Motorola Razr 60 Ultra review

Ultrawide instead of tele for this year's Razr Ultra

Last year, the Moto Razrs had a clear distinction - a zoom camera for the Ultra, and an ultrawide for the vanilla model. This year, it's a little bit different, and the Razr 60 Ultra has to do everything all on its own. An ultrawide lens can't be emulated, but zoom action can be achieved with some digital cropping from the main camera so this might just be the better combo for a dual camera phone after all.

There have been upgrades all around though. All of the Razr 60 Ultra's cameras use 50MP sensors now - so the ultrawide isn't simply using the Razr 50's unit, but a larger, better one instead. Another 50MP imager replaces the 32MP ones of the previous generation's selfie cameras too.

The main camera, meanwhile, maintains the nominal resolution of last year's models, but it's gotten a bump in sensor size to 1/1.56" (formerly 1/1.95"). There's no telephoto this time around, though maybe the new main camera sensor can do a good enough job at 2x so that we can forget about the dedicated 2x module of the 50 Ultra and enjoy the ultrawide.

• Wide (main): 50MP Samsung ISOCELL GNJ (S5KGNJ, 1/1.56", 1.0µm - 2.0µm), f/1.8, 22mm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; 4K@60fps/8K@30fps
• Ultrawide: 50MP Sony IMX 816 (LYT-500, 1/2.93", 0.6µm-1.2µm), f/2.0, 12mm, PDAF; 4K@60fps
• Internal camera: 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JNS (likely a variation of JN1, 1/2.76", 0.64µm-1.28µm), f/2.5, 21mm, fixed focus; 4K@60fps

The cover screen interface is quite functional, giving you options to switch modes and allowing for some relevant settings to be changed. You still can't really zoom in beyond 1x though - not with pinching, not with tapping on the zoom button. That's kind of limiting if you want to do some TikTok dances or whatever from across the room.

This particular Razr is a little finicky when it comes to displaying the live preview on the cover display when the interface is on the main screen - it tries to be clever and get input from the sensors and only enables the cover preview in certain orientations and sequences of actions. We often couldn't get it to show up for the subject to see themselves - it's probably fixable with an update, as long as they see it as a problem (it could be us doing something wrong).

Other foldable related use cases are also on the menu, including a split-screen interface for waist level or overhead shooting. Also available is the nostalgia-fuelled 'camcorder' mode where you can hold the Razr half-folded mimicking a camera from the 90s.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The Razr's main camera captures very good images during the day. Its output is pretty expressive, with vibrant colors and plenty of contrast, and it's all nicely judged so all that pop doesn't go into extremes. Detail is quite good too, with a reasonably natural rendition and no noise.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Here's how a few of the scenes look when shot at the nominal 50MP resolution.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP

Pictures of people in Photo mode also leave little to complain about, giving us generally appealing skin tones. The Portrait mode shots can have some minor edge imperfections and a little too liberal with the background blur. The 24mm-equivalent Portrait mode results are as sharp on the subject as in Photo mode, while the 35mm focal length is noticeably softer.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, main camera, Portrait mode (24mm)

Daylight samples, main camera, Portrait mode (35mm)

Motorola may have opted out of a telephoto camera for the Razr 60 Ultra, but it does do a great job at 2x zoom with its main camera. It's got excellent detail levels and good rendition of random textures too, while maintaining the 1x shots' global properties.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

That high quality is maintained in photos of people too, where subjects don't really lose much in terms of detail compared to the 1x results. The default blur level in Portrait mode is still a bit much though.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, main camera, Portrait mode (50mm)

Ultrawide camera

Last year's Razr Ultra didn't have an ultrawide camera, but this year there is one, and it's a pretty solid one too. It's got good sharpness and detail - not the greatest, but not bad either. Colors and dynamic range are excellent.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)

The 50MP images aren't too hot, but the 50MP option is still there for you.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x), 50MP

Two of this camera's important characteristics have to do with the lens. For one, it's among the wider ultrawides out there, so you get extreme coverage and the possibility for cool perspectives.

The other bit is that it has autofocus and can focus very close, allowing for some macro-style shooting capabilities. The macro mode zooms in to match the field of view of the main camera and the quality isn't too bad, though you end up being so close to the subject that avoiding shadows or actually bumping into it becomes an issue. You might be better off shooting at 2x on the main camera.

Close-up samples, ultrawide camera

Selfies

One of the significant upgrades for this generation has to do with the internal camera, now a 50MP unit. It captures great looking selfies with very good detail and excellent colors and dynamic range - it almost feels wasted on a flip phone where you can take selfies with the cover cameras. The only negative here is the lack of AF, but we won't hold it against the Razr - the cover cameras take care of that.

Selfie samples, internal camera

Indeed, if you're after close-ups of your face, the cover cameras can do that for you. The main camera will also get you a moderate improvement in quality over the internal one, plus a bit more background blur. The ultrawide, meanwhile, will serve you well for adding extra context (or friends, or goofiness).

Selfie samples, main camera

Selfie samples, ultrawide camera

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

In the dark, the Razr 60 Ultra's main camera turns in an expert performance, some of the best we've seen from a clamshell. It exposes nicely, has excellent dynamic range, and does great with white balance and saturation. Detail is also very good, and is rendered in a very reasonable fashion without excessive sharpening.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

At 2x zoom, it's more of an alright showing. Better lit scenes will be sharper and less water-color-y, while darker ones (like the 3rd and 4th) will be noticeably softer. Mind you, the phone will get you great exposure and appealing colors either way - it's just that on a pixel level the results will vary.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera does a solid job too, on top of the fact that some ultrawide is always better than no ultrawide. Exposures are nice and bright and dynamic range is very good. There's a tiny bit of desaturation going on, but it's not too dramatic. Detail can be softer than ideal in darker scenes or in the shadows, but it's generally alright.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)

Video recording

The Razr 60 Ultra records video up to 4K60 with both rear cameras, and the main one can also do 8K30. The internal camera maxes out at 4K60. We didn't spot a 24fps mode anywhere for you cinematically inclined folk out there.

The default codec is h.264 but you can flip a toggle to change it to h.265. Dolby Vision capture is available too, on both rear cameras up to 4K60.

There's always-on video stabilization and there's also a horizon lock mode that works on the ultrawide at 1080p30.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

Video sample playlist

Main camera footage in 4K30 is very good, showing a wide dynamic range and vivid colors. Detail is also quite great. The 2x clips are softer, naturally - not great for critical use, but acceptable as a last resort. The ultrawide's capture is pretty solid - wide dynamic range again, nice colors, good detail.

In the dark, the main camera does well without shining. It's got good exposure and dynamic range, and colors are also on point but detail is a bit on the soft side. The 2x zoom level isn't great, and the ultrawide's footage is soft and noisy.

Stabilization is generally excellent, whether we're talking about removing walking shake or keeping a steady frame when you're standing still. We would occasionally spot some minor abruptness at the end of a pan, but more careful panning should do the trick.