My favourite Razr Extremely (2025) characteristic is one I did not see coming

I’ve at all times 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 goal. 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 typical 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 individual, the front-facing digicam is able to snapping some actually cool, very handy pictures of myself.

Past that, the Razr Extremely (2025) options strong build-quality, a wonderful 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 geared up 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, in contrast to book-style foldables just like the Galaxy Z Fold 7, clamshell foldables do not supply a much bigger, tablet-like display after they’re open. In truth, 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 option to match the foldable’s distinctive design into my life.

In practically each manner, 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 inserting it in a triangle place or by opening it and pointing its inside display in direction of you (I favor the tent angle). The setting to show this characteristic on is below Settings > Exterior Show and both Sleep Show or Desk Show. It could sound a bit foolish, however I’ve grown to essentially recognize this characteristic over the previous few weeks.

Once I’m at my desk, the surprisingly expansive 3.6-inch 90Hz display 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). Once I wish to use the quilt display to examine a notification, I simply faucet the show to mild it up with the intense inexperienced background I set, and I am robotically logged in because of the magic facial recognition.

At one level, I assumed perhaps the quilt display could be good for testing the climate, however so far as I can inform, I can not get it to vary to Celsius from Fahrenheit. 

I can then faucet on notifications and rapidly scroll by them. If I see one which I would like to answer, I press on it and open the cellphone. This enables me to simply hold 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.

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 option to hold tabs on what conferences I’ve developing all through the day.

I am wanting ahead to determining if different cowl display 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 option to keep on high of notifications.

The expertise is not excellent, although. Typically facial recognition does not work, and I am compelled to place in my PIN, which may get irritating, particularly in case you’re attempting simply rapidly to examine a notification. I’ve additionally discovered that opening apps on the quilt display that are not official panels could be 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, and I am wanting ahead to uncovering extra methods to make it work for me.

This machine was supplied to Pocket-lint by Motorola.