Moto X Style review

Motorola's latest flagship packs a sizable punch

Moto X Style
Moto X Style

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The Moto X Style comes with a sizable 3000mAh battery, which sounds impressive on paper but unfortunately it doesn't perform overly well in practise.

Considering the size of the handset I was a little surprised Motorola hadn't managed to squeeze in an even bigger power pack to deal with the power hungry 5.7-inch QHD display.

It's comfortably thicker than both the LG G4 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, but matches both when it comes to battery capacity.

You can't remove the battery in the X Style, as is the trend for most phone manufacturers these days, but it does boast TurboPower - Motorola's fast charging tech.

Motorola Moto X Style review

Plug the Moto X Style in and it can regain 10 hours of use from just 15 minutes of charging - an impressive, and useful party trick.

And thank goodness TurboPower exists, because if you're planning a night out you'll need to give the Moto X Style a top up before hitting the town.

I used the Moto X Style for over a week during the review period, and everyday the power saving mode kicked in when the battery hit 15% at around 7pm and 9pm each evening.

My daily usage tended to consist of an hour of so of Spotify streaming, an hour of gaming, multiple texts and social messages, a few phone calls and some web browsing and email action.

Motorola Moto X Style review

Heading into the battery settings there's no surprise as to what is the main culprit for the battery drain - that hefty 5.7-inch display.

By the time I got into bed the battery percentage was down to single figures, and a couple of times it had completely died. Needless to say, if you're a moderate to high user you'll be plugging the Moto X Style in every night for a charge.

I ran the techradar battery test which involves playing a 90 minute HD video on full brightness with accounts syncing in the background. After the 90 minutes were up the X Style had lost 30% of its life - which is quite a significant chunk.

Motorola Moto X Style review

The smaller screened LG G4 and Moto X Play both lost 15% in the same test. the 5.5-inch iPhone 6S Plus saw a drop of 22% and even the 5.7-inch QHD Galaxy S6 Edge+ lost just 23%.

Motorola's claim of all-day battery then is a little misleading, especially if you find yourself with the screen on a lot of the time.

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.