Motorola Razr 40 review

Design, build quality, handling

The Motorola Razr 40 is your typical flip phone of modern variety - it has a large internal foldable display covered with a thin plastic protective film, two rear panels made of vegan leather (i.e. fancy plastic), aluminum frame, and a stainless-steel teardrop hinge in the middle.

This Razr 40 measures and weighs the same as the Razr 40 Ultra, adopts the same hinge and design, and has a bunch of exterior similarities - even if the very different external display may make you miss them. The Ultra had two versions - glass and vegan leather, but even there we liked the leather design better. It just offers better grip, and while everyone will have a different opinion on which one looks better the smudge resistance will be universally appreciated.

The Motorola logo and the Razr logo are engraved in the vegan leather, enhancing the premium look. While the edge-to-edge external display of the 40 Ultra is still way cooler, we still like the seamless transition from the cameras to the external display on the regular Razr 40. And the glass is jutting out so little that it doesn't make the phone wobble or unstable (not that it will ever be sitting on this side).

Not only is the overall design great, but the Razr 40 build is simply outstanding - from the selection of materials to the precise execution - it enables excellent grip, feel and handling. The only thing we didn't like is the basic ingress protection - IP52.

Let's now have a tour around the Razr 40 and explore its noteworthy bits.

The 6.9-inch foldable AMOLED display is the true centerpiece of the Razr and it's as gorgeous as it looks on the promo materials. The display goes frame to frame with a less than 1mm bezel, with rounded corners and one tiny punch hole for the selfie camera.

There is a crease in the middle of the display, but in fully unfolded position it is not visible and we could barely feel it. In fact, we had to consciously search for it, which means Motorola did a great job here.

The screen's thin plastic bezel is still inevitable, and so is the plastic screen protector, making sure you don't scratch the relatively soft foldable panel. Motorola has put a rather large disclaimer on the phone's wrapping not to remove the protector yourself.

The earpiece is placed between the aluminum frame and the screen's plastic bezel. Its outlet is angled at about 45 degrees, which works for great earpiece experience and a loudspeaker. Indeed, the Razr 40 has a stereo speaker system with the (quieter) one being the earpiece, and the main speaker placed at the bottom of the phone.

Alongside said speaker are the USB-C port and the primary microphone, surrounded by barely visible logos and numbers.

The top of the Razr 40 has another microphone, while the left side houses the SIM tray.

The separate volume keys, as well as the power/lock button are on the right. The surface of the power key accommodates the always-on fingerprint scanner, which works swiftly and reliably.

We've already talked about the beautiful rear of the Razr 40. The top half has the large black plate housing the two cameras, a single-LED flash, the laser emitter and receiver, and the 1.5-inch external display. This black glass might be large, but it is barely jutting out and will neither make the Razr unstable, nor scratch your glass table.

The outer OLED can display several widgets, and server as a viewfinder for capturing selfies with the rear cameras. It's a far more limited functionality, than the Ultra's full-blown launcher, so you'll need to open the Motorola Razr 40 far more frequently.

The steel teardrop hinge allows the two halves of the Razr to close flat and with no gaps all round. It supports arbitrary angles, which enables some extra use cases. One possible criticism is its tightness - it is nearly impossible to open the Razr with one hand as it requires quite a lot of force to operate.

The Razr 40 is 7.4mm thin, or 15.8mm when folded, and it weighs 188 grams. It shares a lot with the Ultra, but brings an even larger battery, which is always a nice thing to have.