Motorola at one time established itself as an innovative brand: it owned one of the first mobile phones, interesting design ideas and solutions. But then their mobile devices disappeared from the Russian market for a long time. During the same period, the company was bought out several times: first by Google, and then by Lenovo (at this stage the name was shortened to the capacious Moto).

Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force are the company's first smartphones to launch on Russian market over the past five years. They all differ slightly in processors, screen diagonal and resolution, memory capacity and battery capacity. The main character of the review, the Moto X Force smartphone, has another interesting feature: it has an unbreakable Moto ShatterShield display, which is practically not afraid of falls.

The X-line smartphones have the same 21 megapixel sensor, two-color CCT flash (for accurate determination of color temperature), autofocus and lens. The application is also the same for everyone. That's why you can buy the flagship Moto X Force or the simpler Moto X Play: the power is different, but the camera is the same. This is an important element in a smartphone today, because we are talking about a camera that is always at hand: in a jeans pocket or purse.

The camera of the Moto X line devices has a Sony IMX230 matrix with a resolution of 21 megapixels. The unit is also equipped with a lens with a constant f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus and a dual LED flash with CCT technology, new for smartphones. It monitors the adjustment of the flash color temperature. It is important to note that the device does not provide optical image stabilization.

The front camera is also the same for all smartphones in the Moto X line: a 5 MP sensor, fixed focus. However, unlike the Play, the Style and Force have a single LED flash on the front.

XT1580 SETTINGS: ISO 250, F2, 1/30 sec

Lenovo returns legendary Motorola smartphones to the Russian market

On February 11, 2016, Lenovo announced the return of the legendary Motorola brand to Russia. The first devices presented on the Russian market will be the Moto X (Play, Style, Force) and Moto G series smartphones. Lenovo’s Russian office states: “We know how popular Motorola smartphones are in Russia, and we are pleased to announce the return of the legend and introduce a new generation of devices under the Moto brand - smartphones with an attractive design, high autonomy and improved protection from external influences. Among the new products, everyone will be able to find the most suitable option for them. The Moto X series smartphones are equipped with very high-performance cameras that will appeal to creative individuals, while the Moto X Style and Moto X Force models, due to a variety of external design options, will allow their new owners to express their individuality.”

Today we already have the opportunity to examine in detail the top-end and, accordingly, the most expensive model from the entire new family, which is soon preparing to hit the shelves of Russian stores. This flagship is currently the Motorola X Force, although our regular readers are already familiar with this model under a different name. This same model, offered overseas by the American operator Verizon, appears there under the name Droid Turbo 2, and rumors about it began to spread much earlier. The thing is that this smartphone, which is just preparing to enter our market, has been on sale in the very homeland of the Motorola brand in the USA since the end of last year, and we know a lot about it. In particular, it is known that the screen of this model is positioned as “unbreakable”, and that in the States itself the manufacturer even gives a four-year warranty on it. But, apparently, Lenovo will not provide either such a guarantee or the proprietary MotoMaker service in our market. In all other respects, the model officially supplied to us is no worse than the American one; it’s time to look at it in detail. Let's start, as usual, with the specifications.

Key Features of Moto X Force (Model XT1580)

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, 8 cores: 4x2.0 GHz (ARM Cortex-A57) + 4x1.5 GHz (ARM Cortex-A53)
• GPU Adreno 430 @600 MHz
• operating system Android 5.1
• Touch display AMOLED 5.4″, 2560×1440, 540 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, internal memory 32 GB
• SIM cards: Nano-SIM (1 pc.)
• Supports microSD memory cards up to 2 TB
• GSM networks 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz networks
• Networks LTE Cat.6 FDD Band 1—5/7/8/12/17/20/25/28; TDD 40
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2 bands) MIMO, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.1 LE, NFC
• USB 2.0, OTG
• GPS/A-GPS, Glonass
• Direction, proximity, lighting sensors, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetic compass
• Camera 21 MP, autofocus, f/2.0, LED flash
• Camera 5 MP, front, f/2.0, LED flash
• Battery 3760 mAh
• Qi wireless charging support
• Dimensions 150×78×9.2 mm
• Weight 170 g

Equipment

The packaging of the Moto X Force is a very large tall square box, which contains almost nothing except the smartphone itself and its charger.

The charger here is not quite ordinary: it does not have the usual USB output, the cable is tightly soldered to the unit. The smartphone supports TurboPower accelerated charging, so the included charger has a maximum output current of 12 V 2.15 A. The included charger is quite massive, it cannot be called compact, but it is what you will have to carry with you if you want to use the function fast charging.

Appearance and ease of use

It's nice that the design Motorola smartphones albeit not much, but it constantly changes, does not stagnate in one place, like the same Sony Xperia Z, for example. You won’t find Moto models identical in appearance, but they are all invisibly connected by a single design style; in each of them, even without looking at the logo, you can always unmistakably recognize the brand.

What's even nicer is that Motorola smartphones are completely different from the Apple iPhone or anyone else, but they don't try to emphasize their dissimilarity. They are simply themselves, and that is why they are, perhaps, so original and recognizable. Moto smartphones are very beautiful in appearance, and I really hope that even under Lenovo’s heel they will remain the same in the future. After all, Lenovo itself, it must be admitted, has not developed any permanent design of its own over the years of work on the market; all of its smartphones are of different colors, and only very few of them are beautiful.

Moto X Force looks even more interesting than Moto X, Nexus 6 and all other predecessors from the pens of American designers. The smartphone has a very unusual massive metal frame of complex shape, which gives the body ergonomics and completeness to the design. The body of the Moto X Force is by no means thin, but at the same time it is so streamlined that excess thickness is not felt at all. Still, it’s a pity that the developers followed fashion and made all their new products “shovel-shaped”: if the smartphone were smaller in size, it would fit perfectly in the palm of your hand, but this, unfortunately, cannot be said about a device with a screen size of five and a half inches and weighing more than 170 grams.

The device really turned out to be large and massive, but there is a category of users who have long turned a blind eye to all this, if only the screen diagonal was larger. If you approach the Moto X Force from this point of view, then it is simply perfect. And the screen, by the way, is even more unusual than one might expect.

The creators claim that the Motorola X Force, known in America as the Droid Turbo 2, is "the world's first smartphone with an unbreakable display." To protect the display from damage, Motorola used a technology called Moto ShatterShield. According to the creators, a smartphone with such a screen can easily survive falls, after which most other smartphones will fail. The company’s specialists worked for more than three years to create the appropriate technology. To enhance durability, the display elements - a flexible AMOLED panel with a dual touch layer and two protective glasses - are mounted on a slab-shaped aluminum chassis. Motorola claims that such a screen will be almost impossible to break.

The back cover is no less unusual than the front panel. This material, which is used on the back of the Moto X Force, is described in less detail in press releases, but the creators themselves call it “ballistic nylon.” It really feels like something textile; through a magnifying glass you can even see some small woven fiber. That is, it’s certainly not just textured plastic, as happens when they try to imitate carbon fiber (so-called “carbon”).

Be that as it may, this material seems practical. At the very least, there are certainly no fingerprints left on it, and time will tell how durable it is. But at the same time, such a coating cannot be characterized as non-slip. It is very slippery, but the smartphone is saved from slipping out of your hands by the side frame, which is held in the hand much more securely.

The Moto X Force doesn't have an infrared transmitter to emulate remote controls, no heart rate sensors, and the like. Among the “flagship extras,” the device doesn’t even have a fingerprint scanner, although this is already becoming a common attribute of any modern top-end smartphone, not just a flagship. That is why it was even more surprising to discover the complete absence of such elements in such a highly positioned device, offered by the manufacturer at a price of 50 thousand rubles.

There are no touch buttons on the front panel. In the lower part, two symmetrical elongated holes are cut directly into the protective glass, which are a couple of centimeters apart from each other. Why two holes were cut here and not one remains a mystery. Obviously, they were going to simulate the presence of stereo speakers in this way, but their presence can be easily refuted by covering the holes one by one with your finger: the sound comes out of only one hole. In any case, these two “holes” in the front look quite ridiculous - it would be better if the designers, as before, made a metal insert at the bottom, symmetrical to the top, it would look more organic. For microphones there are their own small round holes located on the back of the case. By the way, there are as many as five microphones in the device; additional microphones are used for active noise reduction.

In the upper part above the screen, in addition to the sensors and front camera, there is also its own LED flash, which is quite rare in smartphones. An LED event indicator is also located here. The Motorola smartphone, as before, has an additional processor for contextual computing, which works with sensors and the camera and replaces the main processor in standby mode. One has only to raise his hand to the “sleeping” Motorola X Force, and notifications about the current time and missed events appear on the screen in monochrome mode.

The block of mechanical control keys is far from being implemented in the best possible way. The buttons themselves are small, thin, and practically do not protrude beyond the body, so they are difficult to find blindly. On top of that, the keys also have an excessively tight and short stroke, so you need to get used to them. The lock button here unexpectedly moved to the upper part of the side edge, although the most common option now is when the volume control unit is located higher, and the power key is closer to the middle of the edge. Here these buttons are mixed up, you will have to change your habits.

Interface connectors are located at both ends of the case. At the top there is a jack with a diameter of 3.5 mm for headphone output, and at the bottom end there is a Micro-USB connector that supports connection external devices in USB OTG mode.

At the top end, in addition to the headphone output, there is a slot for installing cards. The trays on the sliding metal slides are located one after the other; they can accommodate one Nano-SIM card and one microSD memory card. You cannot install a second SIM card in place of the memory card. Hot swap supported.

The last element that completes the “tour” of the outer shell of the review hero is an elongated matte metal plate that combines the rear camera, flash and Moto logo in one unit. This is perhaps one of the most striking design elements; coupled with the unusual coating on the back wall, it gives the case a special appeal. All together it really looks incredibly stylish and expensive.

But there is also a fly in the ointment: the protective glass of the camera turned out to be deeply recessed inside a sort of metal shaft with absolutely straight walls. Accordingly, dust will definitely accumulate there, and it will only be possible to remove it from this hole using a cotton swab. The scale of the “tragedy” can be clearly assessed from this photograph.

As for the colors of the case, there is still some uncertainty on this issue, since, apparently, there will be no colors other than black for sale on the Russian market. We also do not support the Moto Maker service, which would allow you to independently choose the color and material of the back panel.

Well, let’s note the last detail: according to company representatives, the body of the new product is provided with some kind of water-repellent coating. Literally it reads like this: “The advanced nano-coating creates a water-repellent barrier, protecting the device from the penetration of small amounts of moisture, such as accidental spills, splashes and light rain. Not designed to withstand complete immersion in water or exposure to water or other pressurized liquid. Not waterproof."

Screen

The Moto X Force smartphone is equipped with an AMOLED touch screen made using a special technology called ShatterShield. The physical dimensions of the display are 68x121 mm, diagonal - 5.4 inches. The screen resolution is 2560×1440, the pixel density is 540 ppi. The frame on the sides of the screen is very wide (at least 5 mm), it looks unusual for a modern flagship and the device certainly doesn’t look good.

The display brightness is automatically adjusted based on the light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches. There are no options for activating the screen by double tapping the glass or any other gesture, but there is a function for automatically activating and displaying information on missed events and the current time in monochrome display.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion about the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (below, simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Moto X Force, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Moto X Force is still lighter (brightness according to photographs is 121 versus 106 for the Nexus 7 - apparently, payback for ShatterShield), and the reflection of the white surface in it has a pronounced brownish tint. Note that the reflection from bright objects in the Moto X Force screen has a pale blue-greenish halo, slightly more pronounced in the transverse direction. The ghosting of reflected objects in the Moto X Force screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, slightly better than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was approximately 320 cd/m², the minimum was 5.4 cd/m². The maximum brightness is not very high, but you need to take into account the good anti-glare properties of the screen and the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the lighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. For example, when outputting white on half the screen (and black on the other half), the maximum brightness with manual adjustment increases to 350 cd/m². As a result, readability during the day in the sun is at a fairly good level. The reduced brightness level allows you to use the device even in complete darkness without any problems. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the slot in the top front speaker). In automatic mode, when external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the automatic brightness adjustment function reduces the brightness to 110 cd/m² (too light), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets it to 220 cd/m² (okay), in very bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 465 cd/m² (which is significantly higher than with manual adjustment). Brightness slider at 50% - the values ​​are as follows: 9, 100 and 465 cd/m² (from our point of view, acceptable values), at 0% - 1.2, 16 and 465 cd/m² (the logic is clear). In general, the automatic brightness adjustment function works adequately and allows the user to some extent customize their work to individual requirements.

At any brightness level there is significant modulation with a frequency of approximately 239.6 Hz. The figure below shows the dependence of brightness (vertical axis) on time (horizontal axis) for several brightness values:

As a result, at low brightness (when the duty cycle increases), the presence of modulation can already be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.

This screen uses an AMOLED matrix - active matrix organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

In the fragment above you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), and by repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without breaks or overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer calculates the screen resolution based on the green subpixels; based on the other two, it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this option is similar to the option in the case of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and some other newer Samsung devices (and not only) with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some unevenness of contrast borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the very high resolution, they have a minimal impact on image quality.

The screen has excellent viewing angles. Is it true, White color when deviated even at small angles, it acquires a slight blue-green tint, and at some angles it turns a little pink (although this effect is much less pronounced than is usually the case with AMOLED), but the black color remains just black at any angle. It is so black that the contrast setting is simply not applicable in this case. For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of the Moto X Force and the second comparison participant, while the brightness of the screens is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:

The color balance of the screens varies slightly, and the colors on the Moto X Force are oversaturated and unnatural (for example, the tomatoes are poisonous red, and the face has a carrot tint). However, let us remind you that this is how the camera registers; it is better to look at the details of color rendition in the results of hardware tests. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen.

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Moto X Force is noticeably higher at an angle. And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed has been increased compared to the previous two photos), but in the case of the Moto X Force the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the Moto X Force screen visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device from at least a slight angle.

Switching the state of the matrix elements is carried out almost instantly, but at the turn-on (and less often, turn-off) edge there may be a step approximately 17 ms wide (which corresponds to the screen refresh rate). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to white and back when displaying the field in full screen:

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing moving objects, but in normal use these artifacts are difficult to see. Quite the contrary - dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.

The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage either in the shadows or in the highlights. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.28, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve almost does not deviate from the power law:

Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images and increases for dark ones. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. In the case of this screen, there is no option to select a profile with hardware reduction of the color gamut; as a result, the color gamut of the Moto X Force is very wide:

The component spectra (that is, the spectra of pure red, green and blue colors) are well separated:

Note that on screens with a wide color gamut, without appropriate correction, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. The grayscale balance is good. The color temperature is close to the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) throughout the entire significant part of the gray scale remains below 10 units, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance:

(The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored in most cases, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen does not have a very high maximum brightness, but has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day without any problems. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is acceptable (and in very bright light it is highly recommended) to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating and good color balance. At the same time, let us remind you about the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected in the screen), good uniformity of the white field, noticeably less than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include screen flickering, especially at low brightness. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. Negative properties include an excessively wide color gamut, which makes ordinary images look unnatural. However, overall the screen quality is high.

Sound

The smartphone sounds impressive: the device is equipped with only one main speaker, it cannot create a stereo panorama, but the smartphone produces a very loud and at the same time clear sound at the maximum level, with a noticeable presence of low frequencies. In headphones the situation is no worse: the sound is clear, bright and thick, the frequency spectrum is wide. Both in the headphones and in the external speaker, the maximum volume level is sufficient, but not excessive. The sound is very pleasant to the ear. All settings are combined with a proprietary player Google Play Music in the form of an equalizer and additional preset values.

In conversational dynamics, the timbre and intonation of a familiar voice remain recognizable, and the noise reduction system copes with its tasks absolutely adequately. The vibration alert here is not very powerful. There is no FM radio in the smartphone, nor is there any recording of telephone conversations from the line using standard means.

Camera

Moto X Force is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 21 and 5 megapixels. The front camera is equipped with a 5-megapixel sensor and a lens with an f/2.0 aperture without autofocus, but with its own flash. The camera unexpectedly turned out to be of a modest level; for a flagship, seeing selfies of such quality is somewhat surprising.

The main camera is equipped with a Sony IMX230 sensor with a resolution of 21 megapixels and a lens with an f/2.0 aperture, autofocus and dual multi-color flash. Autofocus isn't particularly fast, but shooting itself with zero shutter lag is very fast.

Another thing is that camera control here is perhaps the most inconvenient of all possible. It's really uncomfortable to use, you'll have to get used to it. Initially, there is no virtual button at all for shooting, it simply doesn’t exist, so you automatically press the central key, which is responsible for exiting the application. It turns out that shooting can be done by touching the screen or pressing the side volume key. Again, instinctively, out of habit, your fingers touch the screen to manually focus (since autofocus is often wrong), but the picture is taken immediately. To display the ability to control focus and exposure on the screen, you need to perform additional actions each time, calling up the radial menu with a side swipe, which is not always pulled out the first time. This menu only has icons, so until you click, you won’t know what’s hidden behind them. All this is very annoying, and there is no way to transfer camera control to third-party applications via the Camera2 API, and it is impossible to save pictures in RAW.

The video camera can shoot with a resolution of up to 3840×2160 (4K UHD), there is the possibility of slow-motion slo-mo recording in 720p resolution, but still at the same speed of 30 frames per second. There's no word on electronic stabilization, but shooting on the move is very smooth. The camera copes well with video shooting, there are no complaints about image quality. The image is smooth, with good sharpness, light and detailed. The sound is recorded with high quality, and the noise reduction system copes with its tasks adequately.

• Video No. 1 (123 MB, 3840×2160 @30 fps)
• Video No. 2 (23 MB, 1920×1080 @30 fps)
• Video No. 3 (27 MB, 1280×720 @30 fps, slo-mo)

	The camera handles macro photography very well.
	Good sharpness across the field and in the plans, although it drops off a little towards the edges of the frame.
	The license plates of cars that are not closest are distinguishable.
	The camera copes well with shooting various texts.
	The camera handles fine details well.
	Sometimes when you remove the shot, the sharpness drops a little.

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.

It’s difficult to call the camera a flagship – I would like to see a better solution in a smartphone at this price. Nevertheless, it is clear that the manufacturer tried both when choosing a module and when writing the firmware. However, periodic dips in the background and blurriness at the edges of the frame indicate the “dampness” of the program. However, in the “native” Sony smartphones this module works in approximately the same way, so perhaps you can only cheat by reducing the resolution. Still, the camera has good detail: even small details in distant shots are often visible. Thus, the camera will cope perfectly with documentary shooting, and most likely, with artistic shooting too - especially if you close your eyes to the blur at the edges of the frame and the branches that stick together in places in the background.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone can operate in most bands of 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and also has support for fourth-generation LTE Cat6 FDD and TDD networks, that is, this device can provide theoretical download speeds of up to 300 Mbit/s. At the same time, the smartphone supports all three of the most common LTE FDD bands among domestic operators (B3, B7 and B20). In practice, with a SIM card from the MTS operator in the Moscow region, the smartphone was confidently registered and worked in 4G networks. The quality of signal reception is not satisfactory; the device confidently maintains communication indoors and does not lose the signal in areas of poor reception. The full list of supported frequency bands is as follows:

• LTE FDD: Band 1—5/7/8/12/17/20/25/28; TDD Band 40
• WCDMA: 850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz
• GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

The device also supports Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, supports two Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) 2×2 MIMO, Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The Micro-USB connector supports the USB 2.0 specification and connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.

The navigation module works with GPS (A-GPS) and Glonass. There are no complaints about the operating speed of the navigation module; the first satellites are detected during a cold start within the first tens of seconds. The smartphone is equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the compass of navigation programs operates.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. The standard virtual keyboard supports the continuous input method using a stroke from letter to letter (Swype). There are no options for reducing the size of virtual keyboards or the entire working space of the screen in the standard interface.

OS and software

The Moto X Force device we tested runs on the fifth version of Google OS, but company representatives claim that production samples will go on sale with the sixth version of Android Marshmallow. The most curious thing is that, unlike Lenovo’s own smartphones, which have one of the most heavily modified Vibe UI shells, the same company supplies devices under the Moto brand with an absolutely clean Google Android interface. That is, in fact, we have in front of us almost the same “Google phone” as the usual Nexus series smartphones.

There is nothing special to add here, the interface is familiar and described in detail many times, everyone determines all the pros and cons of “naked” Android for themselves. It’s just worth considering that Google’s original interface is so laconic that users will have to deal with such annoying little things as the inability to display battery charge on the top panel, close all used applications at the same time, or, for example, very inconvenient camera controls. There is not even such a simple function as rebooting the device: for some reason, in the proprietary Android interface, when you hold down the power key, a single “turn off” button appears, but there is no “restart” button. It is clear that you can reboot by holding the key for a long time, but was it really difficult to draw one button? People who have not previously had experience with pure Android in the form of Nexus smartphones may be perplexed by such restrictions, since for all other devices the interface is almost always modified by the manufacturer.

As for the features associated with the hardware capabilities of Motorola smartphones, here, as before, the so-called “Motorola Mobile Computing System” is equipped. This system includes an additional processor for contextual computing (working with sensors and camera) and a natural language processor for working with sound and, in particular, with voice control. Additional processors allow you to save energy by taking over the functions of controlling microphones, sensors and cameras while the smartphone is in sleep mode. Control is necessary for functions such as Active Display, as well as voice control, but, as before, after all the settings it turns out that the Russian language is not supported by Motorola's proprietary voice control.

Performance

The Moto X Force hardware platform is based on the 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC. This 64-bit SoC is made using a 20 nm process technology and includes four powerful 64-bit ARM Cortex-A57 cores with a frequency of up to 2 GHz, which are complemented by four simpler 64-bit Cortex-A53 cores with frequencies up to 1.5 GHz. The Adreno 430 video accelerator with an operating frequency of up to 600 MHz is responsible for processing graphics in the SoC. In addition, the Motorola Mobile Computing System includes a processor for natural language processing and a processor for contextual computing, as discussed above.

The RAM capacity (LPDDR4) of the smartphone is 3 GB. The amount of internal memory can be chosen between 32 and 64 GB. In the case of the 32 GB version, the user is left with about 21.5 GB of free space. This volume can be increased using microSD cards; it is also possible to connect external flash drives to the USB port in OTG mode. MicroSD cards are supported up to 2TB in capacity, and in practice our 128GB Transcend Premium microSDXC UHS-1 test card was reliably recognized by the device.

The top-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 platform is quite capable of competing with modern alternative flagship solutions such as HiSilicon Kirin 935, MediaTek MT6795 and Exynos 7420 in terms of graphics, but in terms of overall CPU performance in complex tests it is now not in the first place. In any case, the Moto X Force smartphone is at the flagship level in terms of performance; for several generations, its hardware capabilities will be enough to perform any task, including demanding games, although devices with the Snapdragon 820 SoC, which is changing the platform, are already entering the arena , on which the hero of the review works.

Testing in latest versions comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image of the back surface (the lighter the temperature, the higher the temperature), obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is highly localized just above and to the left of the center of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 48 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), this is very strong heating for this test in comparison with other modern smartphones.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices It is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the testing results, the test subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network. Moreover, the smartphone offers to play back its own recordings from the camera using the “photo gallery” program. That is, to successfully play third-party video files recorded in the device’s memory, in most cases you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.

¹ sound in MX Video Player is only played after installing an alternative custom audio codec

Tested video output features Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. Note that due to the non-standard screen refresh rate (slightly less than 60 Hz), video files are played back with a slowdown of about 0.17%. It is impossible to detect this subjectively, but the question of why it was impossible to do exactly 60 Hz remains. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen. The clarity of the picture is high, but not ideal, since there is no escape from interpolation to the screen resolution. However, for the sake of experimentation, you can switch to the one-to-one mode by pixel; there will be no interpolation, but the features of PenTile will appear - the vertical world through the pixel will be in a grid, and the horizontal one will be slightly greenish. This is true for test worlds, but the described artifacts are absent in real frames. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows, only a couple of shades of gray do not differ in brightness from black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed.

Battery life

The capacity of the built-in battery installed in the Moto X Force is 3760 mAh, which is more than decent for modern smartphones. In this case, neither the higher resolution screen nor the demanding hardware platform could noticeably affect the high level of autonomy of the review hero. It is really very high here in all standard usage scenarios, above average for sure. The smartphone does not have any specific energy-saving modes other than the standard one from the Android OS.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme, with auto-scrolling) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted more than 16.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged. Without the auto-scrolling function in FBReader, these figures will increase to 20 or even more hours. When continuously watching videos from YouTube in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted at least 10 hours. In 3D gaming mode, it worked for more than 4.5 hours.

Moto X Force supports TurboPower fast charging. The smartphone is fully charged from the included charger in just 1.5 hours, while the back wall heats up noticeably. Using a third-party charger with an output current of 5 V 2 A, the battery will charge much longer: in 1 hour the smartphone was charged to only 35% with a current of 5.15 V 1.2 A. The Qi wireless charging function is supported with comparable charging time.

Bottom line

As for the cost of the new product: Moto smartphones will be available on the Russian market from March 2016. Lenovo promises that from the first of March sales will begin in stores of the Megafon, Euroset and Svyaznoy chains, and in mid-March - in other retail chains.

• Moto G - priced at 17 thousand rubles
• Moto X Play - priced at 30 thousand rubles
• Moto X Style - priced at 40 thousand rubles
• Moto X Force - priced at 50 thousand rubles

The most expensive model in the line, as expected, will be the Moto X Force model: Lenovo decided to ask as much as 50 thousand rubles for it. Is this a lot for such a model? The cost for the market is almost maximum, if you don’t take into account very premium devices, but in general it makes sense. What we have before us is truly a real flagship without any discounts, with a high-quality screen, sound, autonomy, hardware platform and, of course, a noticeable body. As for cameras, this issue has not yet been fully clarified - perhaps with the release of new firmware the quality of their work will improve. But the absence of a fingerprint scanner in a top-end smartphone for 50 thousand is more difficult to explain. And yet, the main question is not this at all, but whether the Russian audience will accept the long-forgotten but once beloved brand, and if it does, then in what capacity? It’s no secret that users perceive Lenovo’s own smartphones as solutions that are not at all of the same high level as those from Samsung and Apple. But the new flagship of Motorola will have to fight precisely in their price category, that is, at the highest level. So with which of them will Russian users compare the products of the brand that has returned to our market? Everyone will decide this issue for themselves, but it is already becoming obvious that the path to returning the brand to Russia for Lenovo will not be easy at all. For now, we can state that the new Moto smartphones are exactly Motorola (remember the history of Thinkpad). But how will the brand develop further?

Yes, you were right, this is a review of the Moto X Force smartphone not from Anton Pozdnyakov. And all because he already wrote it, here. No one has the right to talk about Motorola without the approval of the chief motor scientist. And so you ask yourself – what the hell is this? Why do we need a second review? My answer is that Anton should not have dropped the Moto X Force. What kind of a review of a shockproof phone is this without, in fact, crash tests? And I’m a huge specialist in these matters, so I set out to catch up. Under the cut you will find a video with the most complete list of possible falls of a smartphone and what will happen to it. Please know this is my favorite review.

Video review of the Moto X Force smartphone

Due to the fact that I got my hands on the European version of the smartphone, and not the American Droid Turbo 2, I still decided to write a short essay point by point regarding interaction with the device. It should be clarified that this sample came to me after a presentation at which it was mercilessly dropped in both the tail and mane by representatives of all popular Ukrainian media. Over the course of two hours, the device was dropped so many times that its body was deformed. At the same time, I didn’t even pick it up. That unique case when it was definitely not me who destroyed the device and there were a million witnesses to it. In short, I still attribute most of the problems that arise during operation to the fact that it suffered greatly during crash tests.

The biggest problem I noticed was the poor sound of the speaker. Everyone constantly complained that it was hard to hear me. This is where there is damage in the microphone area. The second bidosya is the display response. It happened that the smartphone was very delayed in its response or did not respond at all. In principle, it would not be critical if this happened to the device, but not for such a price, and if at the same time it was dropped under the table once, then nothing surprising. It is known for sure if you normal person, and not a YouTuber-crash tester or just a crash tester, then you won’t drop it so many times in life. Only if you accidentally show it to a friend. This means the frame will be intact and the sound will be normal.

Appearance

Anton’s version of the smartphone had a plastic back, while mine was made of ballistic nylon. It's hard to put into words how awesome she is. It’s like running your hand over new sneakers – cool. Otherwise, nothing has changed in the building since February. The SIM card slot is on top, and it also sticks out by a few fractions of millimeters, there is an audio jack, on the bottom edge there is an inverted microUSB, the left side is empty, and on the right, in a small recess, there is a pleasantly ribbed power button, you just want to run your fingernail over it, and the volume swing . In my opinion, the entire block is too high.

On the back cover, a camera, a double flash and a recess for the branded M stand out as a single unit, although we live in 2016, it could be a fingerprint scanner... There is no more branding on the device, Lenovo decided not to put its own marks and for this there is a separate Thank you.

It’s worth noting that my hand is smaller than Anton’s, but I got used to controlling him with my right hand. I had to put my little finger underneath. True, it is very heavy, 170 grams, so the little finger gets tired quickly. The weighty frame around the perimeter looks reassuring, but not after all the abuse he suffered from us, and the wide frame at the front looks depressing.

Display

Not the best thing about it. Of course, it is the main highlight of the device, it is not bit-not beautiful in the sense that it will not work, and in terms of characteristics it is not bad, but here Pozdnyakov is right - not everyone will praise the device for its display. 5.4 inches, a resolution of 1440 by 2560 gives a density of 540 pixels, and also an AMOLED matrix. That is, big, clear and super rich. I liked it, I like it when it’s brighter, Anton doesn’t. Opinions vary, you will have your own. It turns a little green at an angle, there is a bidosya with text on a white background and that’s all. But it hardly discharges while I read books in FBReader night mode. I also didn’t really like the maximum brightness; it could have been tweaked better, but the minimum was definitely too high.

And you can make legends about how we smashed it! The fact is that you can beat and beat it without breaking it, but the device is not designed for targeted impacts on asphalt or crash tests from a height of the 5th floor; I was persistently asked not to do this. Such glass will protect you from additional expenses for replacement if it falls out from under your ear during a conversation, out of your pocket, or some stoned dude knocks it out of your hands during a broadcast in Barcelona. But throwing yourself out of the car at full speed, as in the review of the guys from the outlet, is better not to repeat. The device survived, but one small pebble killed the pixels. Why tempt fate like this? Or are devices in the $600+ category like a pack of seeds for you – worth nothing? (I didn’t break the display, I just scratched it, nothing can save you from this, but I managed to knock off a piece of the plastic insert in the metal border. It’s even a little offensive. For further comfortable interaction, the corner needs to be filed)

Cameras

You can launch the camera not only by tapping on the icon or by swiping from the locked screen from the right side, but also by double-rotating the device or double-clicking the power button - a Moto feature. If you did everything correctly, the smartphone will vibrate frantically and launch the camera in about two seconds.

There’s no need to say anything extra here, I’ll just leave the videos shot with this device and a gallery of photos. Even if I did it so beautifully, it’s immediately clear that the camera is good. Everything is very rich and contrasting, even without processing, I definitely like it. But things are not very good with sound recording. In self-recording mode, it is very easy to cover the microphone with your hand; in normal recording format, it also jumps somewhere. Not fun. And there is no stabilization.

I must clarify that I liked the camera, but it clearly does not live up to the cameras of other flagship smartphones. If the deciding factor for you in a device is the quality of the pictures taken, and not the prospect of dropping your smart phone on concrete steps, then the Moto X Force should not be the first candidate for purchase.

But what’s not for everyone is the camera interface. You don't understand it instantly. The green circle is not only for focusing, but also for manually changing the exposure. You scale the image with one finger by swiping on the right side of the display. The expanded menu extends from the left edge and somewhat reminded me of the one on the Lumia. Available modes: HDR, flash, shooting in Full HD, 4K and SloMo in 720, frame format, timer. The front camera also has a flash and slow motion, but 4K was not found, but, to be honest, the quality of the front camera did not impress me at all.

Specifications

Here are two screenshots and a report that the Snapdragon 810 cannot be stupid. Because he can't. It gets hot, yes. But 3 GB of RAM, Adreno 430 and you are in technological paradise, where everything is possible and a little more. I wouldn’t even conduct any synthetic tests, because people who have other devices with Snapdragon 810 enviously said “yes, compared to mine, it actually flies.”

• Dimensions: 149.8 x 78 x 9.2 mm
• Weight: 165 g
• Operating system: Android 6.0.1
• Processor: Snapdragon 810, Cortex-A53 1.5 GHz and Cortex-A57 2.0 GHz
• Graphics: Adreno 430
• Display: AMOLED, 5.4 inches, 1440 x 2560, 540 ppi
• Memory: 32/64 GB + microSD
• RAM: 3 GB
• Camera: main - 21 MP, f/2.0, autofocus, flash, front - 5 MP, f/2.0, flash
• Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, A-GPS, NFC
• Battery: 3760 mAh

Memory 32 (24 available to the user) or 64 GB. There is a separate item for viewing RAM usage. The device has been updated to Android 6.0.1, on my device it is naked and beautiful, but it lacks a button to remove all running applications from the multitasking menu. But the leftmost screen can be Google, which is nice. The entire shell inside is very light and super simple. There is simply nowhere to get confused. But not a single branded Motorola service wanted to work, the language is not supported, the country is not supported. Sadness. Since Motorola has entered the Ukrainian market, it’s time to fix this.

Time flies inexorably and probably many of our readers have no longer found Motorola mobile phones in their better times: the company was not only the creator of the first mobile phone, but for a long time it was a pioneer both in terms of design and the materials used in its phones. Motorola left our market quite a long time ago (which did not stop the most avid fans from buying Moto smartphones abroad). If memory serves correctly, then the last official smartphone we had a metal horizontal slider Motorola Milestone on Android OS, which was discontinued in 2010. And the news that Motorola is returning, albeit as part of Lenovo, could not but rejoice. The logic is quite clear: Lenovo decided to buy and try to revive interest in the brand, which is involved in the legendary StarTAC, E398, RAZR V3 and many more models. At the moment, we officially sell four current (although a new line will be presented soon) models of different price segments, and the flagship is the Moto X Force.

What is this?

Moto X Force can no longer boast of the top-end hardware: it was released last fall and all the main players have already updated their lines. Despite this, the insides of the Moto X Force are quite up to date. As befits top-end Motorola devices, there are some unique features: in this case, it’s an unbreakable screen ShatterShield, which can withstand falls from a decent height, which has been repeatedly proven in numerous crash tests. Used five-layer design, including a 5.4-inch Quad HD OLED matrix. Inside is last year's flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, which had some problems, and 3 GB of RAM.

What is in the box?

Moto X Force is packaged in a large square box with a white and orange design, which, as it turns out, doesn't have much inside. In addition to the smartphone, neatly packed inside in separate boxes and envelopes are a charger, a paperclip for removing the SIM card and flash drive tray, and instructions:

We should also pay attention to the charger: it is quite massive and solid. This is not the usual USB cable and a separate power supply; namely, a charger and a separate cable for connecting to a PC are not included in the kit. I’m not sure that this will be a problem: everyone probably already has standard MicroUSB-USB cables at home. The charger is proprietary, supports TurboPower fast charging with impressive characteristics of 2.15 A, 12 V:

What did you come up with with the design?

To tell you the truth, my love for Motorola phones dates back to the RAZR V3. E398 and a number of other models of that time. Motorola has always taken an unconventional approach to the development of smartphones: everything was cool with the design, and from a software point of view you could always find something unusual. Same The E398 delighted me at the very first touch, as it was my first acquaintance with the soft-touch coating (which eventually began to peel off, but the phone itself lived for many years, survived a couple of drownings, an incredible number of falls and experiments with custom firmware ).

Moto X Force, of course, also has its own interesting features, but first things first. The front panel is not too different from most modern smartphones. The main part of the area is occupied by the display, although the frames are really wide by today's standards, and the ratio of display area to total area is very far from modern models. Payment for unbreakable screen. Above the screen is a set of sensors, front-camera and LED flash for selfies. The earpiece is quite wide and has an insert in the form of a metal strip that protrudes above the plane of the smartphone. There are two slots at the bottom: in one there is a microphone, in the second there is a speaker. Not a very common solution:

One of the most interesting design features of the smartphone is the back cover, which is covered with so-called “ballistic nylon” (with a hint of body armor). It looks very cool and feels very nice in the hand. This is the case when we managed to achieve something expensive and unusual. appearance without making the smartphone completely metal (or glass). The solution was already used in earlier models, but only by Motorola. She also experimented with Kevlar backdrops. In Western countries there is a service called Moto Maker, which allows you to completely customize the colors of all elements of your smartphone. Of course, we don’t have it (just like we don’t have a four-year warranty on the screen):

At the top of the rear panel there is a familiar current models Moto element: a decorative metal plate on which the camera eye is located, a dual LED flash and the good old Motorola logo in the recess below:

There is a massive metal frame around the perimeter of the smartphone. The top end has a headphone jack, plastic inserts for antennas and a tray:

The model is officially sold in Ukraine XT1580, which has a slot for one nanoSIM and MicroSD:

The design of the case provides bevels to the side edges of the smartphone so that it is thinner on the sides and fits more comfortably in the hand. At the thickest part of the case, the thickness is an impressive 9.2 mm, at the thinnest - 7.6 mm. The metal frame also tapers towards the edges. Hardware buttons are located on the right side. They are thin, made of metal, and the power button also has a very nice texture with notches:

At the bottom end there is the usual MicroUSB connector and again plastic inserts for bringing the antennas out:

On the left side there is nothing, just a metal frame:

The body is covered with a water-repellent coating, so even despite its very impressive dimensions (and the width of the smartphone is even slightly larger than the 5.7-inch Moto X Style: 78 versus 76.2 mm), Moto X Force fits in the hand like a glove thanks to its well-thought-out shape: it is very convenient to use , including with one hand. There is nothing to say about the build quality: everything is at the highest level, as usual from Motorola. Visually, the smartphone evokes the feeling of a rather massive (with such dimensions), monolithic and moderately aggressive device.

Is the screen really that cool?

The smartphone is equipped with a proprietary unbreakable screen, which Motorola callsShatterShield. The screen consists of five layers: an aluminum substrate, a flexible AMOLED display, a double touch layer and two external protective glasses:

This solution has two sides to the coin: on the one hand, it is really very difficult to break it, there are a lot of videos on YouTube that prove this. On the other hand, the outer protective layers are quite thick, which somewhat reduces the maximum brightness, although the effect a la an air gap is so minimal that it is felt only if you specifically look at the screen at the maximum angles. The second disadvantage is the top protective coating itself: it is softer and more flexible than conventional protective glass. This is necessary so that it does not crack when dropped. But due to the fact that the coating is more like (feels like) a protective film, the screen quickly becomes covered with small, barely noticeable scratches. Although, in my opinion, such sacrifices are completely justified, especially if you remember the cost of replacing the screen of a modern smartphone, which quite often is about half the cost of a new device. We decided not to conduct an extreme crash test: there is plenty of this on the Internet, but it would also not be entirely correct not to test it in an office environment:

As for the quality of the picture itself: the smartphone uses AMOLED display with a diagonal of 5.4 inches and resolution Quad HD (2560x1440), 540 pixels per inch. In this case, such a resolution can be considered justified, taking into account the subpixel layout in all screens of this type and some “looseness” of the picture at a low pixel density. In fact, this is a really high-quality AMOLED screen with maximum viewing angles and, surprisingly, quite calm color rendering (of course, among active matrices on organic LEDs):

The usual disadvantages of AMOLED are also present, although they are not critical. At an angle, the picture is a little “green”, and the maximum brightness is far from record-breaking. Although it is quite enough for comfortable use under the already quite bright May sun. Available good quality oleophobic coating:

Well, the usual multi-touch test:

AMOLED displays always have a lower maximum brightness compared to IPS, measurements with a colorimeter confirm this: maximum brightness - 336.777 cd/m2, the brightness of the black field is 0 cd/m2, and the contrast tends to infinity, as befits this type of screen. Indicators are comparable with Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Unlike Moto X Style, a review of which was also published on our website, there are no different color modes. The screen is calibrated very well and deviations from the “standard” indicators are quite acceptable:

Comparison with competitors:

How's the performance going?

The Moto X Force has the typical flagship hardware of last year, with the exception of the fingerprint scanner, which is already quite familiar, installed and works adequately even in mid-range devices. Inside is last year's Qualcomm flagship: an eight-core 64-bit Snapdragon 810 with a clock frequency of up to 2 GHz, which turned out to be very problematic and the first revisions were like stoves, they got incredibly hot and even crashed, even overheating when the camera was turned on. In this case, the latest revision has been brought to life, which works stably and heats up significantly less. There are no performance problems in both applications and all modern games:

The amount of RAM is 3 GB, comfortable for any load. We sell the only option: with 32 GB of internal memory, which is quite enough for many users; for others, there is a MircoSD slot with theoretical support for cards up to 2 TB. There is one SIM card slot, nano format.

The smartphone has almost all modern wireless modules: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz with MIMO, Bluetooth version 4.1 LE, NFC and even wireless are supported charging device standards PMA and Qi. There is only no IR blaster, which is now quite common for controlling electronics, although this is not fatal. The GPS module works without the slightest problem, which is not surprising:

The smartphone has a very capacious 3760 mAh battery, which during normal use with about 30 minutes of calls, constant synchronization via Wi-Fi and 3G, several photos and videos and about 30 minutes of games a day, the smartphone easily survives until the evening of the second day, which very good and close to the stated 48 hours in “mixed” mode. The smartphone plays video for about 14 hours. The smartphone supports proprietary TurboCharge fast charging technology and the corresponding charger is included. It fully charges in 1.5 hours, and 20-30 minutes of charging in the morning is enough for the smartphone to work all day.

The external speaker is of average quality and average volume. Nothing supernatural, but nothing bad either. The sound quality in the headphones is of very good quality. Yes, it’s not up to the level of music devices like Meizu PRO5, but it’s better than many devices on the market. The phone quite easily overclocks (in terms of volume) both the 50-ohm MEE audio Pinnacle P1 plugs and the full-size OPPO PM-3.

For those who want to know more

The smartphone has a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810(MSM8994) with 4xARM Cortex A57 and 4xARM Cortex A53, Andreno 430 GPU at 600 MHz and additional coprocessors for natural language processing and contextual computing, RAM- fast LPDDR4. The smartphone no longer sets records, but it shows a flagship level of performance by last year’s standards. The case (especially the metal frame) heats up under prolonged use, but not so much that the smartphone becomes uncomfortable to hold. Benchmark results:

What other branded features are there?

At this point, we usually consider the features and capabilities of shells and firmware: most manufacturers significantly improve Android, sometimes to the level of a spaceship, as in Samsung flagships. Motorola took a different route: the smartphone out of the box runs on almost virgin Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with a couple of proprietary applications, so the interface flies. It is familiar and needs no introduction, so it’s worth focusing on additional features.

The smartphone has an assistant with support for movements, voice commands and useful notifications a la Active Display. There is a set of simple and useful movements: A double rotation movement from sleep mode turns on the camera, a double “chopping” movement turns on the flashlight. The movements work flawlessly:

The "active" display can display useful information and control the player. It turns on if you raise your hand:

The clock and all notifications appear on the screen. Drag down to unlock, slightly up - you can view the notification without turning on the screen, a little further - go straight to mail or something else:

The function is excellent and really convenient:

The interface and branded features (of which there are not many, but useful and convenient) work without any problems, like a Swiss watch. For those who are planning to buy a smartphone, but it’s cheaper abroad, it’s worth considering that the operator’s options are filled with a bunch of useless additional software that eats up memory and battery, so you should immediately demolish it.

How are things going with the camera?

The camera application is similar to that in Moto X Style; Nina Glushchenko already talked about it in yesterday’s review. It is very different from familiar applications and the interface seems completely inconvenient at first, you need to get used to it. For example, touching takes the photo rather than focusing it in the right place. To focus, you need to drag the ring, there will also be exposure adjustment, scaling - with an upper movement across the screen. All settings are placed in a scrolling ring that slides out from the side. After a while you get used to it:

21 megapixel main camera with daperture f/2.0 and fazoom autofocus (PDAF). Front - 5 MP, f/2.0. Although the camera application is a bit strange, we must admit that the smartphone takes photos of very decent quality in almost any conditions. Except that the picture quality is inferior to the latest Samsung flagships in low-light conditions:

The camera shoots video in UltraHD (4K), FullHD 60 fps and slow motion HD 120 fps. The video also turns out to be of very good quality:

Bottom line

The current flagship Moto reached us later than we would like, and by the time it entered the market it already has competitors with more powerful hardware. Despite this, Moto X Force stands out significantly from its competitors: it has its own recognizable style and a unique, unbreakable screen (also of very good quality). Still, Moto has not yet lost its ability to create truly interesting, different, high-quality smartphones. This is supported by very impressive, although not top-end performance, excellent cameras, long battery life and a nice bonus in the form of splash protection. The only thing that can put you off buying is the price of 19,000 UAH, which is comparable to the new flagships of competitors that boast more powerful hardware.

5 reasons to buy Moto X Force:

• Unbreakable ShatterShield screen with good picture quality;
• excellent case with a metal frame and nylon back;
• impressive battery life;
• cool camera;
• pure Android current version with minimal but really useful additions.

2 reasons not to buy Moto X Force:

• high price
• competitors have more powerful models for the same money.

At a special event dedicated to the launch of Moto X Force on the Ukrainian market, we had a chance to try this smartphone in action, and also witness its repeated crash tests.

Let's remember that Motorola's mobile division is now owned by Lenovo. It is thanks to the fact that Lenovo is now distributing and popularizing smartphones that Moto smartphones, after many years, are again officially available on the Ukrainian market.

The highlight of the model is the use of Moto ShatterShield technology. According to the manufacturer, the screen of such a smartphone is almost impossible to break.

Note that, unlike many rugged smartphones like Cat that have bulky bodies, there's nothing about the Moto X Force's appearance that suggests it's drop-resistant.

The back cover of the Moto X Force is not quite ordinary. The manufacturer calls it "ballistic nylon"

The rear camera has very advanced characteristics. Matrix resolution is 21 megapixels, lens aperture is F: 2.0. Hybrid autofocus using phase sensors is supported

It should be noted that extreme “torture” was not carried out on the Moto X Force, that is, the smartphone was not driven over with a caterpillar tractor or thrown from the fifth floor. The smartphone was dropped more than a dozen times onto the tiled floor from a height at the height of an adult’s head.