It's no secret that meaningful competition in the Android space has become more restricted than ever, specifically in North America. Walk into a carrier store, your local Best Buy, or peruse Amazon's virtual shelves, and you'll find the best Android smartphones are limited to Samsung, Google, and a handful of smaller competitors. Even Nothing, the rare upstart challenger, took several years and two generations to really break ground in the US market. The days of LG and HTC providing real competition is long gone — frankly, it can feel downright depressing.
Of course, there is one more company making waves right now, and I'm not talking about OnePlus. Motorola has been associated with Android for as long as the mobile OS has existed — I mean, the Droid basically cemented Android as the iPhone's eternal rival — and although the company has been through some tough times, it's really thriving in 2023. Perhaps spurred on by a boost in market share following LG's exit from the mobile scene, Motorola is delivering its best smartphones in years right now, and I have hope it's only going up from here.
I'm not here to pretend no one has good reason to doubt the current-day quality of Motorola's output; the last decade has been rough for the legacy phonemaker. Turning back the clock ten years recalls another high point similar to what we're seeing with this year's output, all thanks to the Moto X. Motorola's first smartphone launch under Google's ownership was something of a revelation: an affordable, customizable device that won over the hearts of reviewers and early adopters everywhere. But low sales numbers pushed Google to sell the company to Lenovo just one year later, resulting in the shuttering of its Fort Worth-based factory and a shift to focusing on the lower-end market.
In the years since, Motorola has made enough mistakes that it's easy to understand why some Android fans would write the company off altogether. The brand exited and re-entered the flagship space more times I can count. Its focus on gimmicks like Moto Mods wasn't quite as disastrous as LG's legacy, but it was a far cry from the heyday of Moto Maker. For years, the company bounced back and forth between X-series, Z-series, and Edge-series devices, swapping between high-end and midrange specs and leaving the entire lineup feeling more confused than ever.
Who could've seen the failure of these coming?
Obviously, the company's refocused efforts around the budget space landed its biggest successes, with reviewers praising the Moto G series long before Google and Samsung started targeting these same customers. But as competition from those brands increased, Motorola failed to deliver more than a bare-bones experience. The problem continues to this day, with four different G-series devices announced this year alone — including two named "Moto G Stylus." It's way too much, especially when support on these products is subpar at best.
That's a lot of negativity for an editorial supposedly praising the return of Motorola, so what is the company getting right? Well, I'd argue it's catching up to the competition in the flagship space. While Google and Samsung are, in some ways, a step (or three) ahead, Motorola is on par with OnePlus in terms of base update support and pure value, all while offering a much cleaner build of Android.
Just look at the Moto Edge+, for example. This latest iteration in Motorola's premium lineup might be the first worth buying. It's rocking a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and offers a Pixel-esque software experience for just $800 — that's not bad, especially when compared to the Galaxy S23+ or Pixel 7 Pro. It gets practically all the basics right in a sleek, light package. I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed using it during my review period; it's not often you miss a phone after just a couple of weeks.
The company also seems to be moving back into an exciting experimental phase. The ThinkPhone is a little strange — a business-first smartphone with a dated carbon fiber finish meant to evoke Lenovo's laptop design — but it's a pretty good device if you can live with a mediocre camera. On the other side of weird, Motorola's big demonstration at MWC this year was a rollable concept phone called the Rizr, and while I'm unsure if it'll ever make it to market, I can say above all else that it was neat. When else have you ever seen a phone change its shape in your hand, all with the push of a button?
And the Moto Razr+ is my favorite smartphone of the year so far, besting the likes of Samsung and Google. If you'd told me six months ago I'd prefer Motorola's foldable over Google's, I would've called you a liar. This device managed to reignite a sense of fun in smartphones I haven't felt in years, and I'm not alone. It seemed like dozens of reviewers around the web found themselves smitten by Motorola's dual-screen smartphone. Even just using it in public garnered attention from those around me — a rarity in this monotonous mobile market.
It's not that everything's perfect for the company yet, of course. Timely updates remain an issue; the bimonthly schedule only applies to security updates, not full OS upgrades. While I think Motorola should prioritize improving its "it'll arrive when it's ready" stance, I'm also of the mindset that full Android updates matter less than ever (although granted, this is a totally separate editorial worth writing). The vast majority of improvements that arrive on your phone come via Google Play Services, not through an annual launch.
Likewise, Motorola needs to bring its improved security policies to its budget smartphones; it's much harder to recommend those recent G-series phones when compared to the Pixel 7a or Galaxy A54 because of their poor lifespan.
But when it comes to flagships alone, I really think Motorola is proving itself a fascinating competitor in the mobile space, a great alternative for those bored by another Galaxy S-series phone, or another Pixel. If companies like Samsung or Google are unwilling to break the mold and take a shot on weird ideas, it's good to know there's at least one brand out there trying — and succeeding — at making smartphones interesting again.
"Smartphone" - Google News
July 17, 2023 at 06:43PM
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Motorola is making good smartphones again, and you should pay attention - Android Police
"Smartphone" - Google News
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