Motorola Razr: 6 burning questions we still have about this foldable phone

Motorola Razr: 6 burning questions we still have about this foldable phone

The 2004 Motorola Razr is back for 2019, this time with a sexy foldable 6.2-inch screen that bends in half and a 16-megapixel camera for all your shots. After playing with it at Motorola's Chicago headquarters, I called it, "Streamlined. Utterly pocketable. Nostalgic, with a sharp futuristic edge." You might call it a flip phone for the modern age -- it even has a secret retro keyboard for nostalgia-seekers.

Motorola's Razr is the third major foldable phone on the market, after the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X, which currently only sells in China. The Razr is also the first design of its kind, a tall, narrow vertically flipping device rather than a tablet replacement that opens up like a book. Motorola's success or stumbles with the Razr could help set the direction of foldable phones to come -- maybe even Samsung's future foldable clamshell, which the company teased at a developer conference last month.

We know a lot about the foldable Razr phone. How much it costs (a princely $1,500) and when it goes on sale (Jan. 9). How its specs stack up against the Samsung Galaxy Fold's and why Motorola wanted to make this foldable flip Razr in the first place. But there are some things we don't know, all of which will be critical to the phone's success. And since preorders in the US don't begin until Dec. 26, it will be a while before we find out.

Read: CNET's in-depth review of the Motorola Razr

How durable the foldable screen really is

The Razr uses a plastic OLED (P-OLED) display with a hard plastic coating on top. Plastic isn't as rigid as glass, which makes today's foldable phone screens more susceptible to damage. Early Galaxy Fold review units suffered from screen damage before Samsung was able to redesign the flaws.

Although Motorola claims its early work on a plastic hard coat for the screen puts it in a better place than Samsung, it isn't clear how well the Razr's screen will be able to sustain the stress of repeated opening and closing throughout its lifetime, and how well it can rebuff normal wear and tear by items coming into contact with the screen, even an accidental fingernail scratch.

If the battery life will truly last all day

Motorola claims that the foldable Razr's 2,510mAh battery will last you all day, but we obviously need to test it to find out, both in our lab and through day to day observation.

But even without testing, a 2,510mAh battery is quite small to power two screens, the camera and all the rest. As one comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S10E has a 5.8-inch screen and a 3,100mAh battery. As another, the (much larger) Galaxy Fold has a 4,380mAh battery.

Part of the problem is that the Razr's total battery capacity is divided into two parts. This design helps keep the phone balanced so one half isn't heavier than the other, but using two batteries is typically less efficient than one larger battery of the same capacity. This was the case with the Galaxy Fold, which ran for less time than expected for its battery capacity -- so we'll keep a sharp eye on the Razr's total battery life per charge.

How splash-proof the screen and body are in daily life

Motorola Razr Foldable Flip phone — The Motorola Razr has a 6.2-inch plastic OLED display.
James Martin/CNET

The Razr isn't rated for waterproofing, but Motorola says it's splash-proof nonetheless. The foldable phone has been coated inside and out with nanocoating, which helps protect internal electronic components from water damage.

I'll want to see whether ordinary splashes and raindrops affect the screen and camera. The Galaxy Fold came with a long list of care instructions that highlight its fragility, including limited exposure to liquids, so this will be a real test of the Razr's mettle.

If and when Motorola will sell it in colors other than black

Right now the Razr comes in one color, "noir black". If demand is high enough, Motorola may work up a new tone. The first Razr came in a rainbow of eye-popping shades beyond its original silver. I'd love to see this foldable Razr similarly branch out.

How many times the Razr was folded during testing

Motorola isn't saying how many times its Razr was folded and unfolded as part of a stress test. Since in our tests the Galaxy Fold broke after about half the time Samsung said its test was rated for (100,000 folds versus 200,000 folds), our interest is high.

Nobody wants a $1,500 investment to fall apart over the course of a year or two, even though Motorola's warranty does cover a replacement.

Here's Motorola's statement on durability:

We didn't bring the new Motorola Razr to market until we knew it was ready. We have full confidence in the durability of the Flex View display, and based on our research, it will last for the average lifespan of a smartphone. We acknowledge this is a brand new technology and we are committed to continue improving as the industry evolves. Therefore, we've created a world class service package to make sure every Razr customer has an exceptional experience.

Motorola Razr — Are we looking at the future of phone screens?
Juan Garzon/CNET

If it's worth buying -- and if so, for whom

You want to know, and so do I. Is the Razr a feather in the cap for collectors with means, or will it be a practical device for everyday people? This is unfortunately a question that only the review can answer, after extensively testing the screen, battery stamina, real-life pocketability and camera.

When the review phone arrives, I'll use the device as my one and only phone. Until then, I'll keep posting updates about the Motorola Razr as new information comes in. Feel free to share burning questions of your own in the comments section, or reach out to me at @jdolcourt on Twitter.

Updated with new information about the January 9 sale date.

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That Motorola Razr foldable will squeak out a debut before year's end

That Motorola Razr foldable will squeak out a debut before year's end

Motorola missed a targeted summer launch date for its first foldable phone, but the company still plans to announce its device by the end of the year, a person close to the company told CNET. It's unclear when the device will hit store shelves, but the press and public at least will see the phone in 2019, making Motorola the latest handset maker to jump into the market for foldables.

Read: The inside story of Motorola's foldable Razr .

The device will follow Samsung's Galaxy Fold, which hit shelves in the US on Friday, and possibly Huawei's Mate X, which hasn't yet gone on sale.

Foldables are being developed in a variety of shapes and designs. One thing they all seem to have in common, however, is delayed launch dates. Samsung and Huawei both missed their initial sales plans.

Motorola, a unit of Chinese consumer electronics giant Lenovo, has been working on a secretive foldable phone that's believed to be reviving the Razr brand. Unlike Samsung's Galaxy Fold or Huawei's Mate X, which fold outward from phones into tablets, Motorola's foldable is expected to fold inward like its popular Razr flip phones, according to a patent filing from 2017.

Though Samsung and Huawei showed off their devices at events late last year and earlier this year, Motorola has said very little about its foldable. An executive confirmed the device's existence to Engadget in February and said Motorola had "no intention of coming later than everybody else in the market." CNET later reported that Motorola planned to introduce the phone over the summer.

But summer has come and gone, and Motorola still hasn't said a word about its foldable.

It isn't alone. Early this year, foldables seemed to be the future of smartphones. In a world where phone designs have largely settled into rectangular slabs of glass, foldables represented something truly innovative: a device that's a phone when you want something compact or a tablet when you need more display real estate. Nearly every company in the handset market is believed to be looking at foldables.

Samsung and Huawei, the world's two biggest phone makers, both had grand plans to introduce foldable devices by mid-2019, racing each other to be first with the technology. The designs generated a lot of buzz and got all of us excited about phones again. Then reality hit.

Samsung's Fold woes

Early this year, Samsung seemed poised to be the first major handset maker with a foldable phone. Its $1,980 Galaxy Fold has a 4.6-inch display when folded and a separate 7.3-inch display when unfolded into a tablet. You'll be able to start using apps like Flipboard on the small, front display and then pick up where you left off when moving to the big, inside display.

Reviewers largely liked the device, but Samsung canceled the Galaxy Fold's April sales date, four days before launch, after several reporters discovered screen defects in their review units. Some peeled off a thin top layer on the display, which was an essential protective coating, not a removable screen protector. Others had detritus get under the screen itself, causing bumps and bulges.

"It was embarrassing," Samsung co-CEO D.J. Koh told reporters in late June in Korea. "I pushed it through before it was ready."

samsung-galaxy-fold-7 — Samsung's revamped Galaxy Fold went on sale in the US on Friday.
Angela Lang/CNET

After investigating the issues for about three months, Samsung in July said it had resolved the initial device's problems. Samsung started selling its revamped Fold in September in places like South Korea and the UK. The foldable hit the US on Friday, complete with a new customer service plan to address any issues Fold buyers have.

Huawei's delays

Huawei, meanwhile, hasn't yet started selling its foldable, the Mate X. The $2,600 phone, designed to run on super-fast 5G networks in China and other regions, made its first appearance at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. CEO Richard Yu at the time said if it weren't for the need to build out 5G networks, he could ship the Mate X immediately.

Unlike the Fold, which opens like a book to reveal a bendable screen on the inside, the Mate X has its foldable screen on the exterior. It needs to be opened only when you want to access the tablet-sized display.

huawei-mate-x-foto — Huawei hasn't yet started selling its Mate X foldable.
Juan Garzon/CNET

Huawei may start to sell its Mate X foldable phone as soon as October, Yu said earlier this month in a briefing at the IFA electronics show in Berlin. He blamed the delay on the rollout of 5G and the need to give developers time to adapt their apps to the new screen size.

But he also acknowledged that building a foldable phone isn't exactly easy.

"The manufacturing of this phone is not only very expensive but has some challenges for volume and mass production," Yu said.

Samsung and Huawei aren't the only companies working on foldables. Fremont, California, startup Royole became the first company to introduce a foldable phone with its Flexpai in October 2018. CNET reviewer Lynn La, during her brief time with the $1,318 device, said that "aesthetically, it still looks like a prototype rather than a refined and polished product."

Xiaomi showed off a foldable phone prototype in videos, but it's unclear when the product could launch. Fellow Chinese handset maker TCL demonstrated its concept devices at trade shows this year but said it doesn't plan to launch anything until 2020. And potential foldables from Apple, Google, LG and Lenovo so far are nothing more than rumors.

Razr's popularity

The struggles experienced by Samsung, Huawei and other handset makers are likely the same hurdles Motorola is facing.

Foldable screens are more delicate than normal smartphone displays. They're made of plastic (foldable glass isn't yet available), which means they can scratch easily.

The devices overall have some durability problems, as Samsung has found. Though it said it had resolved the problems experienced by reporters with the first iteration of the Fold, a reviewer from TechCrunch spotted a defect after using his revamped model for only a day. There haven't been reports of issues with consumers' devices in Korea, the UK and other markets where the Fold has already launched.

Samsung said that it encourages "Galaxy Fold owners to read the care instructions included in the box and in the product manual available online. Products used within these guidelines are covered under warranty." Some of those tips include being careful when folding the device to not place any objects like cards, coins or keys on the screen and not pressing on the screen with a hard or sharp object like a pen or fingernail.

Motorola likely is also watching to see the consumer response to the first foldables from Samsung and Huawei, Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi said.

"It needs to position the device very carefully," Milanesi said.

Motorola's original Razr was one of the most recognizable phone brands and carried the company to success in the flip phone market. The ultrathin phone first started off at the then-outrageous price of $500 as an exclusive phone for Cingular Wireless (now AT&T). It became one of the most popular phones in history, selling more than 50 million units within two years of its 2004 debut.

But Motorola didn't take advantage of the success of the Razr, and it struggled to compete with Apple and others in smartphones. Google purchased Motorola in 2012, and then resold it two years later to Lenovo. Motorola has made its mark largely on well-outfitted budget phones like those in the Moto G line and in the Moto Z franchise, which is upgradable to 5G via a Moto Mod attachment. But it's also aiming to get into more-premium devices, especially when it comes to 5G.

While Razr is a recognizable name, Motorola doesn't have the luxury of a huge marketing budget and product lineup like its bigger phone rivals, Milanesi said.

And even those companies have found that consumers may be wary to shell out thousands of dollars for delicate phones, making it vital for the initial products to be positioned as devices for early adopters and other people who want to start experimenting with foldable designs. There are compromises with foldable devices, like having no water or dust resistance.

"Companies get carried away with ... this is the future," Milanesi said. "But they're not careful enough to position that this is not for everybody."

When Motorola finally shows off its first foldable this year, we'll find out what the company has learned.

This article was originally published on Sept. 27, 2019.

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