Motorola One review

Near-Stock Android Oreo, with a few additions

Motorola's smartphones have always provided a clean Android experience, which is still a rare sight.

The Motorola One continues the purist tradition with its Android 8.1 Oreo ROM, that, for the most part, is almost identical to what you would find on a Google Pixel device.

Lock screen • Home screen • Folder view

We get a pretty standard looking UI - the notification shade, quick toggles area, the way the OS handles its multi-windows capabilities and the rolodex recent app switcher. Mind you, these do look a bit dated now that we have had plenty of experience with Android Pi and its revamped UI. Still, we can only imagine Motorola will catch up with Android 9 adoption soon enough.

Notification shade • Quick toggles • Editing Quick toggles • Recent apps • Split screen

The Motorola launcher does also include an optional Google feed screen on the far left and lends itself to a certain degree of customization, like editing number or rows and columns and toggling things like notification dots, app suggestions and home screen rotation.

Google feed • Launcher settings

There are, however, some tweaks, sprinkled in in a really subtle manner. We definitely appreciate Motorola's efforts to keep the Moto assistant additions tidy and well organized under one roof - the Moto app.

Moto app • Moto Actions • Moto Display

We're pretty used to seeing the Moto app with a varied number of available options and additional features on a wide range of Moto devices. The number of custom features offered on the Motorola One is on the lower end of that spectrum.

Moto Actions, for instance, only has the basic pair of gestures that Moto devices tend to get associated with - the double twist for camera and chop for flashlight. No quick screenshot or twist to do the same. Even 'pick up to stop ringing' is not available. These are all options that the Moto G6 family of phones has.

Moto display is missing a few bells and whistles as well. Not that we particularly miss the option to keep the display on whilst staring at it, but its absence is still noteworthy. Also, we didn't see any additional fingerprint features on the Motorola One either, like the convenient Moto Key for filling in passwords and even unlocking Windows PCs.

Fingerprint and security options

Hence, it should come as no surprise that the Motorola One lacks any trendy facial recognition and unlocking tech. You have to live with a password, pattern or pin as a backup to your fingerprint.

In fact, there are few additional settings to speak of beyond the already mentioned. And what is already there is pretty simple in nature.

Settings • Storage manager

What is custom is the system-wide Dolby Audio sound control with presets for movies, music, games, and voice, plus two custom slots. The Intelligent Equalizer will adapt to the content, and you can bias it in three different ways, plus you can also tweak a 10-band EQ yourself.

Dolby Audio equalizer

There are pretty much no additional apps worth mentioning pre-installed on the Motorola One and that's the way we like it. You pretty much get the Google app package and anything else you might need is easily attainable via the Play Store.

FM radio

There is an FM radio receiver and an app to go with it.

Performance

The Motorola One is not an ultra-powerful device by any means. This kind of comes with the "Play" moniker. As in P30 Play, which is the phone's alternative name in some markets in case you skipped over our rant in the intro. Even so, the Snapdragon 625 caught us a little by surprise mainly due to its age.

Don't get us wrong, we still firmly believe that most average users don't really need anything beyond a mid-range chipset. And even this slightly dated one, with its eight 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 cores, is perfectly adequate for everyday tasks and even casual gaming.

Plus, despite its age, the Snapdragon 625 isn't really all that technologically lagging behind. It was actually one of pioneers in bringing more efficient manufacturing processes, like the 14nm LPP one in this particular case, down to the masses, leveraging it for efficiency rather than flagship speed performance.

Looking at the Snapdragon 625 compared to something new and trendy like the Snapdragon 636, there are some noteworthy deficiencies, like the slower RAM speeds and the less capable X9 LTE modem or the older Bluetooth 4.1. However, most of these are more of "theoretical maximum" specs than things that actually end up in devices, let alone budget ones. So, at the end of the day, you really aren't losing all that much with the Snapdragon 625.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  9003
• Honor Play
  6696
• Nokia 8
  6568
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  5908
• Honor 8X
  5651
• Nokia 7.1
  4975
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  4933
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  4625
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  4446
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  4183
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  4160
• Motorola Moto G6
  3972
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  3603
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  2328

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  2438
• Nokia 8
  1925
• Honor Play
  1899
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  1890
• Honor 8X
  1618
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  1617
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  1524
• Nokia 7.1
  1344
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  1342
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  913
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  882
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  867
• Motorola Moto G6
  754
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  639

Well, you are loosing a fair bit of performance, no two questions about it. The Snapdragon 625 gets pretty much outpaced by anything current that is not a Snapdragon 400 series chip. Even Huawei's last generation mid-range Kirin 659 successfully rubs shoulders with the Snapdragon 625 in certain test scenarios.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  265314
• Nokia 8
  210323
• Honor Play
  204876
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  170218
• Honor 8X
  137276
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  130927
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  123883
• Nokia 7.1
  117175
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  115605
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  90263
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  81024
• Motorola Moto G6
  70845
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  58757

Looking at AnTuTu and its more compound test scores, the picture is pretty much identical. The Motorola One clearly punches below its weight or rather price class in terms of raw performance.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  3713
• Nokia 8
  3503
• Honor Play
  3294
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  2658
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  2240
• Nokia 7.1
  1940
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  1812
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  1525
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  1408
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  1324
• Motorola Moto G6
  1136
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  922

BaseMark OS 2.0 is no different in its assessment. On a side note, we almost feel like including the Pocophone F1, with its Snapdragon 845 and the Honor Play, with its Kirin 970 on the same set of charts is a bit dubious. However, on most markets, these fit within the same price bracket as the Motorola One.

The Motorola One and its Adreno 506 are clearly no chart-toppers in the graphics department either.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  82
• Honor Play
  64
• Nokia 8
  57
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  33
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  22
• Honor 8X
  21
• Nokia 7.1
  16
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  16
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  14
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  9.8
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  8.1
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  7.1
• Motorola Moto G6
  6.1

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  59
• Honor Play
  55
• Nokia 8
  33
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  30
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  21
• Honor 8X
  19
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  18
• Nokia 7.1
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  15
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  13
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  13
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  7.9
• Motorola Moto G6
  5.8

However, there is a bit of a saving grace, of sorts, here, since the native panel resolution is just 720 x 1520 pixels. Most competitors seem to have jumped to FullHD already.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  60
• Nokia 8
  39
• Honor Play
  39
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  23
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  15
• Honor 8X
  14
• Nokia 7.1
  10
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  10
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  9.8
• Motorola Moto G6
  9.3
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  6.4
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  4.8
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  4.6

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  53
• Honor Play
  36
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  22
• Nokia 8
  18
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  14
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  13
• Honor 8X
  13
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  10
• Nokia 7.1
  9.7
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  9.7
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  9.4
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  9.3
• Motorola Moto G6
  8.8
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  4.6

Just don't get too hung up on the particular fps numbers and just how low they go. Like we already mentioned, the Motorola One is perfectly capable of handling casual games and beyond. Most modern engines are just good enough to dial down both resolution and detail level to match the hardware at hand.

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  35
• Nokia 8
  32
• Honor Play
  22
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  13
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  9
• Honor 8X
  7.6
• Nokia 7.1
  6.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  6.3
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  6.3
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  5.6
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  3.6
• Motorola Moto G6
  3.5
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  2.9
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  2.6

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  31
• Honor Play
  21
• Nokia 8
  12
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  12
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  8.6
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  7.2
• Honor 8X
  6.7
• Nokia 7.1
  5.9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  5.9
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
  5.7
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  5.3
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  5.2
• Motorola Moto G6
  3.2
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  2.7

As usual, Basemark X offers a more comprehensive and easily comparable overview of the actual GPU power of the Motorola One.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  43652
• Nokia 8
  37593
• Honor Play
  32238
• Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
  27560
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  21378
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro
  15025
• Nokia 7.1
  14963
• Motorola Moto G6 Plus
  14357
• Motorola One (P30 Play)
  10524
• Motorola Moto G6
  9883
• Huawei Mate 10 Lite
  8721
• Motorola Moto G6 Play
  7620

There's no real point beating about the bush, performance on the Motorola One really fails to impress and falls short of the competition. That being said, the Snapdragon 625 is still perfectly capable of delivering a smooth UX and holds its own it pretty much every daily task.

Plus, it comes with very few feature sacrifices, even in the camera department, which can easily go up to 4K in video capture, despite the age of the chipset and its limitations. Join us on the next page for a more in-depth look at photo and video quality.