All of these other models are part of Google’s Android One program and are guaranteed to receive regular major Android operating system updates and security updates. However, the Motorola One Macro is not an Android One smartphone. The big feature of this smartphone in the budget under Rs 10,000 is the macro camera sensor that is packed in the phone. Is the Motorola One Macro a good smartphone? To know this, we have tested it, let us know…
Motorola One Macro design
The design of the Motorola One Macro is similar to that of the recently launched Motorola One Vision and Motorola One Action. However, it does not come with a 21:9 aspect ratio display. Motorola One Macro features a 6.2-inch HD+ display (720 x 1520 pixels) with a 19:9 aspect ratio.
There are bezels all around the Motorola One Macro and a lip will be found at the bottom. The phone comes with Waterdrop Notch and the selfie camera has a place in the notch. Motorola has placed the handset on the frame so that the screen has more space. Motorola has placed all the buttons on the right side of the phone.
The power button has a slightly different finish, let alone the hybrid dual-SIM tray on the left side of the device. The Motorola One Macro houses the 3.5mm headphone jack and secondary microphone at the top, and the primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and speaker at the bottom of the phone. Three rear cameras have been placed on the back of the Motorola One Macro.
A sensor has been placed at the top, let’s say it is a macro sensor and this is the specialty of the phone. Other camera sensors are placed in the camera module at the bottom along with the laser autofocus emitter. The fingerprint sensor will also be available on the back of the phone that has been positioned correctly. The sensor has a place in Motorola’s iconic batwing logo on the rear panel.
The rear panel of this Motorola-branded phone is made of glossy plastic, fingerprints easily fall on it. To avoid this problem, the company has also given a case in the retail box. We found the Motorola One Macro to be a bit on the heavy side compared to the Samsung Galaxy M30s (Review). Motorola has given a 10W charger in the retail box.
Motorola One Macro specifications and software
Motorola has provided HD+ display on One Macro, but the thing to keep in mind is that most of the smartphones found in this price segment come with Full-HD+ display. The panel offers 270 pixels per inch, which is not ideal. In Motorola One Macro, the company has used Octa-Core MediaTek Helio P70 processor.
For graphics, it has Mali-G72 GPU which is clocked at 900mHz. Motorola One Macro includes 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, it is possible to expand the storage using the hybrid SIM slot. There is only one color variant of the Motorola One Macro, Space Blue. Talking about Motorola One Macro Price in India, its price has been set at Rs 9,999.
To give life to the smartphone, it has been equipped with a 4,000 mAh battery. The Motorola One Macro is claimed to have a water repellent design. It is IPX2 rated. The phone comes with support for Dual 4G VoLTE navigation system, Bluetooth 4.2 and 6. On the software front, the smartphone runs on Android 9 Pie with the September security patch.
Surprisingly, the Motorola One Macro is not part of the Android One program. Motorola told Gadgets 360 that the device will receive a major operating system update, namely Android 10, and security updates for two years. Remember that Android One phones get software updates for two years and security updates for three years.
The user interface is similar to stock Android with a custom icon pack. You get an app drawer on the phone, and a swipe to the right from the home screen opens Google Assistant. There are only a few Google apps installed on the device, along with the Moto and Device Help apps.
Motorola has also changed gesture navigation and you will get Android 10-style navigation. We didn’t have any problems navigating and multitasking on the device. Android Pie’s Digital Wellbeing feature and parental controls are also integrated.
Motorola One Macro performance and battery life
We had previously tested the MediaTek Helio P70 processor during the Realme 3 (Review) test. The device has 4 GB of RAM, so we did not feel that the phone slowed down at all. The phone is easily handled while multitasking between multiple apps. Fingerprint sensor and face unlock function unlock your phone faster.
The viewing angle of the Motorola One Macro is good. We tried to play PUBG Mobile on the Motorola One Macro, with the game defaulting to the Medium preset and the graphics set to Balanced and the frame rate set to Medium. We didn’t have any issues while playing with this setup. After playing the game for 15 minutes, 4 percent of the battery was consumed and the phone got a bit warm.
The Motorola One Macro is also capable of running games at high frame rates, but when doing so, we found the rear panel to get a bit warm. To give life to the Motorola One Macro, it has been equipped with a 4,000 mAh battery. In our HD video loop test, the smartphone managed 17 hours and 30 minutes.
During the use with the WhatsApp account active, using Google Maps to navigate for more than an hour and playing PUBG Mobile, the phone lasted a whole day. The charger that comes with the phone charges the phone up to 28 percent in 30 minutes and up to 51 percent in an hour. The device takes more than two hours to fully charge.
Motorola One Macro Camera
There is a triple camera setup on the back of the Motorola One Macro. At the top is a 2-megapixel macro sensor that is the specialty of this phone, its aperture is F/2.2. The main camera is 13 megapixels. Its aperture is F/2.0. With this there is a 2 megapixel depth sensor. It has a dedicated laser autofocus module for faster focusing.
Motorola One Macro has an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with an F/2.2 aperture. The camera app is well designed. Swiping right from the viewfinder reveals all the other shooting modes. In addition to portrait, panorama, slow motion, and time-lapse, there are also crop, spot color, cinemagraph, and macro modes. We find this mode very interesting.
Photos taken with the Motorola One Macro were average, and distant objects lacked detail when zoomed in on the larger screen. During the day, the phone focused quickly and HDR turned on automatically, helping to capture bright scenes with precision. The camera UI suggests that we should switch to the macro camera if we are very close to the subject.
The macro camera only captures 2 megapixel resolution shots. The thing to note is that the macro shots captured more detail compared to shots taken with the main camera sensor. Motorola One Macro gives the option to set the blur level before taking a photo in portrait mode. The details are acceptable considering the price.
Low-light camera performance was below average, and the phone took a while to capture each shot. Landscape shots lacked sharpness and also showed grain. The smartphone keeps noise under control in most circumstances. Selfies taken with the phone were decent, details in low-light selfies were average.
Once again, we found this phone’s camera performance to be a bit weak compared to other phones in this price segment. The main and selfie cameras are capable of recording videos at 1080p resolution. The smartphone can also record videos using the macro camera.
our verdict
Motorola has given this smartphone the name One Macro so that the macro camera found on the phone can be highlighted, so let’s talk about that first. The macro camera captures good close-ups. The smartphone comes with clean stock Android, powerful MediaTek Helio P70 processor, RAM and storage.
We wish One Macro would also be part of Google’s Android One program to ensure the phone gets better software and security updates. The phone’s camera performance in low-light conditions needs some improvement. Other than this, we have no complaints with the phone. It is worth noting that Realme 5 is also a good option and this phone also comes with macro lens and wide angle camera sensor. Apart from this, Xiaomi Redmi Note 7S (Review) is also an option, let us know that this phone from Xiaomi comes with Full-HD+ display.