free fold in the center. There are no folding lines
in the center of this screen like we saw on the Galaxy Fold. Motorola did say on their
website that this phone is designed with a zero gap hinge that allows both sides to close
perfectly flush to protect the main display. But unfortunately, I still definitely see
a gap between the two halves of the phone when it's closed. And I'm not like a dust
expert or anything, but dust can still definitely sneak in there. And it's not perfectly flush
with the zero gap. Calling it perfectly flush with zero gap is incorrect. At least with
my unit. We'll test out the dust thing more in just a second.
The front smaller screen is not a fully functional display like we saw in the Galaxy Fold. This
is more just for notifications and stuff and can't control the entire phone. I'm getting
distracted though. It's time for that scratch test. Now, the whole trick with these folding
phones is that the screen is actually made from a thin piece of plastic. Plastic has
multiple pitfalls. For one, you can't apply a screen protector or the display might break.
This is super unfortunate since once again we do start seeing damage at a level 2. A
level 3 almost felt like my Mohs pick was going to start cutting through the display.
And my fingernails, once again, can leave a mark on the screen. I was previously excited
when I read that Motorola's design had a zero gap hinge with perfectly flush closure since
avoiding screen damage is one of the main things you want to do with a folding phone.
But as we see, with a screen this soft, dust and dirt are still going to be an issue.
The simplest solution, like I suggested with the Galaxy Fold, is to just vacuum out your
pockets every morning and you should be just fine. The outer screen, since it doesn't need
to be folded, is made from glass. I can work my way up through the Mohs scale of hardness,
and we find that the 2.7 inch outer display is confirmed. Scratches at a level 6 with
deeper grooves at a level 7.
One cool little Easter egg with this high tech 2020 Razr phone is that if you go into
the hidden settings and drag Retro Razr onto the main drop down, you can make your sweet
new $1500 phone look like a $15 phone. I'd like to see an iPhone attempt that one.
As far as the build quality of the Motorola Razr, the whole thing does feel relatively
sturdy. The earpiece grill is made from metal and won't be falling out on it's own. The
top curve is made from glass, which also protects the front facing 5 megapixel camera. The original
Razr from 2004 only had a .3 megapixel camera.
The frame is made from metal, along with the textured metal power button, and the volume
rocker right below that power button is also metal. The hinge cap is a vital component
that holds both halves of the phone together and is also made from metal. The frame of
the bottom half of the phone is also made from metal. The phone is very well balanced
on each half of the hinge. The bottom with it's plastic chin does include a fingerprint
scanner, which is actually pretty scratch resistant..but I still managed to inflict
a bit of damage with my razor blade. Even with those scratches though, the phone was
able to read my fingerprint and unlock the phone every single time. Not too shabby.
The bottom of the Razr has a plastic speaker grill and a USB-C charger. If we take a look
under the grill plate we can see that the speaker is positioned on the right side of
the phone and does seem to have its own water resistant mesh protecting the opening. Motorola
does say that this phone is splash resistant. We'll have to assess that claim more thoroughly
from the inside when we take it apart. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss that
teardown.
We know that the outer screen is made from glass along with the glass camera lens that's
covering the 16 megapixel main camera on the back. And the dual tone LED flash, which are
both covered with glass. The back panel, however, is plastic. Now I never had one of these Razr
phones growing up. I got a job delivering pizzas and I bought myself the Nokia 6800
instead, with it's full QWERTY keyboard. But I do remember how popular these things were.
As you can clearly see, this is a razor on a razor, on a Razr, above a razor. The Razr
logo down here at the bottom of the phone is very securely glued into place and and
won't be coming off on it's own over time, which is, of course, a good thing. With the
Razr's current price tag of $1500, you'll probably have to start selling off the old
Tamagotchi and beanie baby collection from the last time the Razr phone existed.
I think it's time to revisit that dust situation. Now obviously this is a bit on the extreme
end of the pocket sand scenario, but phones are probably the most abused pieces of tech
on the planet. And since Motorola's hinge does leave a gap, it's something we have to
watch out for. I'll let the dust shift around into every possible surface, crack, and crevice
of the Razr. It is hard to watch, but it's for science Planet earth is covered in dirt
and we should be ready for anything.
The dirty phone still functions well enough...mostly. The screen has not broken yet, but the sound
of the hinge is more like nails on a chalkboard at this point. And not as much buttery smoothness
like it was before. Looking close we can see that one speck of dust has already managed
to make it's way under the screen, causing the light to reflect off the bulge a bit differently
than normal. Rather unfortunate. Over time this might damage the pixels from the back
and kill the display. That compromising gap between the hinge and the display is going
to cause and issue with dust in the future.
Speaking of compromises, since this video was sponsored by Audible, I picked out a few
new Audio books at the beginning of the year to help me improve in certain areas. And 'Never
Split the Difference' is what I'm currently listening to. It's about the negotiating tactics
that the FBI's lead kidnapping negotiator used in international hostage negotiations.
Pretty intense. You can get your first audio book for free when you visit Audible.com/jerryrig.
Or text “jerryrig” to 500-500. Audible has plenty of podcasts as well, along with
a-list comedy and a huge selection of Audible Originals. I usually listen when I'm at the
gym. 'Never Split the Difference' isn't all just about life or death negotiations. The
same tactics can be applied at home, or to help get you a raise, or even negotiate more
days off work with your boss. Communication is pretty useful stuff. You can get your first
audio book free with an Audible subscription. Link in the description. Audible.com/jerryrig
or text “jerryrig” to 500-500. And thanks to Audible for sponsoring this video.
Now like I mentioned before, this particular style of folding phone is my favorite so far.
Rumor has it that Samsung is about to announce a phone with the same hot dog-style folding
capability. But Samsung's phone will also probably have the same plastic screen, which
isn't a bad thing of course. It does work. As long as we all know it's plastic. And we
all know it's a tad more fragile than glass screens, then we can take care of it. Another
difference is that this plastic screen retains no heat from my lighter. The pixels are still
very much alive after 25 seconds. The plastic is unmelted and actually still cool to the
touch. The usefulness of this knowledge basically borders on zero. But as we know from the erroneously
name zero gap hinge on this phone, zero doesn't actually mean zero. I'm mostly stalling at
this point since this is one of the coolest phones that's ever come across my desk, and
I don't have a whole lot of confidence about its ability to survive what's coming.
The feature of this folding phone I'm most curious about is it's ability to be slammed
shut after a phone call. Remember, there is still currently a rock behind the screen somewhere,
and I'm slamming it shut just about as hard as a person can with one hand. And now, with
two hands. Even with two hands slams, and a little pebble behind the screen, this Motorola
Razr can withstand the abuse and the phone definitely seems to be equipped to handle
all abrupt phone hangups. I'd still take care of it since you never quite know which fold
will be your last.
I think it's time. Let's say you leave your phone on the couch face down and great aunt
Suzi comes over to ask why you didn't bring a special someone with you to the family reunion.
She sits down and now your screen is unresponsive and has a cool new four point design in the
center...not from the rock that got caught earlier, but from some physical component
inside of the hinge that's under the display poking through the back of the screen. Each
of the 4 corners of whatever that rectangle object is under there just got smushed into
the soft back side of the screen. After turning the screen off and then back on again, the
phone does return to functionality, but the 4 pixels do not recover. If we watch that
one more time, we can see that it actually took a considerable amount of force before
breaking. I am rather impressed. The Razr hinge is not as strong as the Galaxy Fold's
hinge, but still holds it's own. The phone is still functional even after the screen
is punctured from the back. The hinge is, you know, bent backwards and it's a little
more floppy than usual. Something's broken inside (aren't we all). But it's still rather
incredible the phone is still able to function like normal. That deserves a thumbs up. Moto
is putting up a fight. It looks like one of the things that broke is whatever was holding
down the screen inside of the chin. You can see the display pulling out a bit and revealing
some pretty cool Faraday cage-looking components like we saw inside of the Nokia 3310. The
teardown should be interesting.
Touching down at the bottom edge of the display however immediately kills the entire row of
pixels running up the screen. I'll test my theory again by touching over here on the
right side. Yep. Definitely a bad idea. The paper thin OLED display technology still kind
of blows my mind. Since the bottom of the screen has been pulled out of the phone, it's
not really going to fold back flat anymore. The little bubble near the hinge shows how
thin and flexible the display can really get. Of course it will always need the phone body
to support it so it won't crease or bend in the wrong spot and get wrecked. But as we
can see, it does take quite a bit of abuse. Flexible displays still need a gentle curve
when they fold. The fold gets too tight and the screen actually gets creased. The whole
thing dies completely. And it's over.
We know now the limit of the new Motorola Razr. Angry phone calls are fine, but probably
shouldn't let anyone sit on your open phone or it might be curtains. I think we should
perform an autopsy. Let me know if you want to see the insides of this thing down in the
comments. Are you interested in buying a folding phone? Are you going to wait a little while
longer and see what the next generation looks like?
Come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter. Grab your free audio book with the link in
the description. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.