I swapped Samsung for a rival flip phone – you | Tech News

Flip telephones peaked in reputation within the mid-2000s earlier than being usurped by BlackBerry and ultimately iPhone and Android units. For a whereas, the standard flip was a marker of a easier time for cell communication.

In 2025, telephones that flip are back, they usually now signify that you need a slicing-edge call maker, and you don’t thoughts forking out for the privilege. Since Samsung confirmed the world you can fold an OLED screen in half, a number of Android makers have adopted swimsuit with flippers of their own.

I’ve been testing the most recent fashionable incarnation of maybe essentially the most well-known flip of all, the Motorola Razr. The authentic was launched in 2004 and paved the best way for phone design with, for the time, its unbelievably skinny kind.

The Motorola Razr 60 Ultra bears little resemblance to its 21-12 months-outdated predecessor, however after a month of testing, I want the most recent Moto to its apparent rival within the market, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, a phone I’ve reviewed and used for a number of weeks. At £1,099 the Razr isn’t low cost, however I suppose it’s value the additional £50 over the £1,049 Galaxy. You get 512GB as normal too, more than Samsung.

The Razr has a more fascinating design, a bigger and more technically helpful outer show, great battery life, strong cameras and comparatively clean Android 15 software program. In truth, it’s solely Motorola’s underwhelming software program replace promise that holds me back from entire-heartedly recommending the Razr 60 Ultra with no reservations.

You’ll get three years of Android OS upgrades to Android 18 and 4 years of security updates from launch, which means it’s the top of the highway for this phone in 2029. Samsung gives seven years of updates on the Z Flip 6, taking you to 2031 and conceivably Android 22.

But other than this, the Razr outperforms the Galaxy in virtually each different space. It’s a enjoyable phone to make use of, and that’s very precious in 2025, when most telephones are boring gray glass slabs. My Razr review pattern got here in a attractive Rio Red, one of 4 Pantone colors you can get it in. None are uninteresting, although the wooden impact one is an acquired style. My crimson model has a fake-leather-based back, which is good and grippy.

The edges of the Razr are barely curved, which makes the phone far more snug to carry than the flat-edged Z Flip 6. Even although the phone isn’t actually bodily smaller, it looks like it’s. This helps when it’s unfolded, because the screen is taller than common slab telephones so as for it to be a roughly sq. form when folded shut.

The aforementioned pouter show is the killer function right here. Unlike the Z Flip 6, Moto lets you run any app on this combination show with no restrictions, which means you can use maps, textual content or take a photograph with out opening the phone. Even although the digital camera lenses are in the best way you can select to increase any app to fill the dinky 4-inch OLED. It’s very cute working Google Maps on this factor, and will encourage you to make use of your phone much less – scrolling on social media is hampered right here, so responding to a textual content shortly on the surface screen then placing the phone away would possibly stop you falling down a doomscroll gap.

Both this and the inside screen are amazingly high-spec with most refresh charges of 165Hz, even when they do not use that easy-scrolling tech all of the time (they adapt relying on what you’re doing and app compatibility).

The 7-inch inside show is great and will get vibrant enough to see exterior, although because it’s plastic-lined, it collects a lot of smudgy fingerprints. The crease within the center of the screen is much less pronounced than on the Z Flip 6 too, however you can nonetheless see and really feel it.

Motorola, which is owned by Chinese tech giant Lenovo, has modified its thoughts after it outfitted final 12 months’s Razr 50 Ultra with a principal and 2x telephoto digital camera. Instead, the 60 Ultra has twin lenses however a principal and extremely-large, utilizing the principle to crop to 2x. This is sensible as you now get the best of all worlds.

Despite the flexibility, this isn’t the best phone digital camera for the price. Folding telephones typically compromise on image high quality because the sensors have to be fairly small for the shape issue, and so it’s right here. But equally, solely the fussiest of phone photographers might be disenchanted by the 50MP principal sensor, which may take sharp and color correct pictures simply effective.

Images from the 50MP extremely-large are a little over-saturated, however every little thing is social-media and sharing prepared. This lens additionally doubles as a macro digital camera, and the outcomes are spectacular.

This phone isn’t concerning the cameras although, it’s about fashion and quirky options. I notably like Moto’s tent mode, the place you can prop up the phone and the outer screen will keep on as a clock or with album art work and controls if you are taking part in music. It’s all very customisable, as is the software program Motorola ships with Android 15. It’s much less cluttered than Samsung’s One UI and might keep out of your method if you need it to.

And Moto’s longstanding double-chop motion to activate the phone’s torch and double hand twist to launch the digital camera app are nonetheless excellent software program secrets and techniques.

Unlike many expensive telephones, the charger is within the box, and might high up the Razr at 68W speeds – extremely fast. The battery simply lasted me a day on this phone too, however with 4,700mAh this isn’t a two-day phone.

Unfortunately, Moto has lastly jumped on the AI bandwagon, however mercifully you can ignore most of it. Like many Android telephones, you have Google GeminiAI baked in but in addition the producer’s own AI instruments. With Moto, you should register for a Moto account to show some of these on, which is annoying however comprehensible.

Allow permission to course of your information, and the UI can summarise your notifications, which is kind of useful in a function known as ‘Update me’, however like Samsung and different phone rivals, Moto is taking very tentative first steps into this younger technology.

At its coronary heart, the Razr 60 Ultra is a little slab of enjoyable, and that’s when it’s at its best. It even has the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, the best Android processor you can get proper now. I’ve completely loved carrying round this maroon slab of flip phone, and recommend you decide for this model over the Z Flip 6 if you need a small folding phone with the proper stability of design, options, cameras and battery life. The impressed outer show is the icing on the cake.