Motorola One Power: Android One goodness and big battery for the right price

In the latest attempt to save its dwindling business, Motorola is doing what other similarly troubled companies (read LG, Nokia) are doing – jumping onto the Android One ship with the Moto One Power in India. Motorola already tried this with the Moto X4 Android One, however, this variant’s exclusivity to America meant that its reach wasn’t felt this side of the globe.

One thing that made Motorola’s Moto G series popular is its affordability, however, when compared to other devices in the budget segment, recent releases, including the latest Moto G6 and Moto G6 Plus, have constantly been off the mark when it comes to specs and features you get for the money you pay.

In India, for instance, the market has plenty of great, budget phones to choose from the likes of Xiaomi, Asus, Oppo (Realme), and Honor, yet Motorola has constantly failed to impress. As noted, this has a lot to do with the kind of hardware specs the Lenovo-owned company packs in its budget phones compared to the competition, more so the processor.

With the Motorola Moto One Power, the company is here to fix things and take on the likes of Redmi Note 5 Pro and Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 not only in terms of performance but also pricing. The handset steps up the game by rocking a powerful Snapdragon 636 chipset alongside 4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of expandable internal storage. These, if you ask us, have been the benchmark specs in this segment, but the Moto One Power punches above the ceiling with the inclusion of a massive 5000mAh battery unit and Android One goodness.

Moto One Power specs

6.2-inch 19:9 FHD+ LCD display
Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor
4GB RAM
64GB expandable storage
Dual 16MP + 5MP main camera
12MP front camera
5000mAh battery
Android 8.1 Oreo, upgradable to Pie
Extras: Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, 3.5mm audio jack, rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, Turbo Charge fast charging technology, FM Radio, P2i Liquid Repellant body, etc.

Xiaomi’s Poco F1 might be the best smartphone in the sub-$300 category, but it lacks one thing that the Motorola One Power possesses – the license to support HD video streaming from platforms such as Netflix. In fact, this is a feature that rarely appears in phones in this same price category as the One Power, but the phone’s build materials of metal and plastic caps aren’t anything new in this segment.

Motorola went for a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner that is integrated with the company’s logo and like any other 2018 smartphone, there’s a notch on the display screen that contributes to a tall 19:9 aspect ratio and full HD+ resolution on the 6.2-inch LCD panel on board.

In terms of software, the Moto One Power runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, but unlike your typical Motorola phone, this one has the goodness of Android One on top. What this means is that you not only get near stock Android on your device but also the promise of timely software updates, both minor, monthly updates and major OS upgrades.

Speaking of which, Motorola has promised to release an update to Android 9 Pie soon as it aims to make the Moto One Power “among the first devices to upgrade” to the new OS and we also expect it to receive an update to Android Q in 2019 or maybe in early 2020.

Moto One Power price and availability

At the initial launch of the Moto One Power, the device was also accompanied by the standard Moto One and while the company talked about the latter with respect to the global market, the mention of the former was with respect to the Indian market. And indeed, the Moto One Power is available in India for purchase in India beginning October 5th priced at INR 15,999.

At the moment, it’s still unclear whether Motorola will release the Moto One Power in markets outside India. The company has this weird habit of limiting certain phones to specific markets and we might just be looking at the same strategy with the One Power, but hopefully not, especially considering the phone’s price translates to about $220 – a figure that would be most welcomed in markets like the U.S. where good budget phones are hard to come by.

The Moto One Power will be sold through Flipkart and Moto hubs and will be available in Black.