Motorola One Macro review - Missing essentials - Android

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Motorola One Macro review - Missing essentials - Android

Is a near-stock Android build enough to overlook sub-par imaging performance and the not-so-great materials?

Motorola has been stepping up its smartphone game across segments. Using a combination of near-stock Android and a focus on unique camera features, the devices have found reasonable success. The Motorola Moto One Macro is the latest in the series, and as the name suggests, it puts a clear focus on macro — or close-up — photography. The phone follows up Motorola’s other photography-focused smartphones including the Motorola Moto One Zoom and the Moto One Action.

We explore whether a dedicated macro camera is enough to help the Motorola One Macro stand out against the stellar competition in the Android Authority review.

About this Motorola Moto One Macro review: I wrote this review after spending a week with the phone as my primary device. Motorola India supplied the device, which was running Android 9 Pie with the September security patch on board.
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Moto One Macro review: The big picture

The Motorola One Macro enters an extremely competitive landscape that has a wide range of exceptional devices. Phones such as the Realme 5 and Redmi Note 8 have changed consumer expectations, and it is no longer good enough to be good enough.

A macro-photography capable camera and stock Android are definite draws in Motorola’s favor, but these might not be enough for potential buyers. The phone needs to match up to the performance, battery life, and overall package offered by competing brands.

Some of the most capable options in the price bracket already offer macro and ultra-wide cameras, as well as larger batteries, so I was quite intrigued to see how the Motorola Moto One Macro measures up.



What’s in the box

  • Motorola One Macro
  • SIM ejector tool
  • 10W charger
  • USB-C cable
  • TPU case
  • Quick start guide

Save for a pair of headphones, Motorola includes almost everything you need to get started with your phone. The included TPU case isn’t the prettiest, but you will definitely want to slap it on to your phone to prevent scratches and fingerprints.



Design

  • 157.6 x 75.4 x 9mm
  • 186g
  • Polycarbonate frame
  • Waterdrop notch
  • Rear-mounted fingerprint reader
  • No Gorilla Glass or similar for protection against scratches

While nearly every brand is making an effort to one-up the competition with design chops, the Moto One Macro looks run of the mill. From the basic appearance to the build quality, the phone was constructed to be utilitarian rather than fashionable.

Moto One Macro in hand with display

The front of the Moto One Macro has a water drop notch, which has become semi-normal even on entry-level devices. The bezels on the sides are large by 2019 standards and the chin is prominent. That said, I’m glad Moto decided against placing prominent branding on the chin.

Moto One Macro side profile with volume buttons

The volume rocker and power button are over on the right side. I found these to be placed too high for comfort. It was a struggle to adjust the volume while holding the phone in a single hand. Meanwhile, you’ll find a hybrid SIM slot on the left edge that can hold two nano-SIM cards or a single SIM card and a microSD card. There’s a USB-C port along the bottom edge, while the headphone jack is housed on top.

Moto One Macro back panel showing fingerprints and smudges

The entire construction of the Moto One Macro is polycarbonate with a subtle gradient from top to bottom. The material is prone to catching fingerprints and keeping the phone clean is nearly impossible. A lot of micro scratches developed on the rear during my time with the Moto One Macro, and you would do well to use the bundled cover.

Moto One Macro with rear panel and logo

The camera array sits in the top left corner of the rear panel with the macro camera set a bit further up. The camera module layout looks chaotic and there’s no sense of symmetry here. I do like the batwing logo that rests within the fingerprint scanner. The reader is fast enough and gets the job done.



Display

  • 6.2-inches, IPS LCD
  • 1,520 x 720 pixels
  • 19:9 aspect ratio

I could nitpick about the low-resolution display, but it is somewhat mitigated by the fact that this is a very affordable phone. There is a certain haziness to the display that we can blame on the low pixel density. It is highly noticeable in text rendering, in photos, and in icons when you hold the phone close.

Moto One Macro showing display

There’s a noticeable blue cast to the display, too, which can be irksome if you prefer a warmer tone. Displays options allow you to boost saturation, but in my experience I didn’t notice much of a difference.

Brightness levels, too, are less than stellar. The phone recorded peak brightness of 480nits, which is definitely on the lower end of the spectrum. Outdoor visibility was not too great. The display, like the back, attracts a lot of fingerprints and this further detracts from the experience. Motorola does not mention the use of Gorilla Glass or similar protective glass for scratch resistance. 



Performance

  • MediaTek Helio P70
  • 4 x 2.0GHz Cortex-A73 & 4 x 2.0GHz Cortex-A53
  • Mali G72 MP3 GPU
  • 4GB RAM
  • 64GB storage
  • Hybrid-SIM slot for storage expansion

Running a MediaTek P70 chipset, the phone’s performance is quite decent. Motorola’s near-stock Android build definitely works in its favor. The software remained fluid throughout testing. I did not notice any sluggishness with app launches or when juggling multiple apps. The 4GB of RAM had no trouble keeping up with multitasking under heavy workloads.

Gaming performance is great, and the phone never heated up to uncomfortable levels.

When pit against competing devices such as the Redmi Note 7S, a phone that packs a Snapdragon 660 chipset, the Motorola One Macro comes out ahead. This is particularly evident in graphics processing where the phone performs better in certain benchmarks. This also translates to smooth frame rates in games like PUBG during real-world use. The phone does warm up a fair bit over long gameplay sessions, but the heat is evenly spread out and is mostly manageable.

The phone performs well in synthetic benchmarks and managed to score 158852 points in AnTuTu. This compares well against the 144411 score managed by the Redmi Note 7S. The MediaTek chipset does reasonably well in GPU-focused benchmarks, too, with a score of 1274 points in 3DMark. 



Battery

  • 4,000mAh battery
  • 10W charging
  • No wireless charging
  • No fast charging

Large, 4,000mAh batteries are the norm in entry and mid-range smartphones these days. Predictably, battery life is fantastic. I’ll be honest, my experience with phones running MediaTek chipsets has been less than stellar. The Moto One Macro manages to pair a well-optimized experience with a large battery to deliver all-day longevity and then some.

The phone delivers long-lasting battery life, but takes a while to charge.

In our testing, the phone managed to last well over 16 hours in a standardized video loop test. Meanwhile, you can eke out close to 17 hours of continuous browsing. Your results will, of course, vary based on brightness levels and usage.

Moto bundles a 10W charger in the box. It takes about 134 minutes to top-off the battery from zero, which is more than most phones.



Software

  • Android Pie
  • Near-stock build without bloatware

One of the best features of Motorola phones is its use of a near-stock build of Android. For users, this means a bloat-free experience that is almost entirely devoid of any unwelcome additions. It also means fast software updates. While the Moto One Macro isn’t part of the Android One line-up, it is expected to receive the Android 10 update shortly. 

The interface is exactly what you expect from stock Android Pie, and you won’t find much else other than Google’s standard app suite preloaded on the phone.