Motorola Moto M review: M for Midranger

M for Midranger

GSMArena team, 13 January 2017.

Telephony

The Moto M is a dual SIM device - there's no single SIM version. As usual, it lets you select in settings which card does what by default, or you can leave it on a case-by-case basis. It can also select the card based on who you're calling so it can optimize your expenses.

Dual SIM settings - Motorola Moto M review Dual SIM settings - Motorola Moto M review Dual SIM settings - Motorola Moto M review Dual SIM settings - Motorola Moto M review Dual SIM settings - Motorola Moto M review
Dual SIM settings

The dialer should be quite familiar. It's split into three tabs - favorites (with big thumbnails), call log and all contacts.

Favorite contacts - Motorola Moto M review Call log - Motorola Moto M review All contacts - Motorola Moto M review Smart dialing - Motorola Moto M review Smart dialing - Motorola Moto M review
Favorite contacts • Call log • All contacts • Smart dialing

Loudspeaker

The Moto M has just the one speaker on the bottom, but it pumps out enough decibels for a Good rating in our test. That's pretty much where most of the competition falls too.

Speakerphone testVoice, dB Pink noise/ Music, dB Ringing phone, dB Overall score
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 66.2 64.8 66.8 Below Average
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 66.0 64.3 70.1 Below Average
Meizu m3 note 66.5 64.6 71.7 Average
Lenovo K6 Note 63.2 69.5 71.0 Average
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 64.5 71.0 68.9 Average
Moto G4 Plus 64.0 70.4 73.0 Average
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 64.2 67.2 76.9 Good
Lenovo Moto G4 64.7 70.8 72.8 Good
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 66.5 66.6 75.8 Good
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 68.1 71.8 69.4 Good
Moto M 64.5 72.9 72.0 Good
Moto Z Play 62.9 70.3 77.0 Good
Oppo R9s 64.3 71.5 76.1 Good
Huawei Honor 8 70.5 70.5 78.2 Very Good
ZTE Axon 7 66.4 72.2 84.1 Very Good
Meizu MX5 75.7 73.5 79.5 Excellent
Sony Xperia XA Ultra 88.9 79.3 82.7 Excellent

Messaging and text input

The Moto M comes with Google Messenger pre-installed (it's the default SMS app) as well as Hangouts. Messenger behaves a lot like a modern IM app. You can snap a photo and send it in seconds or send short audio recordings, emojis and so on.

Text input, naturally, is handled by the Google keyboard. It's fast, it's accurate, it's reliable, and it has plenty of configuration options. You can enable one-handed mode by long-pressing the comma key, adjust the keyboard height, the layout (e.g. you may want QWERTZ), enable additional symbols on long-press and change the theme. Typing, swiping and voice dictation are available.

Google Messenger - Motorola Moto M review Google keyboard - Motorola Moto M review One-handed mode - Motorola Moto M review Swype input - Motorola Moto M review
Google Messenger • Google keyboard • One-handed mode • Swype input

Other pre-installed apps

Now this is going to be one short section of the review. Being Android at its most basic, the Moto M's OS has few apps outside of the standard Google suite. And 'few' here stands for 'none', really.

Perhaps the sole noteworthy app is the file manager, which sorts files by category or time of accessing and also supports batch actions.

File manager - Motorola Moto M review File manager - Motorola Moto M review File manager - Motorola Moto M review
File manager

You also have the stock Google calculator with a swipe-out advanced actions pane in portrait. The Google Calendar is also on board, conveniently syncing with your, well, Google Calendar with highlights for birthdays and holidays as well.

Calculator - Motorola Moto M review Google Calendar - Motorola Moto M review Google Calendar - Motorola Moto M review
Calculator • Google Calendar

Among other things, the same suite also brings things like Google Docs and Spreadsheets to the table so you have your document needs covered out of the box.

Reader comments

  • Lucky
  • 25 Jan 2022
  • gM}

Very poor charging

  • Raaz Ahmed
  • 25 Nov 2021
  • XWG

I have to change my mobile new version repairing my battery battery is the very low

  • Nayeem
  • 19 Jul 2021
  • ubI

Your mobile charges are low and there is no place for service in Bangladesh