Great phone, and the recent Marshmallow update is making mine last 3-4 days between charges! If you want the customisable version (apparently 196 different combinations!) direct from Motorola here's a heads-up it's under £225 at the moment! Let the wails of "it's not dual-SIM" commence...
My tip? Turn on the 'tap to focus' feature on the camera (or use a different camera app maybe? I've not tried them myself) to get the most out of the camera.
Use code UKMUM16 to get 10% off and thanks to a couple of other HUKDers (bosbusm, honeymonster86, Grrrd), using the UKWELCOME10 code as well results in a cost of £209 at checkout though I can't work out how! According to hlk01 and sparrky, you can get topcashback or quudco cashback to take the price under £200, which is fantastic.
BODY Dimensions 148 x 75 x 10.9 mm (5.83 x 2.95 x 0.43 in)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz)
SIM Nano-SIM
- Water repellent nano-coating (IP52 certified)
DISPLAY Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 5.5 inches (~74.4% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels (~403 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3
PLATFORM OS Android OS, v5.1.1 (Lollipop), planned upgrade to v6.0 (Marshmallow*) *already rolled out in the UK
Chipset Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615
CPU Quad-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU Adreno 405
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 128 GB (dedicated slot)
Internal 16/32 GB, 2 GB RAM
CAMERA Primary 21 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, check quality
Features 1/2.4" sensor size, 1.1 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, auto-HDR
Video [email protected], check quality
Secondary 5 MP, f/2.2
SOUND Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, hotspot
Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, LE
GPS Yes, with A-GPS
NFC Yes
Radio FM radio
USB microUSB v2.0
FEATURES Sensors Yes
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser HTML5
Java No
- Fast battery charging
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player
- MP4/H.264/WMV player
- Photo/video editor
- Document viewer
BATTERY Non-removable 3630 mAh battery
Stand-by
Talk time
MISC Colors Black, White
Price group 6/10
TESTS Performance Basemark OS II: 764 / Basemark OS II 2.0: 809
Basemark X: 5032
Display Contrast ratio: 1520:1 (nominal), 3.222 (sunlight)
Camera Photo / Video
Loudspeaker Voice 69dB / Noise 66dB / Ring 75dB
Audio quality Noise -93.8dB / Crosstalk -95.2dB
Battery life
Endurance rating 83h
Top comments
deanmiles25
29 Feb 165#1
3-4 days between charge? what do you do, text and call only?
I charge mine everyday but then I'm a heavy user, especially games.
Really happy with the phone tho. I've no complaints as it has been well worth the money.
honeymonster86
29 Feb 163#5
Cheers, its also works with UKWELCOME10 so you can take another £10 off .. make its a better deal.
Latest comments (71)
jazzuk777
1 Apr 16#70
Anyone else having trouble with using marshmallow with windows 10? Can't see any files on the phone or even the sd card at all through file explorer on w10...
Pyrii to jazzuk777
2 Apr 16#71
When you connect the phone via USB, pull down the notifications and tap on the USB notification and change to MTP. By default the phone won't go into MTP and I don't know how to change this.
thekitkatshuffler
15 Mar 16#68
I ended up getting this for under £200 with the TCB refund but man it feels like a piece of crap in the hand.
Coming from the Nexus 5 this thing feels like a toy. Plasticky beyond belief and stretched to 5.5" for seemingly no reason other than replacing quality with size.
The screen quality is fine but it's no AMOLED and I think I'll swerve Lenovo Moto in the future. The lack of a snugly fitting backplate is just a constant reminder of the drop in quality from what I bought over 2 years ago.
jazzuk777 to thekitkatshuffler
16 Mar 16#69
Can't say I recognise the phone you describe, each to his own I guess.
jazzuk777
15 Mar 16#67
Hmmm not had any trouble with my card which I transferred from my moto g. Still have mine formatted as mobile storage.
DonkeyKonk
15 Mar 16#66
Not so good a day later, after making my highly reliable Samsung sd card "internal storage" and all fine, it suddenly has started playing up and not recognising the ad card, from out of nowhere, hmmmm.
DonkeyKonk
14 Mar 161#63
I got one in the end, will try it out, might return etc.
Just had it a couple of hours, Certainly seems rather good for under £200 (quidco tracked). The single speaker does a good job, noticeably louder than my z2, and I do like the FM radio, which my S5 is missing.
Lovely big screen, yet same body size as z2 (and seems lighter too).
Almost a perfect phone for me, just doesn't have the removable battery which s5 has.
Anyhow, thanks op.
jazzuk777 to DonkeyKonk
15 Mar 16#65
The battery life is so good with a little care (E.g. turn off NFC, and other wirelesses when not using), you don't need a removable one. It's almost like going back to the days of dumb phones!
HXL
14 Mar 16#64
UKWELCOME10 worked for me just now, took 10 off the price from my X STYLE, thanks
Pyrii
14 Mar 16#61
Codes don't work for me.
jazzuk777 to Pyrii
14 Mar 16#62
It was a mother's day code but it did last at least a few days past. I've expired it but it needs others to do it too
Tomb
8 Mar 161#60
Codes still working - Cheers Op.
jazzuk777
4 Mar 16#59
You might also consider this for less. I like plain vanilla Android so it's always going to be Moto for me unless Lenovo stuff it up too much, or Nexus bring out budget level models, but Huawei get quite a lot of love and I'd liked their earlier phones until EMUI came along..
Argos have the 16gb for £239 incase anyone has a load of vouchers to use up.
I have £200 worth, but think I will hold orf.
madinlife
4 Mar 16#57
the code UKMUM16 just worked for me
blammo
4 Mar 16#56
Cant' seem to get UKMUM16 code to work, anyone know if it's expired?
0x00
4 Mar 16#54
Last night I was looking at this deal, looked great, today it looks like they might have sold out of the 16GB? The price always starts at £289, even though 16GB is selected by default, you can click 32GB and the price stays the same, then you can't click 16GB any more... :disappointed:
thekitkatshuffler to 0x00
4 Mar 16#55
It's in stock at the moment in black. OOS in white.
jazzuk777
3 Mar 16#53
Oh...
rev6
3 Mar 161#52
Just tested. Seems like the former.
jazzuk777
3 Mar 16#51
Ah OK, sounds like a 6 thing then. Not sure if actually slow to latch on, or just slow to update status bar, I think it's the latter.
jazzuk777
3 Mar 16#49
.. Except one niggle is it seems to take longer to show it's latched onto WiFi than I'm used to, not sure it actually does take longer to actually latch on. Anyone else noticed this?
rev6 to jazzuk777
3 Mar 16#50
With 6? I noticed that too with other devices.
jazzuk777
3 Mar 16#48
The Nexus 5X is probably better (except maybe battery?) in most aspects. But then it also costs more (more than your budget of £250 currently i think?) so you pays your choice. For me, the X Play does everything I need as well as I need it to do.
madcap
3 Mar 16#47
the battery life for the Moto X sounds amazing. Battery life for my OPX is ok, gets me from 7am to 10pm on 1 charge, but I'd rather have a phone that would last longer
mjjgirlie
3 Mar 16#46
Thanks again for the info. There's always going to be a compromise with a phone at this price point, maybe the camera is it?! I do like the camera on my N5, and would be so disappointed to replace and find I'm talking blurry photos (kids don't tend to be static :wink: ) Some will say "if you want decent pics go and buy a camera, not a phone" but in reality we all know we're not going to carry around both in our pockets day to day.
Battery life is very appealing and I read your link about the Marshmallow update ironing out some flaws so that sounds good too. My Mums got a Moto G third gen and is very happy with it. It looks fine to me so I'm thinking the Moto X Play can only be better than that as it is indeed a "superior" model.
The thing that puts me off an LG is the non stock android. I've got used to a nice clean version with my N5. I know there is the option of rooting and custom ROMs but im really not into all of that and dare I say it would frighten me a little bit :confused:
Has anyone any experience of the new Nexus 5X? Maybe I should consider that.
Iain815
2 Mar 161#45
The camera on the X Play is actually very good. I definitely wouldn't describe it as "below average" as others have described. Photos are a huge step up compared to the N5's poor camera - however there's no OIS so you need to be quite steady when taking photos, and moving objects (such as running children :stuck_out_tongue: ) may not come out clear. Night time photos aren't spectacular either (par of the course on phones in this price range). For static pictures though it looks excellent.
Oh, and there's no gyroscope on it so you can't take photospheres or use VR, if you're into that sort of thing.
mjjgirlie
2 Mar 16#42
Thank you for the advice. Camera is fairly important to me, with 2 young kiddies I'm a bit snap happy. A better battery is a big selling point. This Nexus 5 is driving me potty (I actually just got a low battery notification and I only charged this afternoon. Grrrr!) Might bite the bullet and go for this deal, thanks.
jazzuk777 to mjjgirlie
2 Mar 16#44
I think the results aren't bad mainly for kiddy snaps, more or less on a par with my wife's LG G2, who is also snap happy! You do have to work harder in low light, and it is isn't great for gig photos for example but it's acceptable for indoor artificially-lit photos generally. Since the N5 isn't known for its photo prowess, I doubt you'd see a step down certainly though I'm sure you could see a step up with the G4, or you could probably get an S5 at £250 maybe? I still think the X Play is the best compromise for me overall (the G4 is definitely a better phone, but I just hate LG's skins, though a new launcher can help), but that's just me. The battery life is almost unbeatable though.
Lots of people rave about the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 often around at £99 and with a spec not too far off, but again I think personally I'd rather have this, mainly for longevity reasons. For a little less you could look at the Honor 5X and for around the £249 mark the Honor 7 (currently - offers at c.£209 have been around and will no doubt again) also has some big fans.
Your mileage may vary as they say.
Dubtitled
2 Mar 161#43
Thanks OP gone for this.
mjjgirlie
2 Mar 16#39
I'm not too mobile savvy. I currently have a nexus 5 but I've just about had enough of the battery. Would this be a good replacement for me or not worth it? Willing to spend up to £250. Thanks in advance. :smiley:
jazzuk777 to mjjgirlie
2 Mar 16#40
Battery on this is fantastic. If camera is really important to you, then the LG G4 might be a better bet if you can find a bargain one as they have been around the £225 mark but the camera on this is OK if not quite a1 flagship standard. Turn on tap to focus and use the exposure slider to help you get better results.
Iain815 to mjjgirlie
2 Mar 16#41
I jumped from a Nexus 5 to this, because of the same reason, the N5's appalling battery.
In terms of battery, this phone is insane. I'm a heavy user, and it will last all day no problem. I get about 5 hours screen on-time.
Keep in mind, there's a slight performance drop though. Marshallow update made a big improvement, but there's still the odd lag and stutter here and there (it was much worse before Marshmallow). Details here.
jont999
2 Mar 16#38
Ordered - Est. Delivery: Friday, 11/03/2016 though :disappointed:
deanmiles25
2 Mar 16#37
And you sound like a ****. :smiley:
micksey
2 Mar 16#36
great phone and price
garethcook7
2 Mar 16#35
The codes don't work for me
madcap
2 Mar 16#30
hmmm should have got this instead of the Oneplus X I think...
Simplyst to madcap
2 Mar 16#34
Why's that? Im actually thinking of getting the Oneplus X.
Simplyst
2 Mar 16#33
I have been looking at reviews of the Oneplus X for a few days now (after one for my mum as her Moto G 4G broke). Its a shame that this phone isn't available in stores to try out as I have only seen youtube videos on this phone. The Oneplus 2 is only £50 more as well but the build quality of the X looks amazing.
Simplyst
2 Mar 16#31
This or the Oneplus X? Not in terms of screen size.
thekitkatshuffler to Simplyst
2 Mar 16#32
I just came here to ask the same question. Leaning towards the OnePlus X myself, with its metal construction. Just a shame they aren't getting round to a Marshmallow update a bit sooner.
robcro
2 Mar 16#28
How is the camera on this?
poing to robcro
2 Mar 16#29
Below average in my experience, it's the weakest part of the phone. For me it's not a problem because I rarely take many pictures of any importance but there are plenty of other phones that are better for taking pictures if it's important to you.
deanmiles25
29 Feb 165#1
3-4 days between charge? what do you do, text and call only?
I charge mine everyday but then I'm a heavy user, especially games.
Really happy with the phone tho. I've no complaints as it has been well worth the money.
jazzuk777 to deanmiles25
29 Feb 16#4
I bluetooth music to my speaker when cooking (mostly stored but some streaming), email and browse mainly with a bit of texting and occasional calls. I have turned off NFC as don't use and I only have bluetooth and wifi on when using them. Took a bit of time since Marshmallow update but am really seeing much longer life now (due to cache being built up maybe?).
brilly to deanmiles25
2 Mar 16#27
woah!!! you sound hardcore
Nexusfifth
2 Mar 16#26
I can first hand tell you that both sims work, it is true that IMEI of the second one is not displayed but it still accepts calls and texts (not data). (I got it working on ee for the 100GB deal + my regular three sim to keep receiving calls).
This info is about 2-3 months old though,the phone was a gift to my sister (I only briefly tested it... ) and is used overseas so can't check again now to confirm how it plays with Marshmallow.
About rooting there is always a question of warranty but as far as I understand only at the point when you unlock the bootloader do you void the warranty.
Point being if you put Motorolas genuine software on your phone how different is that from getting an over the air update?
I am pretty sure if you push them hard enough they would honor it and for all but most severe failures you can easily hide your tracks before returning.
It is just some info if someone wants to get dual sim on this.
jazzuk777
1 Mar 16#25
I think I read somewhere that you don't get actually get full functionality that way, and wouldn't it need to be rooted, which does void the warranty?
Update: had a quick look at the thread, it seems that you don't get a second imei on the second sim slot, so it can theoretically work but not in the uk because of imei registration... I understand.
pdug175
1 Mar 16#21
Really want to replace my LG G3 with this but I can't live without the wireless charging now
jazzuk777 to pdug175
1 Mar 16#22
I don't think this is probably better than the LG G3 generally except for battery life and a cleaner version of Android.
Nexusfifth to pdug175
1 Mar 16#24
G3 has higher res screen but it is relatively poor in terms of quality. Have you tried putting CM12 on G3 a couple of my friends did and it drastically improved the phone, in their words.
and somewhere on page 5-6 there are instructions. (Note that they fail to make canadian ones work but european ones are very easy) you simply flash a dual sim software as this still ships with hardware taking dual sim regardless of where it is sold. (I think you flash the indian firmware or something, don't really remember now has been a while since I have done it, (black Friday Amazon for 190£))
This should, in theory, not void your warranty as you are flashing a motorola stock image albeit from a different region.
SpringBourne
1 Mar 161#20
This code stacking works on the other phones too. Moto G 3rd gen becomes £149.99 for the 16gb version
sparrky2004
1 Mar 16#19
Quidco tracked at £10.13
hlk01
29 Feb 161#18
Edit - TCB tracked at £12.28 payable in 4 weeks, brings the price down to less than £197.
Tx again.
ryanfitz1981
29 Feb 161#17
Ordered! Thanks OP. Been on the look out for a new phone for a while.
sparrky2004
29 Feb 161#16
Thanks OP - been after this for a while - ordered!
hlk01
29 Feb 161#15
Thanks OP. Ordered. Used topcashback for potential extra 6% cb. Wish motorola were a bit quicker on delivery :smile:
afckev
29 Feb 161#14
true, heat for this too, very good deal for a great phone
afckev
29 Feb 162#13
very true, heat for this too, very good deal for a great phone
sclarke81
29 Feb 161#12
The UKMUM16 code was advertised as 10% but it actually took £30 off when I went through the checkout. The code is listed by Quidco so you can also get 5% cashback (I only ordered last night so can't confirm that it's tracked).
afckev
29 Feb 162#10
just got this from Amazon warehouse for £174, with just a slightly damaged box, phone was unused, was in perfect condition when it arrived, was pleasantly suprised
jazzuk777 to afckev
29 Feb 16#11
Bargain, but not the moto maker version.
bobusm
29 Feb 161#8
Coming as £209 for me as well
jazzuk777 to bobusm
29 Feb 16#9
Hmmm maybe if you take the £10 off first then 10%? Well it's all good anyway :smiley:
jazzuk777
29 Feb 16#7
My maths might be bad but I make that £214.10, still better if it does allow code stacking though. Will update the OP when I get in front of my laptop
Grrrd
29 Feb 16#6
Better than the Student Discount deal before - £209 delivered - Stonking Price!
honeymonster86
29 Feb 163#5
Cheers, its also works with UKWELCOME10 so you can take another £10 off .. make its a better deal.
honeymonster86
29 Feb 161#2
Showing as £249.99 for me -- is there a code?
jazzuk777 to honeymonster86
29 Feb 16#3
Sorry, yes just added (HUKD must be slipping, usually adds them automatically!) it's UKMUM16
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
My tip? Turn on the 'tap to focus' feature on the camera (or use a different camera app maybe? I've not tried them myself) to get the most out of the camera.
Use code UKMUM16 to get 10% off and thanks to a couple of other HUKDers (bosbusm, honeymonster86, Grrrd), using the UKWELCOME10 code as well results in a cost of £209 at checkout though I can't work out how! According to hlk01 and sparrky, you can get topcashback or quudco cashback to take the price under £200, which is fantastic.
BODY Dimensions 148 x 75 x 10.9 mm (5.83 x 2.95 x 0.43 in)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz)
SIM Nano-SIM
- Water repellent nano-coating (IP52 certified)
DISPLAY Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 5.5 inches (~74.4% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels (~403 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3
PLATFORM OS Android OS, v5.1.1 (Lollipop), planned upgrade to v6.0 (Marshmallow*) *already rolled out in the UK
Chipset Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615
CPU Quad-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU Adreno 405
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 128 GB (dedicated slot)
Internal 16/32 GB, 2 GB RAM
CAMERA Primary 21 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, check quality
Features 1/2.4" sensor size, 1.1 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, auto-HDR
Video [email protected], check quality
Secondary 5 MP, f/2.2
SOUND Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, hotspot
Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, LE
GPS Yes, with A-GPS
NFC Yes
Radio FM radio
USB microUSB v2.0
FEATURES Sensors Yes
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser HTML5
Java No
- Fast battery charging
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player
- MP4/H.264/WMV player
- Photo/video editor
- Document viewer
BATTERY Non-removable 3630 mAh battery
Stand-by
Talk time
MISC Colors Black, White
Price group 6/10
TESTS Performance Basemark OS II: 764 / Basemark OS II 2.0: 809
Basemark X: 5032
Display Contrast ratio: 1520:1 (nominal), 3.222 (sunlight)
Camera Photo / Video
Loudspeaker Voice 69dB / Noise 66dB / Ring 75dB
Audio quality Noise -93.8dB / Crosstalk -95.2dB
Battery life
Endurance rating 83h
Top comments
I charge mine everyday but then I'm a heavy user, especially games.
Really happy with the phone tho. I've no complaints as it has been well worth the money.
Latest comments (71)
Coming from the Nexus 5 this thing feels like a toy. Plasticky beyond belief and stretched to 5.5" for seemingly no reason other than replacing quality with size.
The screen quality is fine but it's no AMOLED and I think I'll swerve Lenovo Moto in the future. The lack of a snugly fitting backplate is just a constant reminder of the drop in quality from what I bought over 2 years ago.
Just had it a couple of hours, Certainly seems rather good for under £200 (quidco tracked). The single speaker does a good job, noticeably louder than my z2, and I do like the FM radio, which my S5 is missing.
Lovely big screen, yet same body size as z2 (and seems lighter too).
Almost a perfect phone for me, just doesn't have the removable battery which s5 has.
Anyhow, thanks op.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/honor-x5-16gb-40-off-with-code-149-99-clove-2407372
I have £200 worth, but think I will hold orf.
Battery life is very appealing and I read your link about the Marshmallow update ironing out some flaws so that sounds good too. My Mums got a Moto G third gen and is very happy with it. It looks fine to me so I'm thinking the Moto X Play can only be better than that as it is indeed a "superior" model.
The thing that puts me off an LG is the non stock android. I've got used to a nice clean version with my N5. I know there is the option of rooting and custom ROMs but im really not into all of that and dare I say it would frighten me a little bit :confused:
Has anyone any experience of the new Nexus 5X? Maybe I should consider that.
Oh, and there's no gyroscope on it so you can't take photospheres or use VR, if you're into that sort of thing.
Lots of people rave about the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 often around at £99 and with a spec not too far off, but again I think personally I'd rather have this, mainly for longevity reasons. For a little less you could look at the Honor 5X and for around the £249 mark the Honor 7 (currently - offers at c.£209 have been around and will no doubt again) also has some big fans.
Your mileage may vary as they say.
In terms of battery, this phone is insane. I'm a heavy user, and it will last all day no problem. I get about 5 hours screen on-time.
Keep in mind, there's a slight performance drop though. Marshallow update made a big improvement, but there's still the odd lag and stutter here and there (it was much worse before Marshmallow). Details here.
I charge mine everyday but then I'm a heavy user, especially games.
Really happy with the phone tho. I've no complaints as it has been well worth the money.
This info is about 2-3 months old though,the phone was a gift to my sister (I only briefly tested it... ) and is used overseas so can't check again now to confirm how it plays with Marshmallow.
About rooting there is always a question of warranty but as far as I understand only at the point when you unlock the bootloader do you void the warranty.
Point being if you put Motorolas genuine software on your phone how different is that from getting an over the air update?
I am pretty sure if you push them hard enough they would honor it and for all but most severe failures you can easily hide your tracks before returning.
It is just some info if someone wants to get dual sim on this.
Update: had a quick look at the thread, it seems that you don't get a second imei on the second sim slot, so it can theoretically work but not in the uk because of imei registration... I understand.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x-play/general/dual-sim-single-sim-t3194533
and somewhere on page 5-6 there are instructions. (Note that they fail to make canadian ones work but european ones are very easy) you simply flash a dual sim software as this still ships with hardware taking dual sim regardless of where it is sold. (I think you flash the indian firmware or something, don't really remember now has been a while since I have done it, (black Friday Amazon for 190£))
This should, in theory, not void your warranty as you are flashing a motorola stock image albeit from a different region.
Tx again.