Monday, November 2, 2015

Hands-on review: Updated: Moto X Style


Hands-on review: Updated: Moto X Style

Introduction, design and display

The Motorola Moto X Style arrived as part of a duo earlier this year, with the Moto X Play sliding in below the flagship X Style.

It sports flagships specs and a pure Android experience, as Motorola looks to mix it up with big boys at the top end of the market.

In the US the Moto X Style is known as the Moto X Pure Edition, but aside from the name it's the same phone.

SIM free prices start at US$399.99 (around AU$545) for the 16GB Moto X Pure Edition (which isn't available in the UK), and you can head over to the firm's Moto Maker website to personalise your handset.

The 32GB model will set you back US$449.99 (£360, around AU$615) while the 64GB model tops out at $499.99 (£434, around AU$680). As part of the customisation you can choose the type of back (18 choices in total) for your X Style with a range of plastic covers to select from, while real wood and leather options will cost you $25 (£20) extra.

Moto X Style leather back

You can select an accent colour for the metal bar around the camera on the rear, and the speaker grills on the front, plus there's an option to have your name, or a message, engraved on the rear.

Motorola really wants you to make this phone yours, but if you walk into a retailer you won't get such options - black, champagne and white will be the only options that greet you.

It is priced comfortably lower than its rival 2015 flagships however, although it's a little pricier than the disruptive OnePlus 2.

With a 5.7-inch QHD display, hexa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and a 21MP rear camera the Moto X Style sounds like a pretty good deal - but has Motorola been able to deliver? Let's find out.

Moto X Style back

Design

OK, there's no getting around this - the Moto X Style is a bit of a beast. The sizable screen size is your first warning that this won't be a small handset and that's confirmed by its 153.9 x 76.2 x 11.1mm vital statistics.

That 11.1mm thickness is pretty noticeable too, especially when many smartphones now rock a sub-10mm girth, with the likes of Samsung, Sony and Apple boasting flagship handsets at less than 8mm.

The slightly curved rear allows the Moto X Style to sit a little more snugly in the palm than the Galaxy S6 or iPhone 6S, and the soft touch rubberised back on my review unit provide a decent level of grip.

It's one of the weightier handsets on the market too - unsurprisingly considering its size - and at 179g you'll certainly notice it in your hand and pocket.

Moto X Style

Motorola's done well putting the X Style together, with the metal frame running round the circumference of the phone providing a sturdy finish and a slightly premium look.

It's not in the same league as the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, iPhone 6S Plus or Samsung Galaxy Note 5, with these devices offering far more premium finishes, not to mention thinner, lighter bodies.

They are more expensive though, and considering the X Style's price it's still a well put together device.

The dual front facing speakers do mean it's a little bezel heavy front-on, but you do get improved audio so it's not all bad news.

Moto X Style wood

The power/lock and volume rocker keys are located towards the middle of the right side of the X Style, falling nicely under thumb and finger.

Up top a centralised headphone jack is joined by a tray which can hold both your nanoSIM and microSD card. It's a nifty dual-sided affair and a nice little bit of engineering from the Motorola team.

Motorola has used advanced nano-coating technology to form a water repellent barrier on the Moto X Style, but don't go jumping in the bath with it. As Moto states, this coating protects against "moderate exposure to water such as accidental spills, splashes, or light rain."

It's not quite Sony Xperia Z5 levels of water resistant, but it's definitely welcome.

Moto X Style

Those with smaller hands will find the Moto X Style a bit much in the palm, and even I had to employ both hands a lot of the time to ensure the handset didn't hit the deck.

But if you're looking for a well designed, big screened smartphone without a flagship price tag the Moto X Style certainly offers a compelling argument.

Display

Moto X Style

The Moto X Style sports a great screen, but it's also a big one. At 5.7 inches the X Style will simply be too big for many. The Moto X Play is slightly smaller at 5.5 inches if you fancy something a little more manageable in hand.

With a QHD resolution of 1440 x 2560 the X Style's screen is crisp and sharp. Motorola has opted for an IPS LCD panel which means colours aren't quite as vibrant as its AMOLED rivals, but it still looks excellent.

There's no cut and dry auto-brightness setting on here, rather an "adaptive brightness" toggle which does a similar job, but is less extreme. That's fine most of the time, but I did find at night the screen on the Moto X Style could be unnecessarily bright. A waste of precious battery life.

Power, camera, battery and verdict

Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor clocked at 1.8GHz paired with 3GB of RAM. Storage options are either 32GB or 64GB and then there's 128GB microSD support on top of that.

I didn't have time to play around with the camera that muchm but the images I saw taken with it look fantastic. It has a 21MP sensor that can film in both 4K and full HD as well as all the features you'd usually expect, like burst mode, auto HD and panorama.

The front facing camera has a 5MP sensor with a dedicated flash and a wide-angle selfie mode so you can fit even more people into your shots.

Moto X Style

In terms of software, it'll be launching on the latest and greatest Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and it has all the connectivity options you'd expect to be packed in, including 4G LTE, NFC and Bluetooth 4.1.

The battery is a 3,000mAh cell that Motorola claims will last the day. The most exciting part is Turbo Charging that can charge your phone for 10 hours of use from just a 15-minute charge.

Moto X Style

In the US, the Moto X Style will be known as the Moto X Pure Edition, and will start at $399 unlocked on amazon, BestBuy.com and Motorola's own online store. However, Moto's been mum on a specific release date, saying merely "September".

That the Moto X Pure will be completely unlocked in the states – as in, zero plans for carrier subsidies – is an important distinction. Selling phones purely online or in stores without contracts has been a growing trend in the US for some time now, and Motorola is undoubtedly the biggest player to give the strategy a shot. It helps that the phone's universal LTE banding feature will allow to operate on virtually any carrier.

As for the UK, Motorola has outright said the Style is set to cost £359 and will be available from September. Motorola didn't announce pricing for Australia, but did confirm the phone would launch there in September, too.

Moto X Style

Let's talk a little about the Moto X Style's sibling - the Moto X Play. The Play is already out there in the wild and we've managed to give the phone a full review.

It comes in a bit cheaper than the Moto X Style, but the Style doesn't exactly cost much for a flagship handset. It's a little more durable than this phone and has some impressive battery life - we recommend checking out our review before you decide on what phone to buy.

Early verdict

All in all, the Moto X Style is a very impressive phone. You've got high-end specs such as the stunning display, an impressive processor set-up and a great looking camera to top it off.

Throw the fully customisable design in the pot with wood and leather seasoning, and you're onto a real winner.

It's all there for not quite much money either and that's always a bonus. It's quite far behind the main competition making the Moto X Style an affordable yet high-end option for your next smartphone.

To make the decision harder though, Motorola has thrown the slightly cheaper Moto X Play your way as well. It'll cost a bit less at £299 (around $466, AU$638) and still offers a strong display and stock Android.












from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1Mm48BV

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