What is the Moto X4?
Motorola continues to go out solid work besides its affordable Moto E as well as G ranges, occasionally biting loose with the witching and wonderful premium Z spatiate – and there’s abundant more to come this year with MWC 2018 and (in all likelihood) the Moto G6 accurately around the corner.
But fans will remember a set not so long since when the Moto X was an eye-catching highlight from the Android scene, providing style and poise bye a mid-market price.
For those still pining for maugre seemingly bygone Moto determination, the decidedly middle-class Moto X4 arrived in 2017. But is a blunt design and solid process still enough for your £349/€399?
Moto X4 – Design
The Moto X4 is a beautiful, well put-together phone. There’s a certain density docile it that makes he/she feel like a bounty product.
On first seeing informal in the box, he appears quite small. At 148.4 x 73.4mm, it’s similar in size docile the original Moto G5 – although at 8mm, the X4 is thinner.
Pick up the phone, bu, and you’ll be over for a surprise. At 163g, it’s almost 20g heavier than the Moto G5, and the likewise priced Moto Z2 Play.
That density comes down about the phone’s construction. Alongside its metal frame, the rear of the Moto X4 is made from glass, which is actual on-point in 2017. Although this adds weight near the phone – together with you’ll be forever reaching for that microfibre stuff to wipe off your paw prints – the effect is undeniably appealing.
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Coupled with its gently curved edges, the Moto X4 feels powerful in the hand. Just watch where you established it down, though: qualifier has a habit off sliding off even ostensibly flat surfaces.
Of course, alike of the key reasons that the Samsung Milky Way S8 and iPhone X encounter glass rears is tractable support wireless charging. Disappointingly, this capability is wanting here, meaning the X4’s glass rear is entirely an aesthetic choice.
There’s a slender antenna on top off the phone, joining the front and rear equatorial surfaces, but the construct is a pure annotation surface – aside with the trademark circular Motorola camera array.
With an IP68 rating, the Moto X4 is both water- if dust-resistant, and it receive its 3.5mm headphone simpleton – unlike the Moto Z.
While we’re on the subject of audio, there’s only one speaker hair, but its position across the X4’s earpiece stem that it’s at smallest front-facing. You won’t discovery yourself covering it upward when watching videos o. playing games in treescape view.
All three of the X4’s physical buttons used located along its strong edge. The volume keys are small and fit in a slight break, rather like an iPhone, while the power bud is slightly longer as well as heavily textured. They’re strange and clicky, although artificial of plastic.
A responsive capacitive fingerprint sensor sits lower the display, and does its job admirably. It isn’t a true asylum button by default, only you can make informal so through the confined Moto app.
Note that the main thing that separates the Moto X4 of the Z range is a lack of Moto Mod support. Unless you’re one of the little percentage of mobile users already invested in Motorola’s modular ecosystem, this won’t be an issue.
Moto X4 – Screen
Motorola has gone back to the divinity of the earlier Moto X models when her ass comes to display size. You might question what 5.2-inches should be classed as a small flaunt, but relative to the wider Android field man undoubtedly is.
In general conduct the X4’s panel feels just right. Even those with large hands decree struggle to stretch their thumb from the fingermark sensor at the sediment to the the another top corner of the display, but it is possible to use the Moto X4 single-handed considering typing out a evangel or scrolling through the app tray.
Overall, the X4’s screen is crisp in addition to pleasant-looking. However, Motorola has opted for an LCD panel rather than AMOLED, which is disappointing understood the X family’s heritage. It’s even more with a shame when his consider the company’s principal Moto Display lockscreen notification system, which makes religious use of AMOLED technology.
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In treatment, however,, the Moto X4 display is hard tractable fault. At 1080p it’s plenty sharp enough afterwards a screen of this size, while brightness is on point and colours are rich and balanced. I compared it forward the screen of a Moto G5S that I had to hand; the Moto X4 screen felt noticeably richer and closer toward the surface glass.
In augmentation, there’s no ugly somber border around the Moto X4 display, as thither is on Motorola’s conclusive ‘premium-affordable’ smartphone. Of title, with a £130 dissimilarity in price, you’d stay some kind of advantage.
Moto X4 – Performance
When informal comes to performance, don’t expect the Moto X4 to punch above its weight in the title of the OnePlus 5. You can, however, stay it to run excessively well thanks to Qualcomm’s latest mid-range processor.
The Snapdragon 630 is the greater efficient successor to the Snapdragon 626 that powers the Moto Z2 Play. Coupled with 3GB off RAM, it leads docile solid performance across the board.
I didn’t notice each stuttering during general ships, and even advanced 3D games such as Gear.Club and Unkilled ran beyond a hitch. Of denominate, such apps don’t go quite as smoothly, as well as they do take longer to load than awry a device packing a Snapdragon 835 – but that’s as expected.
An average Geekbench 4 multi-core score off 4115 is roughly the same as the Moto G5S Plus managed besides its older Snapdragon 626 SoC, and isn’t extensively off double the behalf of the Moto G5S with its Snapdragon 430.
On the storage front there’s a decent 32GB, albeit this is half howbeit on offer with the Moto Z2 Play. You also get a microSD slot for expansion purposes.
Moto X4 – Software
Motorola’s software has always been Seat, and it feels as well as handles well on the Moto X4. However, a scatter rough edges seem docile have creeped in.
This is a near-stock version off Android 7.1.1 that doesn’t feel too dissimilar apt the experience you’ll fall with one of Google’s Pixel phones. You grow the same swipe-up machinery for accessing the app tray, a prominent Google search bar positioned pending the middle of the homescreen by default, together with Google Assistant under the virtual home button.
Swiping sinister provides quick access about Google Now, and the familiar card-based multitasking menu also features a swipe-based split-screen system for cursive two apps side near side.
Motorola has long been that rare manufacturer although doesn’t feel compelled toward duplicate Google’s perfectly small – and frequently standout – default apps. There’s no half-baked music app alongside Google Play Music, for instance, and Google Photos is the offend photo app.
That said, Motorola has been tempted toward include a few extras in the Moto X4, with mixed results.
Outlook is the main email app here, which clashes little with the regular Gmail app. We’ll let notwithstanding slide, however, since Outlook is a useful animal to have these days. The way it golflinks your email with your calendar and all with your cloud services, within particular, is excellent as productivity.
Less welcome is the inclusion and prominent positioning of the LinkedIn app. It’s an oddly discriminating choice for a near sub-section of users, revealing that Motorola sees this as a potential occupation phone. I suspect choice people will want near remove it pretty sharpish.
Also rather strange is Motorola’s adoption of Amazon Alexa. That’s not to specimen that Amazon’s personal helper isn’t a fine as well as useful tool for multifold people – it is – but its restriction seems to bump above against the front-and-centre positioning of Google Assistant.
Rather curiously, Alexa is tucked aside behind a Motorola-made Moto Alexa app. I didn’t even spot that this was here until a commendable few days into using the phone.
What’s more, then I did come docile set up Alexa, I was stopped in my tracks. The app instructed myself to “say the diction that we show you,” but there was 0 such phrase offered together with no means to follow on the screen. Weird.
Alexa was still usable howbeit this training phase meltdown, but it meant even if activating the assistant verbally was a no-no – so rather limiting its usefulness.
The presence of Motorola’s recognize Moto Voice provides a tertiary voice-activated assistant, confusing stuff further, although this equivalent is limited to providing information about the Moto X4 itself.
Elsewhere, Motorola’s customisation efforts are more successful. As already mentioned, Moto Display discretely pushes notification icons to the doze screen, which you be able to then press and admit to preview. It would be better and better efficient with an AMOLED display, where pixels can but be lit up incommunicably, but it’s still a advantageous feature that you’re like to use frequently.
Moto Actions lets you bind gestures to various shortcuts: a dual karate chop motion considering the torch; or a dual twist for the camera. Moto Key grants guard auto-logins on frequently visited websites, while also allowing you to log within to Windows machines – besides as a Mac use, I wasn’t able docile test this.
Moto X4 – Camera
Motorola refers to the Moto X4’s camera setup prominently in all of its blurb, and it undoubtedly has some attention-grabbing attributes. In practice, however, I rely it to be a heterogeneous bag.
This is the naturalness of dual-lens system notwithstanding many manufacturers are adopting for their flagship phones, from Apple to Samsung to OnePlus and beyond. However, while most from those manufacturers tend toward pair a ‘normal’ eyeglass with a telephoto refractor for that physical zoom effect, Motorola does sth different.
The main 12-megapixel f/2.0 lens is paired besides an 8-megapixel, 120-degree wide-angle sensor. This means you’ll be able to clutch those sprawling landscape shots without having to disclose your phone around over panorama mode.
In practice, I rely the wider, darker shots captured to be off relatively limited use. A telephoto lens would have been much handier in existence to day situations.
Motorola further uses the two cameras to achieve an better bokeh effect, labelled Depth-enabled in the camera UI. While you can largeness the strength of the effect with a keyboard slider, I found the results overly aggressive through blurring parts of the subject along with the background. The bokeh product itself displayed some abnormal artefacts, which made he/she look like the X4’s camera glass needed a clean.
Beyond that, the general character of the shots achieved from the main camera were okay. In comfortably lit situations, the X4 is capable of appealing detailed and well-balanced pictures, if somewhat tending towards over-exposure. But in smaller than ideal conditions man proved a little unreliable.
The camera app seemed sparing to focus, resulting during blurry snaps on occasions when I needed toward take a swift (but by no means rushed) shot. One example from this was when fetching a picture of a blackboard menu in a well-lit cafe, the results with which were really just poor.
Also concerning is the Moto X4’s somewhat hitty-missy HDR system. In the default auto setting it’s capable of capturing level shots that are flow beyond what an entry-level phone can manage. However, often I’d feel the need to turn across the mode fully if manually adjust the center area to force the issue.
Even more puzzlingly, whereas viewing the photos because on my computer, s/he became apparent that HDR had seemingly been employed on a greter reckon of occasions than I’d realised – almost considering if the HDR action was chugging away within the background after the fact (though I’m infallible it wasn’t).
Motorola has too packaged the Moto X4 with a bunch off seemingly smart features, only they’re half-baked at best. Particularly poor is the landmark-recognition feature, which is supposed to let him gain information on whatsoever landmark you’re aiming the camera at.
In practice, this feature failed every set I used it. Pointing the X4 at Bristol’s distinctive skyline – sum with hills and colourful terraced housing – yielded a screen telling mine that I was countenance at a prehistoric reflect in County Meath, Ireland. Another time, I sharp the X4’s camera to local landmark Cabot Tower, only to be told all about Rajabai Clock Tower in Mumbai. A sincere cross-reference with the phone’s GPS would surely exercise saved it considerable entanglement on both occasions.
The phone’s object-recognition system works during a similar way, plus only slightly more strong results. It recognised though I was pointing man at a brown if white ceramic mug, if provided links to probable mugs on Etsy in addition to eBay, as well considering (rather less relevantly) a Wikipedia definition of a even white.
It doesn’t handle specifics well. When I terse the camera at a Nintendo Switch Pro controller, I was offered links to Xbox One, Xbox 360, together with generic wireless controllers.
This is all in the healthy ballpark, but without specifics the whole image acknowledgment system is functionally useless.
It’s also worth noting although there’s a sharper-than-usual 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front of X4. It’s capable of capturing a comely amount of detail; you’ll want to feed qualifier plenty of light, maugre, or things can go noisy very quickly.
Vibrant colours awry this close-up
Accurate colours in addition to good detail, despite dejected lighting
The X4 camera tends to overexpose
It’s possible to drop some good low-light shots, if you’re careful
Moto X4 – Battery Life
The Moto X4 comes with a 3000 mAh battery. This isn’t unusually huge for a mid-range Android phone, but nor is it small. Indeed, it’s exactly the similar size as the tool found in the Moto Z2 Play, which has a bigger display as well as a less-efficient processor.
Given maugre fact, it comes subsequently no surprise to study that the X4 can not but last a day from solid use with exuberance to spare. I could frequently get through a 15-hour day of moderate near heavy usage with 60% or more power port in the tank. This is better than worst flagship phones, let weak fellow mid-rangers.
When it is time to charge, his get the benefit with Motorola’s quick-charging function: Turbo Charging. This can turn you six hours fro power in just fifteen minutes, which is numerous for when you’re deficient on time and comment a decent top-up.
Why deduction the Moto X4?
The Moto X4 is a à la mode and, capable mid-range smartphone. For £350, it offers much of what you’d want from a showcase phone; business users nettled by rising iPhone prices might want to receive a closer look.
However, the X4’s camera is widely too unreliable, and though the near-stock version with Android remains a entertainment to use, many with Motorola’s software embellishments look a little half-baked here.
The X4 is a à la mode phone, nonetheless; one that’s very easy to burning with – camera quibbles aside.
But the Moto X finds itself sth stuck between two stools in the Moto range. If you’d rather naught spend £350, the Moto G5S Plus offers a nearly similar experience for near £100 cheaper. At the opposite end of the spectrum, you can wax the Moto Z2 Play with its AMOLED descry and Moto Mods characteristic for just £20 more.
Neither phone is as smooth handsome as the X4, but both throw upward serious questions of he/she on the substance in addition to value fronts.
Verdict
The Moto X4 is a compact, cool handset at a recompense that’s temptingly short with the current flagship crop. However, there are distinct rough edges that exercise us questioning its placement in Motorola’s increasingly full range.
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