Motorola Moto X Style First Impressions: A bigger and powerful Moto 'X'

The much awaited Motorola Moto X Style has been launched in India, and will be available exclusively on flipkart, starting October 14. The phone is the latest flagship version of Motorola's Moto X series that also includes the Moto X Play, which was launched in India last month. The newbie gets a price tag of Rs. 29,999 for the 16GB variant and Rs. 31,999 for the 32GB variant, which is very aggressive, as per Motorola India's MD, Amit Boni.

Speaking of price and on competition with the upcoming Google Nexus 5X, which is expected to be priced approximately Rs 32,000, Boni told GizBot that "I don't think Nexus is a competition this time, irrespective of its price. The ‘X' is everything that Nexus was ever supposed to be."

PROS

• 21MP rear camera
• Good build and form factor
• almost raw software experince

CONS

• non-removable battery
• no fingerprint scanner
• TFT Display

Boni added that a lot of consumers have already been excited about the Moto X Style, and have been asking (on Twitter) about its launch timeline in India, which shows that the Moto X Style is already much demanded. Moreover, Boni said that previous record shows that the company's X series has always done better than the Nexus, and things should not be different this time as well. Motorola wanted to bring the phone a month back in India, however delayed the launch because of the inventory issues.

Speaking of the device, the Moto X Style is based on the design that was used for last year's Moto X, but is bigger and boasts a higher megapixel camera which is also the key attraction of the phone.

We spent some time with the Moto X Style phone at its launch event, and here are our first impressions:

Design and display:

A brief look at the Moto X Style smartphone and you may confuse it with the last gen Moto X or the Nexus 6 smartphone. Yes, the phone looks identical to the aforementioned smartphone, which is due to the similar design and form factor. However, the Moto X Style has a bigger and higher resolution display in comparison to the previous gen Moto X smartphone.

Surprisingly though, despite the bigger display, the phone doesn't look that big, reason being the very thin bezels on the left and right of the 5.7-inch screen, which makes the phone look smaller. Besides, it does not really feel bulky. It is pretty comfortable on hand, though consumers who are used to of smaller screen might initially find it massive and uncomfortable to be used single-handedly.

The Moto X Style measures in at 124 x 76 x 11mm, which may sound thick but the phone is not that thick actually. It has a curved back, with the thickest point being the centre of the back. So, it is actually pretty comfortable on hand due to the curved design. The front adorns a front facing snapper apart from display and capacitive keys. Also, there are dual front-facing stereo speakers, which should be good for a quality audio experience.

The right side of the phone has the lock button placed alongside the volume rocker, and the left side is free from buttons, but has SIM and microSD card treys. The keys are within easy thumb reach. The top is home to the headphone jack, and the bottom has a microUSB port.

In terms of display quality and visibility, the 5.7-inch display accommodates QHD resolution with 2560×1440 pixels, giving way to a pixel density of 520ppi. It looks bright, reproduces colors well, and offers great viewing angles.

Processor:

The Moto X Style is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor with hexa-core, clocked at 1.8GHz, backed by the Adreno 418 GPU. The chipset is paired with 3GB of RAM, and 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, depending up on the variant. In addition to that, it features a microSD slot to expand the memory by up to 128GB.

Camera:

The key highlight of the Motorola Moto X Style is its 21-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash, which as per the company is the best on a Moto phone till date. There also is a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter which also comes with an LED flash.

In the brief moments we had with the phone, we found the camera good. However, we will reserve our take on the camera for the review of the phone.

Software:

The USP of Motorola smartphones has been the perfectly optimized software which comes with minimalistic changes. This time as well, the almost raw Android software feels smooth and offers a fluid experience. You get Material Design of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, topped with Motorola's native features, including gesture controls.

In addition, the phone will be amongst the first few devices to receive future software updates.

Battery:

The Moto X Style is powerd by a massive 3,000mAh battery, which should be good to last for a day easily. It is supported with Motorola's turbo charging capability for fast charging.

More can be said about the battery performance only after we thoroughly test the device.

Conclusion:

Motorola Moto X Style smartphone looks nice and feels great in hand. It is backed by powerful features and smooth interface, which make it a great phone. However, at the same time it lacks water resistance capabilities which are available with the new Moto G. Though, it does have water repellant coating, for protection against accidental water splash.