Motorola - razr 2023 128GB (Unlocked) - Sage Green

This review is not for the Razr 2023 I just bought but for the Razr 2023 I put through the washing machine. I bought the phone about a year ago and it worked great. Then I left it in a pocket and put it in a washing machine. After I took the clothes out I saw the phone in the washing machine with the external display showing me the time. Everything worked but the camera was blurry because there were drops of water between the camera lens and the flat glass protecting them. I removed the SIM card and placed the phone in a sandwich bag with some crackers. Two days later the water by the camera was still there. I bought a new phone because I wanted the camera function. After leaving the phone in the sandwich bag for a total of four days the camera and phone are back to 100% functionality and I now have a spare phone. The exterior of the phone still looks new but the external display did suffer some scratches on the corner of the display

I got tired of the instability of my previous phone. So when this RAZR went on sale I picked one up. Materials: the phone has a unique feel to it. The surface on the back sort of feels like a textured dash board. It is an appealing effect, reminding me of how a pro camera feels. It isn't a smooth polished surface so it doesn't show any fingerprints and won't easily slip out of your hands. Couple this with the sage green finish and you definitely have a phone that feels unique and is a pleasure to handle. The screen feels good too. It is well protected when closed and seems durable. That said, extended use will heat up the top half of the screen. Camera: Motorola phones have fine cameras. This baby rocks a 64 mp sensor. It won't replace a pro camera, but is definitely above average. It has issues resolving fine detail despite the high mega pixel count. But it far surpasses my previous device, a OnePlus Nord n30 5g, which had a 104 mp sensor. That thing absolutely sucked as a camera phone. This phone shoots great photos, especially in low light. For some reason, it performs not so great in bright sunlight with loving subjects. You can definitely get rolling shutter on fast subjects. Atmospheric and scenery shots are pretty good, but if you zoom in the detail just isn't there. Hinge? Heck yeah. That hinge feels well built. A good case protects the hinge even better. It works great. It is a really wonderful thing to fold a phone in half. The smaller size won't slip out of your pocket easy as it will sit deeper. It makes it thicker too when folded. So it resists slipping out of pockets. Feels like carrying a wallet. Screen: The screen quality is outstanding. The aspect ratio feels tall, but it isn't weirdly different. I have noticed that certain apps and web pages are a bit more fun with a longer narrower screen. That said, I had to change the text size in my browser and the phone interface to 125%. I'm old so my eyes aren't the best and this solved the readability issue I initially had. Launcher: The default launcher is ...fine. Nothing amazing. I installed Wide Launcher and it looks and works great on this phone. The refresh speed makes the experience smooth for transitions and razor sharp. Color is well balanced and just a smidge warm. I like that bias better than the more common cold color temp of most phones. Final thought: for $400 you won't get any better than this. It is great and feature packed with a small external screen when folded and lots of neat tricks. The camera is better than most but not phenomenal.

Purchased to substitute for my Galaxy Flip6, while repairs were made. It seems both Samsung and Google don't offer advance replacement under warranty without cost. That said, it was adequate. I did not expect it to be as feature rich as Samsung's best, or Motorola's best. Motorola has some cool gesture activated features (flashlight) that I love. Cheers!