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 turns up with some serious camera credentials thanks to the 21MP camera on the rear, and the 5MP snapper on the front which also gets its own LED flash. Selfie fans rejoice.

That rear camera is joined by a two-tone dual LED flash, and both are located in a metallic strip which also houses a recessed Motorola logo. The camera lens itself is also slightly recessed from the metal plate which surrounds it, giving it some protection.

As I've already mentioned in this review the Moto X Style has a rather novel way for you to launch the camera app. Grab the phone in your hand and then twist it twice. You'll feel a satisfying vibration, alerting you to the fact you've engaged the camera.

From here you can snap away without having to even wake the screen manually. You can, of course navigate to the camera app in the normal way, and also launch it directly from the lock screen - but the gesture control is definitely cooler.

Motorola Moto X Style review

The camera app itself is somewhere Motorola has dipped its toe into the interface customisation water, removing the shutter key altogether and bringing in a menu wheel accessible by sliding in from the left of the display.

There's no deeper settings menu, and those looking for some level of professional control will be disappointed.

It's a simple set up, but as someone whose come from handsets with tap to focus the fact the whole screen on Moto X Style is a shutter was initially very frustrating. If you want to adjust the focus on the X Style you have to bring up the manual focus option in the menu wheel.

Motorola Moto X Style review

I found it a bit of a hassle and I would prefer an option to toggle an on screen shutter key.

The Moto X Style does boast optical image stabilisation (OIS), which helps reduce motion blur in shots as well as improving low light performance, plus there's HDR too which is on "auto" as standard. This helps brighten areas of your photos in shadow, making for brighter, clearer results.

Shutter speed is impressively quick, tap the screen and your photo is captured instantly. Results are generally very good too, with a high level of detail and a decent colour palette.

Motorola Moto X Style review

At night some of my photos did have some noticeable graining on them, but they still came out well. I've certainly seen a lot worse from high-end smartphone cameras.

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.