Table of Contents
- Motorola One: Cute as an apple
- The notch era arrives for everyone
- The great promise of Android One
- Face 18, body 42
- Vertically aligned, but not as powerful as that one
- Premium leather intermediate
O Android One is an initiative by Google to try to unify its operating system under a pure strand. The promise is that devices with Android One have a fluid, smart and secure experience. The biggest highlight is the commitment to constant updates. THE Motorola One introduces this concept in Spain.
Since its launch in 2014, the Android One smartphone lineup has grown, and the Lenovo has just brought the first representative of the program to Spain, the Motorola One. Check out what we think of Lenovo's newest cell phone that brings the proposal to be elegant and powerful, without weighing on your pocket.
Motorola One: Cute as an apple
The design of the Motorola One has a direct impact. The smartphone deviates from the standard design of the Moto line, which demonstrates a sigh of creativity in the brand, but this creativity is somewhat limited, as the inspiration for the iPhone X is clear.
Despite the plastic body, we are faced with a very beautiful smartphone that oozes elegance. While it's not glass on the back and aluminum on the edges, Motorola's work was so well done that the plastic goes unnoticed.
The dimensions of 149,9 mm in height, 72,2 mm in width and 7,97 mm in depth materialize in a slim device, in the right measures for today's standards and with only 162 grams.
The design of the Motorola One arrives with an air of much-needed renewal from Lenovo's smartphone division. In my personal opinion, the Motorola One, especially in white, is the most beautiful smartphone the company has ever made, ahead of the Moto G6 Plus in indigo a few points.
The notch era arrives for everyone
Here we have the first Motorola cell phone with notch, facing the Apple controversy that has become a market trend.
For those who didn't like the iPhone X's notch, reality can impress. Personally the notch in the Motorola One It leaves the device with a very different look, and if you look at it quickly, it looks like you're using an Apple smartphone 3 reais more expensive.
Thanks to the notch, the screen occupies 81% of the front of the Motorola One, against 77% of the Moto Z3 Play. For this, the biometric reader is positioned on the back of the device, in the Motorola logo.
The Motorola One's screen could be great: 5,9 inches, Gorilla Glass protection and an IPS panel that can reproduce colors well. Although, there was a big mistake when deciding HD+ resolution (720x1520). It's justifiable if it was to keep the price competitive, but it's still not frustrating to watch videos, play games and basically use the phone locked in 720p resolution.
The great promise of Android One
The biggest highlight of Motorola One it's not your design or screen, it's being the first smartphone in the program Android One in Spain. As already explained, this initiative by Google is intended to standardize smartphones with pure Android. This does not mean that the system is free from manufacturer modifications.
As already discussed in the Moto G6 Plus review, it is wrong for Lenovo to sell their phones saying they have pure Android, because in fact they are not and the speech helps to “demonize” the changes they make themselves. In the case of the Motorola One, the Android 8.1.0 Oreo comes with Lenovo modifications, but they are minimal and help a lot in using the smartphone.
The Moto app displays features exclusive to the manufacturer for the Motorola One, but much less numerous than on other branded phones, due to Android One restrictions. So here we have only Moto Display (screen dims subtly showing clock and notifications) and Moto Actions (just shake to turn on flashlight and turn to turn on camera).
Android delivers a very robust experience in the Oreo edition. Version 8.1.0 does not bring significant new features, as it has been for a while in the operating system. However, usage is always fluid, taking advantage of the hardware. There is a visible alliance between performance and energy efficiency, as promised by Google with Android One.
However, there is an important question. In 2017, Google said that Android One phones would be the first to receive Android 9. Why doesn't the Motorola One come with Android 9 and doesn't even have an update forecast? The same problem is repeated with the Xiaomi Mi A1, A2 and A2 Lite, which are also part of the unification program. Apparently, we were duped by Google's entire explanation at I/O 2017 about faster updates on Android One.
The price to pay is smartphones still unprepared to deal with its 19:9 display, that's what you see in the Motorola One. In many applications, there is a poor adaptation to the tall screen and rounded corners. In games, like PUBG, buttons are absent from the screen.
As for the notch, it only shows itself as an adaptation to the trend, as it ends up harming the experience at times. Android still doesn't know how to take advantage of the notch and makes it just a detail that takes up necessary space. The top bar, which naturally shows the icons that have pending notifications, is limited to just one icon next to the clock.
It is obvious that Android Oreo is not ideal for smartphones with a 19:9 display and notch, unlike iOS on the iPhone X. Apple has been able to bring new ways of interacting with the iPhone X, things that Google has been trying to incorporate into Android 9 Pie.
Face 18, body 42
The updated design of Motorola One hides old and battered hardware. Motorola insists on putting old processors in its smartphones, that's what is clear because the Motorola One still carries the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, the same as the Moto Z Play (2016). Qualcomm offers recent alternatives that are more competent, like the Snapdragon 636.
Ignoring this problem of slowness of the market itself, the performance of the Motorola One is satisfactory. THE 2GHz octa-core processor offers agility to open applications, combined with 4 GB of RAM, the result is a fluid navigation, without stuttering. However, when entering the gaming scene, the Adreno GPU 506 shows its age and requires low graphics settings to run games well.
The user can feel quite comfortable with the 64 GB Internal Storage, with expansion to microSD card up to 256 GB. The battery repeats the pattern 3.000 mAh, unimpressed. Android One is committed to managing power well, so the Motorola One is guaranteed to have a battery that lasts all day with ease.
O TurboPower charging It's not as fast as on other company devices. THE Motorola One arrives at 33% in the first half hour of recharge, while the Moto G6 Plus reaches 48%, which should happen due to the processor being more recent and powerful. However, that doesn't take away from the Motorola One the merit of being a device with TurboPower charging.
Vertically aligned, but not as powerful as that one
The cameras of Motorola One were another point to be limited in order to offer a competitive price. The rear camera set consists of 13 MP (f/2.0) + 2 MP (f/2.4). There is even a single LED flash. The practical result of the cameras is as expected, which does not mean there are no problems.
The cameras manage to capture the moments well, in that it does not disappoint. The level of detail in the photos is satisfactory for an intermediate cell phone, zooming in on the photos proves that. However, the images may come out dark.
There is a clear confusion in the software to determine the level of brightness and contrast, always leaning towards exaggeration. However, the resource HDR is very welcome and ends up solving this problem and presenting very beautiful photos.
As colors are another strong point of capture. The colors are vivid but not unreal. The result is again satisfactory.
As the day passes, the photos lose sharpness and the 2.0 (primary) and 2.4 (secondary) lens apertures show their fragility. It's easy for the common one to blur in night environments, even with the presence of light sources.
However, even at night, photos can come out with decent quality, albeit with few fine details.
the photos of portrait mode impress by being able to give a beautiful blur, something not achieved in other intermediate smartphones. However, like its price peers, portrait mode is only possible very close to the subject, and with somewhat slow processing.
A selfie camera It has 8 MP, with f/2.0 lens aperture and LED flash. For the general public, the photos can be very good, but for those who want higher quality even at night, it is regular. Still, overall, the camera captures moments well and has HDR too – you just need to stand still for a while so it doesn't get smudged.
For, videos, the Motorola One records in Full HD com 30 FPS. There is support for slow motion, time lapse, photo capture while recording, selective animation on photos and live streaming on YouTube. However, due to the lack of a stabilizer, videos can be easily shaky, with a lot of visual noise, in addition to washed out colors.
Premium leather intermediate
O Motorola One It's a breakthrough for the brand. It represents a detachment from the company's tired old design, adopts a 19:9 screen with notch, introduces the Android One to Spain and has simple but competent cameras. However, there are also reasons in all aspects that justify the model being in the category of intermediate cell phones.
Again, we enter the discourse that Motorola is competing with itself by releasing so many similar smartphones in hardware. The Motorola One shouldn't have the same processor as the Moto G5 Plus, but it does. However, unlike the Moto G6 Plus x Moto X4 dispute, for example, the Motorola One manages to bring more news, from the screen to the operating system (with a 2-year warranty of major updates).
The price will certainly be decisive for those who want to buy a device like the Motorola One. The device has suggested price of R$1.499, however retailers still do not sell at a low price, with R$ 1.422,62 being the best recorded so far. We recommend waiting for Black Friday 2018, when a relevant price drop is expected.
In the end, the Motorola One It appears to be a slim, beautiful cell phone, with power for everyday life, although it is not recommended for those who like specific uses, such as photos (simple cameras), watching series (HD screen) and games (Snapdragon 625). If you just want a phone that's beautiful and responsive, you can look carefully at the Motorola One.
