motorola signature and motorola razr fold - New Zealand's New Perfect Power Couple

I've been doing this for years. I've reviewed dozens and dozens of phones.

So you might think I'd get a bit blasé about it. If you've seen one phone, you've seen them all. Right?

Except...

Every now and then, I take a phone out of the box and I immediately find myself saying, "Oh yeah. That's nice. That's a really nice phone."

I mean, literally. Like, out loud. Actually saying that. Even though no-one else is in the room.

It doesn't happen often.

But the other day, it happened twice. Simultaneously.

And I never would have expected it from a motorola... let alone a pair of motorolas.

Today, motorola has launched 7 new handsets to the New Zealand market, which in itself, is pretty unprecedented. These range wildly in both price and form-factor. From the NZ$549 g37 with its enormous battery life, to the iconic clamshell foldable, the razr 70 ultra, at NZ$2,499, there's something for everyone - even for people like me who thought they'd seen it all before.

Yes, as part of this major handset shakeup, there are two completely new models and these are the ones that took my breath away.

But not before I got a good whiff of them. I'd completely forgotten motorola likes to imbue its premium handsets with an enticing scent that permeates through the box and the packaging, creating a unique "new phone smell" that ensured my unboxing of the razr fold and motorola signature was always going to be a feast for all five of my senses. (Did I taste them? Maybe. What if I did?)

I'll start with the razr fold, because this is the one I thought I knew most about. For those of us who are aware motorola still actually makes phones, decades after the world-sweeping success of the original razr, we were well aware they'd immediately jumped on board the foldable wave to try and recreate a bit of clamshell mania.

But few of us had anticipated the introduction of a book-style folding handset as well. This form-factor has quickly become both an indispensable productivity tool for busy power-users on the go, as well as a bit of a corporate flex, when owners unfold the phones in front of their colleagues to make a note on their presentation or just to check their calendar.

Against the odds, on its first attempt, motorola's longways foldable has managed to tick all the boxes most other brands have taken several generations to perfect; durable, sturdy hinge mechanism, excellent internal screen-to-body ratio, long battery life, flagship-quality external display, stylus compatibility... the razr fold has pretty much nailed it all on debut.

To a very discerning eye, the crease on the main, internal display is admittedly still a little more prominent than those on a few of the other similar-style phones I've trialled lately, but so far, that's honestly the only place the motorola has fallen ever-so-slightly short.

And in one other area, it surges into first place. Which is why it carries the DXOMARK Gold Award for its primary camera array. Since the very first foldable screen, I've been somewhat bemused to see people handing over thousands for a phone with a just-alright camera.

Apparently motorola thought that was weird too, so they've put their best camera on their most expensive phone. Kind of... what's the word?... logical?

What remains to be seen is how many Kiwis are prepared to hand over NZ$3,499 for a phone from a brand a lot of people still think stopped making phones some time before the turn of the century.

The good news is, you can get that same camera on another phone that costs a lot less.

The motorola signature is my favourite phone ever. And it became my favourite phone about half a second after I picked it up for the first time. I've never come across a handset that looks or feels as good as this.

And that's before I even turned it on.

My review unit is Martini Olive. If that's not the coolest name for a phone colour, I don't know what is. What's more, it's actually a cool colour; a luxurious shade of green that tends more towards gold, which looks incredible on the glimmering aluminium side rails and matching camera module surround. 

The rear panel is described as "twill-inspired" - a sumptuously tactile matte finish that's easy to grip and allays any fear of a cracked glass back so many of us have had to have repaired in the past. (The alternate Carbon option is more of linen look and feel, apparently)

And wow, is this thing thin. A mere 6.99mm and just 186grams.

Best of all, motorola has utterly eschewed the recent trend in flagship phone design; the dreaded camera module bump. Somewhere along the way we all agreed it was okay for the best phones with the best cameras to have a massive slab of glass and metal whacked on the back, just to hold the lenses. These unwieldy eyesores have only grown bigger as cameras have become more powerful, in some cases doubling the thickness of the phone and throwing the balance out completely.

I happen to hate sharp corners and I absolutely love curves. Both the razr fold and the signature still have camera modules, but the rear panels swoop up to the edges seamlessly. Comparing this design to other high-end phones is a bit like comparing a Corvette Stingray to a container ship.

Other than their wonderful curves, the signature and razr fold have a lot else in common - starting with their primary camera arrays consisting of 50MP wide, 50MP ultra-wide and 50MP periscope telephoto sensors. This means very consistent and accurate colour and contrast, no matter the focal length, from 0.5x through 1x and 3x optical, right out to 100x Super Zoom Pro.

You can shoot strikingly detailed video in 8K, enhanced by remarkable intelligent stabilisation.

This is the kind of camera that never leaves you asking, "I wish I could..." ...because you probably can.

The selfie camera situation gets complicated because the razr fold has two of them - well, three if you count the primary camera, of course. In fact, there's an onscreen shortcut to do just that when you open its camera app. So you have a choice; the 20MP front-facing cam on the outer screen, the 32MP inside, or you can go full 50MP with the main shooter because, why wouldn't you?

Not to be outdone, the single selfie-camera on the signature is 50MP too, and it shoots video in 4K. So that's pretty crazy.

Both the fold and signature draw on 12GB of RAM and the superior power of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip to perform any task instantly, or indeed simultaneously with other tasks, smoothly and flawlessly.

Whether you're using Moto AI, Gemini, Perplexity or Co-Pilot to create, edit, search or streamline your workflow, neither handset misses a beat. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate the motorola OS, Hello UI? It's about the most stripped-back version of Android 16 you'll find on a phone and that means I get everything I want and nothing I don't.

Oh, and how does seven years of Android security updates sound?

Both these phones charge wirelessly - which for me is essential. And again, they go a step further. If you have the right charger, you can juice up at 50W. That's still wireless, by the way. Even faster plugged in.

Both have big batteries too - lasting well into a second day on a full charge if not seeing it out two days completely.

Both phones are also surprisingly tough - the signature because it's so slim, the razr fold because, well, it folds. The latter carries IP48 and IP49 water resistance ratings and the outer display is protected by the latest and greatest Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3.

Meanwhile, the signature's screen is Gorilla Glass Victus 2, it's both IP68 and IP69 rated against water and dust and is MIL-STD-810H compliant. So extreme altitude, heat and cold can't really hurt it.

These phones even sound good - both pump out pretty decent Dolby stereo tuned by a little company you may have heard of called Bose.

For me - and remember, I've reviewed a lot of phones - there's only one area where these two come up short - and it's nothing to do with the phones themselves. I want an ecosystem; in short, I want more motorola. I've paired them both with the truly excellent moto buds+ but don't they know I need a watch too?

I know motorola makes them, but for some reason, you can't easily find them in New Zealand. Let's hope that changes. And soon.

Meanwhile, I'll enjoy these two handsets while I have them, especially the signature which, I'll say it again, is my new favourite phone ever. Not bad for $1699. Not bad at all.

    

Click here for more information on the motorola signature.

Click here for more information on the motorola razr fold.