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Motorola has quite a few discounts going on through its official site. Most of them concern Moto Mods, which nobody really cares about these days, but two new ones have just gone live: $100 off the Moto X4, $100 off the 64GB Moto G5S Plus, and $50 off the 32GB Moto G5S Plus.
Motorola has a tendency to confirm unannounced phones with some of its app updates' changelogs, and this latest one for Moto Voice is no different. Along with discussing some new features for the app, the changelog also mentions the Moto Z3 Play, a phone that hasn't been announced and one that we've yet to see in person.
If you're champing at the bit to know when the Moto G6 and G6 Play will be available, it's looking like mid-May is a good bet — at least in the US. Someone at American retailer Fry's Electronics appeared to pull the trigger a little early by posting the G6 and G6 Play (no G6 Plus) on its website for pre-orders. Those pages have since been pulled down, but we saved them for posterity. There are also leaked specs for the G6 Plus that confirm what we've heard before, as well as FCC filings for the Z3 Play.
TWRP is, without a doubt, the most popular custom recovery for Android devices today. Chances are that if you're thinking of a device, there's a TWRP recovery available for it. It hit the Exynos Galaxy S9 and S9+ just last week, and now it's arrived for Motorola's Moto X4.
Motorola is in trouble. As it has been, frankly, for much of the past five-plus years. The Lenovo-owned smartphone brand once known for its positively prodigious portfolio hasn't announced a new phone in well over six months. That was the Moto X4, which got a mixed reception and has gone on discount so frequently of late that it seems poor sales are probably a given (granted, it's horrendously overpriced). But the X4 was never really competitive in its segment, and its reason for existence remains something of a mystery to me.
The Android tablet market is a proverbial scarce wasteland these days. It has been quite some time since we saw something from Samsung or Asus, two of the last major stalwart players in this space (excluding Amazon, obviously). Tablets are not what they were in years past, though I personally still find having one useful for certain situations, despite Android leaving much to be desired in this aspect.In either an attempt to capitalize on a dead horse, or to jumpstart one, AT&T teamed up with Lenovo to "create" the Moto Tab, a device exclusive to the giant carrier and aimed at its DirecTV customers. Now, I put "create" in quotes because this tablet is just a Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus with some rebranding done — Google Find My Device even reports it as such. And yet despite it being the first "Motorola" tablet in years, I urge you to restrain your enthusiasm for an era long gone (one that was not even that great at the time).The Moto Tab's specs are quite middling, if not disappointing, and its marketed use case is extremely limited, yet AT&T wants $299 for it. As you will read further along, dear reader, this is ridiculous. Tl;dr, this is a waste of money at this price (or period, depending on your perspective).
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The Android One version of the Moto X4 began receiving its Oreo update a few days before Christmas, but as expected, it took some extra time for Oreo to hit the standard model. A "Senior MotoAgent" on Motorola's (well, now technically Lenovo's) forums announced yesterday that Oreo has begun to roll out to the X4.
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- As some of you have speculated, the issue is due to Smart Lock's on-body detection feature. The uploader of the YouTube video was unable to reproduce the flaw after turning on-body detection off. That being said, this isn't something that should be pre-enabled, so Motorola/Amazon aren't completely off the hook here.
Amazon has been running its Prime Exclusive program for some time now. Essentially, the company partners with phone manufacturers to offer noticeably lower prices on devices in exchange for preloaded Amazon apps and advertisements on the lock screen. However, it appears that these lockscreen ads have led to a security flaw on one Prime Exclusive device, the Moto G5 Plus.
We just saw a leaked photo of the Moto E5 yesterday, but apparently that wasn't all there is to leak. Droid Life has posted renders and details on six phones: the Moto G6, the Moto G6 Plus, the Moto G6 Play, the Moto X5, the Moto Z3, and the Moto Z3 Play. All of them follow the trend of a higher screen-to-body ratio with an 18:9 display.
Last year's Moto E4 and Moto E4 Plus both received high praises in our reviews. Those phones both sported front-mounted fingerprint sensors, just as Galaxy devices and iPhones did for many years. However, it looks like Lenovorola may be moving the fingerprint sensor to the back for the Moto E5, according to a leaked image.
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- If you have a Moto X Pure and you haven't received the update yet, your time has come. According to multiple reports on XDA, Reddit, and the Motorola support forums, Android 7.0 is now being pushed to everyone. Just in time for phones to start getting 8.0 Oreo!
Ah, Motorola. You were once one of the most enthusiast-friendly OEMs, yet you've now sunken down to a level deeper than possibly any other major phone manufacturer in this regard. Just a few years ago, your Moto X-series of phones were the absolute best phones on the market with updates: the Moto X (2013) beat the Nexus 4 out to 4.4 KitKat, and the Moto X (2014) did the same to the Nexus 5 with 5.0 Lollipop. These updates were rolled out mere days after Google officially launched them. However, it took over a year to update 2015's Moto X Pure Edition, the company's flagship at the time, to the now-dated Android 7.0 Nougat. Oh, how the great have fallen.
Just a couple of days ago, we posted about the excellent Moto E4 Plus being discounted to $119.99 for the Prime Exclusive model. Fast forward to now, and the standard version has been discounted to just $102.50. That's right: the standard model is now significantly cheaper than even the Prime Exclusive version.For such a cheap phone, the Moto E4 Plus has great specs. It sports a 5.5-inch 720p display, a Snapdragon 427, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 13MP camera, and a massive 5000mAh battery. There's even a fingerprint sensor. On the downside, there's no NFC on US models and it still uses microUSB.$102.50 is the lowest price by far we've seen on the E4 Plus. The same model was $151.96 less than a week ago after a discount, and this is over $17 cheaper than the traditionally cheaper Amazon app-filled Prime Exclusive version. If you've been on the hunt for a budget phone, I'd jump on this deal as soon as possible.Source: Amazon
If you've been on the prowl for a nice sub-$200 phone, we've got one for you right here: the Moto G5 Plus. While this is older than the G5S Plus, the G5 Plus is also much more affordable and might even have a superior camera setup. Now you can grab a 32GB G5 Plus for just $169.99, a full $60 off its MSRP.In our Moto G5 Plus review, we called it 'the king of budget phones.' It sports a 5.2" 1080p LCD, a Snapdragon 625, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with microSD expansion, a 12MP rear camera, a 5MP selfie shooter, and a 3000mAh battery. The phone comes with Android 7.0 Nougat on board, and it's devoid of any Amazon apps since this isn't the Prime Exclusive model. In fact, the Prime Exclusive model is currently more expensive than this discounted standard model.Only the 2GB/32GB G5 Plus in Lunar Gray is discounted (the Fine Gold version is still at $229.99). Prime shipping is present, and this phone will work with virtually any US carrier. Hit the source link below to pick up a Moto G5 Plus of your very own.Source: Amazon
Everyone hates on Motorola for releasing a ton of phones every year, but some of these phones are actually pretty good. Case in point: David, our resident curmudgeon, loved the Moto E4 Plus. Now you can get one for as little as $119.99, depending on storage configurations and whether or not you care about Amazon ads on your phone.The Moto E4 Plus is still a budget phone, but it has some decent specs. There's a 5.5" 720p display, a Snapdragon 427, 2GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB of storage, a 13MP camera, and a positively gigantic 5000mAh battery. There's even a fingerprint sensor, though there's no NFC in the US and it still uses microUSB.If you're okay with some Amazon bloat on your phone, you can get a 16GB model for $119.99 and a 32GB model for $129.99. If you'd prefer an unadulterated version of Android, Amazon offers the standard 16GB model for $151.96 (Best Buy's price is $159.99). The top-of-the-line standard 32GB model is $169.99 from both retailers. Iron Gray and Fine Gold colors are available, though the Prime Exclusive models can't be paired with Fine Gold. Hit the source links below to pick one up.Source: Amazon, Best Buy
Amazon's Prime Exclusive program has proven to be pretty successful, with several new phones having been added within the past few months. One of those phones is the Moto X4, a mid-ranger aimed at revitalizing the beloved Moto X brand. Now you can get an X4 in Prime Exclusive guise for just $299.99, $30 off its MSRP.The glass-backed Moto X4 sports a 5.2-inch 1080p LCD, a Snapdragon 630, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with microSD expansion, a 12MP/8MP camera combo on the back, a 16MP selfie cam, and a 3000mAh battery. It also has IP68 water resistance, which is nice to have. And since this is a Prime Exclusive phone, there are a ton of Amazon apps preinstalled.$329.99 is the normal going rate for this phone, but it's now available for $299.99 in both 'Super Black' and 'Sterling Blue' colors. However, you'll have to be a Prime member to get this deal. But as you might imagine, Prime shipping is free.Source: Amazon
Lenovo's introduced a bunch of new models to the Moto brand since it acquired Motorola, and one of those is the Moto Z2 Force. The Z2 Force is basically Motorola's flagship, and in our review, we found that while it was incredibly quick and took nice pictures, it was just too expensive. But now, Best Buy is offering up the Verizon Z2 Force for a stunningly low $456 with a free Insta-Share Projector Moto Mod.
It's been a few years since the Motorola that we knew and loved was replaced by what I like to call Lenovorola. Gone are the quick updates, Moto Maker, and a lot of other things that made Motorola great; instead, we now have a ton of different models, super slow (or potentially nonexistent) updates, and strange-looking camera bumps.
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- Motorola has published a blog post confirming all the devices above, along with the as of yet unreleased Moto X4. We also forgot about the Moto Z Play Droid - whoops. We've added both to the list above.
Back in the days when the Moto X could be used with one hand and Moto Maker was a cool new thing, Motorola was one of the best manufacturers with software updates. Since their skin is so minimal, anything else would be disappointing. But Motorola is not what it once was, and it's fallen behind in terms of software support. The Lenovo-owned company has just released its update roadmap for Android 8.0 Oreo.
After a lot of leaking, the Moto X4 made its formal debut at IFA. But it looks like even a released phone can still be leaked if it has two small words printed on the back of it: Android One. That's right - the latest leak from pro leakster @evleaks depicts a Moto X4 with a small Android One tramp stamp on its back. Could this be the first Android One phone for the US?
Android Oreo is all we've been hearing about for the past week or so, but it's important to remember that virtually every phone is still on Nougat. That includes the Moto Z and its Verizon sibling, the Moto Z Droid. Both phones have just had their 7.1.1 Nougat kernel source codes released by Motorola on GitHub.