Amateur Photographer verdict
The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra means you can have a telephoto camera on your flip phone rather than wide-angle. A few extra tweaks could have made this even better.- Telephoto camera
- Great value for money
- Great screens
- Telephoto only 2x
- Telephoto lacks OIS
The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, as a folding phone, offers a dual camera setup, as is the norm with “flip” or smaller folding phones. The other norm with dual camera phones is an ultra-wide-angle and a main wide-angle camera, however, the 50 Ultra changes this, with a main camera, and a 2x telephoto camera. No ultra-wide-angle camera to be found anywhere. But how does this premium phone perform? Find out in this review.
At a glance
- 50MP f/1.7 main camera, 24mm equivalent, AF, OIS
- 50MP f/2.0 telephoto camera, AF
- 32MP f/2.4 selfie camera (internal)
- 4K 60/30fps front/rear video recording
- 6.9inch folding (internal) screen, 3000nits, pOLED, HDR10+, 120Hz
- 4inch external screen, 2400nits, pOLED
- 4000mAh battery, wireless charging
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen3 processor, 12GB RAM/512GB storage
- IPX8 water resistant
- Dimensions 171.4 x 74 x 7.1mm (unfolded) 88.1 x 74 x 15.3mm (folded)
- 189g weight
How we test phones
We review smartphones from the perspective of choosing one for its photography and camera performance. We look at what the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra offers, and the features included for photography and video, paying particular attention to the cameras on the phone, photo editing capabilities, as well as the output from each different lens, and features offered.
Features
As mentioned, the Razr 50 Ultra features a dual-camera setup on the rear, and instead of an ultra-wide angle camera, and a normal wide angle camera, we have a wide-angle camera, and a 2x telephoto camera. The wide-angle main camera has OIS, as well as an f/1.7 aperture, and PDAF (phase-detection auto-focus).
2x telephoto camera
The telephoto camera offers a rather pedestrian 2x telephoto reach, as well as an additional 4x hybrid digital zoom camera as well. It’s a shame that it’s not a 3x or 4x telephoto camera, as the main camera could have offered the 2x zoom option (with digital/hybrid intelligent zoom).
The selfie-camera is a 32MP camera without auto-focus (AF), which gives pixel binned images at 8MP. However, this doesn’t matter too much, as you can easily use the main cameras instead thanks to the external screen.
Hardware and Design
Whether you like them or not, folding phones, whether large tablet sized models, or this smaller flip phone, are great options for those that either want a massive screen, or for those who want an ultra-small phone. The latter, such as the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, folds into a phone half the size of normal phones, all while giving you a large 6.9inch screen.
On the outside, you can use the phone as a mini-phone with the 4.0inch screen giving a convincing user experience for light use, such as browsing, YouTube, and photography using the main cameras. The display can be setup as an always-on display, if wanted.
The phone is available in a number of colours, hot pink, midnight blue, peach fuzz and spring green. The phone used in this review is the Midnight Blue model.
There’s IPX8 water resistant which is quite rare on folding phones, the outer screen is glass, and the inner screen is soft and should be protected where possible.
The power button doubles as a fingerprint sensor, and unless you know this, you’d easily miss this, as it simply looks like a power button.
A protective case is provided in the box in a (semi) matching colour, and comes with a neck strap.
As is fairly usual for folding and flip phones, the battery rating is lower than expected on a premium phone, with a 4000mAh battery included (however, this is fairly generous for a flip phone). The phone also supports wireless charging.
Inside you get a large, but tall screen, and if that’s something you’re happy with, then you should be pleased with the display, thanks to great colours and a brightness level of 3000nits.
Running the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, that keeps things nice and responsive. The amount of RAM and storage provided is generous with 12GB RAM, and 512GB storage. It’s running Android 14, and you can get all the usual apps from the Google Play store.
The camera app…
The photo app gives quick access to slow motion, video (with night vision mode features), Photo, Portrait, Pro and more photo options available in “More”. In more there are a range of options including Scan (for documents), spot colour (remember that?), night vision, panorama, ultra-res (50MP 1x or 2x available), dual capture, photo booth, tilt-shift, long exposure, timelapse, spot colour (video), and dual capture (video).
In playback you have access to Google’s Magic Editor, and once you’ve backed up your photos to the cloud, you can use this to edit the photos.
Performance and Image Quality
The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra delivers bright, saturated photos with strong blues and greens. In settings, you can switch ‘Shot optimisation’ on or off, and this automatically enhances photos with AI scene detection.
The results from the telephoto camera are good but require good light – the lack of optical image stabilisation (OIS) means you can miss shots due to camera shake. Especially in low light or when using 4x (digital) zoom.
Low-light performance from both the wide-angle camera, and the telephoto camera, is generally good. However, you do need to pay attention to the results, as the telephoto camera does not feature optical image stabilisation, so any shake is more likely to cause a blurred image.
Macro / close-ups – the camera doesn’t offer a dedicated macro mode, but you can get relatively close to your subject, for reasonable photos. If macro is your thing, then you’re going to be best served by a different phone.
For selfie’s you can use the external screen and use the main camera or the telephoto camera.
The phone gives the benefit of using the main camera(s) rather than the inner selfie camera, giving you the best possible photo quality. If you do use the selfie camera, the results are reasonably good, and not terrible, compared to some other folding phones. The telephoto camera gives pleasing looking portrait shots, and using the portrait mode you get a choice of 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm equivalents, as well as aperture/blur settings.
The only main issue I found was that if you unlocked the phone to quickly take a selfie, you would end up with a square photo rather than the normal aspect ratio used in the main photo app. This wasn’t a problem if you first opened the camera app, but was annoying, nonetheless.
Video – For video recording, out and about, the telephoto camera will be of benefit, however, for interior recording, the lack of an ultra-wide-angle camera could be an issue. Video quality recorded from the main camera is good, and the built-in speakers give a good audio experience with a nice amount of bass available.
Value for money
With a price of around £800-900, for the 12GB/512GB version, this is good value for money for a flip phone. The Samsung Galazy Z Flip6 is priced at £1049 (RRP £1149) for the 512GB version. If you look at folding phones, then prices are a whole lot more than this.
Verdict
If you’re the kind of person that prefers using a telephoto or zoom camera, rather than an ultra-wide angle camera, then the 50 Ultra could be the choice for you, particularly if you’re looking for a flip phone. If you do want the ultra-wide, then the Razr 50 (non-ultra) offers this. Photo results are good, but not up there with Google, Apple or Samsung phones.
The phone is well-made and good value for money at roughly £800-900 for the 12GB/512GB version. It’s a shame the telephoto camera is “only” 2x zoom, when the main camera could provide 2x, and the telephoto could offer 3x (or more with digital/hybrid zoom).
The small outer screen looks great, and if you’re looking for a less distracting phone, then a small half-sized phone is a great option.
