**The Motorola Razer: A Mid-Range Phone with a Rollable Screen**

But I mean, come on, oh whoa, whoa, whoa! Austin threw me his Z Flip 4 and oh, that's what a hint should be like. In fact, look at that! Oh, it stops anywhere you want it to. Oh, this is actual quality here.

**Value for Money**

Samsung has had the benefit of a couple of generations, even though the previous owner ate all the wear tear and depreciation on this device. Even at two hundred dollars, it's still something to keep in mind. Also, on the topic of value, let's talk about the brains of this thing - the Snapdragon 710, considering it's a mid-range processor that predates the Razer by two years. Motorola really skimped out on performance again. They charge fifteen hundred dollars for this thing at launch, and even at $200 here in 2023, it's still an unfortunate pain point compared to Samsung who released the first-gen Z Flip a few days after the Razer and included a one-year-old flagship Snapdragon chip.

**Performance**

Motorola really dropped the ball here. Now, it's not horribly slow for normal casual use, but start gaming or multitasking, and it starts to fall apart a bit. Now, if there's anything I like about the Razer compared to the competition, it's the cover display with a bigger screen. You're able to take selfies easier, have better access to media controls, and see more notifications.

**A Look at Motorola**

Considering it took a few generations for the Z Flip to catch up to this level of functionality, credit where credit's due to Motorola. This got me thinking about where the company is as a whole. At its peak, Motorola was a leading mainstream brand with plenty of premium options - a decade or so ago, but now they're not necessarily a small name, but it definitely lives in the shadow of what it once was.

**A Look at the Riser (Motorola Rollerball Proof of Concept)**

Now, under Lenovo, and claiming a decent share of the low and mid-range smartphone segment, but it's not to say they haven't tried to return to form. I'm under the impression that they get how hard it is to break into the high-end market to go up against the Samsungs and Apples of the world. Hence why they tossed a Hail Mary with the Razer early on, while this phone ended up being a flop, it was at least viable enough for Motorola to iterate year over year.

All the way to current day, with rumors of one including a body-size cover display, which would be sick. However, what gets me most excited is the concept they showed off at this year's MWC in Barcelona - so we're here at MWC at the Lenovo booth, taking a look at... what is it called? The Riser? What is it officially called? It's a concept; it's a proof of concept. This is called the Motorola Rollerball Proof of Concept.

**Concerns and Favorites**

Of course, the Riser or whatever they end up calling it is still a proof of concept so it's far from perfect. I do have some concerns with durability since the screen is actually rolling exposed under the phone and also the whole mechanism is motorized which certainly can be another point of failure. In fairness, the custom case they designed for it seemed to work to address some of these issues.

My favorite point about this phone is the form factor or form factors - the size of this thing in its most compact mode feels so good in the hands and of course having the options to go bigger when you need it is sweet. And ultimately why we like these alternate designs anyway, they've done some trick things with the software to make this surprisingly cohesive.

It'll unravel to a custom aspect ratio depending on the video you're watching and it'll slide in the opposite direction to reveal an earpiece and front-facing camera. And when the whole thing's rolled up, you can still use the rear display when it's face down.

I go as far as saying this phone feels closer to a finished product than I was expecting or at least not completely jank compared to other rollable concepts that I've seen in passing. If this is how Motorola plans to break through once again, I want to see them succeed.

**Would You Rock a Rollable Phone?**

Let me know would you rock a rollable phone? Let me know in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode of Danky Channel and I'll catch you all in the next one.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhen it comes to foldables people get antsy for a few reasons durability maybe it's the crease running across a display and of course there's the cost but what if the price is so good it makes you think let's talk about it this is the Moto Razer and in the used Market it is the cheapest folding phone you can buy at two hundred dollars but while it might not be my first choice as a daily driver at this price especially in the scheme of older flagships and solid mid-range options perhaps it's a really good secondary device or if you're looking to take the plunge on foldables overall this is a pretty low cost option to see if it's even your thing but we'll get to the nitty-gritty in just a second first a little bit of context when Motorola first announced this thing the mix of nostalgia and curiosity got me excited as someone that grew up with the iconic Moto Razer in the early 2000s I was all about the reboot I wasn't the only one after all the 2004 Razer V3 sold 120 million units around the world gotta take a breath there not only is this an impressive number but it also makes it the best selling clamshell phone ever so with folding smartphones reaching their proof of concept Arc heading into the 2020s Motorola figured it was time to continue the Legacy it's funny Austin and I were actually invited to the announcement keynote in LA and it was probably the worst event we've ever attended and welcome to ever made if you can't tell right now Diplo is playing behind me it's quite loud here it almost felt more like a party than it did a work function which didn't Inspire much confidence when it finally came time to gather our thoughts for our YouTube video on it and the overall reception of the phone wasn't favorable among reviewers long term either but now in the present day consider 200 which is way less than the 1500 it went for a few years ago along with the benefit of hindsight I've learned to appreciate it a bit more I don't know gotta ask a different Nation for that one if I had to guess the Aesthetics are likely why anyone would look toward the 2019 razor it shares the same silhouette as the OG which is to say striking we loved it back in 2004 because it was razor thin especially when opened up that's also the case here something I totally forgot about the foldable Moto razor is that you can emulate the OG come around if you go into your quick settings you can add a tile called retro razor tap on it and so what can I actually do with this messaging oh it just brings up text messaging okay that's a little it's just a glorified launcher yeah pretty much it does have a sizeable chin which is kind of Taboo in this day and age of thin bezels but personally I can give this a pass nothing against chins because I have two of them flip the phone open and you're greeted with a 6.2 inch P OLED screen by 2023 standards the picture quality and resolution is nothing to write home about but what I'm really impressed by is how Motorola minimized the screen crease while folding the phone it all has to do with its clever hinge mechanism which does two things one it increases the radius of the fold which you can actually see the screen dip in to distribute the pressure so it's not just hitting one part of the screen and two the whole screen physically shifts into the chin to further reduce strain the result is a less distinct crease that you'll only really notice if the phone's off pretty neat if I have any concerns though it would be with durability remember this phone came off the heels of the controversial first generation Galaxy fold when consumer folding phones were going through major pain points the Razer might have a gapless design which minimizes debris and dust from hitting the main display while folded up however being one of the first foldables to hit the mass Market the Razer screen is noticeably soft look past the screen and the hinge has clearly seen better days I mean literally this is a used phone but I mean come on oh whoa whoa whoa Austin threw me his Z flip four and oh that's what a hint should be like in fact look at that oh it stops anywhere you want it to oh this is actual quality here though Samsung has had the benefit of a couple of generations even though the previous owner ate all the wear tear and depreciation on this device even at two hundred dollars it's still something to keep in mind also on the topic of value let's talk about the brains of this thing the Snapdragon 710 considering it's a mid-range processor that predates the Razer by two years Motorola really skimped out on performance again they charge fifteen hundred dollars for this thing at launch and even at 200 here in 2023 it's still an unfortunate pain Point compared to Samsung who released the first gen Z flip a few days after the Razer and included a one-year-old Flagship Snapdragon chip Motorola really dropped the ball here now it's not horribly slow for normal casual use but start gaming or multitasking and it starts to fall apart a bit now if there's anything I like about the razor compared to the competition it's the cover display with a bigger screen you're able to take selfies easier have better access to Media controls and see more notifications in fact I remember Austin's old Z flip with a little tiny screen you barely do enough on that considering it took a few generations for the z-flip to catch up to this level of functionality credit where credit's due to Motorola and this got me thinking about where the company is as a whole at its peak Motorola was a leading mainstream brand with plenty of Premium options a decade or Sergo but now they're not necessarily a small name but it definitely lives in the shadow of what it once was now under Lenovo and claiming a decent share of the low and mid-range smartphone segment but it's not to say they haven't tried to return to form I'm under the impression that they get how hard it is to break into the high-end Market to go up against the Samsungs and apples of the world hence why they tossed a Hail Mary with the razor early on while this phone ended up being a flop it was at least viable enough for Motorola to iterate year over year all the way to current day with rumors of one including a body size cover display which would be sick however what gets me most excited is the concept they showed off at this year's mwc in Barcelona so we're here at mwc at the Lenovo Booth taking a look at the is it called the Riser what is it officially called is a concept it's a proof of concept this is called the Motorola rollerball proof of concept of course the Riser or rizzer whatever they end up calling it is still a proof of concept so it's far from perfect I do have some concerns with durability since the screen is actually rolling exposed under the phone and also the whole mechanism is motorized which certainly can be another point of failure In fairness the custom case they designed for it seemed to work to address some of these issues and it might even inform how they construct the chassis if they do put this to Market but really my favorite point about this phone is the form factor or form factors the size of this thing in its most compact mode feels so good in the hands and of course having the options to go bigger when you need it is sweet and ultimately why we like these alternate designs anyway they've done some trick things with the software to make this surprisingly cohesive it'll unravel to a custom aspect ratio depending on the video you're watching and it'll slide in the opposite direction to reveal an earpiece and front-facing camera and when the whole thing's rolled up you can still use the rear display when it's face down I go as far as saying this phone feels closer to a finished product than I was expecting or at least not completely Jank compared to other rollable Concepts that I've seen in passing if this is how Motorola plans to break through once again I want to see them succeed but let me know would you rock a rollable phone let me know in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode of danky Channel and I'll catch you all in the next one White I like nature herewhen it comes to foldables people get antsy for a few reasons durability maybe it's the crease running across a display and of course there's the cost but what if the price is so good it makes you think let's talk about it this is the Moto Razer and in the used Market it is the cheapest folding phone you can buy at two hundred dollars but while it might not be my first choice as a daily driver at this price especially in the scheme of older flagships and solid mid-range options perhaps it's a really good secondary device or if you're looking to take the plunge on foldables overall this is a pretty low cost option to see if it's even your thing but we'll get to the nitty-gritty in just a second first a little bit of context when Motorola first announced this thing the mix of nostalgia and curiosity got me excited as someone that grew up with the iconic Moto Razer in the early 2000s I was all about the reboot I wasn't the only one after all the 2004 Razer V3 sold 120 million units around the world gotta take a breath there not only is this an impressive number but it also makes it the best selling clamshell phone ever so with folding smartphones reaching their proof of concept Arc heading into the 2020s Motorola figured it was time to continue the Legacy it's funny Austin and I were actually invited to the announcement keynote in LA and it was probably the worst event we've ever attended and welcome to ever made if you can't tell right now Diplo is playing behind me it's quite loud here it almost felt more like a party than it did a work function which didn't Inspire much confidence when it finally came time to gather our thoughts for our YouTube video on it and the overall reception of the phone wasn't favorable among reviewers long term either but now in the present day consider 200 which is way less than the 1500 it went for a few years ago along with the benefit of hindsight I've learned to appreciate it a bit more I don't know gotta ask a different Nation for that one if I had to guess the Aesthetics are likely why anyone would look toward the 2019 razor it shares the same silhouette as the OG which is to say striking we loved it back in 2004 because it was razor thin especially when opened up that's also the case here something I totally forgot about the foldable Moto razor is that you can emulate the OG come around if you go into your quick settings you can add a tile called retro razor tap on it and so what can I actually do with this messaging oh it just brings up text messaging okay that's a little it's just a glorified launcher yeah pretty much it does have a sizeable chin which is kind of Taboo in this day and age of thin bezels but personally I can give this a pass nothing against chins because I have two of them flip the phone open and you're greeted with a 6.2 inch P OLED screen by 2023 standards the picture quality and resolution is nothing to write home about but what I'm really impressed by is how Motorola minimized the screen crease while folding the phone it all has to do with its clever hinge mechanism which does two things one it increases the radius of the fold which you can actually see the screen dip in to distribute the pressure so it's not just hitting one part of the screen and two the whole screen physically shifts into the chin to further reduce strain the result is a less distinct crease that you'll only really notice if the phone's off pretty neat if I have any concerns though it would be with durability remember this phone came off the heels of the controversial first generation Galaxy fold when consumer folding phones were going through major pain points the Razer might have a gapless design which minimizes debris and dust from hitting the main display while folded up however being one of the first foldables to hit the mass Market the Razer screen is noticeably soft look past the screen and the hinge has clearly seen better days I mean literally this is a used phone but I mean come on oh whoa whoa whoa Austin threw me his Z flip four and oh that's what a hint should be like in fact look at that oh it stops anywhere you want it to oh this is actual quality here though Samsung has had the benefit of a couple of generations even though the previous owner ate all the wear tear and depreciation on this device even at two hundred dollars it's still something to keep in mind also on the topic of value let's talk about the brains of this thing the Snapdragon 710 considering it's a mid-range processor that predates the Razer by two years Motorola really skimped out on performance again they charge fifteen hundred dollars for this thing at launch and even at 200 here in 2023 it's still an unfortunate pain Point compared to Samsung who released the first gen Z flip a few days after the Razer and included a one-year-old Flagship Snapdragon chip Motorola really dropped the ball here now it's not horribly slow for normal casual use but start gaming or multitasking and it starts to fall apart a bit now if there's anything I like about the razor compared to the competition it's the cover display with a bigger screen you're able to take selfies easier have better access to Media controls and see more notifications in fact I remember Austin's old Z flip with a little tiny screen you barely do enough on that considering it took a few generations for the z-flip to catch up to this level of functionality credit where credit's due to Motorola and this got me thinking about where the company is as a whole at its peak Motorola was a leading mainstream brand with plenty of Premium options a decade or Sergo but now they're not necessarily a small name but it definitely lives in the shadow of what it once was now under Lenovo and claiming a decent share of the low and mid-range smartphone segment but it's not to say they haven't tried to return to form I'm under the impression that they get how hard it is to break into the high-end Market to go up against the Samsungs and apples of the world hence why they tossed a Hail Mary with the razor early on while this phone ended up being a flop it was at least viable enough for Motorola to iterate year over year all the way to current day with rumors of one including a body size cover display which would be sick however what gets me most excited is the concept they showed off at this year's mwc in Barcelona so we're here at mwc at the Lenovo Booth taking a look at the is it called the Riser what is it officially called is a concept it's a proof of concept this is called the Motorola rollerball proof of concept of course the Riser or rizzer whatever they end up calling it is still a proof of concept so it's far from perfect I do have some concerns with durability since the screen is actually rolling exposed under the phone and also the whole mechanism is motorized which certainly can be another point of failure In fairness the custom case they designed for it seemed to work to address some of these issues and it might even inform how they construct the chassis if they do put this to Market but really my favorite point about this phone is the form factor or form factors the size of this thing in its most compact mode feels so good in the hands and of course having the options to go bigger when you need it is sweet and ultimately why we like these alternate designs anyway they've done some trick things with the software to make this surprisingly cohesive it'll unravel to a custom aspect ratio depending on the video you're watching and it'll slide in the opposite direction to reveal an earpiece and front-facing camera and when the whole thing's rolled up you can still use the rear display when it's face down I go as far as saying this phone feels closer to a finished product than I was expecting or at least not completely Jank compared to other rollable Concepts that I've seen in passing if this is how Motorola plans to break through once again I want to see them succeed but let me know would you rock a rollable phone let me know in the comments below and otherwise thanks for watching this episode of danky Channel and I'll catch you all in the next one White I like nature here