OK, the Razr showed up this morning. Spent all morning setting it up and playing around with and… I don’t like it.
I didn’t really think that I’d end up replacing my Pixel 7 Pro with it, but I was curious to see if the updated outer screen on these types of devices would be enough to maybe make me want to keep it until the Pixel 8.
I will post some pics of the device later but a few early thoughts as to why I’m not crazy on the phone. Remember these are my thoughts, and my gripes may not be someone else’s.
- Haptics. Weak and barely there. It’s funny because swiping back from either side of the phone gives a really nice haptic buzz, so it isn’t the vibration motor they’ve used as the swipe back feels great. Just needs dialling up on the keyboard presses but there’s no option to increase it.
- Camera. Camera is not so bad from what I have seen. But photos of my dog are a little soft vs the Pixel and I have already noticed some overblown highlights where there is light peaking into the scene. Also, it doesn’t feel like it captures instantly as per Pixel / iPhone, which is always an issue and this is in very bright conditions. I dread to think what it will be like indoors at night time but will try it out later and post samples.
- Display. The inner display is nice, but out of the box the colours looked too over saturated for me (very Samsung), so I went straight into settings to change it. The only option I had was ‘Saturated’ or ‘Natural‘. I chose natural, as I generally do with my Android phones and it looked terrible. It was as if all the colour had been sucked out or the display was faulty haha, so I switched back to Saturated but it is far too neon. I don’t like either option and the more I use the phone the more it bugs me.
- The phone doesn’t appear to flip open flat, or rather, the lid doesn’t go all the way back when open. So it looks bent when you‘re looking at it. Not as big an issue immediately until I picked my Pixel 7 Pro up for a min and used it then went back to the Razr. But very odd and now I can’t unsee it.
- Having used a Pixel 7 Pro for so long now, I kinda like the fatness of it haha. It’s a wide boy, and this Razr is tall and slim so I am making lots of mistakes on the keyboard. Not a huge issue, as I’d get used to it, but I think I prefer the wider ratio now. It’s also a bit better for watching content.
Some things I do like:
+ The outer display really is as cool as it looks. So usable, extremely customisable (in a good way) and you really can use it and get a lot done without having to open the phone up. This is definitely the future for these type of devices.
+ Phone comes with a clear case (snap on in 2 parts as per the Samsung Flip phones) - and also with a charging plug in the box! That was a nice surprise.
+ Motorola’s ‘skin’ is very stock but with some really nice additions. Such as being able to change the icon shape for apps, the fonts etc, and also set ‘themes’ which you can swap between. Each theme allows you to customise your phones appearance, from wallpaper, to icon shape, to the Material You colour, to the sounds, dark / light mode etc. Really nice and the kind of thing stock Android does miss IMO.
Those are some very early impressions. I think I will definitely be returning it, as the things which are negative points to me as pretty big ones that will frustrate me. If anything, I think using a different Android device after so long has also made me realise how much I love my 7 Pro.
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