Motorola Moto X4 First Impressions: First Moto X With Dual Cameras
Moto X4 from Motorola runs on Android 7.1 Nougat and supports Bluetooth 5.0.
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Motorola brings its Moto X4 to India with prices starting from Rs 20,999, available only via Flipkart and Moto Hub offline stores. While the phone was announced as an Android One version for US market, the Lenovo-owned brand has stuck to its tried-and-tested principle for India.
This is the first Moto X phone to come with dual rear cameras, front camera flash and a glass body design. While the phone has just launched over here, we spent some time with the Moto X4 and here’s our first take on the latest X-version device.
Design
Yes, the Moto X4 has a lot of design elements worth talking about. To start off, we’re pleased to see that Motorola hasn’t gone for the kill (edge-to-edge screen and big size phones), instead you get a compact 5.2-inch form factor, with bezels and a physical home button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner.
Moto X4 is the first in this series to get a glass back body, offered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 (on both sides) which – the company claims – is durable enough to handle minor mishaps. Having said that, the glassy nature does make it glossy and reflective.
The dual rear cameras get an ugly bump, which again, according to Motorola is somehow the choice of consumers. The camera placement reminds one of a watch dial that has rings running over the edges, adding to the style quotient.
You get mono speakers on the front, audio jack and USB Type C port at the bottom of the device and with a thickness of 7.9-mm, the Moto X4 doesn’t feel unwieldy at all.
Display
Moto X4 gets a 5.2-inch display with Full-HD 1920x1080 pixels resolution. The form size is ideal for most users (even in 2017), and the resolution quality works best on phones of this dimension.
The display quality of the Moto X4 is similar to other Moto devices, bright enough with high contrast and readable friendly. The soft touch button help you navigate and choose from multiple apps.
The display real estate has been utilised to its fullest, especially when they’ve got speaker at the top, and the home button right at the end.
Hardware and Features
Moto X4 packs Snapdragon 630 processor, with 3/4GB RAM and 32/64GB storage options. This dual-SIM phone lets you expand storage up to 2TB but that option deprives you of using two SIMs.
The phone supports Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0 (one of the first in India) that allows you to pair with 4 music speakers at the same time. The X series is not compatible with the Moto Mods, but with IP68 protection, you get the assurance of water and dust resistance for this one.
From software point of view, Moto X4 runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat but with some Moto features that are definitely worth looking at. You get Moto Key that lets you access websites on the Moto X4 in a secured manner ie open it via thumb ID. Motorola has assured that the Oreo update will make its way to the Moto X4 in early 2018.
And finally, Moto X4 comes loaded with a 3000mAh that offers turbo charging, which is now available with phones starting from the Moto G series.
Camera
Motorola claims that the Moto X4 gets a new camera sensor, which improves its imaging performance, but more on that later. For now, we’d like to tell you that the Moto X4 comes with a combo of 12-megapixel and 8-megapixel sensors at the back, Interestingly, the second sensor on the Moto X4 offers wide-angle lens, unlike the Moto G5s Plus which came with a monochrome lens.
Motorola also said they’ve changed the sensor for cameras on Moto X4, which should result in better quality images. More than that, we’re pleased that the Moto X4 along with Snapdragon 630 processor clicks images without any processing lag, something we noticed with the Moto G5s Plus.
We haven’t spent enough time with the phone’s camera to show you some samples, but the rear cameras with aperture f/2.0 and f/2.2 look good enough for shooting in daylight.
On the front, you get a 16-megapixel selfie camera with LED flash which apparently has become a must-have feature for smartphones nowadays.
What We Think
Moto X4 is their first with dual rear cameras and a glass body design. For Rs 20,999 you get a phone with Snapdragon 630, offered with 3/4GB RAM and storage up to 64GB.
Moto phones have generally been reliable and a capable workhorse. Can we expect the same from Moto X4, too early to say that but the signs are positive, especially at this price point. You get dual cameras (one of which offers wide-angle) that’s definitely worth trying out and of course, the effective turbo charging, which is only lagging behind Dash charging from OnePlus.
Moto X4 has all the attributes of a mid-range Motorola phone, which gets a design bump for the purists this time around. Stay tuned for our review in the coming weeks.
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