The Moto Turbo can be described in two ways — one, it’s a Moto X 2nd Generation on steroids. Or you can also refer to it as a practically sized Nexus 6 alternative. Launched at Rs. 41,999 on Flipkart in March 2015, this phone on paper seems to be better to the Moto X 2nd Gen in every way. But do those printed advantages make a big impact in the real world?
But do those printed advantages make a big impact in the real world?
Physically, both devices cover roughly the same surface area when kept side by side. The Moto X gets thinner towards the edges, while the Moto Turbo is evenly thick, naturally since it fits a huge battery inside.
While the Moto X is a decent 32 grams lighter than the Turbo, the weight distribution on the Turbo does not make the phone feel heavy at all, even if it sounds heavy at a 176 grams. Both phones have a firm build quality — the Moto X has nicer edges that are made of metal and you can opt for a unique back made of wood or leather. While the Moto X is more funky and
While the Moto X is a decent 32 grams lighter than the Turbo, the weight distribution on the Turbo does not make the phone feel heavy at all, even if it sounds heavy at a 176 grams. Both phones have a firm build quality — the Moto X has nicer edges that are made of metal and you can opt for a unique back made of wood or leather. While the Moto X is more funky and
Both phones have a firm build quality — the Moto X has nicer edges that are made of metal and you can opt for a unique back made of wood or leather. While the Moto X is more funky and colorful, the Turbo sports a blander, more serious look. But the stitched nylon back adds personality and offers a tad better grip.
While the Moto X is a decent 32 grams lighter than the Turbo, the weight distribution on the Turbo does not make the phone feel heavy at all, even if it sounds heavy at a 176 grams. Both phones have a firm build quality — the Moto X has nicer edges that are made of metal and you can opt for a unique back made of wood or leather. While the Moto X is more funky and
Both phones have a firm build quality — the Moto X has nicer edges that are made of metal and you can opt for a unique back made of wood or leather. While the Moto X is more funky and colourful, the Turbo sports a blander, more serious look. But the stitched nylon back adds personality and offers a tad better grip.
While the Moto X is more funky and colourful, the Turbo sports a blander, more serious look. But the stitched nylon back adds personality and offers a tad better grip.
Moving over to the displays, both the X and the Turbo have a 5.2-inch sized displays, although the former has a 1920 x 1080 pixel “Full HD” resolution, while the latter has a higher 2560 x 1440 pixel “Quad HD” resolution. That’s a pixel density of 424PPI and 565PPI respectively. Now that we’re done rambling the numbers, we see no practical benefit of Quad HD over Full HD.
Keeping the displays side by side and reading text, watching videos and pictures over and over, it was hard for us to see any difference between the two. Only while reading tiny fonts from a non-mobile friendly website, did the Turbo feel more readable.
Keeping the displays side by side and reading text, watching videos and pictures over and over, it was hard for us to see any difference between the two. Only while reading tiny fonts from a non-mobile friendly website, did the Turbo feel more readable.
That’s a pixel density of 424PPI and 565PPI respectively. Now that we’re done rambling the numbers, we see no practical benefit of Quad HD over Full HD. Keeping the displays side by side and reading the text, watching videos and pictures over and over, it was hard for us to see any difference between the two. Only while reading tiny fonts from a non-mobile friendly website, did the Turbo feel more readable.
The Moto X has onscreen buttons while the Turbo has capacitive set under the screen. Having separate buttons is useful because it gives you a little more screen to view, plus you don’t have to keep swiping from top to use them when in immersive mode.
But physical buttons can be a problem too, since you could accidentally hit them when holding the Turbo sideways and playing a game or watching a video. There is a single speaker on both devices; the Moto X has it below the display, the Turbo has it above.
After listening to them back to back, we confirm that their volume is equally loud. Unfortunately, you don’t get the stereo effect in either like you can on the Nexus 6 (or even a Moto G).
But physical buttons can be a problem too since you could accidentally hit them when holding the Turbo sideways and playing a game or watching a video. There is a single speaker on both devices; the Moto X has it on the display, the Turbo has it above. After listening to them back to back, we confirm that their volume is equally loud. Unfortunately, you don’t get the stereo effect in either like you can on the Nexus 6 (or even a Moto G).
But physical buttons can be a problem too since you could accidentally hit them when holding the Turbo sideways and playing a game or watching a video. There is a single speaker on both devices; the Moto X has it on the display, the Turbo has it above. After listening to them back to back, we confirm that their volume is equally loud. Unfortunately, you don’t get the stereo effect in either like you can on the Nexus 6 (or even a Moto G).
Software
Android Lollipop ran swiftly on both devices — it’s hard to tell that the Motorola Moto Turbo is running a faster Snapdragon 805 chipset. Basically, the Quad HD display requires more muscle to move pixels around, thereby negating any performance benefits when compared to a Full HD display paired with a Snapdragon 801 chipset.
We even doubt there are any benefits of the Turbo’s 3GB of RAM at least today, as we never saw the Moto X’s 2GB RAM getting exhausted, even with many apps open. Basically, both phones are quite fast and will be satisfactory to anybody who buys them; be it a regular joe or a hardcore user. The smooth operation of this phone is also attributed to the non-bloated almost stock interface Android Lollipop.
Both phones support the same useful features that Motorola products are known for — things like Moto Display, where you can read notifications without pressing the power button, or wake up the phone from standby using a custom voice command. There are also IR sensors on the front of the phones that let you wave your hand over to perform actions like silencing an alarm or a call. Attentive display will use those IR sensors to keep the phone screen on when you’re looking at it. There’s that signature twist-like-a-door-knob gesture to activate the camera. Motorola keeps adding cool stuff like this — for example a future update will also let you shake the device twice to turn on the flashlight. These features work as advertised on both.
Attentive display will use those IR sensors to keep the phone screen on when you’re looking at it. There’s that signature twist-like-a-door-knob gesture to activate the camera. Motorola keeps adding cool stuff like this — for example a future update will also let you shake the device twice to turn on the flashlight. These features work as advertised on both.
Camera
A typical user may not find appreciable differences in the cameras of the Moto X 2nd Gen and the Moto Turbo. The Turbo’s 21 megapixel camera naturally captures more detail than the 13 megapixel shooter on the X, and it’s visible when you zoom into pictures. But overall, both take acceptable image and video quality.
Neither are class leading performers and it is apparent in low light situations. Both have two LED bulbs to mitigate shooting in the dark, but the Moto X does it better because of they’re placed inside a ring diffuser. A small pointer, the Turbo has the front-facing camera in the center, which is nice because you don’t have to tilt the phone to keep yourself in the middle.
Battery
Battery is probably the only place where the Moto Turbo has a clear advantage over the Moto X2. The 3900mAh battery is so huge, that despite the Turbo running an unnecessarily high resolution display, faster processor, graphics and more RAM, it outlasted the relatively tiny 2300mAh capacity of the Moto X in a looping video test. If used lightly, the Turbo could last for many days like entry-level feature phones do.
You’ll really have to use the Turbo very heavily to kill it before 24 hours. In comparison, the X will last 24 hours if used lightly, but with active use you’ll need a charger or a powerbank before the day ends.
The Turbo charger that’s bundled with the Moto Turbo charges at about 15 Watts, almost three times the power of the X’s 6 watt charger. So long story short, the Turbo, despite it’s huge battery, charges as fast as a typical smartphone like the X.
But god forbid if you are charging the Moto Turbo with a standard microUSB charger, it will take many many hours to complete. Also, it will take even longer to charge the Turbo entirely over a Qi wireless charger, since wireless chargers typically charge slower than standard smartphone adapters. But it’s worth noting that the Turbo supports wireless charging, which the Moto X doesn’t.
The Moto X 16GB costs Rs. 29,999, while the 32GB variant is priced at Rs. 31,999. The Moto Turbo, on the other hand, costs Rs. 41,999 and has 64GB internal storage. So, which one should you buy? As it is made apparent in the video, the only real reason you’ll want to buy a Turbo is the battery life.
The Moto X is practically the same as the Turbo, minus the battery life, for Rs. 12,000 less. If you’re OK with keeping a powerbank handy, then go with the X. You won’t go wrong either way, both phones offer a highly satisfactory experience.
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