Motorola Razr Ultra hands-on: Heavy on the AI

With a new year comes a new set of Razr smartphones, but this year, Motorola is shaking up its release schedule with a third, more powerful handset, the Razr Ultra. Now, there are three foldable handsets: the Motorola Razr 2025, the Razr+ and the Razr Ultra.

While I’m never against various options, with the Razr Ultra, the Plus model seems a little less necessary, especially since it’s only a minor iterative update compared to last year’s model. Motorola Canada also might have this same mindset, as the Plus variant isn’t coming to the North, and we’re only getting the Ultra and the base models.

And unlike we’ve seen before from Motorola, the Razr family is going all-in on AI with Gemini, Perplexity, and even Llama open source integration, along with various Moto AI functionalities ranging in usefulness.

I went hands-on with the devices but focused mainly on the Razr Ultra. That being said, at first glance, the devices aren’t too different from one another or their predecessors, and I’d have to put the Razr Ultra through its paces before really experiencing the differences.

Bigger battery, but only slightly heavier

First, let’s talk about the handset’s appearance. Comparing the Razr Ultra with 2024’s Razr+, you’re getting a slightly heavier device weighing 199g compared to last year’s 189g. The size difference is negligible, but I was surprised when I noticed it almost immediately. The slightly heavier weight is likely due to the bigger 4,700mAh battery compared to the 4,000mAh power cell and the stronger hinge mechanism.

Speaking of hinges, the Razr Ultra’s are titanium reinforced. Motorola says it’s four times stronger than surgical-grade stainless steel and is designed to withstand 35 per cent more folds than the previous generation. The Razr Ultra has a satisfying lock when unfolding the device. It feels sturdier, which is often a fear when people are looking to purchase a foldable smartphone. I like it a lot, and it feels better than its predecessor. The handset is also IP48 water and dust resistant for protection against dust. It’s a bit disappointing that the handset isn’t IP68 like Samsung’s Flip series. We’ll have to put it through its paces to see whether the Razr can stand up against everyday wear and tear.

The handset also has a slightly larger 7-inch display, which Motorola achieved by making the bezels 20 per cent thinner. Still, the difference is negligible compared to last year’s device, and I couldn’t tell the difference side by side. The display offers a 1,224 x 2,912 pixel resolution, adaptive refresh rate up to 165Hz, a touch sampling rate of up to 300Hz, 4,500 nits peak brightness and Dolby Vision. When folded, you’re greeted by a 4-inch pOLED HDR10+ panel with up to a 165Hz refresh rate, 165Hz touch sampling rate, and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits.

There isn’t much difference between the external displays of the Razr Ultra, Razr+, or even last year’s model, but Motorola says there are more widget options and you can have even more pages than last year.

Probably the best new aspects of the external display are Moto AI-related, but more on that later.

The Razr Ultra comes in Pantone Scarab, Pantone Mountain Trail, Pantone Cabaret and Pantone Rio Red, so in essence, a wood-like brown, a pleather green that kind of feels furry, a red-ish pink and a deep red. The base Razr comes in Pantone Gibraltar Sea, Pantone Spring Bud, Pantone Lightest Sky and Pantone Parfait Pink (a very beautiful blue, green, white and pink).

Back to the Razr Ultra, this handset comes in 512GB or 1TB storage variants with 16GB of RAM, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Android 16, a 4,700mAh battery, 65W charging, and 30W wireless charging.

There’s also a 50-megapixel primary shooter with f/1.8 aperture, a 50-megapixel ultrawide with f/2.0 aperture and 122-degree field of view, and a 50-megapixel selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture. The device lacks a telephoto, but it still has 2x optical zoom. I played around with the camera briefly; the images looked all right, but more testing must be done before I can say anything definitive. Last year, I thought I’d be happy to see the Razr+ adopt a telephoto camera instead of an ultrawide, but honestly, I was mistaken. If I’m going to have one or the other, I’d rather have an ultrawide over a 2x optical zoom, any day. And thankfully, the Razr Ultra has them both.

Moto AIncredible

Moving on from the hardware, as I mentioned earlier, Motorola is focusing on AI with Moto AI, Perplexity AI, and Google’s Gemini integrated into the handset. Moto AI offers functionalities like ‘Catch Me Up,’ ‘Pay Attention,’ and ‘Remember This,’ three features launched last year, alongside new ones like ‘Next Move,’ ‘Image Studio,’ and ‘Playlist Studio.’

But first, I want to highlight ‘Look and Talk;’ this is probably the most useful AI feature. This feature, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite, allows users to look at their phone and activate Moto AI. It’ll use Google Gemini to answer questions like a regular assistant. It works when your internal display is inactive, and you’re using your external screen in tent mode, when the device is closed or half opened at a 90-degree angle.

I saw a demo of this, and it seemed to work well. We were in a very crowded demo space, so it took a moment for the always-sensing camera to recognize its owner’s face, but once it did, the voice assistant was activated. He talked to the device — and surprisingly, it heard him above the crowd. I definitely could see myself propping my device on my desk at a 90-degree angle and just looking over to activate the assistant while I’m working to ask a question quickly. Because Qualcomm powers it, it might hit other devices as well, but no other smartphones in North America have this feature. Interestingly, the Google Nest Hub has a similar feature called Look and Talk, and I wonder if it’s the same technology.

There’s also a hand gesture feature that lets you wave at the device to activate Moto AI, but then you must tap on the display to specify which feature you want to use.

‘Pay Attention’ helps users stay present and focused in meetings or conversations. Users need to press record, and Moto AI will do the rest. It transcribes and summarizes quick reviews. ‘Catch me up’ keeps users updated by offering a tailored summary of your most important messages. You can use ‘Remember This’ to store relevant information, and it works in the background, interacting with other apps like texts, e-mails, and more.

‘Next Move’ looks at your screen and gives contextual results based on what’s there, so if you’re looking at a party invite, you might add it to your calendar. The Moto AI key on the Razr Ultra quickly activates these features. You can also set up a floating icon if you lack the key, like on the base Razr or the Razr+. Image Studio lets you draw something and AI can make it look a whole lot better. A friend of mine drew the worst imaginable R2D2, and Image Studio was able to identify it as the lovely robot and come up with AI-based images of it. And Playlist Studio lets you create a music playlist by simply telling the AI how you’re feeling. It then generates this playlist with Amazon Music. Currently, the feature is only available with Amazon Music.

Perplexity AI is an AI-powered engine that provides real-time answers to any question. You say ‘ask Perplexity’ to get AI-powered answers immediately. However, you can use Gemini and Gemini Live to ask a question by default. I think it’s strange to have both Perplexity AI and Gemini pre-installed in the device. I don’t see myself moving away from Gemini, but during my full review, I plan to play around with both to see which I prefer and which is more useful.

Pre-order and launch dates

All in all, Motorola has seemingly made a pretty solid device. It looks and feels good, and while I can’t imagine myself using all of the AI features like Playlist Studio, Look and Talk and Remember, there might be some functionalities I use daily. And I’m incredibly happy to see the return of the ultrawide camera and that the phone has an even larger battery than last year’s. In a few weeks, I’ll put this phone through its paces and offer my unfiltered opinion about this handset.

The Motorola Razr Ultra will be available for pre-order on the company’s website on May 7 and will be released on June 3. The base Motorola Razr will also be available for pre-order on May 7 and will launch at retailers on May 15. Canadian pricing is still unavailable.