Motorola Razr 70 Ultra and Moto Sound Flow Speakers

I've been following the 'flipper' line of modern Razr phones pretty closely, watching it evolve from a device with a small external display only good for, in reality, notifications and an always-on clock/calendar display to the much, much more capable beast I have in my hands now, the Razr 70 Ultra. I also have a Razr 50 and 60 Ultra here, which were important steps on that evolutionary ladder. But now, the latest and greatest in the line has arrived from Moto UK PR for me to review and compare with those previous models.

As a UWB-enabled device, I am also keen to get it hooked up to a pair of the new Moto Sound Flow speakers, making the most of a bunch of fancy audio tricks, some of which nobody else out there is doing yet. But that's for later. First up is the unboxing and spec comparison with, particularly, last year's model, the 60 Ultra. It is worth noting that this same Razr 70 Ultra is available in North America, but dubbed the 'Razr Ultra 2026'.

The box is black and minimalist, smelling of the now to be expected Pantone perfume - otherwise known now as Signature Packing Fragrance! Inside we have the phone in Pantone Orient Blue (Violet Blue), a USB-C to USB-C cable, no charging brick (at least, retail here in the UK), the usual papers, SIM Card Tray Ejector Tool and the same buckle-style silicone-feel one-piece case that the Razr 60 Ultra came with.

I really didn't like this purple-like colour at first, but actually, it's grown on me quite quickly and I've moved away from thinking it's kind of 'bling' to appreciating that, once again, Moto push boundaries with colours and style - so kudos to them, while others often remain in the black, white and grey territory! The back of my Razr 60 Ultra is the wooden finish, and lovely as the idea is to look at, it's always been very slippery. This sample 70 supplied here has a very well-textured matte material, Alcantara (think suede-like microfibre), which is much more grippy and the phone feels as though it could much more easily be used with no case at all. There's also, like last year, a Cocoa Wood unit available if you prefer - and, I think, in other regions, some other colours and finishes, so check your local supply chain's options.

The, what I call, Buckle Case that comes in the box is colour-matched and has some sticky pads to keep it in place, though actually, I don't think they are needed as it's a snug fit without. It has a buckle protruding from the spine on the back, which makes for much easier one-handed use (as you can put a finger or two through it) to balance the tall-when-open phone in the hand. And when the phone is closed, it's a great 'grab handle' for carrying and retrieving from a bag or pocket. It would be even nicer if it was made from the same Alcantara as the back of the phone instead of the more slippery silicone, but it's fine, and included in the box here in the UK. There's also a lanyard loop/clip thingie in the box which, should you want to hang the phone around your neck, you can place between the base of the phone and the case and dangle it from whatever you like!

The elephant in the room is very much that the phone is very, very similar to last year's 60. Certainly physically. In fact, I think it's identical beyond colour and finish choices, measuring 171.5mm tall x 74mm wide x 7.2mm thin unfolded, and 88.1mm x 74mm x 15.7mm folded. They both feel lightweight in the hand at a shade under 200g, with aluminium frames holding everything together. Even last year's cases fit - so that's a plus! You might wonder why Moto bothered to update the line if it's so similar, but there are a few things under the bonnet which are different, which we'll visit straight away.

Firstly, the battery has had a small hike from 4,700mAh to 5,000mAh. This may not seem like much of a leap, but actually, taking into account platform efficiency tuning, it certainly does seem to perform more efficiently for day-to-day use. Tested against my 60 here, depending on how much the external screen is used over the internal - and, as always, how you use the phone - there is a hike. For my average use, I'd say that there's probably a 10% improvement, so beyond the technical 6% reflected in the data. However I use the phone, closed or open, there's no risk of it not making it through my average day, long as they usually are, and to bedtime. In a flip form factor, without adding bulk or thickness, this is a genuinely useful change.

Secondly, there's an improvement in the internal screen's brightness level, moving from 4,500 to 5,000 nits on the 7" plastic LTPO AMOLED display (1224 x 2992 pixels, 464ppi, 22:9 ratio). Again, maybe not looking like a huge jump, but having both in front of me, I can see that out in bright sunlight on adaptive brightness, things are a bit clearer to see. It is not a night and day visual leap in normal lighting, but in direct bright sunlight, visibility and HDR highlight punch benefit noticeably when using the phone outdoors. That tall screen remains great for consuming media or scrolling through long emails and social posts.

The external screen is the same 4" LTPO AMOLED with a peak brightness rating of 3,000 nits (1272 x 1080 pixels, 417ppi) and protected by Gorilla Glass Ceramic. The ratio is technically 10.6:9, but effectively in real-world use, it's square! What we do have on the external display are two fairly big camera lenses, which had to go somewhere, but thought has gone into software tricks to minimise their impact.

Physically, the hinge reinforcement has had an update from steel to titanium. The titanium gives a higher strength-to-weight ratio than stainless steel and allows the hinge structure to be thinner and stronger, which is partly how Motorola squeezed in that larger battery without expanding the phone physically. The folding mechanism doesn't really feel any different to me and continues to allow for the screen to be wedged open at pretty much any angle.

There is, though, certainly an if it ain't broke, don't fix it vibe going on here. The Razr 60 was as much of a flagship as the Motorola Signature, but in a flip format - a veritable powerhouse in a non-candybar design. Much of the components that made it so are continued here with the 70 Ultra - the very fast Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, 16GB RAM, 512GB of storage, 68W wired charging, and 30W wireless charging are all retained. Razr phones prior to the 60 Ultra really didn't feel like flagships, appearing more as experimental novelty phones to test market interest, but now they very much do. As I write, tech news is flying around suggesting that Samsung might be done with flip phones after the Galaxy Z Flip8. I hope that's not a trend, and even if it is for Samsung, I hope Moto continue with this satisfying form factor.

By the way, just so as to confuse everyone, there are more Moto phones in the Razr 70 range! The base Razr 70 retains the smaller 3.63" outer window of the previous model with a lower refresh rate (90Hz) and a Dimensity 7450X processor at £799. There's also a 70 Plus at £999, which gets the full 4" edge-to-edge cover screen running at 165Hz and a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, but bizarrely gets a smaller 4,500mAh battery compared to the base Razr 70's 4,800mAh. It's the Razr 70 Ultra at £1,199, with that Snapdragon 8 Elite, which delivers the top-end performance and hardware efficiency.

The Razr 70 Ultra started out with Android 16 and will get 3 OS updates through to Android 19, alongside 4 years of security updates to April 2030. It's not the 7 years that the Signature got, but then it's a folding device which, with the best will in the world, may well not be up to continual daily hammer in a few years anyway. The IP-rating is the same as the 60 Ultra at IP48. So very good for water, but not so confident for dust. Don't open either up down at the beach! I'm guessing that next year's model will update that to IP68 like other models, but we'll see - it might be trickier for flips than folds.

Setting up was seamless using Google's baseline setup procedure from my Razr 60 Ultra, replicating apps, layout, settings and preferences perfectly. On the left of the phone, we have the same dedicated hardware key that used to plug straight into MotoAI. However, I discovered on this phone part-way through my review that MotoAI is now Qira! Apparently it's pronounced "Keira" (as in Knightley). It's a unified rebranding that Lenovo and Motorola are rolling out across their whole ecosystem. This is essentially the same suite, but merged to keep track of notifications, drafts and context across Motorola phones and Lenovo laptops or tablets. Tools like Catch Me Up and Pay Attention remain intact, but live under the Qira branding. As discussed recently on the podcast, Lenovorola are trying as hard as all the others to get people locked into their world, which is fair enough if everyone else is doing it!

We also have a newer version of Moto's HelloUI with a few modernisations, most notably their Live Updates system. Motorola utilises Android's status bar pill/bubble notification framework next to the camera cut-out. Whenever a supported app runs a background process like media playback, timers, active calls or navigation, Hello UI pulls that metadata into a compact pill. A single tap expands it into a floating quick-control card right over whatever app you're in, while a long-press opens the host app directly. Because what shows in that status bar bubble on the inner screen directly mirrors how Live Activities behave on the external display, it keeps active tasks visible without taking up space in the primary notification shade. You can tweak or turn off specific app bubbles under Settings > Notifications > Live Updates > Status Bar. It’s one of those quiet software refinements that doesn't always show up on a spec sheet, but visually makes the 70 Ultra feel a generation ahead in daily use.

Then there's LOFIC! While the 60 has 50MP main camera sensors too, the 70 Ultra moves to a Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor sensor structure. This isn't just a MP numbers game, but genuinely improves things, allowing highlight handling without blowing out bright skies in high-contrast scenes - with Moto claiming up to 6x dynamic range performance. Even for a person like me who doesn't understand digital photography much, it’s noticeable over the 60 Ultra in tough lighting. The new camera tools and cover-screen gestures, including Tilt to Zoom (one-handed camera control when folded) and Frame Match, enable neat usability improvements. My Phones Show Chat podcast co-host Joe Hickey is much more up on cameras and photography and will be covering all this in video format over on his YouTube channel.

Turning to the built-in speakers, I was expecting the worst, as others were reporting a drop in quality, bass and loudness. I absolutely do not find this to be the case. The new Razr 70 Ultra sounds louder than my 60, and I detect no negative difference in tone, bass, richness or quality using identical Dolby Atmos settings across YouTube Music and my own 320kbps MP3 files. Motorola frequently tweaks default Dolby Atmos spatial profiles and gain control via software updates, so perhaps recent updates resolved earlier complaints. Sounds great to me!

Talking of speakers, Moto UK PR also sent me over a pair of the new Moto Sound Flow speakers (£179 each). At the outset, I'd suggest heading for the online manual and following the steps very carefully! The speaker features a twill-textured fabric around the outside, giving it a lovely feel with some heft at 581g, accompanied by an IP67 rating. As a single standalone unit connected via standard Bluetooth, it delivers 30W of output (10W tweeter, 20W woofer, dual passive radiators) tuned by Bose. Classical music, orchestral, solo piano and jazz sound quite superb, with plenty of volume on tap.

In the box you get a delightful disk-shaped desktop dock with pogo pins providing 15W of power via USB-C, alongside an extra USB-C port on the speaker itself for direct charging. The 6,000mAh battery is rated for up to 12 hours off-base, though in my tests at 33% volume it lost about 5% per hour, meaning 20 hours is achievable at lower volumes. The top controls feature a illuminated Moto 'M' logo that handles play/pause, pairing, and call management, flanked by volume buttons, a microphone mute switch and a light ring that indicates status and volume levels in various colours. Downloading the Moto Sound Flow App gives you EQ controls, battery monitoring and unlocks Wi-Fi/UWB playback.

When you fire up a second speaker and pair them with a compatible UWB-enabled phone like the Razr 70 Ultra, you unlock some unique spatial features. Dynamic Stereo uses UWB to track your phone's physical position in 3D space between the two speakers, micro-adjusting phase, balance and spatial delay so the virtual soundstage centre stays pinned directly in front of you as you walk around the room. Room Shift allows audio to automatically hand off to whichever speaker you are closest to if placed in different rooms, while Proximity Handoff transfers audio directly from your phone or Moto Buds when brought near a speaker.

To test this, place the speakers about 7ft apart facing into the room, open the app, create a 'Stereo Pair' and toggle Dynamic Stereo on. Standing 5 or 6ft back, you hear the singer's voice right in the middle. As you walk toward the left speaker, instead of the sound collapsing into that single channel, the UWB chip detects your movement and adjusts timing so the soundstage remains floating directly in front of your face. It tricks your ears into perceiving that the main channel stays centred wherever you stand - a subtle, acoustic transparency trick rather than a flashy gimmick.

There are, however, a few ecosystem and software caveats worth noting. Firstly, while devices like my original Pixel Fold have a physical UWB radio, Motorola’s Dynamic Stereo and Room Shift rely on proprietary code built into Moto's firmware. Connecting a non-Moto UWB phone still delivers rich Wi-Fi/Bluetooth stereo playback, but omits the dynamic spatial tracking. Secondly, the setup process inside the app requires patience. It operates as a bit of a black box with long, uninformative pauses between steps where users might assume it has frozen. My advice is to get one speaker set up, turn it off, pair the second individually, turn both back on and then create the Stereo Pair in the app.

Furthermore, there is an Android media routing quirk when playing audio across the room. If you tap the Quick Settings media card to switch audio back to "This Device" and stop playing music for 30 minutes, Android clears the temporary override. The next time you hit play, Android sees the active Bluetooth standby link and routes your audio right back out to the speakers in the other room! To reliably break the hold, you need to quickly toggle Bluetooth off and on, or explicitly disconnect via the main Bluetooth settings menu.

These software quirks aside - which Moto will undoubtedly refine through firmware updates - the Sound Flow speakers sound fantastic, and the Wi-Fi streaming integration means incoming phone calls stay on your phone without interrupting music playing for everyone else in the room.

Ultimately, the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra isn't a radical redesign, nor did it need to be. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Motorola took the best flip-phone layout on the market and refined the remaining trade-offs: battery life is noticeably better, outdoor screen legibility is improved and the LOFIC camera sensor addresses high-contrast dynamic range limitations. While Razr 60 Ultra owners might not need to jump immediately unless they specifically want the Alcantara finish or LOFIC camera, the Razr 70 Ultra comfortably holds the crown as the most complete, powerhouse flip-foldable on the market today. If you like the flip-phone form factor, you'll love this - it's best in class and is not bogged down by too much OEM bloat, like many others in the space.