It’s NEW Motorola time!
Rumors have been swirling about what the company will reveal now that they’re owned by Lenovo, and it’s not a single phone, but a trio of new gadgets.
The New Moto G
Gaining a water resistant build, Gorilla Glass, more color options in Moto Maker, this is the phone that bolstered Moto’s market share. It was an inexpensive, entry-level handset which brought a higher quality of performance to the budget crowd, one of the first Android’s to fight Nokia at “cheap” price points.
This Moto G will come in two flavors, 1GB RAM and 8GB of storage for $179, or 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage for $219. Both come with a 13MP camera, a 5″ 720p Screen, and an “all day” battery powered by a Qualcomm 410 series processor. Recently we’ve seen more companies like Asus and Alcatel’s Idol 3 delivering inexpensive options near this price, and Moto’s offering looks to be pushing the boundaries even further.
Moto X Style
This is our new flagship! Taking some of the lessons learned from building the Nexus 6, you can now get a similar phablet build with some of Motorola’s fun customizations.
Moto X Style has a 5.7″ QHD display. Happily they opted for the Qualcomm 808, the same processor powering the LG G4, instead of the more powerful, but hotter and slower Qualcomm 810. X Style will have 3GB of RAM, and if its build of Android 5.1 is anything like last year’s Moto X, it should smoke the Galaxy S6 in multi-tasking performance. Plus we’ll see the addition of a Micro SD card slot for storage expansion. The whole affair will be powered by a 3000mAh battery, which based on these specs, should be good for all day run time.
The weak link for last year’s Moto X was a mid-pack camera, and this year we’re getting an upgrade to a 20MP sensor. No other details about performance, software, or features like image stabilization, but it’ll likely be an improvement over last year’s flagship.
One of the most exciting features will be the phone’s cell radio. The Moto X Style will have universal support for all carriers. The same phone will work on every LTE network available, so customers looking to swap carriers wont have to replace their phone when they make the switch. It’s likely this could also be easily used with an MVNO like StraightTalk or Google’s experimental Project Fi.
Moto X Play
This phone came as something of a surprise. Following in the footsteps of the original Moto X, the 2015 Moto X Play is being positioned as a market disruptor. Mid-range specs and a focus on streamlining the software should deliver a snappy performer which punches above its price tag.
A 5.5″ 1080p display will be powered by a Qualcomm 615 processor, and the back pops off like the cheaper Moto G. The only hardware piece which stands above the more expensive Style is a huge 3,630 mAh battery which should easily deliver two day run time.
Current pricing puts the phone at £299, and it’s unknown what pricing will be when it lands in the USA, as it wont be available stateside at launch. Seeing how competitive the mid-range has become, phones with similar specs dropping for under $300, and how much better the Moto G has become, it might be disappointing to see the Moto X Play arrive at $400+ (which is what we’d see if it’s a one to one transition based on currency exchange).
Pretty hot news from Moto, and it’s reassuring to see the company still on track after their transfer from Google to Lenovo. Which Moto might be striking YOUR fancy? Drop us a comment below!