Moto M: Midrange Smartphone from Motorola

• Posted By Amritesh
• On December 18th, 2016
• Comments: no responses

Lenovo had launched their Budget end smartphone K6 Power just couple of weeks back and now Motorola (acquired by Lenovo) has launched a new midrange smartphone Moto M. Lenovo post acquisition have emerged as a strong competitor to the likes of Xiaomi, Le Eco and other established brands. The acquisition has not only helped Lenovo to grab considerable market share but also their in-house products have gained in terms of quality and value.

Moto M is a midrange smartphone which will compete with the devices priced between Rs 15,000/- to Rs 20,000/-. The phone is available exclusively on Flipkart bearing a price tag of Rs 15,999/- (3GB Ram/32 GB Internal Storage) for the base variant and Rs 17,999/- (4GB Ram/64 GB Internal Storage) for the premium variant. Motorola did a great job with Moto G4 Plus but one really failed to understand the need to launch series of G4 variant in the same price segment. Coming to Moto M, it seems to be a decent device but I feel Motorola could have been a bit more aggressive with the pricing of this device. 

Build and Display: Moto M comes with all metal unibody design which is quite different from the previous editions of the Moto phones. The device is relatively light for its 5.5 inch display size. The IPS LCD display is decent with images appearing crisp and good viewing angles. The fingerprint scanner is provided at the back, placed just below the camera. The build and ergonomics of the device makes it comfortable to hold, although single hand use is not possible on this device. 

Hardware Specifications: The phone is sporting the Mediatek Helios P15 Chispset which is an upgrade from P10 but in my opinion Snapdragon 625 would have been an ideal option. The Octa Processor A53 Processor is clocked at 2.2 Ghz and 1.8 Ghz respectively.

Ram provided on this phone is 3/4 GB which is pretty much the standard for most of the phones these days. The specs seem decent for a midrange device which promises lag free experience. The GPU used on this device is Mali- T860MP2 which is expected to perform reasonably well under normal usage with light gaming but may not be an ideal device for graphic intensive games.

Moto M comes with 32GB and 64 GB internal storage with Hybrid micro SD slot which will support additional storage upto 128 GB on both the variants. 

Battery Life: Moto M is provided with 3050 mah battery which is expected to last through a day under normal use while heavy users may be required to charge it twice. However, the phone supports turbo charging which makes up for a slightly smaller battery. 

Software and Features:  Motorola phones are known for stock android OS experience and this device will be no different. Out of the box it comes Android Marshmallow and is expected to get the Nougat update.

Motorola has not skimped on the sensors and the fingerprint scanner is placed at the back. The phone does not have the IR Blaster support. 

Camera: The camera on the device is mediocre which is normally associated with midrange smartphones. The rear camera does well in the day light condition although detailing could have been better and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) would have helped.

The front camera is decent and capable of taking decent selfies.

Network: The phone does support 4G LTE out of the box. The network reception and cellular quality is normally good on the Moto devices. 

Overall Verdict: The device will face stiff competition from the parent brand Lenovo, apart from Xiaomi and Asus which offer competitive devices within the same price range. Also the fact that it uses a Mediatek chipset might not encourage many to consider this device. Overall, it is a decent smartphone with slightly higher price tag but people looking for midrange smartphone from top tier brand may consider Moto M. 

Key Specifications are given below:-

Processor	Mediatek Helio P15 Chipset, Octa Core Processor (4 Cores A53 clocked @ 2.2 Ghz and 4 Cores clocked @1.8Ghz)
Storage	32/64 GB (HybridSD Card Support)
Operating System	Android Marshmallow (Upgradeable to Android Nougat)
Rear Camera	16 mp/HD Video Recording
Front Camera	8mp /HD Video Recording
Ram	3/4 GB
GPU	Mali- T860MP2
Battery	3050 Mah
Display	5.5 inch (Corning Gorilla Glass )
Type Sim	Hybrid Dual Sim (Nano)/GSM 4G Support
Resolution	1080*1920(401ppi)
Touchscreen Type	Capacitive
Dimension(mm)/Weight(gms)	151.35 x 75.35x 7.9 mm/163