Motorola Android One A few months later

 

It looks very 2019 what with the 2D glass front and back, slim aluminium frame and that all important notch helping fit more screen into a small body. Those rounded iPhone XR type dimensions and the small size are fantastic making it a quick grab in and out of tight pockets. The dual cameras are positioned vertically on one corner without much of an outward protrusion. Motorola was once king of design innovation with the RAZR and the Aura. This one while smart just seems to follow the trend.

Packaging involves the usual headphones, charger and a neat silicone case that has a pixelated inner surface giving the gloss back a , well, a cool pixelated impression. 

It has USB-C charging and fingerprint scanner as those are considered standard. Unlike other 2019 offerings, this still has a headphone jack but seriously even though wireless seems the way to go. It has P2i water resistance meaning you can walk about in summer rain but do not expect it to fare flawlessly in you fall in an open manhole. 

The 5.9 inch display almost completely covers the front. It looks great even though it is not quite up to the usual specs for 2019 devices. the 19:9 aspect ratio is a 720p screen instead of the more common 1080p. Does it really matter though in this price range? The differences are not that perceptible even though you can see the pixelation very up close. 

While the other Motorola's run the Moto version of Android, this one runs Android One which is closest to stock Android much like that in the Pixel. What happened Motorola? Why did it take you so long after everyone else did it? You want a clean, uncluttered and functional OS then this is it. The Android one OS was started to lower the hardware requirement for lower end devices allowing better products to be available for less money. It helps the Android One run smooth and flawlessly despite lower hardware specs while ensuring instant software updates.

The power is supplied by a Snapdragon 625 chipset which makes for a capable mid range processor but it is also getting old. Supported by 4GB of RAM, this performs all your day to day tasks flawlessly. Never faced any lag. Although gaming is a slightly different story. Most games will run smooth but if like half the country you also take a few shots through PUBG before hitting the bed at night, settings will have to be lowered somewhat. 

A 3000mAh battery along with a low-power chipset and display make sure that the phone lasts well beyond  a day. With light usage you will end up reaching two days thanks to the efficient, simple OS. But typical heavy usage of social media checking, gaming and calls will end up requiring a charge top-up every night which is fine. You won't fret about the charge because Motorola's TurboPower fast charging will get you 6 hours worth of juice in 20 minutes. 

The back consist of a 13MP and 2MP unit where the latter helps in depth perception helping create that much needed background blur for your social media portraits of cats. The bokeh effect is a bit of a hit and miss that you can adjust with the slider but often parts of the subject (cat) get easily blurred out. An 8MP selfie camera provides decent photos of your smiling of grimacing self but most of them tend to be on the softer side. 

You will not be applying the bokeh for every shot. For regular photos, results are alright. In bright light or daylight, you get smart, sharp photos with good colour accuracy. In any other light, or typical indoors, noises starts to creep in. The HDR though works very well and jacks up the image quality to acceptable levels of response on Facebook ranging from, 'Ooh, that looks nice' to 'Wow, what filter did you use?' It does a good job especially glamming up shot in bright light. But other than that, camera performance is quite standard. It does have one trick for video in that it can shoot 4K video. You also get Google lens allowing you to scan text, identify images like cat if you never saw one and read barcodes. 

 

Verdict

It is a good budget smartphone that looks and performs well. The experience has so far been very good. For the money you get a smart all-rounder that thanks to the OS, will get regular and instant software and security updates. It looks premium without having to be one. On the flipside, camera performance is usually average and the screen is not the sharpest. it is a mixed bag that offer fluid daily usage without breaking the bank.

 

 

Specs

Display: 5.9" IPS LCD, 720 x 1520 pixels

OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo)

Chipset:  Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 MSM8953 

CPU: Octa core, 2 GHz, Cortex A53

RAM: 4 GB

ROM: 64 GB

Camera: Rear- 13 MP and 2 MP, Front- 8 MP

Battery: 3000 mAh Li-ion Battery

Price: Tk. 23,990/-