Motorola Moto X Style

The Moto X Style, known in the US as the Moto X Pure, is Motorola’s third iteration in its Moto X flagship lineup. The original Moto X impressed reviewers with its sleek design and Android experience, but does the Moto X Style live up to its predecessors? For most, the answer is yes. One of the biggest selling points of the Moto X Style is its price and ability to connect to 14 different LTE bands. Rather than purchase from a carrier, you order directly from Motorola’s site. From there you can use the Moto Maker to customize the phone as much as you like. While you can customize the basic look of the phone, the actual build is similar to the second-gen Moto X. Motorola has taken a “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” stance with the design. For some, the phone was comfortable, but for others they found that despite the ergonomically sloped back it was still a bit awkward and difficult to use one-handed. Still, they admit that the comfort depends on hand size so those with larger hands might find it more comfortable than those with smaller ones.

Adorning the front of the phone is a 5.7-inch quad HD (1,440 x 2,560 pixels) LCD display. With a pixel density of 520 pixels per inch, reviewers had no issues with fuzziness or blurriness of text, icons or images. They were a bit disappointed with the move to LCD, however. Although they admit their complaints are more of nit-pick, they found blacks were not very deep and colors not as vibrant as AMOLED displays. The Verge sums it up by saying, “…it’s not eye-popping or class leading by any stretch…it doesn’t encourage you to stare at it and appreciate its beauty.” On the plus side, experts were able to easily view the screen in sunlight as the maximum brightness level was quite bright. On the opposite end, the minimum brightness was also dim, making it much easier for them to avoid eye strain when using their device in the dark.

The Moto X Style comes equipped with a 1.8GHz hexa-core (6-core) processor and 3GB of RAM. When compared to flagship phones of its competitors, critics did notice the Moto X Style was slightly slower even when swiping through the homepage. The lack of power became more noticeable when they played more graphics heavy tasks like 3D games. Still, they note that while it isn’t as fast as the likes of the Note 5 or OnePlus 2, it was fast enough for most consumers for years to come. The battery life was the biggest disappointment in terms of internal hardware. While Motorola boasted the 3,000mAh battery would last a full day, most critics were barely able to eke that out with moderate usage with it lasting a little over 5 hours during battery draining tests. Unfortunately the battery is also non-removable so you cannot simply swap out a freshly charged one. With that said, the X Style does come with quick-charging technology and critics were able to get the battery fully charged in less than an hour.

One of the biggest upgrades Motorola made to the X Style is its camera. Rather than a 13MP main camera, it sports a 21MP camera. It also bumped the lens to an f/2.0 aperture, which basically means it captures more light even in low light situations. When put to the test, reviewers were able to get nicely detailed and accurately colored photos in daylight situations. Droid-life notes, “In outdoor situations, this camera might be the best I have ever used” though they add low-light settings often produced mixed results. Other experts had similar results, but overall had few complaints regarding the quality of photos and ease of use.

Although it might be a bit slower than other flagship phones, reviewers fully stand behind the Moto X Style. Bright Hand states, “We like just about everything about it. It’s ‘just right,’ a basic but exception Android smartphone.” CNET adds, “All in all, [it’s] a reliable and quality-built device…”