Motorola One Zoom review

Wrap-up

It's hard to put your finger on what exactly Motorola was going for with the One Zoom. The overall picture is hardly an impressive one. Yes, the "zoom" bit stands out, but the camera is otherwise quite unimpressive. The One Zoom less than stellar in multiple other areas.

With an MSRP of about €400 and only a Snapdragon 675 to show for it, the Motorola One Zoom is showing up with a knife to the gunfight that is the current mid-range market. That's not to say it's underpowered, but it's definitely under-specced.

We can't help but wonder if things would be different had the One Zoom come out as part of the flagship "Z" family of devices instead. That way, at least there would have been the allure of Moto Mod compatibility to bank on. Instead, we get an unconventional and rather clunky new back design with an LED logo and not many internal upgrades compared to the Moto Z4.

We don't want to sound overly negative, though, since there is plenty to love about the Motorola One Zoom. It offers a solid build, an ergonomic body, and a clean Android experience. It's just not realistically competitive at this price point.

Competition

There is no shortage of great options around and even below the €400 mark. You can get some proper flagship-level hardware at this price point. Some alternative options also come with a telephoto camera, so you won't even have to sacrifice on the spotlight feature of the Motorola One Zoom.

The Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro, otherwise known as the Redmi K20 Pro in some markets, instantly springs to mind. It's got a Snapdragon 855, 6GB of RAM in its base configuration, and a massive, uninterrupted 6.39-inch AMOLED display. The list goes on and on with the Xiaomi managing to outshine the One Zoom in pretty much every aspect. You don't even need to give up on the 3.5mm jack.

Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro • Realme X2 Pro • Oppo Reno Ace

Over at camp BBK, pricing for a zoom-wielding model seems to be a bit steeper than Xiaomi, but not by much. The two Chinese titans are entangled in such a massive power game that value offers just keep pouring out an an alarming state.

Realme's X2 Pro and Oppo's Reno Ace seem to be the hot ticket items right now. Technically, the vivo V17 Pro looks like the most direct match to the Moto One Zoom in terms of internals, but you don't need to limit yourself to it with all these proper flagship options available.

Of course, there are more "name brand" options to consider as well. Although that title doesn't hold as much weight as it once did. And to Motorola's credit, in this category, the One Zoom does seem more competitively priced. Perspective is quite important. Still, there is arguably more value to be had from the Lenovo Z6 Pro, which has come down in price quite nicely.

Lenovo Z6 Pro • Samsung Galaxy A70 • Sony Xperia 10 Plus

Samsung isn't really big on telephoto snappers at the moment. Last year's Galaxy A9 (2018) does, technically, cover the requirements, but we were less than impressed with its camera performance. But if a zoom camera isn't quite as essential for you, the Galaxy A70 is a viable option. Albeit not that much more powerful than the One Vision. The above rings even truer for Sony's Xperia 10 Plus, which comes with a step down to an LCD and a slower chipset.

The verdict

The Motorola One Vision left us with rather polarized emotions. Running the risk of repeating ourself yet again - it is not a bad phone. Perhaps in a less cutthroat market reality, it would have looked a lot more appealing. This aggressive newcomer attitude combined with the Moto pedigree is definitely enough to make the One Zoom likeable. But it's only enough to make us feel sorry about the sort of tough competition it has to face.

Motorola has made some tradeoffs in essential aspects of the phone's performance, thus robbing the One Zoom of any fighting chance. And it doesn't take more than scratching the surface to start noticing those.

So, you can't blame us when we say can't outright recommend the Motorola One Zoom. If you happen to end up with one through some killer deal, you'll probably be happy with it. But you definitely shouldn't go out actively looking for one in the current 2019 smartphone landscape with so many other options out there which are more competitive.

Pros

• Good OLED screen.
• Solid build and ergonomic design.
• Fast and accurate under-display fingerprint reader.
• Versatile camera app chuck-full of options, features and special modes.
• Strong 3x telephoto camera performance with good OIS stabilisation.

Cons

• Benchmark performance is on the lower end for its hardware.
• Photo quality (except for the 3x zoom camera) is below average.
• Video tends to be oversharpened and dynamic range is sub-optimal.
• You can only capture 1080p video with the telephoto and the ultrawide.