Motorola Moto X Play Express Review: Killer smartphone under Rs 20,000

After wooing the market with Moto G3, Motorola is back with its Moto X Play in India. With its budget smartphones, Motorola has always maintained that it wants to provide a good overall user experience than just stuffing in more specs. Moto X Play tries to balance both – specs and user experience. The Moto X Play has enough to suffice the appetite of those who drool over spec sheets without drilling a hole in their pockets. Here is the review.

Moto X Play

Motorola has never tried to overdo or oversell any of its smartphones. The focus was always on offering a quality product at the most feasible price point. While the new Moto E and Moto G handsets have carved its space in the highly competitive budget market, the Moto X Play tries to grab the market between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000. The rubberised textured finish at the back of the device will remind you of the high-end Moto Turbo while the front and sides are kind of similar to the OnePlus 2. Overall, the device looks good, easy to grip and is solid build. On the software front, for someone who has already used any Motorola phones of late, the interface has nothing new to offer. For new Moto users, the device offers plain Android Lollipop experience with added gesture and useful Moto apps. The rear cover can be popped out but the battery is irremovable. Interestingly, Motorola is offering a dual USB adapter along with a basic pair of earphones. Also, Motorola is offering a charging adapter with dual USB ports, which is really a kind gesture.

Specs: 5.5-inch 1080p Full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection; 403 ppi | 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core CPU | Adreno 405 GPU | 2GB RAM | 16 or 32GB storage options with support for microSD cards | 21 MP, f /2.0 aperture with 1080 HD video recording, 5 MP front camera | Networks: GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, 4G LTE (Indian bands) | 3,630 mAh battery | Dual Nano-SIM | Bluetooth version 4.0 LE, WiFi: 802.11a/g/b/n, NFC, Micro USB, 3.5mm headset jack

Price: Rs 18,499 (16GB version)

What is good?

Moto X Play offers a 5.5-inch 1080p Full HD display, which should delight you. The colours and viewing angles are good. Despite having a 5.5-inch display, the Moto X Play is easy to hold and doesn’t feel bulky. The device is delightfully smooth and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 CPU with 2GB RAM. The performance should easily please most users. Moto X Play can cater to most of the performance needs. In general, users can expect a lag-free experience. The device is surprisingly fast and should be able to satisfy the performance needs of most users. The battery life of the device is again better than others in this price range. You can expect the device to last over a day easily. Users can also get over two days by switching to power saving options.

What is not that good?

There is not much to dislike about the Moto X Play. However, I feel the 21 MP rear camera could have been a bit better, especially under low lighting conditions. Having said that the camera is among the fastest and images captured on it are of good quality with almost accurate colours. This not a problem as such, but, it would have been great if the Moto X Play would have been water-resistant like the new Moto G3.

Verdict: If you are looking for a smartphone with 5.5-inch display at a price of under Rs 20,000, then the Moto X Play is a great deal. There is a 32GB version of the device as well at a price of Rs 19,999, but you can save money by opting for the 16GB version as the device supports microSD cards.