Many thought that after Lenovo completely bought Motorola, the smartphones of this brand will begin to sharply lose in quality and gradually slide down. Fortunately, this did not happen, and every year more and more models enter the market that are designed for different market segments. In today's review, we would like to talk about an interesting and not very expensive smartphone Motorola M (XT1663), which has not only good hardware stuffing, but also excellent characteristics.
Description
A review of the Motorola M smartphone (XT1663) I would like to start with a short description. The model came out in the spring of 2017 and is aimed at the budget and middle market segments. The main advantages that the device bribes are, first of all, the amount of RAM, which is 3 GB, a 16 megapixel camera, a Full HD screen, 2 SIM cards, Android version 6.0 with an update in the future to version 7, and, of course same quality materials.
Contents of delivery
The next step in the review of Motorola M (XT1663) is a complete set of the device. The smartphone comes in a small box, which shows the device itself and a small label with the inscription Lenovo, which seems to remind all customers that Motorola was bought back.
Inside, in addition to the device, you can find headphones, a Type-C USB cable, instruction booklets, a warranty card, a clip for opening the SIM card tray and a charger adapter, which is very similar to the usual adapters that are bundled with Lenovo smartphones.
As for the package itself, it is more than standard. For the budget segment, it is quite suitable, but for the middle one there is clearly not enough film, protective glass or, at worst, a silicone case (bumper).
Appearance
The appearance of the smartphone very much resembles other models from Motorola - the Moto G line. In fact, the most significant difference between M and G is that in G the case is completely made of plastic, and in M-ki it is metal. In general, the smartphone looks very stylish and beautiful.
On the right side of the smartphone is already the familiar volume rocker and just below it the power / lock button. On the left side you can find a small hole for a paper clip that opens the SIM card tray.
At the top of the Motorola M (XT1663) is the familiar 3.5 mm headphone jack, as well as a second microphone. If you look at the bottom, then there is a Type-C connector for connecting a USB cable and charger, an external speaker and a talking microphone.
On the back of the case there is only a fingerprint scanner and a 16 megapixel camera with a dual LED flash. The camera eye has a small metal edge and rises slightly above the body. The optics are covered with a protective glass Gorilla Glass. As for the fingerprint scanner, there are no complaints about its work. Everything is clear and fast.
Well, the last thing left is the front of the device. Everything is standard on it, as for most smartphones. Above the screen is a front camera, proximity sensor, light sensor, earpiece. Under the screen there is nothing but a company logo.
The main part of the front panel is a large, Full HD-display with a diagonal of 5.5 inches. The frames are minimal and do not cause any complaints, but the fact that the control buttons (back, home and menu) are on the screen is a minus, because a small but still part of the touch screen disappears. It is much more convenient when the control buttons are placed under the screen. Anyway.
Screen
As already mentioned, the screen of the Motorola M has a diagonal of 5.5 inches and is covered by a Gorilla Glass protective glass . The matrix is made using IPS technology, Full HD resolution (1920x1080). Oleophobic coating is present, and very high quality. The finger glides very well. The number of pixels per inch is 401 ppi, which, in general, is not bad. Pixels (pentail) are not visible on the screen.
If we talk about color rendering, then it is good. The colors are juicy, bright, there is no bias in warm or cold shades. True, the brightness margin could have been a little larger, and the calibration could have been done more accurately, but anyway, on a cloudy day, on a bright sunny day, it would be quite comfortable to read information from the display.
Characteristics
The main characteristics of the Motorola M smartphone (XT1663) are as follows:
- Model - Motorola M (XT1663).
- The number of SIM cards is 2 nano.
- Screen - IPS, Full HD, 401 ppi.
- The diagonal is 5.5 inches.
- Camera - 16 megapixels, aperture F2.0, autofocus, dual LED flash.
- Front camera - 8 megapixels.
- Communication - GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE-A Cat.6.
- Bluetooth - 4.1.
- Processor - MediaTek Helio P15 / P10, 8 cores, 2200 GHz / 2000 GHz.
- RAM - 3 GB.
- Video Accelerator - Mali T-860 MP2.
- Built-in memory - 32 GB.
- MicroSD support - yes, the maximum microSD card capacity is 128 GB.
- Battery - 3050 mAh.
- Dimensions (W / H / T) - 75.35 mm / 151.35 mm / 7.85 mm.
- Weight - 163 grams.
- Additionally - GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, USB Type-C, fingerprint scanner, light and proximity sensors, gyroscope.
In general, the technical characteristics of the Motorola M (XT1663) are quite good, even despite the fact that the processor is installed here not from Qualcomm, but from the Chinese giant MediaTek. On some models, a weaker P10 processor with a clock frequency of 2000 GHz may be found. There are already not very many such models on the market, but still they are, and this is worth remembering.
The main complaint, if you look at the reviews on Motorola M (XT1663), lies precisely in the first version of the P10 processor, which does not always cope with the high load of the smartphone, as a result of which there are noticeable small braking of the interface.
Shell and interface
Motorola M runs on the version of the Android 6.0 operating system with a proprietary shell from Google. In other words, the user gets virtually naked Android, without any extraneous launchers and other unnecessary widgets. No brakes are observed, everything works quite quickly and smoothly. The only exceptions are devices on a weaker processor, which can sometimes slow down.
Pre-installed software here is also a minimum - applications from Google and Microsoft. Active Display is not here, but there is an LED indicator that alerts you to missed events. There is no support for any gestures, which can be attributed to the minuses. Of the good news, we can note the system update to version 7.0 in the near future.
Camera
The Motorola M (XT1663) camera has a resolution of 16 megapixels and it shoots well. Interesting features include the F2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus and professional shooting mode. The camera application here is the same as in the latest Lenovo smartphones. There are a lot of settings and modes, and disassembling them all does not make sense.
As for the front camera, its resolution is 8 megapixels and it shoots perfectly. Selfie lovers will obviously be pleased. The only thing indoors can go out a little blurry.
Autonomy
The battery, in fact, is one of the weaknesses of the device. Its volume is only 3050 mAh, which is very small not only for a modern phone, but also for a smartphone with such characteristics.
According to reviews of Motorola M (XT1663) related to autonomy, users complain that the batteries barely last until the evening, with a high intensity of work. If we restrict ourselves only to calls, SMS, messengers and social networks, then it will be possible to achieve the result a little more than a day.
Performance
Now for performance. Characteristics Motorola M (XT1663) allow you to use your smartphone as a gaming device. In Antutu tests, the phone scored almost 54 thousand points.
Also for the test were taken 2 very famous games - Asphalt Extreme and Modern Combat 5 shooter. The results were pleasantly surprised. At maximum graphics settings there are no FPS drawdowns; the picture is smooth, clear and, most importantly, smooth. As for heating, it is minimal.
Reviews
As reviews of Motorola M (XT1663) show, users are satisfied with everything on the phone, except for a few points. The first is autonomy, as mentioned above. The second - the quality of photos of the main camera could be better, and the settings are a bit simpler. The third is the lack of an NFC module. And the last - there is no separate slot for a memory card. Otherwise, users are happy with everything.
Cost and totals
Today you can buy Motorola M (XT1663) at a price of 10 500 rubles and up to 19 000 rubles. It’s hard to say what explains this price range, but judging adequately, the red price for this device is 15 thousand rubles, since there are already more profitable and interesting competitors.
To summarize the review, we can draw the following conclusion: the phone is quite good, which can be seen not only in the characteristics and features of the device, but also in reviews of Motorola M (XT1663). Yes, there are some disadvantages, but in fact they are not so significant as to refuse to buy. The only thing that can stop from acquiring is too high a price for some sellers.