Moto X-Force Review with Specifications and Features
Motorola launched Moto X-Force few months after the launch of Moto X Style and Moto X Play. Branded as Moto Droid Turbo 2 in the US, the X-force is the priciest handset in the range, its price for the 32GB variant starts from 499 pounds which will come around 750 US dollars and for the 64GB model, it is priced at 534 pounds which are approximately 800 US dollars.
Its price positions it in some serious place in the market. Moto X-Force is priced same around the price of Samsung Galaxy S6, and it is not that far off from iPhone 6S.
DESIGN
Coming to the design, you can tell from the first look that in the looks department, the phone is similar to the Moto X Style and Moto X Play. The frame also looks familiar with straight sides and slightly curved top and bottom with a similar metal outline which borders a customizable back cover. For finishing off the back, the company used a material it refers as ‘Ballistic Nylon’ which looks rather like a solid speaker lattice. However, the material feels little cheap, and there are other options, but it undoubtedly has a solid grip.
The camera is also positioned at the same place as the duos at the top, in the center and set in a pill-shaped metallic enclose above a Motorola insignia pockmark.
Placements of buttons and ports are also same. The volume button and the power/sleep button is placed on the right side, and the microUSB port and the headphone jack is placed at the bottom of the phone.
The phone is a bit slimmer than the Moto X Style with the dimension 149.8*78*9.2mm. It weighs 169 grams which are a whole 10 gram lighter than then X style.
The Moto X-Force is compact than the other Moto phones because of its screen; it has the smallest screen, 5-inches. Even with this, it maintains the QHD resolution same as the 5.7-inch Styles.
Featuring 2560*1440pixles into a 5.4-inch display is the sharpest display the company ever has to design. Unlike the other recently launched Moto smartphones, Moto X-Force used AMOLED pane technology which was last used in 2014 by the company.
AMOLED display in the phone gives more lively colors and more profound blacks. Despite this, the AMOLED used by Motorola lags behind from the competitor Samsung. The display has a warm tone to it that might be off-putting if you are habitual of LCD displays.
The major setback in display department is that there is no option to bend screen temperature. However, it has a quite pleasing display.
INTERFACE
Moto X-Force is one of the high-end Motorola phones which mean it is one of the finest smartphones in the market.
It is powered by Android 5.1.1; it’s not the latest version however the interface is better than any non-stock Android. Starting and using the phone is very simple as there is no bloatware, unnecessary and confusing apps or the gaudy layout menu.
The Android 5.1.1 is a sharp, modern OS which runs very smoothly in X-Force. There is some tactful Moto app slipped away in app tray in the way of connect and Moto. You can use connect if you have a Motorola-branded secondary to use with your phone, it has the Moto 360 smartwatch, though it is quite unnecessary, most of the users won’t even touch.
Moto app, on the other hand, is much more useful. It allows you to set up Motorola voice supporter, handles gesture shortcuts and also locks screen notifications.
Voice factor is nothing unique in these days with Google, Siri, and Cortana, although it is helpful that it works even when the screen is asleep. Also setting it up and launching is a bit troublesome. The gesture command is slightly more useful. Twirling the device twice will give you straight access to camera whereas ‘double karate chop’ will light the torch.
Although these gestures are clear, it doesn’t have the surety of Galaxy S6 or even iPhone 6S.
PERFORMANCE
Moto X-Force is the fastest running phone in 2015 Motorola flotilla. While the previously launched phones were powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 CPU, the X-Force runs on more efficient Snapdragon 810.
Snapdragon 810 has two extra cores for low- power jobs. It undoubtedly provides more edgy performance. It has a 3GB RAM similar to the Style. Playing high-end games would not get in the way of Force’s performance. Admittedly, it is no big deal as very other Android these days has a good performance, but Force has a QHD display to run and which means there is the bundle of pixels to run.
Moto X-Force scored a very impressive 4757 on Geekbench’s three muti-core benchmark tests. This is 1200 more than the Moto X Style.
CAMERA
Lately, Motorola has made vast improvements with its smartphone cameras, and X-Force maintains the fine job.
It sports a 21-megapixel rear camera and a front snapper of 5-megapixels same as in the X Style’s. The company has tried to make the capture experience easy and quick.
Like, we can use the double twist gesture which will allow us to go straight to the camera. To be honest, it is reliable, but it doesn’t feel as intuitive as some of the other company’s shortcut buttons. It features a tap-to-shoot option for capturing picturing; this will allow you to take pictures very swiftly. However, it doesn’t provide steady shots.
Its camera features include the f/2 aperture and Phase Detect Auto-Focus but it skips the Optical Image Stabilisation.
Coming to the front camera, it has a 5-MP front snapper as mentioned above along with the wide-angle lens, which will allow the selfies to be better lit and comprehensive.
Overall, in your normal usage, the phone does not come close to the reliability and easiness of Samsung Galaxy, iPhone S6 or LG G4 but the phone is still capable of taking good pictures with balanced shots.
BATTERY CAPACITY
The main issue faced by Motorola X Style was its battery capability. Looks like with X-Force the company has addressed the issue. The phones come with a 3760mAh battery which will provide 25% more power bank than the X Style. Known that the X-Force has a pixel crammed QHD display, a 3760mAh battery is necessary.
It also has a Motorola’s TurboPower charging technology, which allows you to get 13 hours of battery out of 15-minute charging.
The Moto X box supports Qi wireless charging out of the box. However, you will need to purchase the charging dock disjointedly.
POSITIVE
As advertised the X-Force is a tough phone. It will defy those entire clumsy incidences that lead to broken display
The phone looks attractive, easy to use and solid performance and smooth Android UI.
Lastly, it has a better battery capacity than many of its opponents. The phone has resilience in many ways.
NEGATIVE
The phone’s high-end features and extraordinarily robust display comes at a cost.
It is hard not to mention the compromises the company has made regarding outer screen coating and rather dysfunctional mono speaker.
Where its AMOLED display decently is not up to the mark.
VERDICT
On the whole, X-Force is an impressive smartphone. Its shatter-display provides solution to the long-term smartphone problem
This smartphone is not the most stylish or nicest to use, but it is quick, durable and takes beautiful pictures.
And the best thing is you know the performance isn’t going to be affected if you accidently drop it.
