When the first Motorola Razr was launched twenty years ago, many of us probably thought, "It doesn't get any better than this. A phone with two screens? A little one on the lid then a bigger one inside? Crazy."

Admittedly, neither the outer or inner screens were all that useful and we were about to say goodbye to physical keyboards on phones forever... but the Razr was still pretty cool.

Fast-forward to today and you could be forgiven for thinking Motorola might now be playing catch-up in the foldable race, with other makers making such a big noise about their bendy phones.

So you can imagine my surprise when I picked up Motorola's latest effort and like a great book, simply couldn't put it down.

The motorola razr 50 ultra is the answer to all my foldable complaints; it's durable, it has good battery life, an excellent camera setup and above all else; a fully functional exterior display.

Oh, and it even has a case included in the box.

That all sounds ideal. Surely there's a catch?

In fact, the more you dig down into each of these features, the better it gets.

Firstly; durability. That's not an adjective I thought I'd ever use to describe a clamshell phone but Motorola seems so confident in the razr 50 ultra's new hinge design, they're literally encouraging people to flip the handsets open with one hand, Captain Kirk communicator-style. It also carries an IPX8 water resistance rating, so it should survive most accidental splashes and dunks. The outer screen is Corning Gorilla Glass Victus - one of the most scratch and crack resistant options around. And the lower-rear panel is vegan leather - so not a single fingerprint to be seen.

In terms of battery life, 4000mAh is a large cell for such a compact device but there are plenty of other phones out there with bigger batteries. However, thanks in part to a very efficent Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 mobile chip, this is definitely one of the longer-lasting clamshells I've tried. There's a 68W charger in the box and the razr 50 ultra also charges wirelessly - at a slower but still respectable 15W.

The decisions Motorola has made with the camera setup are interesting. While some folding phones have been a little under-done in the photography department until now, the razr 50 ultra sports a 50MP main shooter, just like most other flagships on the market these days. But instead of teaming that up with an Ultra-Wide lens of some sort, they've gone for a 50MP telephoto sensor instead. This means while you'll miss out on those expansive landscape shots, you'll get 2 x optical zoom instead, bringing the action much closer, in crystal clarity.

I did a more in-depth roundup of the Motorola camera experience in my Edge 50 Pro review. I like the balance they've struck with moto ai - it works mostly in the background to help you take the best shots in all lighting conditions, without being bossy with over-the-top AI suggestions.

This is a theme with the Hello UX generally. Built over Android 14, Hello is one of the more no-frills user interfaces - which is not to say it isn't full-featured, it just isn't bloated. The pull-down menu of quick-access settings is a fine example; several pages of shortcuts that can be rearranged or removed to your preference. The only niggle I had was when I wanted to change my wallpaper. There were no solid colours to choose from and I prefer boring black. Luckily, being an Android phone, I could just download one.

I then installed it on both home screens, inside and out. The long and skinny, 6.9-inch, foldable AMOLED internal display is wonderful - capable of excellent brightness and up to 165Hz refresh rate. I must admit, I'm not as bewitched by folding screens as I was a few years back but this one definitely stacks up. While the crease is still visible in certain lights I haven't really noticed it in regular use - either to the touch or to look at.

But it's the outer screen on the razr 50 ultra that has really stolen the show for me. While other clamshell-makers insist on limiting what you can do with the smaller display, Motorola has gone completely the other way. Any widget from any app can be added to the scrolling home screen on the outer display. That long list of pull-down shortcuts is all available here as well. In fact, you can use any app on the 4-inch display. Read and answer emails, scroll your socials, browse your photos - whatever. This is exactly what I've been asking for all along. Sure, some apps aren't very practical on such a tiny screen but I'd rather the decision to use them was left up to me - not forced on me arbitrarily.

It's no exaggeration to say because the outer screen is so useful, I open the razr 50 ultra far less often. Many, if not most of my regular tasks can be taken care of within the 4-inch realm.

This is exactly as it should be.

As I mentioned, not only is a fast charger included, but there's a two-piece cover to match the Midnight Blue colour scheme. This is quite unobtrusive and thanks to several adhesive strips, stays securely in place at all times.

See? All aspects of this phone just work. And not only do they work, they work the way I want them to. It's the first foldable I've reviewed that I could imagine using as my "every day" device. There's no compromise in camera performance, battery life is more than sufficient and that outside screen does exactly what it should; everything.

Click here for more information and pricing on the motorola razr 50 ultra.