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For my review of the latest Motorola Razrset for release this fall, I tested the updated foldable phone for 10 days in September. Occasionally when I opened or closed the phone, an onlooker would react with disbelief. One woman working behind the register of a coffee shops to-go window actually gathered her (masked and socially distanced) co-workers and asked me to show them how the Razr folded in half. When I demonstrated the screen folding like paper, her response was: That is amazing. Where do I get one?

And thts the mgic of foldble phones t their core. They seemingly do the impossible by letting you tke something rectngulr nd rigid nd fold it into something smller thn drink coster. Tht mgic comes from yers of design, testing nd revisions. And the engineers nd designers who worked on the upcoming Motorol Rzr know its nything but mgic to mke 6.2-inch phone fold in hlf.

But ll tht work cn be esily overshdowed. The review units of 2019s Smsung Glxy Foldrised the flg bout how folding screens would work in the rel world. A number of them hddefectsn>tht let dust or other prticles get underneth the screen nd wrek hvoc. Any concerns people hd bout folding displys were instntly mplified.

Then in Februry 2020 fter months of delys, Motorol relesed its Rzr (2019) with foldble screen nd CNETs video tem tested the displys durbility. My collegue Chris Prker used FoldBot nd ttempted to open nd close the phone 100,000 times. After 27,000 folds the Rzr (2019) wsnt ble to be tested further. Reflecting on tht test nd how SqureTrde modified its FoldBot to hndle the Rzrn>, Prker concluded:

Does [it] feel like durble, resilient phone tht will stnd up to extended rel-world use? To me it does.

These incidents might mke you wonder if foldble screens re durble. And if so, how do we know? Jeff Snow, generl mnger of innovtion products t Motorol, thinks its nturl to sk durbility questions bout foldble screens.

The new thing bout the phone is the fct tht the screen folds open nd you cn light it up, sid Snow. People re not used to phones with those folding screens. So the questions in their minds re, Is it going to lst? How mny times cn I ctully do tht ction?'

Motorol clims the screen on its upcoming, updted Rzr (2020) cn be folded 200,000 times. To give you n ide how mny times tht is, you could open nd close the phone 100 times dy for five yers nd still not hit tht number.

To show me how the compny determined nd tested the number of times the upcoming Rzrs screen could be folded, I visited lb t Motorol in Chicgo while wering msk nd socil distncing to meet Snow nd Tom Gitzinger, director nd principl engineer of innovtion nd rchitecture for Motorol. I got to see for myself how Motorol tests the screen on the upcoming Rzr.

In room tht looks like college blck box theter re number of lights ll focused on roughly 10-foot-wide mchine. There is cmer on tripod pointing t the mchine which gives the entire spce n odd television show vibe. On the top of the wist-high mchine on their bcks, re four Rzr (2020) phones. The mchine fully opens nd closes ll four phones t the sme time over nd over.

Throughout the design nd mnufcturing process, Motorol uses similr mchines to test the folds on the Rzr (2020). Unlike the Smsung Glxy Z Flip, which is designed to be opened to vriety of positions, the Rzr is built to either be fully open nd flt or completely closed. And unlike the Foldbot, Motorols mchine uses wire to open the Rzrs perfectly flt nd n rm to close them shut. The wire is thin enough to nestle between the two hlves of the phone when its closed.

To recrete those 200,000 folds in less thn five yers time, the mchine fully opens nd closes the phones once every 4 seconds. There is clming qulity to hering four phones shut closed every 4 seconds. Its like soft-sounding metronome. It tkes Motorol 10 dys to fold ech phone 200,000 times with this mchine.

Over the pst six months Motorol reched out to people who own the Rzr (2019) to lern how they use the phone. According to Snow, Rzr owners open nd close their phones on verge 40 times dy. And super users (the 99th percentile), verge 100 times dy. Hence, Motorol designed the upcoming Rzr (2020) to hndle 200,000 folds.

Were not chnging the prmeters of testing, sid Snow. But we wnt to mke sure tht were understnding people nd exceeding their expecttions.

The phones zero gp design, screen nd hinge llows the Rzr to chieve high level of screen durbility. The upcoming Rzr (2020) lrgely uses tht sme design s the Rzr (2019) lbeit with tweks. In fct, if you wnt to lern more bout the hinge tke look below t video I mde lst yer bout its design nd how it llows the Rzr (2019) to fold flt.

The screen itself is mde of five different lyers nd then spryed with hrd coting. When the lyers re combined the screen hs thickness of 355 microns (3.5 millimeters). To give you sense of how thin tht is, the Motorol Edge Plusn> uses similr OLED pnel stck for the curved edges of its screen which is three times the thickness of the Rzrs disply stck.

And its not just the disply tht is folding in hlf. There re number of connections including the four 5G ntenns tht hve to trverse the hinge. And like other foldble phones, the bttery in the Rzr is ctully two btteries, one on ech end. Not only does this help with blnce, but it dds nother level of complexity s both hve to connect through the Rzrs hinge mechnism.

When I reviewed the Rzr (2019) in Februry, it suffered from squek/crek. It ws like muffled crunching sound but loud. During my time with the upcoming Rzr (2020), the squek/crek ws mostly bsent until Fridy my eighth dy with the phone. And when it did squek, it ws quieter sound, more like breking in pir of new lether boots. Gitzinger explined the noise by compring it to bg of potto chips.

You cnt possibly open potto chip bg without mking noise. Its super thin. Its lot more crunchy nd crinkly thn something like this [the foldble disply]. But the sme principle pplies, sid Gitzinger. Youve got this big, significnt surfce tht moves round, nd its pushing ir tht cretes some of the noises. We were ble to eliminte other noises by putting in some old friction dhesives nd tpes nd surfces to enble everything to slide pst one nother bit more esily.

I sked friend how they felt bout the squek/crek on the upcoming Rzr (2020) nd they sid it didnt bother them. I guess when it comes to screen notches, foldble screen creses nd now foldble phone squeks, some people will get used to these things while others will be nnoyed.

With the improvements mde, Motorol is confident bout the upcoming Rzrs durbility. In fct, the compny runs 40 different lb checks to test both the design nd qulity of the phone during development nd mnufcturing.

Tht sid, the true indictor for how durble the screen on the Rzr (2020) or ny foldble phone is time. Until then, just like mgic, foldble phones require bit of fith.

For more detils mke sure to check out my review of the upcoming Motorol Rzrn>.

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Worried regarding foldable phones longevity? Heres just how Motorola evaluates the Razr joint - Entertainment Overdose

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