The Motorola Raze Fold reintroduced me to phone style, and I realized I missed it

I’ve made a lot of peace with the idea that phone styluses are for a certain type of user. There are a few who prefer to write notes in the old fashioned way (sort of), musicians who can find some value in this, or Galaxy Ultra loyalists who can resist this. But there is more, the pen does not improve the feeling.

So when I first used the Motorola Razr Fold with the Moto Pen Ultra, I didn’t expect it to change my mind. A stylus on a foldable makes sense on paper because you get a bigger canvas. But phone pens often sound better in theory than they do in everyday use. The Moto Pen Ultra surprised me because Motorola didn’t treat it like a small stylus. It’s close to a remote control, shortcut tool, sketch pad companion, and more packed into one device.

Bluetooth tricks are really useful

One of the best surprises was using the Moto Pen Ultra as a remote camera shutter. I can set the Razr Fold down, stand it up nicely, and use the pen to take a selfie without scrambling to get back to the phone or awkwardly stretching my arm.

This is not a new feature, as the Samsung S Pen has offered this feature in the past. However, Samsung has stopped shipping its high-end Ultra models with Bluetooth-enabled S Pens in recent years. So you don’t get those remote camera controls. But that’s not the only trick up the Moto Pen Ultra’s sleeve.

The coolest party trick is called Knock Knock. You flip the pen over and double-tap its opposite end on a flat surface to take a screenshot. It sounds silly the first time you hear it, but it’s oddly satisfying to work with. There’s something fun about literally tapping the pen on the table and watching the phone capture the screen.

An annotation from anywhere changes things

Another feature that clicked for me is the quick annotation. By long-pressing the text key, I was able to drag the annotation tools from almost anywhere and write directly over what was on the screen. I’m sure you can see how easy it is to add notes to anything on your screen. So at one point, the Razr Fold came together as a digital notebook instead of a traditional fold.

Are you learning something? Mark it. Need to save a thought before it disappears? Turn on the note flow immediately. You can also configure the write button to go directly to the notes app, which is probably what I would do if I were using this every day. I’ve been using the Razr Fold as a standard folding device for the first week, but things have been different when it comes to writing.

Sketch to Image is hilariously ridiculous

I’m not an artist, but I’m surrounded by many of them—and they’ve had fun using the Pen Ultra to edit photos and draw on the Razr Fold. For me, there was Sketch to Image. I don’t support AI-generated art, but I can’t deny that it’s fun to see a machine struggle to look at my horribly drawn drawings and turn them into something that looks like art. I drew a rough outline of a hand, and the phone turned it into a stunning AI-generated image.

Part of the fun is seeing how well a phone can translate to bad writing. I don’t think this becomes an everyday productivity tool for everyone. But as a creative feature, it makes the pen feel very playful.

Small shortcuts are actually good

Flash tricks are fun until you realize you don’t use them much. What really sticks out is the easy interaction that is provided every time. Quick Clip is one example that allows you to highlight text and send it directly to a new or existing note using the Quick Clip toolbar. Speed ​​Sharing can suggest people you might want to send notes or annotations to based on usage patterns. Both of these are part of the Moto Pen Ultra’s brilliant tool set.

These are quality-of-life items that indicate that intentional functions are designed specifically for this product. All this is not limited to the big foldable screen either. You can use the stylus on the main and cover display.

While I still don’t think every folding consumer needs a stylus, and most people will use the Razr Fold without feeling like anything is missing, Motorola has a good argument for why this accessory exists.