Moto M Launched at Rs 15,999: Specs, Review and Competition.

Motorola has launched its much awaited Moto M smartphone with an all new metal body design for Rs 15,999. This is the first Motorola device to come with a fingerprint sensor and the tested Dolby Atmos speakers at the back. Moto M will be made available exclusively on Flipkart from 15th December and will be sold in two variants i.e. a 3GB RAM model with 32GB storage and a 4GB RAM model with 64GB of stage capacity for Rs 17,999.

As expected, Motorola has played it aggressively in the price department and have ditched a 2GB RAM model from the lineup. Considering the rumors regarding HTC launching a smartphone with a ‘Herculean’ 8GB RAM under the hood and the consumers drooling for more power, this move by the company has picked the right nerve of the go-getting generation.

Coming to the specifications, everything is packed in 5.5 FHD (1080*1920) display with 2.5D curved glass smartphone making it the ‘Dodge Hellcat’ of the industry. Under the hood, Moto M flaunts a MediaTek Helio P15 64-bit octa-core processor and it is nothing like the one seen in Lenovo K5 as this time, the processor is clocked at 2.2GHz. However, how it will perform against the set standards of Snapdragon 820 or high end 830 processor, only time will tell.

External memory in 3GB RAM model can be expanded upto 128GB while the 4GB RAM model supports 256GB of external storage, however, to use a microSD card, you will have to use a nano sim in the secondary port. Moto M is backed by a 3050 mAh battery and considering the hardware, it will have enough juice to tackle a 12-hour regressive usage on 4G connectivity. I know it’s not enough but if you are comfortable with keeping a charger with you, the fast charging feature will beef up your battery within 45 to 50 mins.

Surprisingly, Moto M doesn’t support ‘Android Nougat’ out of the box and will run on 6.0.1 Marshmallow. However, the company has promised an Android update soon. It eats my mind that after launching Android Nougat for Moto G4 and G4 Plus, why the company is taking a risk with this rather good smartphone?

Camera is the department where Motorola has always stood out in the competition and they didn’t disappoint us this time too. With 16MP with f/2.0 aperture, LED flash and PDAF support and the 8MP camera with inbuilt beauty mode will not let you down in capturing those heartfelt moments, whether indoors or under the open sky. The front camera can record videos with 1080p resolution.

Moto M comes with 4G Volte, 3.5mm audio jack Wifi, Bluetooth connectivity, USB OTG and USB type C port. The Lenovo owned subsidiary is giving Rs 1000 discount to Citibank customers and upto Rs 2000 discount on exchange of old smartphones. Moto Pulse 2 headphones are also available for Rs 499 after a discount of Rs 1000, for all Moto M buyers.

Competition

The Rs 15,999 Moto M will compete with the likes of Redmi Note 3, LeEco Le 2 and his cousin Lenovo k6 Power in the budget smartphone category. Considering the price tag of its competitors, Moto M may never become the first preference of budget smartphone users, however, Motorola’s new entrant boast Dolby Atmos, a high resolution screen with one of the best cameras in the category and if you need a smartphone for media consumption, you should consider Moto M your next companion.

The Rs 17,999, 4GB RAM model stands in direct competition with Lenovo Z2 Plus and LeEco LeMax 2.

Why Lenovo is competing with its own subsidiary is still a mystery to us, however, we can’t ignore the fact that despite having a small consumer base, there are some die hard Motorola fans who were keeping an eye on Moto M’s launch, making it one of the most anticipated smartphone of the year.

Further, 2016 has been a good year for Lenovo so far as they launched a number of smartphones this year, K6 Power being the latest one. The company is not letting us breathe and Lenovo is all set to launch K6 Note on 14 December 2016.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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13 December 2016
Rohan Jaitly