The much-awaited Moto Razr, which was announced in November 2019 amidst much fanfare, is now available in the US for pre-orders that will ship next month. Meanwhile, the company has released a video titled “Caring for Razr“, which raises some concerns regarding the first-gen foldable Motorola smartphone.

The video says, “Screen is made to bend, lumps and bumps are normal”, which isn’t something you would want to see after paying $1500 for an iconic reprise.

Here are three things that might make you reconsider your decision of buying the new Moto Razr folding display device.

Lumps and bumps

Lumps are not what you are looking for when you have paid $1500. Bulges in the review units, among other things, forced Samsung to recall the Galaxy Fold and then relaunch it with improvements. Motorola releasing a video that aims at normalising bumps and lumps doesn’t look good as it raises some serious concerns about the device’s durability as pointed out by The Verge. 

Motorola has outlined the following tips for Razr in their video above.

• Razr is water repellant; wipe with a dry cloth if wet.
• The screen is made to bend, bumps and lumps are normal.
• Avoid shart objects.
• The screen has a protective coat. Do not use a screen protector.
• Close phone before putting in the pocket or purse.

The last tip also indicates that Razr’s display is fragile.

Processor

The phone is powered by Snapdragon 710, which is surprising given the premium cost of the device. At this price point, the buyer deserves nothing short of the latest Snapdragon’s 800-series processor lineup has to offer.

Processors are the heart of the phone, and you can get several phones with the same Snapdragon 710 processor at a quarter of the price and better features otherwise.

Battery

The device comes with a meagre 2510mAh battery. Given that the phone has two functional displays — reminiscent of its original design — combined with the fact that one of them is a 6.5-inch LED, this battery is not at all suitable at all if you are a power user and might not even last you the entire day with normal use either.

Given this scenario, the Moto Razr should feature at least a 3500 mAh battery, if not more.

While all of this might make this article sound from a cynic’s perspective, Razr is one of the first-generation folding phones and certain lags and misses are forgivable. But not getting the basics right isn’t acceptable, especially at a price point which isn’t accessible to most of the consumers. If a folding phone can’t fold without damaging its appearance or functionality, it’s missing the mark and isn’t ready for the market yet.

Talking about the basics, the camera is another department where the phone fails to impress. Moto Razr houses a single 16MP (f/1.7; EIS) lens with dual-LED flash as the primary camera. The front camera is 5MP (f/2.0) supported by a screen flash. If you are a photography buff, you must have understood the gap between the Razr and the other offering in the market today. Also, the phone is not equipped with an OIS — again, given the cost.

Even if you discount the camera or the lumps and bumps, a Snapdragon 710 processor at $1500 is simply not a value for money proposition, whatever the case may be.

Given the fact that there are better phones in this premium segment, it is hard to tell how Moto Razr will fare in the market. If you are a Motorola fan and want to relive the old Razr days with the modern touch, you can undoubtedly go for the device — nothing is stopping you in any case then. But for others, sadly Moto Razr isn’t at all value for money.

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