Moto X Force review: A flagship, only when it comes to performance


Moto X Force review: A flagship, only when it comes to performance

Top Features

* Excellent build quality
* Very rugged
* Top notch performance






We've seen some phenomenal flagships in the last couple of years from leading smartphone companies and Moto X Force is Motorola's answer to the them, in a certain way. This is the third phone in Motorola's X series after the Moto X Play and Moto X Style. This was touted by Motorola to be the first phone with a shatterproof screen. We tried out the smartphone that is priced at 49,999 and see if it is worth the price. This is our review of the Moto X Force.



Design and display

The Moto X Force has an excellent build quality, even though it is not what you would strictly call a good looking phone. The phone's frame is made of metal and the back is made of a mesh weave, which is similar to the ballistic nylon that Motorola has previously used. This holds together the 5.4-inch AMOLED Quad HD display screen that is protected by a special chemically treated screen with ShatterShield technology that Moto claims to be shatter-proof.



We tested out Moto's claim and found that the screen is indeed shatter proof, but that didn't stop it from acquiring dents and the rest of the metal frame getting defaced in rough conditions. But, it would survive without any significant visible damage under normal fall, which serves the purpose.



The front of the phone features a single tone flash and a 5MP camera, and houses speakers in dual panels under the screen on the bezel. The rear of the phone has the 21MP camera with a dual tone flash. The SIM slot is on top of the phone along with the 3.5mm port. The right frame holds the volume and the power key, and the bottom of the phone is where you plug in the charger and the micro-USB connector.

The Moto X Force has a crisp display with HD quality, 540 pixel density that is at par with the top of the line Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6S smartphones. The colours are rich, though not over saturated and the Moto X Force screen has excellent blacks. The UI is absolutely basic like the other Moto phones.

Performance and camera

The Moto X Force boasts the specs of any flagship phone from 2015, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 2.0 GHz Octa-core processor and 3 GB LPDDR4 RAM. This gives the phone top notch performance, but the predominant heating issues with the 810 processor persists and the phone tends to heat up with extensive use.



Motorola touts that the Moto X Force can last 30 hours with mixed usage but we could get only a day comfortably with one full charge. The Moto X Force's Turbo charging is very effective and charges the phone to full in about 40 minutes. Over that, the Moto X Force also supports wireless charging.

The Moto X Force has water-resistant coating too, which keeps the phone safe if liquids are split on it, but would definitely not survive a long dip in the water

Moto X Force has useful gestures feature incorporated in it that grants access to apps and other areas of the phone. The phone can be lit up by just bringing the hand over it, which is a quick way to check the time and notifications. As far as the OS is concerned, it ships with Android 5.1 and can be upgraded to Marshmallow.

Let's take a look at the cameras on the Moto X Force now. It has a 21MP rear and a 5MP on front camera; both have a 1/2.0 aperture. The rear camera despite having a big sensor cannot produce rich photos and colours. The amount of noise in medium and low light is visibly high. The camera app is the stock one that comes with Android and has no great shakes. Though the shutter speed is impressively quick on the Moto X Force, the 4k video mode does not quite live up to the quality.

Indoor photo



Outdoor photo



Verdict

The Moto X Force might have impressive performance, but the lack of a fingerprint sensor and a premium feel and look takes away its credit and the attention it deserves. To top that the price of Rs 49,999 for the 32 GB variant and Rs 53,999 for the 64GB variant is a tad overpriced. These drawbacks make this phone another fanboy gadget and not well worth the price.

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