Moto’s flagship X gets two flavours in 2015

Finding a smartphone is hard enough these days, and companies don’t make it easier with the ridiculous amount of choices offered, but if you need a flagship and are thinking of going for Motorola this year, you’ll only have to choose between two.

Announced alongside Motorola’s update to the mid-range G series device were two new editions of the X, Motorola’s top tier smartphone that generally turns the heads.

motorola-moto-x-play-announce-2015-03

First there’s the Moto X Play, the a 5.5 inch Full HD smartphone offering up a Snapdragon 615 eight-core processor, 2GB RAM, either 16 or 32GB storage, and support for a microSD slot, something Motorola has never graced an X series phone with before.

High-speed 4G LTE technology is offered here, as is a 21 megapixel camera on the back and a 5 megapixel camera up front, and the phone even sports a bit of water repellant design, though it doesn’t appear to be the IPX7 rating on the Motorola G, so make sure not to drown the phone in a pint of beer.

motorola-moto-x-play-announce-2015-06

One thing of note is the size, and this one appears to be a little chunkier than most flagships, offering a curved thickness of between 8.9 and 10.9mm, thanks in part to a 3630mAh battery.

That’s a fairly sizeable battery for a smartphone, which Motorola suggests as much as two days of life is possible from, which should attract people keen to get a lot of use out of their phone on.

motorola-moto-x-play-announce-2015-08

Worth noting, however, is that the Moto X Play isn’t the real flagship. Rather, it’s like the baby flagship, the not-quite-flagship, or the little-flagship-that-could.

If you’re after a real flagship, you want to turn your attention to the Moto X Style, which is also going by the name Moto X Pure.

motorola-moto-x-style-announce-2015-08

This model is the one to look at if you want the best of the best from Motorola, with a 1.8GHz six-core Snapdragon 808 processor designed to be a little more grunty than even the eight-core found in the Play edition of the handset.

motorola-moto-x-style-announce-2015-03

The screen is a little bigger again, jumping up to a 5.7 inch 1440p screen which is higher definition and better for your eyes, with a pixel clarity of roughly 520 pixels per inch, almost 200 higher than the iPhone 6 and around 100 higher than the similarly sized iPhone 6 Plus.

Most of these numbers are irrelevant because really it’s the experience that matters, and with this phone, Motorola is pushing some of those features in the X Play to be a little more interesting.

motorola-moto-x-style-announce-2015-06

For instance, you get the same 21 megapixel camera, but this one offers 4K UHD video capture. You’ll see a 5 megapixel camera up front, too, but we’re told the Moto X Style will get a neato capability to capture in low light with a larger sensor.

And while they both have WiFi built in, only the Moto X Style will support the high speed 802.11ac technology, making it ideal for moving files quickly at home or the office when used with a compatible 80211ac router, which is also backwards compatible with the 802.11a/b/g/n technology found on other phones like the Moto X Play.

motorola-moto-x-style-announce-2015-01

Designs are also a little different here, with more of an emphasis on being individual in the Style.

That makes a bit of sense when you think about it, because a phone called the “Style” should certainly have some, and you’ll find choices of different colours and backs here, complete with wood a possibility since that will be standard on this variation.

motorola-moto-x-style-announce-2015-05

You can probably imagine we’re keen to see both, but the Moto X Style definitely has more of our attention than the Play simply because it’s the bigger phone with more tech inside.

Like us, however, you’re going to have to wait on this one, as Motorola hasn’t announced local pricing or availability, though as always we’ll let you know when we know.

motorola-moto-x-style-announce-2015-07