Motorola One Zoom Review: a Balanced Brand and Performance

In recent years, Motorola has always been a benchmark in what has the price-quality relationship, however, with the arrival of new players such as Xiaomi O RealMe, the mid-range has lowered its price considerably. This has caused that many can not stand out in a tremendously aggressive market, so they look for ways to get noticed with peculiarity. And what does Motorola do with this One Zoom? We are going to tell you that.

Motorola One Zoom, Overview

Motorola has placed its new family of terminals under the nomenclature One, and from there, several protagonists seek their place with characteristics that define it. In this case, the idea seems pretty clear, right? Yes, the One Zoom is a phone that incorporates a 3x optical zoom camera, although it does not stay there, since it actually incorporates 4 rear cameras in total with which it offers a fairly complete set.

But the first thing that attracts attention is its design and feeling of having it in hand. It’s not bad, in fact its design is pretty good, but it feels quite rough and big. Guilt of this is evidently its large 6.4-inch screen , but in the general balance its 190 grams in weight and its thickness of 8.8 millimeters feel exorbitant. These measures in the thickness of a phone had not seen them for some time, something that is also explained with the integrated battery that offers, of a generous 4,000 mAh .

Motorola One zoom

This battery is one of the elements that has caught our attention in the One Zoom, not to mention what else, since it behaves very well throughout the day, getting spectacular figures for a terminal in its range. To give you an idea, we have been using the phone as a WiFi hotspot for 4 hours, and we have had a battery to hold the whole day.

The Design

Motorola One zoom

Returning to the design, a point that we have not liked too much is how they have resolved the placement of the cameras, since a large protuberance is responsible for bringing together the four sensors and the brand logo. As you can see in the images, the space occupied by the Motorola logo (which lights up as a notification LED) was left over in this highlight, although the manufacturer may have wanted to differentiate itself from the classic rear square that many manufacturers have chosen to use. The problem with this is that on the back of the One Zoom we will find an inevitable step, and this when it is held in the hand affects.

This step is in an intermediate place that bothers in all kinds of occasions. If you choose to avoid it, you will be holding the phone badly with a risk of dropping it, and if you decide to step on it with your finger, you will end up touching the cameras and continuously soiling the lenses. That said, an annoying element that could have a smaller size easily.

Motorola One zoom

Given the placement of the elements on the back, you are probably wondering about the existence of a fingerprint reader. Yes, the fingerprint reader exists, and is integrated into the screen. It is a very interesting features that are appreciated to see included in a terminal of this category. It works really well, and very fast, although there will be times when it is not as immediate as you expected. It’s a matter of catching the point.

A peculiar speaker

Motorola One zoom

Continuing with the aesthetic review and visible elements in the terminal, we could not pass up the speaker theme. It has caught our attention because it is located on the top of the device, a very strange place that we had not seen on any other phone before and that poses two problems:

When we use the phone horizontally we cover it, and we greatly reduce the sound power of the speaker. Especially when we play with touch controls.
When we use the phone vertically, the sound is projected out, and if you get confused it can be quite annoying in public places. Although good, this for some could be something positive …

As we say, it is a strange location, but leaving that aside, we must say that we are facing a very good performance speaker that surprises as soon as it is put into operation. But you know, be careful not to leave deaf those around you.

Mid-range by specifications

Motorola One zoom

Inside the device we will not find too many surprises. Basically because the processor used is a S napdragon 675 with 4GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage with the possibility of expanding with microSD cards. It is a practical configuration that meets most tasks and needs, but is obviously surpassed by many other market configurations.

Seeing these characteristics, you may already be getting an idea of what will be the main problem that will stop the success of this terminal, but we are not going forward yet. If you want to keep an eye on your list of specifications we leave it below:

  • 6.39-inch screen with FHD + resolution (2,340 x 1,080 pixels)
  • Snapdragon 675 processor
  • 4 GB of RAM
  • 128 GB of internal storage
  • 4,000 mAh battery
  • Integrated fingerprint reader
  • Rear cameras of 48MP f1.7 OIS PDAF, 16MP wide angle of 117 degrees, 8MP telephoto of 3x OIS magnification and 5MP as depth sensor.
  • 25 megapixel front camera f2.0
  • WiFi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C
  • 3.5 mm jack
  • 158 x 75 x 8.8 mm

Four cameras for all types of use

Motorola One zoom

As we have said before, this Motorola One Zoom has four cameras on its back, and if you think they are many, we will quickly summarize them so that you understand them at first.

  • On the one hand, we have a 5 megapixel in charge of calculating depths. It is the sensor that you are going to use the least, at least directly, since it will be there, making measurements to have information about the background of the scene and to be able to adjust the intensity of the blur.

  • This first sensor works with the main camera, which is no other than the one with the 48 megapixel sensor . They are many pixels, but they play with trick, since they are grouped to obtain more light and capture more detail. It is a technique that we have already seen in other phones, and that in the end offers us captures of 12 megapixels . This technique is responsible for capturing more light and more detail. The result? Good by day and improvable at night.

  • The third camera is an ultra wide angle of 117 degrees, and it will give us that striking perspective in exteriors and buildings.

  • And, last but not least, the 3-magnification zoom with an 8-megapixel sensor, a somewhat poor resolution but that gets really good results, with a particularly noteworthy detail. In fact, it is the best camera of the three, because the main and angular work well during the day, but when night falls, the quality also falls.

That the camera that gives name to this device is the one that has caught our attention is something interesting, since at least the manufacturer has paid attention in this regard, however, taking into account that it is a secondary camera, not It would be bad if the main one presented a better performance. But if there is something we did not like is the interface that gives life to the camera application of the device.

The phone responds quite slowly at the time of changing modes and taking photos, and this has got me quite desperate on some occasions. The reason? An interface loaded with too many modes, of course there are so many cameras that there are many options to fiddle, and a brain that falls short for it.

Conclusion, Balanced Brand and Performance

Motorola One zoom

This Motorola One Zoom is a device that we could recommend to any average user looking for a complete phone without thinking too much of spectacular performance. But there is a problem, and it is none other than its price. Its 429 euros label immediately punishes the success of the device, because for that price or for a little more, we can reach a phone with a much more powerful processor and superior features in all aspects, and that is where the One Zoom fails.

If you are looking for a balanced brand and performance if great highlights could be a good option, but its price still seems high for what currently marks the market.