Moto X Style review

Motorola's latest flagship packs a sizable punch

Moto X Style
Moto X Style

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

The Moto X Style comes with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of internal storage (although the 16GB model isn't currently available in the UK), and this can be boosted with a microSD card up to 128GB in size.

That means you should have more than enough space for your songs, videos and app downloads, and with the glorious 5.7-inch QHD screen on the X Style you've got a great surface to view them on.

Music

There's just one application pre-installed for your tunes - Google's Play Music. From here you can control tracks you've copied onto the handset, or are residing on your microSD card - but this just scratches the surface of the app.

Google also has its own music streaming service to rival the likes of Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music, which involves you paying a monthly fee.

If you're already signed up with another streaming service, it's probably not worth switching, but for those of you new to the game you can get three months free to see if you like it.

The Play Store also has a large catalogue of songs and albums for you to buy and download, if you prefer owning music.

With dual front facing speakers the Motorola Moto X Style isn't a bad casual music player, and I was able to happily listen to room-filling tunes without distortion.

The audio quality isn't stellar, but it's not uncomfortable to listen too - although plug in a set of headphones and the X Style kicks out decent levels.

Movies

As you may expect, the Moto X Style is a top performer when it comes to video playback. The large display and front facing speakers makes it perfect for a cheeky boxset binge, or a bit of film action during your morning commute (although you'll probably want to plug in some headphones in that case).

It's not all plain sailing though - there's no dedicated video app, so if you've manually copied a video file onto the handset it's not immediately clear where you find it. You video files live in the gallery, which is a little counter intuitive as the Play Movies & TV app could benefit by allowing you to access content on the handset as well.

Secondly, thanks to the size and weight of the X Style you'll more than likely require both hands to hold the handset up during an extending viewing period. I found myself finding places to prop the X Style up, be it between my legs or against a bag on a table.

It's not the end of the world, but it's a price you have to pay if you opt for a phablet.

Gaming

Motorola Moto X Style review

With its hexa-core processor and 3GB of RAM there's plenty of power inside the Moto X Style to ensure you'll be able to run the latest games from the App Store.

I fired up the graphically intensive Real Racing 3 and Family Guy: Quest for Stuff, and the X Style was able to handle both with ease.

Graphics were smooth and load times acceptable, and the large screen on the handset is great for watching the action and providing enough space for controls.

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.