Hands-on with the Motorola Razr 2022 5G

The resurrected Motorola Razr was the foldable should have been a slam dunk.

Back in 2019, Samsung's reputation for foldable smartphones was far from what it is now and the namesake of Motorola's first foldable evoked not just novelty but genuine nostalgia. Unfortunately, the reality failed to live up to the hype.

Now, Motorola is trying to set the record straight and frame itself as the best alternative to what Samsung has going on with its Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4. We had the chance to go hands-on with the new Motorola Razr 2022 5G at a recent Lenovo event, and here's what we made of it.

• Price. With an Australian RRP of $1599, the new Motorola Razr 2022 5G is far from budget-friendly. However, weighed against the launch pricing commanded by its predecessors that figure represents a significant improvement. The 2019 Motorola Razr debuted with an Australian price of $2,699 and the 2020 Razr 5G wasn't much cheaper at $2299. In contrast to either, the price of this third-generation foldable is a breath of fresh air even if it's not quite as affordable as some other foldable devices are.
• Design. I don't know if I'd quite go so far as to say that the new Motorola Razr quite cuts the kind of sleek and refined silhouette it ought to for the asking price, but what's here does look and feel much nicer than previous models. To the touch, the felt-like material design here has a lot in common with Motorola's recent Edge 30 devices.
• Cover display. Of course, the most obvious visible difference between what the new Razr has going on and Samsung's take on the flexible flip-phone form factor is that the cover display on the former is a lot more capable than the one on the latter. At 2.7 inches, the Razr 2022 5G's external screen is roughly double the size of the one on the exterior of the Z Flip. What's more, rather than limit itself to managing notifications, music playback and weather alerts, Motorola allows you to do pretty much anything you'd usually do on this secondary display. For many things, the sheer size of this screen is going to be a practical concern. Nevertheless, the notion of having to experiment for yourself and potentially find new use cases that Motorola hasn't accounted for is honestly really endearing.

• Camera. While the main lens on the Motorola Razr 2022 5G's rear camera is somewhat noteworthy in that it incorporates a 50MP sensor, the fact that the dual-lens setup here is closer to the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion than the Edge 30 Ultra is going to be something of a red flag for smartphones shoppers who take a lot of snaps. What's here might be an improvement on what devices with this particular form factor typically offer. However, when you weigh it against what smartphones from Apple, Samsung and Google can do at this particular price point, it's not hard to wish the optics on the back of the Razr 2022 were a little more impressive than they are.
• Battery size. It would be a mistake to jump to any serious conclusions about the battery life of the Motorola Razr 2022 5G based on a brief hands-on with the device alone. That said, the battery inside Motorola's latest is a mere 3500mAh in size. That's significantly smaller than most other devices around this price point, not to mention behind where Samsung's Z Flip line is at. This is far from conclusive, but the story being told by the numbers here doesn't sound like it'll have a happy ending.

It's possible that a longer-term relationship with the device might win me over, but after going hands-on with the new Motorola Razr 2022 5G it's hard to shake the idea that this latest addition to the legacy of the iconic Razr is one step forward and two steps back.

Motorola has made strides forward here. Unfortunately, even where they have done so it doesn't feel like they've gone far enough. The design is definitely nicer and the price is clearly better, but selling myself on the new Razr still feels like an uphill battle when faced with the quality and price tag of its biggest competition.

The latest riff on the Razr is easier to like, but it remains hard to recommend.

The new Motorola Razr 2022 5G is available in a single 256GB size that retails in Australia for $1,599. At the time of writing, the device is available through the following retailers:

At the time of writing, the Motorola Razr 2022 5G is not available on a postpaid plan through a mobile provider.

However, if you're planning to use it on an Australian mobile network you'll probably be well served to pair it with one of the popular SIM-only plans (with at least 20GB of data) highlighted in the widget below.