Motorola’s razr series design has been iconic since the height of feature phones. Updating to the smartphone era, the motorola razr 60 is the latest to launch, landing in Australia last month.
Priced at $1,199, the Razr 60 has similar specs to last year’s razr 50 which Scott reviewed, and loved. The razr 60 has seen design improvements with a new hinge design which includes water and dust resistance and a larger battery.
The focus for the razr 60 is the introduction of moto AI, which includes new prompts Catch Me Up, Pay Attention, and Remember This which are aimed at helping you through your day.
I’ve been using the razr 60 for a couple of weeks and here’s how it went.
Hardware
Design and Display(s)
You’d be hard pressed to tell the motorola razr 50 and razr 60 apart if they were sitting on a table.
The phones have the same dimensions, though the razr 60 scoots in slightly lighter. They have the same 3.6” outer display size and camera layout, with the same button layout with volume rocker and the fingerprint enabled power button on the side, and USB-C port on the base.
The only difference is in the colour options, with motorola introducing Pantone Gibraltar Sea and Pantone Parfait Pink as part of their ongoing partnership with colour matching and design company Pantone.
I was sent the Pantone Gibraltar Sea coloured model, which has a textured rear – though you won’t feel it once you put the slim-fit case included in the box on.
I quite like the colour choices this year, and while I like the classic look of the Pantone Gibraltar Sea, I do lament not getting access to that Parfait Pink.
One of the big changes for the razr 60, is the introduction of a redesigned titanium-reinforced hinge and IP48 dust and underwater protection. The IP48 rating improves on the IPx8 rating on the razr 50, adding a ‘4’ dust rating which protects against particles larger than 1 mm, so while it’s an improvement, it’s still not quite ready to hit the beach this summer.
The phone comes out of the box laying flat, with the display uncreased and ready for the first snap shut.
Of course the crease in the foldable display is a big discussion point for foldables. I must admit it did take a little to snap the phone shut, for the first time, wanting to retain that smoothness – but shut it I did, and to be honest, you barely notice it. If you go looking for the crease, you will see it and occasionally feel it as you navigate the phone, but it’s easy to ignore.
That 6.9” inner display is the same as last year’s with a super-wider 22:9 Aspect Ratio that has a frame supporting the pOLED panel – though it’s not a wide bezel it is noticeable. The taller aspect ratio can be a little difficult to navigate trying to pull the nav bar down to access notifications, but it’s doable.
It’s an LTPO display, capable of up to 120Hz, as well as going down to 1Hz for battery saving and it’s super bright like last year’s with a 3,000 nit peak brightness, so it’s super easy to see during the day.
The exterior 3.6” display gets a 1700nit peak brightness like last year’s model, which is also easy to see during the day, so pulling it out to access notifications, or even playing games on it is super easy.
The app selection and availability on the exterior display is absolutely brilliant though – clearly the killer use for the razr series.
The exterior display lets you load any app installed on the phone as well as giving you a glanceable calendar and weather widget, as well as access quick settings, change song or podcast, triage messages and respond – though I found voice typing easier than trying to tap on the display.
Not all apps ‘work’ on the smaller display simply due to UI – but it still makes a valiant effort and it’s very easy to simply snap the phone open if you need to.
Performance
Motorola have bumped the processor on the razr 60, jumping to a Media Tek Dimensity 7400X (a jump from the 7300X on the razr50) with 8GB of RAM that can be bolstered with a RAM Boost that uses unused portions of the 256GB on-board storage as temporary memory.
Out of the box, the phone uses AI (Auto) to manage the RAM Boos, which switches un-noticed in the background. I played around with the set sizes, but found no real discernible boost from leaving the higher amounts set – so leaving it on AI Auto seems the best balance.
The phone handles fairly well, the Media Tek Dimensity processor offers a good balance for most day-to-day work, though you find it does tend to be a little slow off the mark when multi-tasking, though games and apps run fine once loaded.
I put it through its paces in 3DMark and Geekbench and here’s how it went.
Camera
The camera setup on the razr 60 is also reminiscent of the razr 50, with the same 50MP main sensor and 13MP ultrawide on the outside, and a 32MP selfie camera in a punch-hole notch on the internal display.
The camera takes some great photos during the day, and delivers some decent low-level shots.
The inclusion of the wide-angle lens gives you options for taking shots with a little more room either side, and also operates in macro mode for close-up shots.
The flip form-factor allows the razr to do a few neat tricks. You can leave it propped up on something with the cameras up to initiate selfies, as well as use a cam-corder mode for a little retro style while filming.
I did snap a few snaps with the phone shut, however I wasn’t a big fan of the camcorder option – but the flip up to take a shot? Super handy if you need a tripod.
Battery and Charging
While the design of the phone hasn’t changed, Motorola have still managed to cram in an additional 300mAh of battery life into the phone, bumping it to 4,500mAh in size.
That bump in size was enough to easily see me through a full day of mid-heavy use, including a couple of hours on a new game I’ve become obsessed with while recuperating.
Unfortunately charging wise, Motorola have only included 30W TurboPower charging as well as 15W wireless charging.
The other disappointment is there is no charger, and not even a USB-C cable in the box. You’ll need to fork out extra for a charger, though no amount of searching Motorola (or Lenovo’s) website can find the 30W charger, so the next option is their $59 68W TurboPower charger.
The Wireless charging is a nice addition, sitting nicely in the Qi charger in the car for top ups while using the Wireless Android Auto while driving.
Software
Android
The motorola razr 60 comes out of the box with Android 15 and the March 1st security update. There’s an OTA available to update the phone to May 1st, and as of August – a June Security update arrived.
On the update front, motorola have promised three years of software and four years of security updates for the razr 60 – a little under the seven years from the likes of OPPO, Samsung and Google.
Motorola – my UX
Layered over Google’s Android 15, is motorola’s my UX, their ‘skin’ as it were that adds a little extra to the Android experience.
My UX adds in gestures to access the torch, camera and take screenshots, as well as intuitive theming with wallpapers, custom colors, fonts, and icon shapes.
The biggest driver of the my UX experience is the Moto app – found pre-installed in the app folder on the homescreen alongside other utilities including Moto Notes, Smart Connect, Moto Secure and Family Space.
The Moto app is a real hub for both using, and learning about your phone. There’s tutorials and more inside, as well as fast shortcuts to access all the personalisation settings for the homescreen, apps and more.
Moto AI
Of course there’s AI. Motorola have branded their own LLM, and called it Moto AI. You get all the usual AI features – Image Generation and editing, as well as a playlist studio, however you also get three new prompts to try out, Pay Attention, Remember This and Catch Me Up.
Pay Attention is similar to the Pixel Recorder, offering an AI powered recording app that can summarise your meeting at the end.
Remember This, gives you a way to remember things – take a pic or note, label it and you can get Moto AI to remember it later – you have to label the inputs as you go which can be tedious, but works for something you want to remember.
Catch Me Up is their summary tool, and if you trust AI to summarise your work, SMS or anything else, you can fill your boots on this tool.
The AI features are there, however if you don’t invest time into bringing them into your daily life/workflow, they really don’t interfere. It’s one of those – they’re there if you want them sort of features.
Final Thoughts
The motorola razr 60 is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the razr 60 has the same design and only a relatively minor spec bump over last year. That said, the razr 50 last year was a pretty amazing bit of kit, and motorola nailed their app interactions on the smaller outer display which effectively already fills the front, so not a lot needs to change.
There are some places that could benefit from improvements, beyond their sticking with almost the same design as the razr 50. The software updates life-span can definitely see more improvement to bring them in line with other manufacturers, and a move to a more powerful processor could smooth some performance bumps.
There’s also the glaring issue that last years motorola razr 50 is priced at an exceedingly attractive $799 outright through Optus – that’s a bargain for what is essentially the same phone with a few less features.
That said, the improvements to the hinge design makes the razr 60 a better prospect if you’re looking at any dirty work with your new foldable.
If you want to check it out, you can find the razr 60, it’s now available exclusively at JB Hi-Fi,
Daniel has been talking about, learning about and using tech since he was able to toggle switches and push buttons. If it flashes, turns on or off or connects he wants to use it, talk about it and learn more about it. Like this article? Buy me a coffee!
