Motorola wants you to look very closely at its new phone, the One Macro

By Andy Boxall Published December 21, 2019

Here’s a new phone to look at a little closer: The Motorola One Macro. The latest in an ever-increasing line-up of Motorola One phones, it joins the Motorola One Vision, One Zoom, and One Action, and its main feature is given away in the name. That’s right, it has a camera designed to take close-up shots; but unlike the name also suggests (and some previous One phones) it does not run Android One.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

On the back is a triple-lens camera, and the macro lens is equipped with 2 megapixels and the ability to focus on objects just 2cm away from it. Motorola says it can even add a bokeh effect to these close-up shots, which sounds really interesting. We’ve seen this kind of feature before, but it’s now growing in popularity as manufacturers look for ways to make phone cameras different. The new OnePlus 7T has a particularly effective macro mode, and Huawei incorporated one into the Mate 20 Pro; but the One Macro brings the feature to the masses.

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The phone will cost around $140 when it launches, making it very affordable, and the macro mode definitely makes it different. What else do you get? The camera specs continue with a 13-megapixel main lens and a second 2-megapixel depth-sensing lens, while the selfie camera has 8 megapixels. There’s laser autofocus, and some artificial intelligence features too.

It’s the MediaTek Helio P70 providing the A.I. ability and power for the One Macro, and it’s joined by 4G of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The battery has a 4,000mAh capacity which Motorola says will last for two days on a single charge, and you stare at a 6.2-inch screen with a modest 1520 x 720-pixel resolution. Other features include a MicroSD card slot, a fingerprint sensor on the back, a notch at the top of the screen, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The software is a slight disappointment, as it’s not Android One but Android 9.0 Pie. An upgrade to Android 10 is likely to arrive, but no date is known for it. Set for release in India from October 12, the Motorola One Macro will slowly then get a global release, with the U.S. potentially on the list, throughout the rest of the month.

Former Senior Mobile Writer

Andy has written about mobile technology for almost a decade. From 2G to 5G and smartphone to smartwatch, Andy knows tech.

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