Once upon a time, the Moto X was the crown jewel of Motorola’s lineup. But that was way back in 2015. Last year’s modular Moto Z shifted the manufacturer’s strategy a bit, and now parent company Lenovo is trying to rekindle some of the magic with a refreshed, revamped fourth-gen Moto X4.
Release date and price
Just like its predecessor, the new Moto X4 won’t break the bank.
In the U.S., the Moto X4 costs $400 from Google’s Project Fi, Fry’s, B&H, Best Buy, Jet.com, Newegg, Motorola.com, Republic Wireless, and Ting. It’s currently available for pre-order and will ship on October 26.
If you pre-order the unlocked version of the Moto X4 from Best Buy in either color variant — sterling blue or super black –you’ll receive a $50 gift card from the retailer.
If the prospect of shelling out $400 doesn’t thrill you, the Moto X4 is available at a discount — $330 — through Amazon’s Prime Exclusive Phones program. But there’s a catch: You’ll have to put up with ads on the phone’s lock screen to sign up for Amazon’s $99-a-year Prime membership.
The Moto X4 is priced at 399 euros ($475) for the 32GB version in eastern Europe, which is only slightly more expensive than the Moto X 2015 ($400).
Understated design
The Moto X4 slots in somewhere between Motorola’s lower-end G range and flagship Z family on Lenovo’s pricing spectrum, and the hardware more or less reflects that.
It’s much slimmer and a lot curvier than its predecessor, with an anodized aluminum unibody that puts its 5.2-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) edge-to-edge screen front and center. But there’s not much else on the front, save a selfie camera optimized for low light and a fingerprint sensor that doubles as a home button.
A 3.5mm headphone jack sits next to a USB Type-C charging port on the bottom, and the SIM card slot is at the top. On the right-hand side is where you’ll find the power button and volume rocker, and on the rear there’s a dual-sensor camera with a dual-LED flash on the all-glass, Gorilla Glass-shielded curved back.
Specs
The Moto X4’s specs vary a little from region to region. Every Moto X4 carries Qualcomm’s 630 system on a chip, but the Europe, Latin America, and North American models have 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. The Asia Pacific Moto X4 ups the RAM and storage count to 4GB and 64GB, respectively.
Both Moto X4 models are IP68 water- and dust-resistant, which means they can survive in up to 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes. They both sport a 3,000mAh nonremovable battery with support for Motorola’s speedy Turbo Charger.
The Moto X4’s dual rear shooter features a 12-megapixel main sensor (f/2.0 aperture) and 8-megapixel secondary sensor (f/2.2 aperture), both of which have phase detection autofocus and the ability to add bokeh-like depth of field effects (à la the iPhone 7’s Portrait Mode). The 16-megapixel front camera, meanwhile, has an adaptive low-light feature that automatically boosts image brightness and contrast.
Software
The Moto X4 isn’t all hardware. There’s plenty new in terms of software as well.
A new wireless audio option lets you pair up to four wireless speakers simultaneously. Amazon Alexa seems to be everywhere these days, and the Moto X4 is no exception. The AI-powered voice assistant is accessible even when the phone is locked via a voice command.
A new Moto Key app logs you into websites requiring passwords on your laptop with a tap of a finger. Quick Screenshot snaps a pic of your phone’s screen when you tap the display with three fingers. Face Filters, which will be available in a Google Play Store update on September 26, adds animations to your photos and videos. And Landmark Detection serves up information about objects of interest in your camera’s view.
Sadly, it runs Android 7.1 Nougat instead of the latest Android 8.0 Oreo.
Update: Best Buy is offering free $50 gift cards with Moto X4 pre-orders.