Motorola Razr 2022 review

Clean Android 12 with some Moto mods on top

The Motorola Razr 2022 runs Android 12 with some of the closest looks and feel to 'stock' that you can get. There are several in-house customizations, though they don't really affect the general Pixel-like vibe, only enhance it.

There are some Razr-specific touches here and there as well that cater to the abilities of the particular form factor, but we'll get to those in a bit.

Motorola's recent flagshipshave all been promised 3 OS updates and 4 years of security patches. Here with the Razr 2022, however, you'd only be getting two OS upgrades.

Anyway, immediately noticeable is the new Quick Settings interface and notification shade, one of Android 12's more striking visual changes. That means the big bubbly buttons, of which you only get 4 on the first pull, up to 8 on the second, and the full-screen notification shade.

On to widgets, which saw an overhaul with Android 12. The widget picker offers responsive previews for differently-sized widgets. The new API supports dynamic coloring by tying into the Material You theming engine, allowing the widgets to adapt to the wallpaper.

Quick settings • Notification shade • Widgets

Another Android 12 staple, the Material You auto-theming feature, is here too, though it's masked behind a slightly customized Moto-specific theming engine. You can still get wallpaper-based accent colors, which will apply to Google apps and the settings menu.

Theming

One bit of customization available specifically for the Razr 2022 form factor is the interactive wallpapers. You can use a dedicated app to download wallpapers that are made to animate, along with opening and closing the hinge of the phone.

Interactive wallpapers

Privacy is an especially big deal on Android 12, and the Razr 2022 comes with the latest Google's come up with in the field. That includes the new Privacy dashboard, which offers a unified view of what permission is being used by which app and when. There are also the camera and microphone indicators in the top right corner of the screen for an immediate clue that you're being watched/listened to, but also the quick toggles to limit access to those altogether. There is also the option to determine whether an app gets your precise coordinates or an approximate location.

Privacy

The in-house features and functionality that the Razr 2022 offers that Google doesn't are conveniently grouped together in the Moto app. These are mostly long-standing Moto features we've seen time and time again.

The first category is personalization - that's where the OS-native autotheming has found a foster home. There is also a wide selection of Moto wallpapers in addition to Google's own, plus the option to leverage AI to create your own from the photos in your gallery.

Moto app

Then come the gestures. By now, you must have seen Moto's karate chop motion that turns on and off the flashlight and the twisting motion that launches the camera app. Both work even when the device is locked and when it is closed.

A swipe-to-split function is available, too - it triggers split-screen multitasking. You can also double-tap the power button of the phone to do a custom action.

Gestures

The display-related features are Peek Display and Attentive Display. The former works as a second-best alternative to the Always-on display feature, which is actually missing, but with some added functionality to make up for it.

The screen lights up when it detects motion that's close to the phone or when you pick it up. Once you've received some kind of notification, you can tap on it, see the message, and even interact with it from the lock screen.

Attentive Display disables the screen timeout as long as there's a face looking at the screen. Pretty useful when reading long articles, though you do probably scroll often enough for the screen not to lock anyway.

Display

Then there's the Play section. Here, you'll find the Gametime utility, which offers the usual functionality of such tools, such as call and notification blocking and screen recording. You can also set a display refresh rate on a per-game basis. Additionally, there are optional shortcuts for media playback when the screen is locked using the volume keys and a Dolby Atmos sound enhancement utility.

Play

We appreciate the fact that many of the tutorials and features found within the Moto app are specifically tailored to the Razr 2022.

Tips and tutorials for the Razr 2022

It was particularly cool to see a comprehensive list of all of the camera features available, particularly on the external display of the Razr 2022.

Using the camera on the external display

The Motorola app also goes out of its way to explain how apps work on the external display and how they transition to the main screen when the phone is opened.

Quick view display apps

Speaking of the external Quick view display, it also gets its own dedicated settings menu. This is where you can edit the panels that appear on the vertical carousel of the display. It is also worth noting that you can separately control the UI and font sizes on the main and external displays.

Quick view display settings

Per-app settings are also found in this menu. Each app needs to be specifically enabled to work on the Quick view display. You can also control the app transitioning behavior from here. By default, apps opened on the external display will transition to the main display when the Razr 2022 is unfolded. You can also selectively enable the reverse behavior on a per-app basis however you see fit.

Speaking of the Quick view display and app transitions, we can't fail to mention that the Razr 2022 can technically be used in a partially folded/unfolded state. We only really found two apps that respond to this half-opened state. The camera app tweaks the interface a bit, leaving the viewfinder on the top part of the display and all of the controls on the bottom so that the phone can be used in a sort of a "tripod" mode.

Camera app and YouTube reacting to a half-folded Razr 2022

The only other app that tweaked its interface in response to half-folding we found was YouTube.

You can actually do quite a lot on the external Quick view display. It has a lock screen of its own, a notifications and quick toggles shade, and an app drawer of sorts.

Lock screen • Notifications • Quick toggles • Quick toggles • App drawer

Apps need to be specifically enabled in order to appear inside the app drawer of the Quick view display and work on the external display.

Enabling apps to work on the Quick view display

Most apps we tried scaled surprisingly well to the weird resolution and aspect ratio. You still need to moderate your expectations about how usable their UIs will be, but it's still something you don't get with other clamshell foldables.

Apps on the Quick view display

Beyond the notification and quick toggles shade and the app drawer, the Quick view display also gets its own horizontal carousel-style launcher full of what Motorola calls different panels.

There are dedicated panels for your calendar, the weather, and contacts, and even one that launches the camera and its viewfinder and interface.

Panels on the Quick view display

Naturally, you can manage these panels in all the usual ways - add or remove each one from the carousel and rearrange them.

Managing panels on the Quick view display

Introduced in 2021, Motorola's 'ready for' platform enables a multitude of use cases that put the phone in the center of a big-screen experience. Connecting a TV or a monitor allows you to get a Windows-desktop-like environment, play a game on your phone, display it on the external screen, or even have a video chat on a larger display.

'ready for'

The connection can be made with a cable - either with the 'ready for' cable (or another USB-C MHL Alt solution) or with a USB-C-to-C cable with a compatible monitor. Alternatively, you can connect wirelessly to a Miracast-capable display.

If you don't have a mouse and/or keyboard handy, the phone's screen can be used as a trackpad and/or keyboard.

You can also use 'ready for' on a Windows-based PC - it runs within a window on your desktop. This is helpful when you want to run an Android app from your computer or multi-task between devices on just one screen.

'ready for' on a Windows PC

Another use case of 'ready for' on a Windows PC is for video calls, where you can use the phone's camera to capture yourself and an external display to see the other participants.

The final Ready For use case is for gaming on a bigger screen - be it TV or laptop/monitor. You connect an external controller and run the game on the phone, with the obvious benefit being the larger display for gameplay.

Performance and benchmarks

The Motorola Razr 2022 packs the top-dog Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. It is paired with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB of 512GB of non-expandable UFS 3.1 storage. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 has an Octa-core (1x3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510) CPU setup and a powerful Adreno 730 GPU.

Motorola clearly made no compromises when it comes to the chipset in the Razr 2022. It opted for the best possible silicon around with all of the power and additional features it brings to the table. That being said, it hardly comes as a surprise that the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 feels a bit "crammed" and restricted inside the body of the Razr 2022 with its specific form factor and limited cooling potential.

Still, thermals are not a major concern when it comes to short bursty loads, and GeekBench clearly shows that the Razr 2022 has plenty of power to throw around for these.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  4575
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  4368
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  4265
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  4081
• iQOO 9T
  4059
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  3981
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  3980
• Motorola Razr 2022
  3944
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  3913
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  3839
• Xiaomi 12T
  3756
• Poco X4 GT
  3719
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  3682
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  3505
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  3077
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  2659

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  1374
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  1360
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  1337
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  1329
• Motorola Razr 2022
  1324
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  1277
• iQOO 9T
  1276
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  1276
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  1270
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  1238
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  1171
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  1110
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  1092
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  1001
• Xiaomi 12T
  925
• Poco X4 GT
  917

The same goes for AnTuTu with its much more compound set of tests. The solid, though far from the chart-topping, performance of the Razr 2022 puts it well in line and even above some of its other foldable clamshell competitors. We just have to moderate our expectations and accept that the Razr 2022 is leaving some of the potential performance of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 on the table.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  1107464
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  1103188
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  1074722
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  1050139
• iQOO 9T
  1045901
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  1032185
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  979921
• Motorola Razr 2022
  965260
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  964530
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  940400
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  931170
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  881428
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  800001
• Xiaomi 12T
  780204
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  768513
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  762090
• Poco X4 GT
  747871

There is nothing particularly interesting about the on-screen GFXBench results. The Adreno 730 inside the Razr 2022 performs as expected. However, in a pretty odd development, the phone appears to consistently be struggling and underperforming in off-screen scenarios. Not that that matters much in practical terms.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9T
  65
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  65
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  63
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  61
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  60
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  59
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  58
• Motorola Razr 2022
  56
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  53
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  52
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  51
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  50
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  43
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  40
• Poco X4 GT
  38
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  29

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9T
  46
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  46
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  46
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  45
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  45
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  45
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  45
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  45
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  43
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  43
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  37
• Motorola Razr 2022
  35
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  32
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  31
• Poco X4 GT
  26
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  23

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9T
  67
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  66
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  64
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  63
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  62
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  62
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  58
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  56
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  55
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  46
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  44
• Motorola Razr 2022
  43
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  42
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  41
• Poco X4 GT
  38
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  29

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9T
  52
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  51
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  51
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  50
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  50
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  50
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  49
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  45
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  44
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  43
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  34
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  29
• Motorola Razr 2022
  27
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  26
• Poco X4 GT
  24

As the graphics runs get lower in intensity, it also becomes clear that the refresh rate is not locked at 60Hz for these benchmarks despite the fact that they are correctly not recognized as games by the phone. Apparently, Motorola's automatic refresh rate switching is even smarter than we originally thought, which is great to see.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9T
  87
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  79
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  79
• Motorola Razr 2022
  76
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  74
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  73
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  72
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  72
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  69
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  69
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  68
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  65
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  59
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  52
• Poco X4 GT
  46
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  40

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9T
  103
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  102
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  102
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  102
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  101
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  101
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  100
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  93
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  89
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  83
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  82
• Motorola Razr 2022
  76
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  76
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  74
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  58
• Poco X4 GT
  52

The Razr 2022 suspiciously hits 144 fps in the Manhattan 2.0 off-screen 1080p rendering test, which hints that the 144Hz cap on refresh rate is also enforced somewhere in the graphics rendering pipeline as a whole since it seems to be affecting off-screen rendering as well. Again, not something that matters in real-world terms, but an interesting observation nontheless.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  140
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  126
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  124
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  122
• iQOO 9T
  119
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  119
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  116
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  113
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  103
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  97
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  97
• Motorola Razr 2022
  93
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  93
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  93
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  70
• Poco X4 GT
  54

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9T
  182
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  180
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  179
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  178
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  178
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  174
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  164
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  137
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  134
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  121
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  114
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  108
• Poco X4 GT
  103
• Motorola Razr 2022
  98
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  98
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  96

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  161
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  149
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  131
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  129
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  121
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  120
• iQOO 9T
  120
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  120
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  119
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  118
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  117
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  116
• Motorola Razr 2022
  111
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  104
• Poco X4 GT
  65

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9T
  267
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
  266
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  264
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  263
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  262
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
  261
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
  236
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  230
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  204
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  178
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  178
• Samsung Galaxy S22
  173
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  172
• Poco X4 GT
  146
• Motorola Razr 2022
  144
• Huawei P50 Pocket
  139

Rather expectedly, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 managed to max out the scoring on the Slingshot, Slingshot Extreme and Wild Life tests inside 3D Mark, so we had to resort to Wildlife Extreme, where the Razr 2022 did surprisingly well. The test is fairly short which might explain the high score, though.

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  2815
• Motorola Razr 2022
  2788
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  2753
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  2740
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  2668
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  2611
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  2599

All things considered, we can't complain about the Razr 2022 performance. Sure, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 can't properly stretch its legs within that constraining flip shell, but even crippled, its performance is plenty, especially in practical terms. Motorola could have gone for a lower-tier chip, but that would have created an image problem for their flagship product, so it's a bit of a catch-22 situation.

Thermal throttling

Motorola has crammed a flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 inside the Razr 2022, so naturally, heat is a concern from the get-go. The phone does, indeed, get quite toasty under prolonged loads. Luckily most of the heat is concentrated under the external display right above the hinge of the phone where the chipset is, so actual in-hand comfort is not affected too much.

Still, the Razr 2022 has a lot of internal heat to deal with, and one of the ways it does so is by aggressively throttling down the performance of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset.

Thermal-throttling

Our testing revealed substantial performance losses and a very aggressive throttling curve. Both of these are understandable, given the form factor of the device. At least on a positive note, all of the dips in performance appear to be controlled and deliberate, and there are no sudden or jarring ones to worry about. Those are the ones that typically result in stutters in-game, and the Razr 2022 seems to be preemptively dialing itself back to avoid such scenarios.