The Moto X Play is a more affordable version of the Moto X Style with a gigantic battery

By Robert Nazarian July 28, 2015

Motorola announced the all new Moto X Play today in an event in London and New York City. The Moto X Play debuts alongside the Moto X Style, and is a smaller and more affordable option.

Here is everything you need to know about the all new Moto X Play.

Slightly smaller display, but bigger battery

The Moto X Play comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display, which is slightly smaller than the Moto X Style’s 5.7-inch Quad HD (2560 x 1440) display. It’s powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor along with 2GB of RAM. Motorola will offer the phone in both 16 and 32GB options, and the MicroSD slot offers expanded storage.

The 3,630mAh battery will provide up to 2 days of life on one charge. It includes quick charging capability, which means that you can get 8 hours of battery life after charging the device for only 15 minutes from 0 percent.

The Moto X Play features advanced nano-coating technology, which provides a water-repellent barrier for accidental spills, splashes, or light rain. However, it’s not considered waterproof, so it can’t be submersed in water or exposed to high pressure.

Rounding out the specs include NFC, LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g/b/n (dual band capable), and Nano-SIM compatibility.

“Best in class” camera

Motorola has never wowed anyone in the camera department, so we’re hoping things will be different this year. Motorola is promising “best in class” cameras on both the Moto X Play and Moto X Style. Both phones offer a 21-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture and Colour Correlated Temperature (CCT) flash with dual LEDs. The Moto X Play can record 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) video at 30 fps or slow motion video at 720p (1,280 x 720). Sadly, optical image stabilization wasn’t mentioned.

The front-facing camera comes in at 5 megapixels and features an 87-degree wide-angle lens for the perfect selfies.

Moto X Play: True love isn't so hard to find.

Near Stock Android with helpful features

Motorola continues to offer a near stock Android experience along with innovative features such as Moto Assist, Moto Display, Moto Voice, and Quick Capture.

Moto Assist offers the ability to control certain aspects of the phone depending on your location. For example, you can set the phone to automatically enter silent mode when you get home or automatically read your text messages to you when you’re in the car.

Moto Display will show you notifications without turning on the full display to save battery life.

Moto Voice allows you to say Google Now commands to your Moto X Play without ever needing to touch the device.

The phone will come with Android 5.1.1 out of the box, and will likely get updated to Android M later this year.

Moto Maker customization

Like previous Moto X phones, the Moto X Play can be customized via Moto Maker. Motorola will offer up to 14 different backs and 7 different color accents, which vary by market. Base models will include Black on Black and White with a Winter White back.

Availability

The all new Moto X Play will be available in 55 countries this August, but unfortunately it won’t be available in the U.S. Motorola didn’t specify specific pricing, but did say that it will be $300 to $400 cheaper (off contract) than competing flagship phones.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Robert Nazarian

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Robert Nazarian became a technology enthusiast when his parents bought him a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color. Now his biggest…

Mobile

Moto Watch 100 goes official, skips Wear OS for an affordable price tag

Moto Watch 100

After being rumored for months, the Moto Watch 100 has finally been officially announced. This new watch might bring back flashes of the Moto 360 smartwatch that launched in 2019, but there are few similarities between the two apart from the fact that its creator is still the same manufacturer, eBuyNow, that also made the Moto 360.

One of the key changes with the Moto Watch 100 is that it has completely replaced Wear OS with a brand new Moto OS made from scratch. A lot about this new software is unknown, but one of the key advantages, according to the product page, is prolonged battery life. So, while Wear OS would only last two to three days, Moto OS extends battery life to two weeks. By priorotizing fitness-centric features, Motorola has chosen a route similar to Chinese OEMs such as OnePlus and Realme while sacrificing third-party apps.

Mobile

Motorola’s new Moto G Power (2022) keeps long battery life, adds better camera

Image of a picture being taken with a Moto G Power.

The Moto G Power (2022) is officially the newest part of Motorola's Moto G family, and the successor to the Moto G Power (2021) that we reviewed early this year. As our review of the earlier model noted, all the key selling points are here, like the long-lasting three-day battery life, huge display, and sturdy design. But on top of that, Motorola also appears to have addressed our complaints about the weak camera performance and mediocre panel, by significantly beefing up both, though it still hasn't brought 5G to the device likely to keep it under $200.

To start with, the new G Power features a 6.5-inch 1600 x 720 IPS display with a 90Hz refresh rate, meaning everything will be smoother than last year's 60Hz panel. It's still not really a bump up from 720p -- 1080p would have been nice given the big screen, but it'll still feel a lot better to use. In terms of weight and dimensions, it's about the same size and tips the scale at about 203 grams. The design is fairly sturdy and is IP52 water-repellent, however, it is not technically waterproof, so don't fully immerse it.

Mobile

The Moto G Pure might be Motorola’s most affordable entry-level phone yet

Image of Moto G Pure.

Motorola is back with a new entry-level unlocked phone -- the Moto G Pure. Despite not having any particularly unique features to it, the $160 G Pure does excel at being a fantastic budget phone, as it falls in the same price range as the aging Moto E. According to Motorola, the G Pure is the new entry point for its budget lineup, though not technically a direct replacement of the Moto E.

The phone is only available in a Deep Indigo color option, which looks like a light black to our eyes. Sporting a 6.5-inch HD+ Max Vision 1600 x 720 display, the Moto G Pure has a resolution of 269 pixels per inch. It weighs about 188 grams. Its water-repellent design is accented with a subtle fingerprint scanner on the Motorola logo, though it's important to note that it's not waterproof.