My favourite Razr Extremely (2025) chara...

I’ve all the time thought clamshell foldable smartphones are cool (there’s simply one thing satisfying about snapping them shut), nevertheless it’s by no means felt like their design has a very helpful objective. Certain, it is nice that they fold up and develop into smaller, making them simpler to slip right into a pocket in comparison with a normal smartphone. I’ve additionally loved leaving Motorola’s Razr Ultra (2025) open to observe YouTube movies whereas doing the dishes, and although I am not a selfie particular person, the front-facing digital camera is able to snapping some actually cool, very handy pictures of myself.

Past that, the Razr Extremely (2025) options strong build-quality, a superb array of top-tier cameras, a foldable show crease I can barely see and really feel, and a sturdy titanium hinge, making it an plain blast to snap the cellphone shut. This yr, Motorola’s flagship additionally comes outfitted with Qualcomm’s highly effective Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, giving it loads of energy. I’ve even discovered its outer show to be helpful for rapidly checking notifications (extra on this later) and taking part in one specific pre-installed sport (Marble Mayhem is improbable and feels prefer it was designed for the Razr).

Nonetheless, not like book-style foldables just like the Galaxy Z Fold 7, clamshell foldables do not provide an even bigger, tablet-like display screen once they’re open. In actual fact, they’ll usually really feel downright awkward when unfolded, given their tall dimension and weighty higher half. With this in thoughts, over the previous few weeks I’ve spent with the Razr Extremely (2025), I’ve tried to discover a technique to match the foldable’s distinctive design into my life.

In practically each method, Motorola’s newest flagship clamshell is an absolute unit throughout the board, however my favourite characteristic has truly shocked me.

Model

Motorola

SoC

Snapdragon 8 Elite

Show

7-inch foldable OLED (165Hz, 2992 x 1224 pixel decision), 4-inch exterior (165Hz, 1272 x 1080 pixel decision)

RAM

16GB

The Motorola Razr Extremely (2025) is a strong all-around clamshell foldable because of its sturdy design, Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, and expansive cowl show. 

It is doubles as a flexible, very costly desktop clock

This retains me plugged into notifications, with out diving too deeply into the cellphone

Together with being my major cellphone, I have been utilizing the Razr Extremely (2025) as a desk-side clock and notification machine. You are able to do this by opening the Razr Extremely (2025) and putting it in a triangle place or by opening it and pointing its inside display screen in the direction of you (I favor the tent angle). The setting to show this characteristic on is beneath Settings > Exterior Show and both Sleep Show or Desk Show. It might sound a bit foolish, however I’ve grown to actually respect this characteristic over the previous few weeks.

After I’m at my desk, the surprisingly expansive 3.6-inch 90Hz display screen is in its blacked-out, always-on mode the place it shows the present time and an array of notification symbols throughout the underside (how the time seems may be personalized in enjoyable methods, too). After I need to use the quilt display screen to verify a notification, I simply faucet the show to mild it up with the brilliant inexperienced background I set, and I am robotically logged in because of the magic facial recognition.

At one level, I assumed possibly the quilt display screen can be good for testing the climate, however so far as I can inform, I am unable to get it to vary to Celsius from Fahrenheit. 

I can then faucet on notifications and rapidly scroll by way of them. If I see one which I want to answer, I press on it and open the cellphone. This enables me to simply maintain tabs on my rising mountain of notifications with out getting distracted by the siren name of scrolling Instagram or TikTok as a result of I am not truly opening the Razr Extremely (2025) and utilizing its inside display screen.

I’ve additionally began checking my every day schedule with the surprisingly helpful Google Calendar Panel that is accessible by swiping proper after unlocking the cellphone. This has given me a targeted technique to maintain tabs on what conferences I’ve arising all through the day.

I am trying ahead to determining if different cowl display screen Panels and apps work for me

I have not discovered any extra but, although

Rapidly glancing on the Razr Extremely (2025)’s show has develop into my go-to technique to keep on high of notifications.

The expertise is not excellent, although. Typically facial recognition does not work, and I am pressured to place in my PIN, which may get irritating, particularly in case you’re attempting simply rapidly to verify a notification. I’ve additionally discovered that opening apps on the quilt display screen that are not official panels is usually a cumbersome, irritating course of that does not really feel value it.

For instance, Gmail and Google Maps really feel cramped, and I rapidly discovered myself opening the Razr Extremely (2025) to make use of the apps on the inside show.

It is like a really costly sandwich.

Nonetheless, it has been enjoyable to mess around with the foldable smartphone’s cowl display screen, and I am trying ahead to uncovering extra methods to make it work for me.

This system was supplied to Pocket-lint by Motorola.