Motorola grabbed the tech headlines a couple of hours ago
from the OnePlus as it announced its newest generation of Android smartphones
in a special event in New York City. Quite a few changes are coming into the company’s
Moto line. Most notably the splitting of its Moto X flagship phone into two
distinct variants – the Moto X Play and Moto X Style.
The Moto X Style is the more expensive of the two and
features slightly bumped up specs including a 5.7-inch QHD display, a
Snapdragon 808 chip with a 1.8GHz hexa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and up to
64GB of expandable storage.
At the back, there’s a 21MP camera with an f/2.0 lens,
phase-detection autofocus, support for 4K video recording and what the company
is calling Dual Color Correlated Temperature flash. Flipping the phone to its
front, there’s a 5MP sensor with an 87-degree wide-angle lens for selfies with
front-facing flash.
Just like the original Moto X, the Moto X Style will be
capable of shape-shifting to any style a user wants through the multitude of
back cover offerings differing in texture and in color.
The Motorola Moto X Style will be available starting in
September for around $399 for the base 16GB version.
If in case the Moto X Style is a bit too large for you, the Moto X Play offers a slightly smaller package with a 5.5-inch display. However, the reduced footprint also meant that the innards had to be watered down.
For starters, the SoC has been downgraded to a Snapdragon
615 chip and 1GB of RAM has been slashed for the Style’s memory. There will also
be just two storage options – 16GB and 32GB though both version will still provide
the ability to expand storage using a microSD card.
More downgrades are implemented when we reach the camera
department. The Moto X Play retains the 21MP sensor from the X Style but it’s
now limited to Full HD recording instead of 4K. Moreover, the front-facing
flash sitting at the side of the Style’s 5MP selfie snapper has also been
removed.
On the plus side, the Moto X Play (as the name suggests)
would allow users to use the device at longer periods of time as it sports a
slightly bigger battery capacity at 3630mAh over the Moto X Style’s 3000mAh
pack. Both models will support TurboCharger 15 as an option.
The Motorola Moto X Play will also be arriving a month
earlier than the Moto X Style as it should be available starting next month in
over 60 countries for around $299.
Now if the $299 price tag of the Moto X Play is still too
much for you, Motorola has also announced the third generation of its mid-range
yet very capable phone – the Moto G.
The new Moto G sports a 5-inch HD panel that is protected by
a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The innards is composed of a Snapdragon 410
chipset that packs a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, an Adreno 306 graphics card,
2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage (a trimmed down version is also
available with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.
Motorola has equipped the new Moto G with a 13MP sensor at the back with dual-tone LED flash and a 5MP selfie sensor on the front. The phone will also come with LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS.
A 2470mAh battery will provide power to the device while an
IPx7 certification will make sure that users will be able to bring the Moto G
and swim in a 1-meter deep pool for 30 minutes without worrying of wrecking the
phone.
The Motorola Moto G (3rd Gen) should be available
within the week in markets served by the company for around $187 for the base
16GB version.
