Lenovo-Motorola Places Third In Indian Market

Moto X Force, X Style & X Play

This week Lenovo-Motorola claimed third place behind Samsung and Micromax, in India's hotly contested smartphone market. Today we take a look at Lenovo-Motorola's current crop of flagship smartphones.

Lenovo bought the Motorola mobile division from Google back in 2014, however news last month indicated that Lenovo-Motorola would be slowly phasing out the Motorola branding from the Moto range of smartphones, whilst maintaining the Moto naming scheme as well as the stylised M logo.

We recently got three new versions of the Moto X flagship smartphone, which could be the last to feature the Motorola name. These devices are the Moto X Force which carries a shatterproof screen, the Moto X Style which has good looks in mind, and the Moto X Play that is billed as a more affordable version that doesn't skimp on features.

Moto X Force

The Moto X Force was the last of the new Moto X trio of flagships to be released. Also known in the US as the Moto Droid Turbo 2, the Moto X Force is the most expensive of the three. The design is composed of a metal frame surrounding a customisable rear cover and despite being the most expensive it also has the smallest display, with a 5.4 inch AMOLED screen. Paired with a QHD resolution this makes the display very sharp with 540ppi.

The key feature of the Moto X Force is its durability, purposefully built to be able to withstand the rigours of everyday accidents. The Moto X Force is virtually impervious to normal drop damage thanks to Motorola's Moto ShatterShield technology, surviving tests involving five feet drops onto tiled floors and worse. Motorola are so confident, they guarantee the screen for up to four years. Additionally, while it doesn't carry an IP certification for water resistance it does have a water repellent coating against minor spills.

Moto X Style

The Moto X Style is the most standard device of the three and along with the X Play was the first to be released. Also known in the US as the Moto X Pure Edition, it's equipped with flagships specs, a stock Android experience and hopes to put up a fight against the Galaxy S6's of the world. The Moto X Style will set you back about $450 for the 32GB model, $300 less than the X Force. For that you get a 5.7 inch QHD IPS panel and some decent specifications.

Inside there's a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, not the top of the range anymore but still competitive, this is paired with 3GB RAM, a choice of internal storage options and a MicroSD expansion slot. There's a 21MP rear and 5MP front camera and the usual features expected from a flagship such as LTE connectivity, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/GLONASS support and NFC. The primary downside is the battery, the 3000mAh unit barely has enough juice to power the big screen for a whole day. If you need flagship specs without breaking the bank it could be worth a look.

Moto X Play

The Moto X Play is not so much of a flagship, rather more of an aspirational mid-ranger. It sits somewhat below the X Style but still feels more premium than the Moto G. Display wise it sits between the X Style and the X Force with a 5.4 inch TFT display, however unlike on the other two you get FHD 1080p resolution instead of QHD, which works out at 403ppi. For a mid-range handset this is not unexpected, although as the X Style is only $60 more it might be worth the extra.

Instead of the Snapdragon 808 found in the other two models there's a Snapdragon 615 and you'll only get 2GB RAM instead of 3GB, internal storage options remain the same. It does retain the water repellent coating, MicroSD slot, 21MP camera, NFC and fast charging, despite not including a fast charger in the box. Unlike the X Style the battery is a key feature here. For comparison the X Style has to power a 2K display and only has a 3000mAh unit, whereas the X Play has a 3630mAh unit and is far less power intensive. This adds up to a really great battery life.

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