Motorola Razr 2022 review

A must in 2005 – and today? More cameras, larger battery, high-end SoC, and still cheaper – Motorola’s Razr 2022 seems much more sophisticated than its direct predecessor at first glance. Find out here whether the foldable smartphone also convinces us in the test.

Florian Schmitt, 👁 Florian Schmitt, ✓ Anton Avdyushkin (translated by DeepL / Ninh Duy), Published 01/12/2023 🇩🇪 🇸🇪 …

Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

Around 2005, the Motorola Razr V3 was the flip phone that everyone wanted to own. No wonder it is still one of the best-selling phones of all time.

The Motorola Razr 2022 cannot be quite as compact due to the modern demands on a smartphone, but it is definitely also special with its foldable display. The predecessor Razr 2019 had its difficulties but still exerted a certain fascination. Let’s see what Motorola has improved in its successor.

The casing does without the typical chin, which was already present in the first Razr models and which also made the Razr 2019 still had. The Razr 2022 is slightly lighter than its predecessor and considerably wider, so it offers more screen space overall. When folded, it is about 1.8 centimeters thick and measures about 8 x 8.5 centimeters in width and length. Thus, it is bulkier in the pocket than other smartphones, but it also fits into smaller pockets.

Motorola has fundamentally reworked the hinge, which is now completely silent, looks much more solid than in the predecessor and keeps the display stable even in a half-open state, so you can take selfies with a tripod, for example.

The frame is now made of aluminum and the casing is protected by resistant Gorilla Glass 5.

The phone comes with 256 GB of mass storage for just under 1,200 Euros, which is 300 Euros cheaper than the predecessor at release, and also offers twice as much storage. A microSD reader for memory expansion is still not available. However, it is possible to insert 2 SIM cards if the phone is purchased from a retailer.

Motorola Razr 2019 Motorola Razr 2022 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 5G Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 DIN A6 {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_316335’).checked=false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_332580’).forEach(element=> {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_332580’).checked=false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_331676’).forEach(element=> {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_331676’).checked=false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_332543’).forEach(element=> {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_332543’).checked=false;return false;” title=”hide all”>❌

Today’s standards WiFi 6E and 5G are finally on board in the Razr 2022; the predecessor was already outdated for a high-end phone when it was released. However, very fast Internet is now available via Wi-Fi, as we can confirm after our test with the reference router Asus ROG Rapture AXE11000. However, the data rates fluctuate quite a bit during transmission.

Numerous 5G and 4G frequencies are supported, so you can easily access the mobile Internet worldwide with Motorola’s Razr 2022.

The manufacturer installs very pure Android 12 without ad apps. At the time of testing, the security patches are from December 2022 and are still quite up-to-date. Motorola promises security patches until October 2025 and at least an upgrade to Android 13. Great: you can check the status of further updates on the Motorola website at any time.

The Motorola phone’s large touchscreen can be operated very accurately and quickly thanks to good gliding properties and up to 144 Hz frame rate. Even the crease that the main display gets when it is folded is only minimally noticeable after several days of use and is not annoying. The operation of the outer screen is a bit slower due to the lower frame rate. This is probably also due to the direct comparison with the fast main screen. Nevertheless, it can be operated reliably and can be used as a full-fledged secondary display.

Unlocking is possible via Face Unlock, which works both when the phone is closed and opened. The fingerprint sensor can also be used for biometric user recognition. It is hidden on the right side of the case in the standby button, so unlocking is also possible in a closed state. The phone is unlocked very reliably and without delay.

Image Comparison

Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.

Main cameraMain cameraLow LightWide-angle

* … smaller is better

Display Response Times

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

Measurement series with fixed zoom level and different brightness settings

The Razr 2022 finally gets a real high-end SoC, namely the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. This puts the performance of the clamshell phone on par with other high-end phones in the price range. The predecessor, which only had a good mid-range SoC, is far behind in the benchmarks.

With up to 45.3 °C under high load, Motorola’s Razr 2022 can get very warm, especially in the area around the cameras, and the heating is more evident on the touchscreen than outside. We also see significant performance losses of up to 50% under prolonged load in the 3DMark stress test.

The Razr 2022 comes with stereo speakers, but they are not that loud due to the limited space, quickly seem overpowered, and overall only sound mediocre for a high-end phone. Headphones can be connected via USB-C or Bluetooth. A large number of codecs are available for the latter, including LDHC and aptX TWS+.

The battery is considerably larger than the predecessor’s 3,500 mAh. However, runtime fans will not be satisfied because 9:25 hours in our WLAN test are significantly better than the predecessor but overall rather mediocre for a smartphone. You should get through the day with a low load, but there are hardly any reserves.

The phone charges with up to 30 watts, but it takes less than 2 hours to fully recharge the small battery.

(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 35.8 °C / 96 F, compared to the average of 32.7 °C / 91 F for the devices in the class Smartphone.
(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 45.3 °C / 114 F, compared to the average of 35 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 52.9 °C for the class Smartphone.
(±) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 43.7 °C / 111 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 22.8 °C / 73 F, compared to the device average of 32.7 °C / 91 F.

(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (81.9 dB)
Bass 100 – 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass – on average 20% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (12.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 – 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids – only 2.9% away from median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (9.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 – 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs – on average 6.8% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (8.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 – 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (18.7% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 15% of all tested devices in this class were better, 10% similar, 76% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 23%, worst was 65%
Compared to all devices tested
» 42% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 50% worse
» The best had a delta of 3%, average was 20%, worst was 65%

Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (84 dB)
Bass 100 – 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass – on average 24.3% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (11.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 – 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids – only 3.5% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (4.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 – 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs – only 4.6% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (3.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 – 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (17.6% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 8% of all tested devices in this class were better, 6% similar, 85% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 23%, worst was 65%
Compared to all devices tested
» 35% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 58% worse
» The best had a delta of 3%, average was 20%, worst was 65%