Oppo’s Enco lineup of true wireless earphones has been a relatively quiet success for the company, and has received largely positive feedback from the community, including myself. While the premium Enco X2 headset is among the best that you can guy for around Rs. 10,000 or so, the Enco Air series is a bit more of a hit-or-miss situation. While the regular ‘Air’ variants haven’t quite matched up to the hype, the ‘Pro’ headsets have generally been good picks when it comes to features and performance for the price.

Following up on the somewhat ordinary Oppo Enco Air 3 (which was launched in early 2023) is the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro. The successor to the Enco Air 2 Pro is considerably more expensive at Rs. 4,999, but promises big improvements in the specifications sheet and performance to make up for the increase in pricing, including advanced Bluetooth codec support and bamboo-fibre diaphragms for the drivers. Is this enough to help the Enco Air 3 Pro retain Oppo’s perceptional leadership of the budget true wireless segment in India? Find out in this review.

The case of the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro has a USB Type-C port for charging

Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro design and features

We don’t often see massive design changes in generational updates when it comes to true wireless earphones, and that’s indeed the case with the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro. Apart from minor changes, the Enco Air 3 Pro largely resembles the Enco Air 2 Pro to the point where it’s hard to tell the two apart. The newer earphones are available in a new green colour option which isn’t available on the Enco Air 2 Pro, though.

The earpieces of the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro have a stem design with rounded out sides all around, and distinct ‘L’ and ‘R’ indicators cut into the earpieces for easy visibility. Unlike the basic Enco Air earphones which have an outer-ear fit and no ANC, the Enco Air ‘Pro’ lineup features a proper in-canal fit, which allows for effective active noise cancellation. The earphones are light and comfortable, and come with a charging cable and three pairs of silicone ear tips of different sizes in the box.

As before the controls are touch sensitive, with lightly indicated areas near the top of each earpiece stem. It’s less than ideal, because the small size of the touch area makes it easy to make mistakes. You can set various gestures to control various functions of playback, noise cancellation, voice assistant, and volume, with different gestures capable of being mapped to different functions.

It’s a reasonably detailed set with plenty of room for customisation, but given the propensity for touch miscues, you might want to keep it a bit simple and deactivate certain gestures such as single-tap entirely. While I’m not entirely against touch controls, the zone definitely needs to be bigger than what’s on the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro earphones.

Oppo Enco Air 2 Pro True Wireless Earphones Review

The Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro earphones are IP55 rated for dust and water resistance, so you’ll be able to use them for workouts safely, and even in somewhat wet conditions such as light rain. The charging case of the headset has the Oppo logo at the front, an indicator light just below the logo, the USB Type-C port for charging at the bottom, and no pairing button.

You can put the headset into pairing mode with a long-touch gesture on both earpieces at the same time. Additional features on the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro include support for Google Fast Pair, app-based features such as Oppo Alive Audio (virtualised Spatial surround sound) and Golden Sound (customised frequency compensation based on the specific hearing of each user).

Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro app and specifications

The Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro expectedly features app and feature customisation support, but how it appears and is accessed depends on the device you’re using. If you’re on a supported OnePlus or Oppo smartphone, you’ll see the ‘app’ appearing in the Bluetooth settings of the phone, making for easy access that visually matches the user interface completely. If you’re using other devices, the HeyMelody app offers access to the full feature set on both iOS and Android.

oppo enco air 3 pro review app Oppo

On some OnePlus and Oppo smartphones, app features for the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro appear within the Bluetooth settings menu

Within the app and settings, it’s possible to access various features and customisation options such as equaliser presets, ANC levels and personalisation, enable multi-point connectivity for up to two devices, locate the earbuds with a loud noise, and conduct a fit test. You can also go through the process and enable or disable Oppo Alive Audio (spatial surround sound virtualisation) and Golden Sound (tailored sound profile based on your specific hearing characteristics).

Best Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) Headphones and Earphones in India

Multi-point connectivity worked well on an iPhone and Android device simultaneously. Bluetooth codec selection maxed out on both devices and pleasantly allowed LDAC support on the Android smartphone, unlike on many other similar headsets which limit the codec to AAC when connecting two devices simultaneously. Connectivity was stable on the whole even with this enabled.

Notably, the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro uses a bamboo fibre diaphragm for the drivers, unlike the typically metal diaphragms used on most earphones. The headset has 12.4mm dynamic drivers, a frequency response range of 20-40,000Hz, and a sensitivity rating of 107dB. For connectivity, the earphones use Bluetooth 5.3, with support for the SBC, AAC, and LDAC Bluetooth codecs.

Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro performance and battery life

While Oppo’s budget lineup has typically been device agnostic in terms of performance, the Enco Air 3 Pro takes a big step in setting itself up as made for certain devices. Support for the LDAC Bluetooth codec is fairly wide across Android devices, and this ensures a considerably different sound quality experience when using the earphones with an Android smartphone. Although the sound isn’t bad with the AAC codec (on iOS), there’s an audible difference here.

Understanding Bluetooth Codecs on Wireless Headphones and Earphones

The Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro’s bamboo fibre drivers are touted as a major factor in improving the sound quality on the earphones, but I didn’t really perceive this as being the reason for the improvement in performance. Sound quality with the AAC codec and software enhancements switched off seemed largely on par with what I’ve heard on similarly-priced true wireless headsets.

The Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro has bamboo fibre diaphragms for the drivers, along with support for the LDAC Bluetooth codec

Instead, it all comes down to the software implementations, in my opinion; LDAC Bluetooth codec support and the Golden Sound customised profile seemed to make a more notable difference in improving the sound quality, as compared to the competition. Indeed, there aren’t too many options with LDAC support at under Rs. 5,000, so the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro stands out in this regard.

Oppo Enco Air 3 True Wireless Earphones Review

Coming to the sound quality and performance itself, the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro uses its software tricks and codec support to deliver a reasonably balanced and detailed sound that is admittedly rare in the budget space for true wireless earphones. Competing products typically use a reasonable level of tuning alone to make a compelling pitch (heavy bass and the like), making Oppo’s approach a bit more unique.

The detail levels come as a result of the obviously superior bandwidth handling capabilities of the advanced Bluetooth codec, combined with a rather good soundstage that provides a decent amount of spatial virtualisation. Listening to Dua Lipa’s Dance the Night with the LDAC Bluetooth codec in operation, the sound felt spacious and enjoyable, never pushing too hard even at high volumes. Instead, the sound was encouraging, almost as if it was getting me to try and pick out the elements.

The Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro is IP55 rated for dust and water resistance

This cheerful disco-inspired track from Barbie sounded neither too aggressive, nor to forward, instead striking the right balance between drive and comfort. The lows didn’t hit too hard, but this was only a good thing in a segment that is dominated by earphones that come with typically punchy and attacking bass.

Much of this detail is helped along by the Golden Sound enhancement, which conducts a listening test to tailor the sound for specific hearing characteristics of the wearer. Once completed, the sound changes a bit with the profile enabled; it sounded a fair bit more luxurious and open-feeling when enabled, and I usually kept it on after that.

Switching up to the slower but more hard-hitting Am I Dreaming by Metro Boomin’ from the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack, the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro was able to adapt and deliver a bit more rumble when needed. However, it also highlighted the very audible U-shaped sonic signature, with the mid-range considerably lower in response than the lows and highs.

Speaking of the highs, the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro seems to push these frequencies a bit too much. I didn’t tend to notice it much at low volumes, but the sharpness was a bit tiresome at high volume levels. This largely depends on what you’re listening to — Dance the Night revealed this, while Am I Dreaming didn’t quite sound as harsh because of the track’s nature.

Active noise cancellation on the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro is fairly basic, and suitable primarily for indoor use to cancel out basic household sounds and make listening just a bit easier. It’s helped along by reasonably effective noise isolation through the in-canal fit, and customisable ANC modes also help in optimising the performance for specific settings. I found the mild mode to be the most balanced and effective indoors; the other modes didn’t particularly help in noisy outdoor scenarios.

Call quality is decent indoors and satisfactory outdoors, but I didn’t find the voice and microphone quality good enough to want to use the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro for very long calls or online meetings.

Battery life is acceptable enough for a headset in this price segment; I got around 4 hours of listening on the earpieces and a little over three charges from the case, when using ANC and the LDAC Bluetooth codec, with the volume at around the 50-60 percent level. This translated to a total run time of around 17-18 hours of listening per charge cycle — not exceptional, but not too bad either.

Verdict

Oppo is among the best in the budget true wireless segment right now, and the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro largely lives up to the reputation created by the brand’s wide range of affordable TWS products. That said, at Rs. 4,999, it’s a fair bit more expensive than earlier products in this segment, and only just about classifies as a budget product based on reasonable definitions and price segmentation. The performance and features on offer do justify the pricing, so it’s worth a recommendation.

While you do get a fair bit more on the Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro than what competing products offer for the price, I wouldn’t go as far as to call it revolutionary or exceptional. Nonetheless, it’s easily my pick for the best pair of true wireless earphones for Rs. 5,000, although I’d be more inclined to suggest options such as the Oppo Enco Air 2 Pro and OnePlus Nord Buds 2, which offer a bit more bang for your buck.

The post Oppo Enco Air 3 Pro Review: Same, but Different (In the Right Ways) appeared first on Review Products.

Dell’s Inspiron range of laptops has long been a popular choice for many buyers thanks to its approachable pricing and features. The company’s new 16-inch series of Inspiron laptops aims to deliver a more premium experience for productivity and entertainment. We have with us today the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 laptop which boasts of a taller 16:10 aspect ratio display, four speakers, and the ability to unfold into a tablet. Dell is pitching it as an entertainment and productivity solution, so let’s see if it achieves that goal.

Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 price in India

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 starts at Rs. 1,00,990 in India for the base variant, which has an Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a full-HD resolution display. The other configuration is priced at Rs. 1,40,990 and this gets you an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce MX550 GPU, and a 4K resolution OLED display.

The metal body of the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 looks and feels premium

Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 design

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 has a minimalistic design and looks slick in the Platinum Silver colour. The back of the metal lid is plain with just a Dell logo etched on the surface. It is a heavy laptop, weighing a little over 2kg, and it takes up a lot of space on a desk or in a backpack. Even so, Dell has managed to keep the thickness under 20mm so it doesn’t feel like you’re carrying a thick slab of metal in the hand.

The sides of the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 are very angular but have soft edges so nothing really digs into your skin when using it. The base of the laptop has ports on either side, and these include a full-sized SD card slot, two USB 3.2 (Gen1) Type-A ports, a headphone jack, HDMI 1.4 (up to 1080p 60Hz output), and two Thunderbolt 4.0 ports.

The palm rest area is large and spacious and the same goes for the trackpad. Despite the size of this laptop, you don’t get a full keyboard layout, but the keys are spaced well and the backlighting is easily visible through the grey keycaps.You get two large speaker vents on either side of the keys, similar to Apple’s MacBook Pros. The power button also houses a fingerprint sensor, and the higher-end variant comes with an infrared camera for Windows Hello authentication.

You get a decent number of ports on the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1

The 16-inch display looks massive up-close and is taller than the usual 16:9 aspect ratio. It supports touch input, and has a 60Hz refresh rate and a full-HD (1920×1200) resolution. The display is rated to deliver up to 300 nits of brightness, which seems more than adequate for home use. The display bezels on the left and right are thin but the top and bottom are slightly thicker. There’s a 1080p webcam above the display with a physical privacy shutter. The bottom of the display has a fabric layer which covers the two front-firing speakers.

The base variant of the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 which was sent for this review ships with only a 65W power adapter and some documentation. You’ll need to buy Dell’s stylus separately if you wish to use it with this laptop.

Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 specifications and software

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 comes with Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs and this base variant has an Intel Core i5-1335U processor with 10 CPU cores. There’s 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. The laptop also features a 6-cell, 86WHr battery, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth.

The laptop ships with Windows 11 Home and comes with some of Dell’s own apps preinstalled such as SupportAssist and MyDell. You also get a full license for Microsoft Office Home and Student 2021 and a 15-month subscription to McAfee Antivirus.

Tent mode is convenient if you need to watch content and save some desk space

Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 performance and battery life

The performance of the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 during this review was very good. The large vents on the bottom and between the two hinges ensure there’s good airflow in and out of the system. The laptop ran silently and cool with most casual tasks, and I only heard the fans when performing intensive tasks such as running benchmarks and gaming. Since this is a convertible laptop, you can use it in a variety of positions. Tent mode is something I used often when watching video content and if I wanted to save some desk space. The only issue I faced was volume control, which required using the touchscreen since there aren’t any physical buttons on any side of this laptop.

Video looks great on the large display, however reflections can sometimes be an issue. The speakers sound very good and produce clean highs and decent bass, although I felt that the maximum volume could have been better. This variant of the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 isn’t really designed for gaming since it only has onboard graphics, but you can still play casual games from the Microsoft Store. Webcam quality is decent but the picture gets grainy in low light.

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 posted strong benchmark scores relative to its configuration. Cinebench R20 returned 631 and 3,056 points in its single- and multi-core tests. PCMark 10 returned 4,915 points, while 3DMark Time Spy managed 1,351 points. Results from real-world tests were good too. It took just 56 seconds to encode a 1.3GB AVI file to H.265 MKV, while the BMW test scene in Blender took 7 minutes, 4 seconds to render.

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 runs cool for the most part thanks to good airflow

Battery life of the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 was pretty stellar. The laptop conforms to the Intel Evo platform, which guarantees a certain level of performance and all-day battery life. The laptop ran just shy of four hours in the Battery Eater Pro test, which is a solid number and well above average. This translates to very good real-world battery life too, and I was generally able to average a good eight to nine hours of usage, while taking a few short breaks in between.

Verdict

The Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 is a well-built and good performing convertible laptop which also delivers great battery life. It’s a little too expensive, but it’s a convertible and has a touchscreen display, so if you don’t really need these features then you should look at the standard Inspiron 16. Other 16-inch laptops with a similar configuration are also generally less expensive. I feel that at this price and configuration, Dell should have bundled a stylus along with the laptop. There aren’t many other negative points for the Inspiron 16 2-in-1, other than the fact that it’s a little cumbersome to carry around and perhaps physical volume buttons on the side would have been convenient when using it in other modes.

The post Dell Inspiron 16 | 2 in 1 Review: Keeping It Classy appeared first on Review Products.

Change can be good or bad, and while Motorola as a company has seen its fair share of change, the Razr series of phones which was first released in 2004, has also evolved quite a bit. Fans of the original RAZR V3, which mainly includes millennials (including myself), might find the not-so “edgy” design of the latest Razr 40 Ultra iconic but it still is a very important step in the evolution of the foldable smartphone. I’ve been using Motorola’s top-end and most premium smartphone in India for about two weeks and here’s why I think it is a game changer.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra price in India

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is priced at Rs 89,999 in India and it comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The phone is available in two finishes – Viva Magenta and Infinite Black. I received the Infinite Black unit for review. In the box, Motorola offers a 33W charger, transparent TPU hard case and a Type-A to Type-C USB cable for charging.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra design

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra has a rounded overall appearance which looks thin whether it’s folded (15.1mm) or open (6.99mm). I like that both halves of this foldable sit flat against one another with no gap between them. This also adds to its overall slim appearance when folded, compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, which is a lot thicker.

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra uses Gorilla Glass Victus for its front and rear panels

Motorola has also done a good job with the phone’s two rear-facing cameras which almost sit flush with the cover display’s glass surface. This cover display itself is something to behold, and like the rear panel it is also made of Gorilla Glass Victus. Firstly, Motorola has done a fantastic job of embedding the two cameras into it with near perfect cutouts around each camera and the separate LED flash. Secondly, there’s the 3D curved-edge glass screen which wraps around the top edges of the metal frame, giving the Razr 40 Ultra a very polished and premium appearance.

What’s interesting about this edge-to-edge cover display is that it also gives one half of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra a customisable skin or finish, and all you need to do is change the wallpaper to change how it looks. Indeed, Motorola missed out on an LTPO panel on the front display as having a wallpaper constantly on (like on an iPhone 14 Pro), would have permanently changed the look of the top half of the device. While the display does support an always-on feature, it is only enabled  for a few seconds when you move the phone, before returning to its mirror-black appearance.

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s hinge does not open to 180-degrees

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s rear panel has a matte finish which is very slippery. Thankfully, the frame and hinge have a glossy finish which makes this device a bit easier to grip. Most of the time, I just wasn’t confident enough to operate the phone with one hand simply because it was too slippery to hold. Opening it with one hand is a very risky manoeuvre, but it is possible to do it by first spacing out the top half from the bottom half and then flicking the top half out with a twisting gesture. It almost seems like this phone was meant to be operated this way, which brought back some long lost Razr V3 memories.

If you are okay with a bright colour, I would recommend going for the Viva Magenta finish as it gets a faux-leather textured back, which should make the phone easier to hold and operate.

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s fingerprint reader is embedded into its power button, on the right side

Motorola’s Razr 40 Ultra gets a IP52 rating which is one of the only foldables to offer dust protection, but water protection is rather basic. To recall, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4 comes with an IPX8 rating, which is better when it comes to surviving splashes of water but has no protection against dust. Oppo’s Find N2 Flip on the other hand offers neither, officially anyway.

The new water-drop hinge used in the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra lessens the crease on the inner folding display, but it does not fold flat, so the phone always has this slightly concave appearance when open.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra specifications and software

In terms of core specifications, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra seems to be the obvious choice even when compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, which until now offered the best specifications for foldable devices in this segment. The Razr 40 Ultra comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC which may seem a bit dated today, but still packs in enough power for gaming and daily app usage.

There’s 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, with no room for expandable memory. The additional storage over the Galaxy Z Flip 4’s base model with 128GB of storage (which retails at the same price), does make the Razr more attractive in terms of storage space. Oppo also offers 256GB of storage at the same price point with its Find N2 Flip, but with a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor.

Communication standards include Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and support for several 5G bands. The phone has a single physical nano-SIM card slot, but also offers a secondary e-SIM functionality. Both SIMs can be used in dual-standby mode. There’s a USB 2.0 Type-C port at the bottom. The phone is powered by a 3,800mAh battery which can be charged using the 30W charger that comes in the box.

The Razr 40 Ultra’s Retro mode will remind users of the old Razr V3

We always liked Motorola’s approach to software, which has a near-stock Android appearance. With the Razr 40 Ultra, Motorola takes this experience to new heights with the addition of a second cover display.

The software is based on Android 13, and comes with a ton of customisation options which lets you choose from different built-in fonts, wallpapers and matching themes. Even the icons can be themed like on a Pixel smartphone. There’s minimal bloatware which mainly includes the Family Space, Moto, Moto Secure and the Moto Notifications apps.

Most foldables treat both inner and outer displays separately with customisations for the outer display usually hidden in the Settings app. Motorola does things differently and I like how I can change or customise the elements of the external display directly from that display itself, or from the inner display too. I also like how fluidly the outer display works, which is something both Samsung and Oppo’s current clamshell foldables fall short on.

It’s also possible to play regular casual games on the cover display in fullscreen

This external display on the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra also reminds me of a Nintendo Gameboy Advance or a Playdate when playing games. Motorola has included a bunch of preinstalled mini games which are very addictive and entertaining, and have been designed to take advantage of the external display. It’s also possible to play regular casual games such as Subway Surfers on it without any problems.

Unlike any other vertical folding smartphone available in India, Motorola’s MyUX lets users view notifications and even run full apps on the external display. There are even per-app settings when transitioning from the external display to the internal one or vice versa, which is downright impressive and works beautifully with a majority of third-party apps that I used.

Instagram running in full-screen mode (left) on the external display versus default view (right) which avoids the cameras

While the two floating cameras in the cover display do give the Razr 40 Ultra a futuristic look, they do get in the way of apps. To avoid this Motorola lets the user choose whether they want to view any app in fullscreen or the default view which cuts out the two cameras leaving behind a rectangular display (like on the previous Razr 2022) for apps. While this is still a minimal view, it is impressive as to how much work I could get done on it, because these are indeed full-blown apps running on the cover display.

However, there are restrictions when using note-taking apps like Evernote or the like, where you simply cannot select text from a note on the external display, because the keyboard pops up, blocking your view and selection.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra performance

When it comes to benchmarks, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra performs as expected for a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-powered device. The phone scored 9,76,130 points in AnTuTu and 1,826 and 4,703 points in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests, respectively.

Gaming performance was surprisingly good for a foldable device. The phone does get warm after five minutes of playing Call of Duty: Mobile at ‘Very High’ graphics and framerates (with all settings enabled), but I did not notice any drop in performance while gaming.

The only app that really managed to heat up the device was the camera. Using the camera app for just five minutes was enough to get this device uncomfortably hot. What makes things worse is that once the device reaches this peak temperature, performance of the camera app takes a hit, with sluggish behaviour when capturing images and stutters in video recordings that would otherwise (under the right conditions), record smoothly.

The dual speaker setup sounded quite immersive, both when gaming and watching movies. I did find the left speaker slightly louder than the right one (when held horizontally).

The main display on the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is a pOLED panel with a full-HD+ resolution and offers a 165Hz maximum refresh rate and a 360Hz touch sampling rate. The 22:9 aspect ratio main display measuring 6.9 inches diagonally and feels sufficiently broad (when held vertically) for viewing content and reading text. It is sufficiently bright outdoors but the colours seem a bit jarring at the default ‘Saturated’ colour setting. I preferred the ‘Natural’ setting as it was closer to accurate. The new hinge also makes the display crease barely noticeable.

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s main inner display is sharp and vibrant

One detail I did notice is that the display frequently drops to 1Hz which is good for battery life, but seemed to be capped at 120Hz most of the time. The only instance when you can force the display to 165Hz is in games, using Motorola’s Gametime tools. Motorola claims that the main display supports HDR content but this was only supported in the YouTube app as Netflix did not recognise the same.

In terms of durability, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s folding display does not feel as tough as Samsung’s ultra-thin glass on the Galaxy Z Flip 4, but is still better than the Find N2 Flip which was quite delicate. In my two weeks of usage which also included plenty of gaming, I only managed to get one minor dent on the Razr 40 Ultra’s display, which was barely visible.

The external display has a 1:1 aspect ratio, measures 3.6 inches diagonally, and has an impressive resolution of 1,066 x 1,056 pixels with a crispy 413ppi that is the same as the internal display. It offers a 144Hz refresh rate which dynamically changes depending on the content being viewed. In my experience, it generally refreshes between 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz, and only touches 120Hz when playing high-end games like Call of Duty: Mobile. While the reflective nature of the outer display makes it slightly duller than the internal one, it still gets sufficiently bright outdoors.

Call of Duty: Mobile works just fine on the cover display. Switching between both displays is also possible when gaming

Battery life is impressively good for a phone that is this slim. Given how useful the outer display is, I also ended up opening the phone less frequently. The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra lasted 18 hours and 27 minutes in our video loop test with the display’s refresh rate set to High. With casual use, the phone can easily last a whole day and a bit more. I often ended a day with around 25-30 percent left even after 45 minutes of intense gaming, which seemed to be the only major source of battery drain (after the camera) which did not seem optimised enough.

You also have to remember that this phone (with its adaptive battery optimisation) needs a break-in period of about three days before it can start delivering the above mentioned figures. The external display can also be a lifesaver in situations when you are low on battery as it takes up less power and you can get almost everything done on it.

Charging the device is also sufficiently fast with the phone managing a 50 percent charge in 30 minutes, and completing the charge in an hour and nine minutes. While wireless charging is available, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra only charges up at 5W making the charging process quite slow compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 4’s 15W charging capability.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra cameras

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra has two rear-facing cameras embedded into its cover display. This includes a 12-megapixel primary camera with OIS and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide which has a 108-degree field of view (FOV) and can also capture macro photos. Selfies are handled by a 32-megapixel camera which is embedded into the inner folding display. Both the front and rear camera systems are capable of capturing video at 4K 60fps.

The dual displays enable a couple of tricks for the camera app. The rear cameras, when folded, can also be used for capturing selfies. These can be captured in a squarish 1:1 ratio or the usual 4:3 ratio as well. Next up, the cover display can also be used as a viewfinder, and lastly, the external display can also be propped up in tent mode to capture selfies or selfie videos, hands-free.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra daylight camera samples

In daylight, images from the primary camera have good details, but with slightly limited dynamic range. This is visible in the shadows and when you point the camera towards the direction of the light. Still, the camera’s HDR system handles darker areas better than the brighter areas, which often get clipped in odd lighting situations. Overall, the images have a slightly contrasted look. Colours are also saturated, but some may prefer this. I also noticed minor purple fringing in brighter scenes.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra low-light camera samples

In low light, photos look surprisingly good using Night mode. I preferred using it compared to the primary camera’s Auto mode as it delivered better dynamic range and managed to maintain sharpness despite longer exposure times. In street-lit scenes dynamic range is excellent, while finer details with grass and other foliage seems to be on the lower side. Colours too are quite good when compared to the Auto mode photos. However, dimly-lit scenes show visible noise in the darker areas.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra ultra-wide-angle camera samples

The ultra-wide angle camera does a fine job of capturing photos in daylight. These appear sufficiently sharp and with good colours and dynamic range. In fact the ultra-wide camera is a lot more consistent when it comes to colours, shot-to-shot, compared to the primary camera. Lens barrel distortion is under control as well. Details are also quite good. However, in low light, details take a hit and the camera struggles to focus even in street-lit situations leading to softer or out-of-focus images at times. Tapping the screen to lock focus before shooting results in better images.

The ultra-wide-angle camera also doubles up as a macro camera. It captures some really impressive photos with good colour and dynamic range and gets you really close to the action.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra selfie camera samples

Selfies come out looking sharp, clear and are well exposed with accurate edge-detection. However, the results are the exact opposite when shooting at night, with mostly flat textures that resemble an painting. I preferred using the primary camera for shooting selfies as the results were obviously better in all types of lighting conditions.

Shooting videos at 4K 30fps is the sweet spot with good details and stabilisation. However, the auto-exposure adjustment is a bit of a problem so it appears as though the video is flickering. Shooting at 4K 60fps made the videos appear a bit contrasted with less detail. The framerate was also not stable and kept fluctuating while shooting. The Razr 40 Ultra is also capable of recording HDR10+ video at 4K 30fps, but these aren’t stabilised and come out quite choppy among other problems.

Recording video in low light was not a good experience. 4K 30fps footage came out dark, contrasted and noisy. The stabilisation was not good either and there was also the same exposure-related problems I spotted when capturing daylight footage. 4K 60fps footage looked even darker and nosier, but showed a steadier framerate.

Verdict

Motorola has a real winner in its hands with the Razr 40 Ultra. It attempts to innovate in a market segment that is loaded with cutting-edge technology and manages to pull it off without any noticeable gimmicks. Its cover display is by far the best we have currently, although that could quickly change. The fluid display and software optimisation also makes this cover display one of the most practical user experiences of its segment. It has a capable set of cameras and also offers a macro mode.

Of course, the Razr 40 Ultra is not without flaws. The heating issue when using the camera app is the primary one. But at Rs. 89,999, it is still hard to find a foldable which is oozing with so many features, and looks slick while pulling it all off. The new flagship Razr should appeal to a lot of premium Android users who are looking for something new and refreshing in a smartphone.

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