At their global event across London, New York and Sao Paulo Brazil Motorola has launched two models of their Moto X, bringing more choice to their already highly customisable Moto X line with the Moto X Style and Moto X Play.
The Moto X Play is aimed at addressing the three major concerns of smartphone customers, taking aim at : Battery, Camera and Cost.
With Battery, Motorola has included a 3,630mAh battery in the Moto X Play, it will in theory in a ‘mature 4G market’ giving up to two days of battery life on a single charge. Motorola is also including Turbo Charge, which Motorola says will recharge up to 8 Hours of battery life in just 15 minutes.
The camera on the Moto X Play is also carrying the same 21MP camera and dual-LED Flash as the Moto X Style. The camera is, Motorola say ‘Best in Class’, which could be a big claim given that the f/2.25 aperture aperture on the Moto X Play falls somewhat short of the f/1.9 aperture on the Galaxy S6 and the f/1.8 aperture of the LG G4. Also included is a 5MP front-facing camera.
The Moto X Play is the more budget oriented of the two models, though Motorola has yet to offer any pricing information for the handset, beyond advising that it will cost $300-$400 less than other premium devices in the category.
Full Specs for the Moto X Play (XT1562) include :
- 5.5” 1080p Full HD (1920×1080) resolution, 403 ppi display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with 1.7 GHZ Octa-core CPUs
- Adreno 405 GPU
- 2GB
- 16GB/32GB, Micro SD Card support (up to 128GB)
- 21 MP Rear Camera with f /2.25 aperture and Dual LED Flash
- Quick Capture
- Tap anywhere to capture
- 1080p HD video (30 fps)
- Slow motion video
- 4X digital zoom
- Burst mode
- Night mode
- Night mode
- Night mode
- Auto HDR
- Panorama
- Drag to focus & exposure
- 5 MP Front Camera
- Dual Band Wi-Fi 802.11a/g/b/n, Bluetooth version 4.0 LE, NFC, GPS
- Front Speaker
- Radios:
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
- UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100 MHz)
- 4G LTE (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 19, 20, 28, 38, 41)
- Android 5.1.1
- 3630 mAh battery giving Mixed usage up to 30 hours
- 148.0×75.0xCurve: 8.9-10.9mm @ 169 grams
While the Moto X Style comes with an IP52 dust/water resistance rating, the Moto X Play has a simple splash resistance that is not waterproof. As Motorola says, the ‘Advanced nano-coating technology creates a water repellent barrier to help protect against moderate exposure to water, such as accidental spills, splashes, or light rain’.
The Moto X Play will be available in 55 countries, including we hope Australia in August in Black with Black Back and White with Winter White Back. There’s been no mention of Moto Maker expanding to Australia during the announcement, but Brazil now gets Moto Maker, so they are moving forward expanding the Moto Maker availability.
Motorola has advised with regards to availability in Australia:
We’ve made sure that every Moto phone is offered at an amazingly competitive price and delivers premium value. In Australia, local availability, pricing and distribution plans for the Moto G, Moto X Play and Moto X Style will be confirmed in the near future.
We look forward to seeing more of the Moto X Play when it arrives in Australia.
Read all about Motorola’s 2015 device launches
I think this may be my next phone. Motorola do the right thing by Australia.
Does anyone know if this phone has the right bands for Telstra?
A bit like Star Wars, “This is the droid I’ve been looking for”. Plus there’s a dual sim version, I can’t wait, Thankyou Motorola.
Any word on NFC or wireless charging?
I just answered my own question. Motorola AUS website lists NFC, but looks like no wireless charging.
In the presentation they pushed that they have really really fast charging. Faster than Samsung fast charging. So that was their angle on that topic.
Yep. It’s just that I’ve gotten so used to wireless charging with my N5, but then again, the ONLY reason I bought so many wireless chargers was because the N5 was so terrible with battery life. If the battery life on this is really that good, and the charging is as good as they say, it looks like this may tick all the right boxes for me after all. Now the question is when it’ll be available and if the new Nexus will be better/cheaper and available before it or not…
I’ve been using a little 2013 Moto X for a year now, and I am pretty happy with it. So, I genuinely want one of these. I’m ready to go back to a big phone.
I’ll watch the usual online stores in the hope they turn up. I think the back of this version is replaceable. I hope so. LG made getting a bit of colour easy, so I hope Moto has learned from them. Only offering black or white is a little insulting.
Does it have dual stereo speakers?
The Verge says Europe, South America and Canada.
Trust us.
I always trust you, Mr Tyson. Moto… well, let’s see.
I’m hoping Motorola finally get their act together and treat Australia like a mature wealthy market. After the not so stellar OnePlus2 launch the Moto x twins are definitely at the top of my upgrade list
I find it highly amusing that a U.S.A. owned Motorola neglected the Australian market and others but a Chinese owned Moto will release their phones in 55 countries, including probably Australia. What is wrong with the U, S of A?
Don’t hold your breath