The new Motorola Razr and Galaxy Fold are both foldable smartphones that is they have one large uninterrupted screen that bends in half but when you compare them side by side they are actually very different. Let’s deep dive and compare these two Android foldable smartphones; the 2020 Motorola Razr and Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and we shall put as score on who we subjectively thinks steals the crown in each category.
The foldable screens
The most obvious thing is the way these phones fold. The Motorola Razr folds vertically from top to bottom which creates a short crease in the middle and the Galaxy Fold opens and closes like a book which creates a bigger crease going from top to bottom.
The shape of these phones also changes how you use them. You’ve got a tall narrow 6.2 inch screen on the Motorola Razr, which you will use to scroll and you will have to turn the phone into landscape mode when you watch videos, play games or look at photos otherwise your images in portrait mode will look too small.
On the Galaxy Fold however, it’s much more square so you can watch the videos in either mode. You also get a larger interior screen at 7.3 inches. However, the Galaxy Fold has this really weird notch that sticks out like a sore thumb, so it will kind of get in your way if you wanted a purely symmetrical phone. On the Motorola Razr the bezels are much more even all around it so even if you have actually less screen area to work with in some way it should feel like you have more usable screen
WINNER: Galaxy Fold
External display
The external screens are different too, you’ve got a 2.7 inch on the Motorola Razr that you can access when that phone snaps shut and on the Galaxy Fold you have a 4.6 inch screen that is also fully touch. One difference though is that you can open up any single Android app on the outside of the Galaxy Fold — when you open up the phone itself that app triggers and opens up on the interior display and that’s not so with the Motorola Razr. On the Motorola Razr, you have a shortcut to certain apps for example messages or Gmail when you are responding to alerts but you are not going to sit there and type on the screen it is just too small to do that and you can’t open up every single app.
WINNER: Galaxy Fold
Portability
The whole point of having a foldable phone is to double or even triple your screen real estate while creating a device that is small enough to fit within your pocket. So the real question is how easy is it to carry around with you?
The Motorola Razr is kind of like a chucky rectatange but its not as oblong or narrow as the Galaxy Fold . The Motorola Razr can fit in pockets with ease and for most people will be easy to carry around with them. The Galaxy Fold on the other hand closes up into this tall narrow phone shape and depending on the size of your pockets will look a bit ridiculous or attract a phone snatchers’ attention easily. For women who use a purse, this is much easier to carry around. But, the point of the Galaxy Fold isn’t to be portable necessarily– rather to give you a big screen that you can get immersed into. So it just depends on what you want.
WINNER: Motorola Razr
Design & Durability
When you are looking at both phones closed you will notice that the Galaxy Fold has an air gap that means the two sides that fold together don’t seat flash one on top of the other, but the Motorola Razr does and that’s because the Motorola Razr is using proprietary hinge system that helps keep the two ends of the phone laying flash.
Now both screens are made from plastic and this material just doesn’t bend. Motorola created an interior pocket that makes this look like a normal phone and less of a beta product and this gives the Motorola Razr an edge. Even before it went on sale officially you might recall that that Galaxy Fold was a little bit in trouble with it’s screen as there were some issues that caused a major delay while Samsung redesigned the phone. It was just too easy to cause damage to it.
This brings up questions whether the durability of the Motorola Razr ‘s display will be. There is a difference Motorola says– between the two devices. Since 2011, Motorola has been working on Shutter shield which is a technology that creates this hard coat over the delicate plastic display underneath. So Motorola is claiming their glass is stronger but this is something that we shall have to test and will be interesting to see how that pans out.
WINNER: Motorola Razr
The Camera system
We all care about cameras that come with smartphones and as I always say, the best camera is always the one you have in your pocket. This is one of the biggest differences between the two phones.
Motorola Razr camera
The Motorola Razr looks positively scamped compared to Galaxy Fold‘s cameras. You basically have two cameras on the Razr. You’ve got the main 16 megapixel camera on the outside of the phone this is what you will use for selfies and also to take picture of literally everything else. There is also a 5 megapixel camera on the inside of the phone but you are not supposed to use that for taking selfies but rather for video calls or even for starting a video call in an app and then closing the device and continuing the video call on the higher quality 16 MP on the outside. Other than than you’ve got a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor– but that’s not something you are going to use to take pictures with it is basically there to assist with low-light photography. So in essence there is really one main camera there is neither a telephoto lens nor a wide angle camera lens.
Galaxy Fold Camera
Moving over to the Galaxy Fold, there are 6 cameras there and may be that’s over-kill but what it means is that there is a camera lens available to snap a shot no matter how you are holding the phone. You can take selfies when its open or closed and there are three lenses on the back just like on the Galaxy Note 10 phones and the Galaxy S10.
It’s got a telephoto, wide-angle and we’ve come to appreciate both of these lenses on Samsung, Apple, Huawei and other phone manufacturers who have them.
Of course the main camera quality is what is really important but when you use wide-angle camera you will surely miss it if it weren’t on a phone like the Motorola Razr.
WINNER: Galaxy Fold
Battery life
Battery life is a big deal on any phone because if you are going to invest money into a product, especially if it’s a premium foldable phone, they you are going to want it to last throughout the day.
Both the Motorola Razr and Galaxy Fold have split batteries which means they are two batteries one on either side of the folding hinge. This helps balance the phone when you are folding it so that side isn’t heavier than the other. However, this means the battery capacity isn’t as efficient, so you have a phone with just one big battery, that generally going to last you longer than a phone with the same capacity split into two smaller cells.
The Galaxy Fold already have the advantage here with 75% more battery than the Motorola Razr. Of course you have to take most of the other things into consideration like the size of the screen that is going to be drawing down all of the battery reserves and also how fast the processor is. The Galaxy Fold has both a larger battery and a faster processor so it will use those reserves at a faster rate.
The Motorola Razr has a comparatively smaller screen but it also has a more mid-range processor that is going to be more battery efficient and using less power. Motorola promises that the Razr will give you a full day of battery life but always it is going to depend on what you are doing. If you are streaming video, navigating in google maps all day or gaming then you will see battery levels drop faster. But basing on battery size capacity alone the Galaxy fold has an advantage here.
WINNER: Galaxy Fold
Water resistance
The Motorola Razr is rated as splash proof as it has a nano coating on the outside and the inside of the device so you can take it outside in the rain and not even worry about it at all we advice not to purposely drop it into a bucket of water or swim with it. The Galaxy Fold comes with a full list of care instructions so long that one would be afraid to go outside when it’s drizzling.
WINNER: Motorola Razr
Other small features
Look and Feel
Of the two devices the Galaxy Fold is one that is more premium feeling. It is covered with all that glass on the back as opposed to plastic on the back of the Motorola Razr and that screams luxury.
Internal Storage & Connectivity
You also have double the internal storage and RAM and you have got the ability to wirelessly charge another device on the back of the Galaxy Fold . In some countries it even supports 5G but the Motorola Razr is 4G only for most people thats not going to be a problem. But, if you really want to be on the cutting edge then you might want to have that option.
WINNER: Galaxy Fold
Price
This determines a deal or no deal for these two devices. At UGX 7.4m ($1,980) for the Galaxy Fold , that is insane and this positions it as phone that most people are not going to buy unless they want to be on the absolute cutting edge and show off to everyone that they have this very unique device. UGX 7.4m ($1,980) makes the Motorola Razr ‘s UGX 5.5m ($1,500) price tag seem almost palatable and almost reasonable.
WINNER: Motorola Razr
At this point let’s actually take a step back and compare this UGX 5.5m ($1,500) foldable flip-phone with a UGX 3.7m ($1,000) premium device and remember not too long ago $1,000 was bananas for a phone. Who would pay that much for a phone? Well, when you look at the two together, let’s say the iPhone 11 Pro or Samsung Galaxy Note 10, you’ve got way more storage, way more cameras, way more RAM, and pretty much every other spec on that device compared to the simple one camera phone. So you have to ask yourself, are you really willing to pay $1,500 for fewer specs and the ability to fold your phone. Maybe that is not totally fair because we are comparing the Galaxy fold to the Motorola Razr and that question that comes down to; portability or big screen plus all of the extras.
