Earlier this week, Motorola announced the launch of the Moto X4, the fourth generation handset from the Moto X lineup. The announcement of the Moto X4 was of particular significance for Motorola since this was the first Moto X in nearly two years. In case you aren’t aware, the last handset to carry a Moto…
Earlier this week, Motorola announced the launch of the Moto X4, the fourth generation handset from the Moto X lineup. The announcement of the Moto X4 was of particular significance for Motorola since this was the first Moto X in nearly two years. In case you aren’t aware, the last handset to carry a Moto X badge was the Moto X Force that saw officialdom back in November 2015. As of now, the Moto X series finds itself sandwiched between the Moto Z and the Moto G series.
Anyway, coming back to the Moto X4, earlier this week, I flew down to Delhi for the launch of the Moto X4, primarily with the intention to get hold of a review unit. While I failed to get hold of one, I did manage to spend some quality time with the Moto X4 at Motorola’s demo zone. 20 quality minutes with the Moto X4 was, however, enough for me to highlight some of the key features of the phone that I believe will attract an average buyer. Here are my first impressions of the Moto X4.
The Moto X4 features a metal/glass body – both elements that are not typically used on handsets sold in this price segment. The phone looks quite premium especially in the Super Black colour option that accentuates the gentle contours of the handset. The Moto X4, however, suffers from the same old problem that continues to plague all handsets with glass back panels – it is a huge fingerprint and smudge magnet. Thankfully, the phone happens to be IP68 rated for water and dust resistance.
While I was not in an ideal situation to test the display on the Moto X4, what we do know is the fact that it gets a 5.2-inch, full HD, LCD display, with Gorilla Glass 3 protection for scratch resistance. The viewing angles were great on the phone, and the colours looked bright. However, I wasn’t able to take the phone outdoors to have a detailed look.
Moving on, while I was not able to use the phone for more than 20 minutes, it performed extremely well during that entire duration. The unit that I had with me was the 3GB RAM variant, and I expect the higher priced 4GB variant to perform even better. The Moto X4 will also get Bluetooth 5.0 once the official Android 8.0 update is released soon.
As for the camera, while I am still not a fan of Motorola’s over-simplified camera UI, there is no denying that the camera does boast of a bunch of neat features. These include the enhanced selective focus feature and the new selective black + white feature which is currently still in beta. The dual camera setup at the rear also includes an ultra wide-angle 8-megapixel camera with 120° field of view sensor.
The Moto X4 only gets a 3,000 mAh non-removable battery which frankly, doesn’t exactly set anyone’s pulse racing. However, Motorola does claim all-day battery life with this battery and also ships its proprietary turbocharger with the phone that should make up for the relatively lower battery capacity. Note that I am only comparing the battery capacity to the Redmi Note 4 and the likes.
Another bummer was the fact that the phone doesn’t run Android 8.0 Oreo at launch. The phone still runs Android 7.1 Nougat. While this isn’t something that should be of concern to most buyers, it is always great to have the phone launch out of the box with the newest software out there. Motorola has, however, promised a quick update to Oreo soon.
The pricing of the Motorola Moto X4 came as a pleasant surprise for most of us who witnessed the unveiling of the handset. While the 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage version has been priced at Rs. 20,999, the 4GB RAM/ 64GB version will set users back by Rs. 22,999. This is marginally below what most tech pundits had predicted. At this price, the Moto X4 finds itself placed comfortably between the Moto Z and the Moto G series. The handset would make a perfect upgrade for someone who has been using the Moto G series and would like a slight upgrade and does not have the money to go the full monty and get themselves a Moto Z2 Play.
