Motorola has been on a roll for the past few years, with the Moto G racking up sales in India and the Moto X proving a strong contender overseas. Once the domain of average phones and high end flagship devices past their prime, the world of mid-range smartphones is now where the competition is the most intense. With this in mind, Motorola has unveiled two versions of its higher end Moto X, the top end Style variant, and a more affordable Play version, which we tinker with, for this review. The Moto X Play comes with a fairly simple box packing the bare essentials – the phone itself, a two-part charger with a plug that sports two USB ports, a very basic pair of earphones (not the in-ear variety), and a SIM removal tool.
The phone does support Motorola’s TurboPower quick charge technology, which promises hours of extra battery life from just a few minutes on the charger, but unfortunately the included adapter is not of the TurboPower variety, so you’ll have to pick up one of those separately for rapid charging. The 5.5 inch phone does have a removable back, but the battery is sealed, and dual nano-SIMs and a microSD card can be inserted via a tray at the top of the phone next to a 3.5mm headphone jack. This back panel has a textured pattern, which provides a little additional grip and keeps away pesky fingerprints, though its slight curve and the smooth metal framing can still cause the phone to slip out of the hand occasionally. Overall quality is pretty great, except for the side buttons. While the texture that helps distinguish the power button from the volume rockers is welcome, the buttons feel a little flimsy to the touch.
Moving on to where the magic happens, the X Play’s 5.5 inch 1080p display is the IPS LCD variety, and it is very, very bright. Even with the brightness slider around the halfway mark, the screen is bright and crisp and quite legible under direct sunlight. The phone supports Motorola’s active display, which lights up the screen with interactive icons when notifications arrive. They don’t stay long, but merely picking up the phone or taking it out of the pocket triggers the display again, and allows the user to quickly access the relevant app.
The X Play keeps software gimmickry to a minimum, and purists will appreciate the clean, near-stock build of Android. The only additions are Motorola’s Migrate, Connect and Moto apps; the first two geared towards helping users transfer content to their new phone and manage devices, while the latter beefs up Google’s own personal assistant and turns it into an always on, always aware secretary ready to help you with everything from sending messages to finding out how old Matt Damon is (He’s 45, in case you were wondering). All additional software features are intuitive, such as how a custom phrase will have the phone ready to respond to queries, even if the screen is off. It isn’t always perfect, but when it works, you can comfortably be typing away on a computer and instructing your posh assistant to make an appointment or find out which movies are playing nearby.
The experience can be immensely enjoyable and slightly creepy at the same time.One of the main talking points of the phone is its massive 3630 mAh battery, and as expected, it does last a fairly long time. The Moto G is a great performer in the upper entry-level category, and the X Play bridges the gap between it and the Style perfectly. It’s not the standout choice in its price range, thanks to some strong competitors, but with Motorola’s recent track record, the promise of quick software updates, the humungous battery and the well-balanced software, the X Play is a phone that ticks the boxes that matter most.