Motorola Razr 50/razr (2024) review

Android 14, augmented by Hello UI

The Motorola Razr 50 runs Android 14 with Hello UI on top - Motorola's latest name for its in-house customization layer. The update policy promises up to 3 OS updates and 4 years of security fixes, which isn't exactly class-leading, but it's perfectly adequate, we reckon.

Motorola's software is a nice blend of a relatively plain Android look with just the right amount of added customizations. The font sets the Motos apart from your Pixels in the otherwise same general UI bits, while the extra features live in the usual Moto app hub. This was recently restyled with things now more neatly organized - for example, the categories that have a lot of entries, like Gestures, now fit everything on a single page, no scrolling required.

Homescreen • Moto app

Smart Connect is the combined name for the features that involve connecting the phone to a PC, tablet, or standalone displays, whether over a cable connection or wirelessly. Streaming, mobile desktop, phone to PC, smart sharing, smart clipboard, cross control and more - all features are here under one roof.

Smart Connect

Cover screen functionality has always been one of the areas where Razrs dominate over the competition, though the previous vanilla model didn't have a whole lot to offer on its tiny screen. The Razr 50 does bring the full set of capabilities, now that it has a proper display outside.

You get a fully functional quick settings panel and notifications tiles, as well as a large number of apps. Google Maps and Gmail аре now joined by Google Photos, letting you share and edit photos without unflipping the phone.

Another new addition is the Google Gemini app, accessible right there on the cover display - AI everywhere.

Smart Connect

Benchmarks

The Razr 50 Ultra is powered by a somewhat unusual choice of chipset - the Mediatek Dimensity 7300X. Found in one way or another in the CMF Phone 1, a couple of Oppos, and possibly in the upcoming Motorola Edge 50 Neo, it's not something you'd expect to see in a high-profile global foldable, where Snapdragons tend to rule.

Made on a 4nm process, the chipset features an octa-core CPU without a prime core - a more classic arrangement of 4x2.5 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55. The GPU is Mali-G615 MC2.

When it comes to RAM and storage, the Razr 50 is available in 8GB/256GB (our review unit) or 12GB/512GB configurations. The US-bound counterpart, razr 2024, only comes in an 8GB/256GB spec.

In our benchmarks, the Razr 50 was towards the bottom of the foldable pack, with Galaxy Flips outperforming it considerably in all tests. The Razr 50 Ultra is also noticeably more powerful than its sibling. The vanilla 50's results are in line with those we got from the Edge 50 Fusion, the least expensive current Moto outside of the G series.

We've discontinued GFXBench graphics benchmarking as the app is often banned/blacklisted on the phones we receive for review. The graphics performance ranking in 3D Mark is just as meaningful, so we suggest you refer to that one instead.

Performance stability under continued load was relatively good on the Razr 50 in our testing. During the 20-minute 3D Mark Wild Life stress there was essentially no drop in the measured result. In the CPU throttling test, there was a bit more fluctuation, but the behavior wasn't too erratic and the phone maintained an average of 86% of its peak performance and only dropped to a 73% minimum. In a way, stability is to be expected from such (essentially midrange) chips that don't quite push the boundaries of performance to begin with.

CPU Throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test