Despite the Moto X soldiering on bravely, Motorola lacked a true flagship to lead its impressive range of smartphones in India. The Turbo completes the puzzle.
The good stuff
The Turbo is built like a brick; it feels solid in your hand and has a functional design. At 169g, it is heavy but the weight distribution is even, unlike the iPhone 6 Plus, which is constantly trying to topple head first on to the floor.
Ballistic nylon fabric is used on the back of the phone. It is good to look at and improves grip. The phone has a water-repellent nanocoating for protection against minor splashes.
The Turbo lives up to its name in terms of the phone’s power and speed. The combination of the 2.7 GHz quad-core processor with Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 and 3 GB of RAM is extremely powerful. No game or apps can make it struggle.
The 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display has a 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution, the same as the Samsung Galaxy S6. It is sharp, bright and negates reflections well enough for use in bright sunlight. The text looks fantastic on this screen. It is not difficult to notice that the white colour is not pure but leans towards a warm tone. Some colours look a bit oversaturated—they are good to look at from afar, but are not very accurate reproductions on closer inspection. This screen isn’t perfect, but the niggles aren’t a deal-breaker.
Motorola’s own Assist, Actions, Voice and Display apps let you customize profiles and the way the phone responds when it detects certain scenarios.
The Turbo’s 21-megapixel autofocus camera is much better than other Motorola phone cameras. It takes some rich daytime shots and acceptable low-light photos, though the latter sometimes have inconsistent colours.
The mammoth 3,900 mAh battery lasts an impressive two days on a single charge. Motorola can tweak power consumption via a simple software update.
The not-so-good
While the ballistic nylon material looks beautiful, its grooves will quickly become home to dust and food particles.
The 4G LTE SIM card slot is incorporated into the volume keys, which can be pulled out by sticking a fingernail between them and the spine. The SIM card could get lost if the entire mechanism falls open.
Talk plastic
The Moto Turbo is priced at Rs.41,999, which is less than what the Samsung, Apple and HTC flagship phones cost. And it keeps up with these phones in terms of specifications and performance. We aren’t sure if the design will be to everyone’s taste, but with a fast processor and a capable camera, the Turbo is an enticing option.
