Category Archives: Motorola

Motorola Returns to the High-End with Edge and Edge+

April 22, 2020Information, Motorola, smartphoneMotorola, smartphoneAndrew

Motorola‘s been firmly established as the go-to provided of mid-range phones with its long running g-series of handsets, but the absence of a top-end phone has been noticeable, despite the appearance of a rebooted Razr. Fortunately, Moto have addressed this with the launch today of two new devices, the Edge and Edge+. Motorola reckon these will be the fastest, loudest and boldest.

This time round, Motorola are sticking to the traditional flat slab format – there are no folding screens here. The Edge+ is the high-end flagship supported by the less powerful Edge, which is still well above the g-series in terms of spec.

Both use the same screen each sporting a 6.7″ 21:9 aspect ratio “Endless Edge Display” with HDR10+ and 90 Hz refresh rate. It’s a 10 bit FHD+ OLED display and as is the fashion, it’s curved at the sides, though it seems the curves have quite a small radius, giving a significant edge to the screen (has the penny dropped?) Motorola are taking advantage of this Edge for actions – swipe down to show notifications, notifications – it’ll glow when a call comes in, and status, showing battery level when charging. There’s demo video here.

Under the hood, they’re both sporting the popular Qualcomm Snapdragons, but the Edge+ gets the faster Snapdragon 865 paired with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of storage. This combination of processor, RAM and storage appears to be the definition of high-end for 2020. The Edge takes the Snapdragon 765, with 6 GB RAM in Europe (4 GB USA) and 128 GB of storage, though this can be supplemented up to 1 TB with a memory card.

Unsurprisingly for 2020, both phones are 5G devices, with the Edge+ working with both mmWave and sub-6GHz frequencies. There’s WiFi 6 in there too.

A 5000 mAh battery will keep the Edge+ phone powered up for two days in normal use, though what constitutes normal will clearly vary. The Edge has a slightly smaller 4500 mAh battery and much like the OnePlus 8 series, the Edge+ has wireless charging (15W) but the Edge doesn’t, surviving with only 18W TurboPower wired charging.

Round the back, it’s a triple camera setup for the Edge+, with a 108 MP main shooter, a 16 MP ultrawide lens with macro vison and an 8 MP telephoto lens. The selfie camera is a 25 MP sensor with a hole-punch in the top left of the display. The Edge has slightly lower specs with a 64 MP main lens, but otherwise the 16 MP ultrawide lens with macro vison and an 8 MP telephoto lens are unchanged.

With dual stereo stereo speakers and precision audio tuned by Waves Audio, both Edge phones have the loudest, most powerful audio on a smartphone, and in news that will delight audiophiles, the phones both retain the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Regrettably, the Edge+ won’t be coming to the UK and it’s a Verizon exclusive in the US to run on their superfast 5G. It’ll be available in the US on 14 May priced at a cool US$999. In Europe, residents of Italy, Scandinavian countries and Serbia will be able to get their hands on the phones.

For the UK, the Edge will go on sale in May 2020 priced at GB£579 from O2, John Lewis, Amazon and Argos.

Keep The Note 4?

March 20, 2016Android, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nook, Samsung, smartphone, sprintAndroid, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, sprint, Windows Mobiletomwiles

Since the mass adoption of the cell phone happened starting in the 1990’s, like everyone else I’ve gone through a long succession of cell phones. My very first cell phone was a Motorola bag phone. Remember those? Analog cell phones could sound surprisingly good. Of course, in fringe reception areas, the sound quality would often become quite crackly and was prone to dropped calls. Those bag phones could output up to three watts of power, so the reception could be decent depending on the area it was operating in.

The next phone I had was an early analog candy bar style phone with a nickel cadmium battery. It had a terrible standby time of only about 30 minutes. Reception was poor in part because output wattage was cut back to about ½ a watt.

After that, the next one was a more modern Nokia candy bar style phone with better battery life and was both digital and analog. Unfortunately, the digital sound in those days was pretty bad, and the analog reception suffered from vastly diminished ½ watt of power.

The next one was an updated version of the Nokia candy bar phone. It offered somewhat better performance, and a few more bells and whistles.

Cell phone number five was a folding LG camera phone that included a color LCD and was my first phone with an integrated 640 x 480 camera. The phone also had a USB port. I was able to figure out how to plug the phone into a computer and go through a very clunky process of transferring the photos from the phone’s built-in memory to the computer’s hard drive, a process that required some hacky third party software I downloaded from the Internet. Even after I replaced this phone I continued to use it for several years as an alarm clock, a function that worked quite well.

Next came my first smart phone. It was a Windows Mobile phone from HTC with a 3.5” pressure sensitive touchscreen with WiFi and 3G EVDO. It included a storable stylus and a slide-out keyboard, features I found of little practical use.

My second smartphone was another HTC phone running Windows Mobile, this time without the slide-out keyboard. It still had a 3.5” pressure-sensitive touchscreen, WiFi and 3G EVDO.

Smartphone number three was my first Android device, a Sprint Evo also manufactured by HTC. The HTC Evo included a 4.3 inch capacitive touchscreen and the 8 megapixel rear camera was able to record 720p 30fps video, though the video sound quality suffered compared with newer devices. The HTC Evo’s biggest problem was that it had awful battery life.

Smartphone number four was a Samsung Galaxy S3. It had a 4.8 inch touchscreen and was a better performer than the Evo while offering somewhat better battery life.

Smartphone number five was a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The Note 3 had a 5.7” 1080p touchscreen and offered great battery life. The Note 3 can record 4k video. The Note 3 has great stereo video sound. Many Note 3’s remain in use today.

The next, and my current smartphone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. I really like the Note 4. It has great battery life, fantastic performance and a Quad HD 5.7” touchscreen.

With cell phone number eleven, I find myself in a bit of a quandary regarding where do I go from the Note 4? Three of the Note 4 features I find extremely important, besides the 5.7” screen size, are the integrated Micro SD Card slot, the ability to do fast charging, and the user replaceable battery.

The fast charging feature is game-changing. If I have forgotten to plug the phone in or I find the battery is low, I can plug the phone in and quickly goose the battery. The Note 4 will charge from zero up to fifty percent in only thirty minutes which is incredibly handy. Even a quick 10 or 15 minute charge can be extremely useful in pushing the battery percentage back up to a higher level.

I recently experienced a suddenly failing battery in my Note 4. I was able to buy a high-quality replacement battery via Amazon and I’m back in business. If I had a phone such as the Note 5 with a non-user-replaceable battery, I would be forced to make an inconvenient trip to my phone provider.

I am inclined to simply keep the Note 4 that I have indefinitely. After all, it has everything that I demand. There’s nothing to be gained by switching to the Note 5 or later, and the user-replaceable battery to be lost.

Motorola Offers in the UK

November 25, 2015Motorola, smartphoneBlack Friday, Moto, Motorola, smartphoneAndrew

As expected Motorola is getting in on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday action with discounts for purchasers in the UK. The best deals are on the older models but even the latest gear gets some love. If you are looking for a new handset, these are worth a look.

Here are the deals.

Moto X 2^nd Gen 16GB @ £200 – saving £195
Moto X 2^nd Gen 32GB @ £250 – saving £195

Moto X Play 16GB @ £219 – saving £60
Moto X Play 32GB @ £259 – saving £60

Nexus 6 32GB @ £250 – saving £229
Nexus 6 64GB @ £310 – saving £229

Moto E @ £69.99 – saving £39 and includes free postage

I’m a big fan of the Moto phones having reviewed both the first and second generation Moto Xs for GNC, and my wife currently has a Moto G, though sadly there are no deals on that model.

The offers begin at 1:00pm on Wednesday 25^th November and run until 11.59pm on Monday 30^thNovember, only while stocks last.

Visit www.motorola.co.uk for more information.

Busy Week in Mobile Phones

July 26, 2015Android, Motorola, Nokia, smartphoneAndroid, Mobile, moto g, moto x, Motorola, Nokia, One, OnePlus, smartphoneAndrew

It’s going to be a busy week in the mobile phone space with both OnePlus and Motorola expected to announce new Android models. OnePlus hasn’t exactly been quiet in the run up to the event and Motorola’s suffered a few leaks in the process. Either way, it’s going to be fun to see what’s on offer before Google and Apple produce their annual refreshes later in the year. Nokia might be re-entering the smartphone market too but their latest announcement is shrouded in mystery.

The OnePlus 2 will follow on from the successful One, though with OnePlus stoking the rumour mill, it’s still hard to know fact from fiction. What has been confirmed is that it will have a fingerprint reader, 4GB RAM, a Snapdragon 810 processor, USB C connector and cost less than US$450. Some suggest that there might be more than one version of the 2 inbound, but if there is OnePlus haven’t mentioned so far.

On the Motorola side, the teases us with “Your relationship is about to change” signed, “XGX Moto”. I think we can expect new Moto X and Moto G models and as Motorola tends to go with evolution rather than revolution, they’ll probably be much like last year’s, only better. Some have suggested that the two Xs might mean two models, but I think it’s just supposed to be “XOX” for hugs and kisses.

Finally, Nokia might be re-entering the mobile phone space. There’s a VIP press conference in Los Angeles but no-one knows for sure whether it’s a mobile phone, tablet or a virtual reality headset. The invites featured “Nowhere” and “Now here” which led to much speculation with nothing concrete to go on. We’ll just have to see.

The OnePlus 2 announcement is at 7 pm PT on 27 July which is a very early 3 am UK time. Motorola have a far more reasonable 9 am ET on 28 July which equates to 2 pm here in the UK. Keep ’em peeled.

Motorola UK Summer Sale

June 17, 2015Android, Motorola, smartphoneAndroid, moto x, Motorola, Nexus 6, smartphoneAndrew

Motorola are having a fortnight-long summer sale on the Moto X and Nexus 6 smartphones in the UK.

There’s £166 off the Moto X 16GB and 32GB handsets, with prices starting from £229 and £269 respectively, and £80 off Nexus 6 handsets in Midnight Blue or Cloud White, with prices starting from £399 and £469 for the 32GB and 64GB versions. There’s free postage too.

Certainly that’s the biggest discount I’ve seen on the Moto X in the UK so if you want a new phone for the summer, now’s the time to get it. Don’t forget you can customise the phone so it’s just how you want it. I really liked the Moto X when I reviewed it, but never got my hands on the Nexus 6. Details of the special offers are at Motorola.

Offer runs until midnight on 30 June or while stocks last.

Motorola Spring Special Offers in UK

May 17, 2015Motorola, smart watch, smartphoneMoto 360, moto x, Motorola, Nexus 6, smart watch, smartphoneAndrew

Looking for a new smartphone or smart watch in the UK and fancy a Moto X, Nexus 6 or Moto 360? Motorola is having a two day Spring sale starting at midnight tonight, Sunday, (00:01 18 May) and running through to midnight on Tuesday night.

For the Moto X smartphone, save £96 on 16 GB and 32 GB handsets, with prices starting from £299 and £339 respectively off contract.

On the Nexus 6 smartphone, save £30 on Midnight Blue or Cloud White Nexus 6 32 GB and 64 GB handsets, with prices starting from £449 and £519 also off contract.

Finally, save £50 on a Moto 360 smart watch in Stone or Black leather with prices starting from £149.

I really liked the Moto X when I reviewed for GNC back in January and now that has been updated with Lollipop I’m sure it’s even better. With a 5.2″ screen, it might suit the smaller pocket rather than a 6″ screen, but if bigger is better, it’s hard to go wrong with the Nexus 6.

Watch for the UK special offers on this page.

Motorola Moto X (2014) Review

January 28, 2015Android, Motorola, review, smartphoneAndroid, moto x, Motorola, review, smartphoneAndrew

The latest iteration of Motorola‘s Moto X has appeared on many end of year lists as the best of phone of 2014. Much as I dislike “best of” lists, I have to agree they’re probably right as the Moto X is an excellent phone. So much so, I’m tempted to simply say that the 2014 Moto X is “the 2013 Moto X – only better”. However, I guess I’d better be a little more rigorous. Let’s take a look.

I’ve spent a little around a month with the Moto X courtesy of Motorola and as an upgrade from my previous workhorse, the LG Nexus 4, it’s a significant jump which is emphasised by the coincidental arrival of Android 5. The Moto X arrived with KitKat out of the box, but upgraded to Lollipop within minutes.

Checking out the specs, it’s a 5.2″ 1920 x 1080 full HD AMOLED screen powered by a Qualcomm 2.5 MHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor supported by an Adreno 330 GPU. There’s 2 GB RAM and 16 GB of storage and a 2300 mAh battery keeps the Moto X going, with Motorola reckoning on around 24 hours use. It’s a GSM phone with 4G LTE on the 1, 3, 7, 8 and 20 bands. Dimensions are 72 x 141 x 9.9 mm (3.8 mm at the narrowest point) and weighs in at 144 g. Broadly, it’s faster, bigger and heavier than the previous generation.

Using Geekbench 3, the latest Moto X clocks in at 1001 single core and 2801 for multi-core with the previous generation Moto X scoring 666 / 1258. The bump in clock speed (1.75 to 2.5 GHz) and cores (2 to 4) are responsible for the big jump in multi-core performance.

The Moto X looks good, and this particular phone is nearly all black with the on/off and volume rocker in a dark grey metal. There are speaker highlights at the top and bottom of the phone too. Using MotoMaker there’s wide range of colour combinations for both the metal frame and the back of the phone, which also comes in a few different materials including leather. Nice.

Moving round the phone, the right-hand side has the ribbed on/off button and similar volume rocker. There’s a micro-USB socket at the bottom and 3.5 mm audio jack at the top. I like the left-side clear so it’s easy to rest the phone on the edge and there’s no fiddling around for the volume controls. The back has the rear-facing camera with flash ring and there’s the signature dimple in the back which might have been a fingerprint scanner. Powering the phone up reveals two things….first the screen is even better than last time and second Motorola has still kept it near to stock Android. The full HD screen gives a high pixel density of 423 ppi and everything looks good. True to AMOLED displays, colours are strong and vibrant, though some people may find it oversaturated.

Returning to the user interface, anyone familiar with a Nexus device will be totally at home. It’s all fairly standard and what Motorola has done is to tweak some of the standard apps and include a few value-adding apps which you can use or not use, as you wish. They’re all pretty good and several have been updated with new names and extra functionality. Both Help and Migrate are much as before and Connect now supports newer devices such as the Moto 360 smartwatch or Keylink tracker.

Moto has replaced the earlier Assist as a personal assistant-type app that sets up rules for when the phone needs to be quiet, based on driving, meetings or sleeping. The new version adds extra features to set up rules for reacting to motion, responding to voice and displaying notifications on the screen. Active Display is still cool – go up to the phone and notifications will fade into view. It’s one of the best Moto features by far. The new Moto X now has Attentive Display too which keeps the screen on when the owner is looking at the phone but turns it off to save power when the owner looks away. Neat.

Camera-wise, some other reviewers gripe that the 13 megapixel camera lets the phone down. I’m not so sure: while it’s not a necessarily a great camera, my photos seemed to me to be an improvement on those taken by the previous generation of smartphone camera. I was able to zoom in further without loss of detail and colour reproduction was good. Frankly, if you want great photos, use a DSLR.

To round off the review, here are a couple of family photos with the 2014 Moto X next to the original and a Nexus 4 snuck in the middle. The new one is bigger but it’s not crazy big like the Nexus 6 or the OnePlus One. I think it’s a good size.

Reiterating, the Moto X is an excellent phone which is competitively priced, starting at £419 here in the UK, though there are occasional offers that drop the price by good chunk. It feels great in the hand, has a lovely screen and sticks to stock Android while adding value through apps rather than eye candy. I’m seriously considering buying one for myself to replace the ageing Nexus 4, so consider that a recommendation.

Thanks again to Motorola for providing the Moto X for review.