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amazon Motorola One Action reviews
Corrupting the internet is what smartphones and the use of its applications have done. Well, it’s easier to shoot movies with one hand, so people hold the phone in portrait position during shooting. According to Motorola’s claim, about 70 percent of the customers shoot videos vertically. Their newest phone guinea pig has a solution.
Motorola One Action has a dedicated video action camera. This horribly makes your video playback horizontally when you actually film vertically. It’s such a feature that I didn’t even know I needed until I tried it out.
The end of the vertical video?
Motorola One Action has 3 back cameras: the primary 12-megapixel sensor with f/1.8 aperture, a depth sensor working for portrait photography in a 5-megapixel resolution, and the 16-megapixel wide-angle action camera, which features f/2.2 aperture and has 117-degree viewing angle.
The former two lenses are typical of a phone at this price point-249 euros (~$278)-but that latter just sets it apart from most. It’s a wide-angle lens, so you could fit more in one shot, and uses pixel binning technology, which means that it combines pixels to capture more light. Having 4 megapixels is the result, but one that would do better for low light.
And then comes the action camera. Because it is placed horizontally in the module, even though you shoot in the vertical position, the footage will still be recorded in landscape orientation.
You can now view the content of a 21:9 movie on your phone without having black side bars next to it.
It works well, but frankly when shooting vertically the live preview of the video is very small indeed. A visual fix to the plague of vertical video; every phone should come equipped with something like this. The action camera can record movies in 21:9 aspect ratio and includes electronic image stabilization. It supports filming up to Ultra HD at 30 frames per second, using the main lens.
Motorola’s Hyperlapse mode allows for using the action cams without having to awkwardly hold the phone horizontally. The Motorola One Action is supposed to make recording video much easier even for a casual smartphone owner.
But don’t worry, you can do that, too! Further, you can switch to using the main camera instead of the action camera to capture vertical video. If you want to do vertical shooting with a wide-angle lens, you also need to keep the phone in a horizontal position.
So far, I cannot give an opinion about the main camera and depth sensor, but I expect great photos with a little light and very mediocre results when there is not much light. This is standard for cameras on phones at this price, just like Nokia 7.1.
I’m still convinced that the future lies in the 21:9 aspect ratio.
Of course, there are the usual Motorola camera extras, like Spot Color, an effect that leaves just one color in a black and white photo, and Cinemagraph, among others. The depth of blur can be adjusted even after taking portrait mode pictures.
I will test the camera when I hold it in full review, but boy, I am looking forward to using the action camera most. I doubt it will alter the course of daily camera photography but certainly will find itself being used quite often.
21:9 on Narrow Phones-
Motorola and Sony are big in having 21:9 phones. And I’m all for it. While in earlier times, typecast for short, wide-screen monitor televisions in 16:9 (e.g., the Samsung Galaxy S7), this 21:9 aspect ratio is more compatible with a tall, narrow kind of screen-more so in 18:9 or 19:9, which stretches in between that standard for mobile.
What’s so unique about 21:9? Movies are normally shot at this angle. Now, Motorola was selling it as a CinemaVision display, hence you should be able to watch a full-on 21:9 movie on your phone without those annoying black bars beside the content. By the way, even Sony has 21:9 displays in its 2019 models including Xperia 1 and Xperia 10 Plus.
But then again, most of the videos you’ll be watching will probably not be in 21:9. You might be familiar with some YouTube videos-the form factor they use is 16:9, and their stretched-squeaky look is especially bothersome on the Motorola One. Yes, you will find movies on Netflix (and YouTube) with the 21:9 dimension, but they are not something very common.
I would say that 21:9 phones would come in handy as they feel amazing being held and handled. The Motorola One Action is so extremely narrow-you might consider it a remote-so that it could easily wrap around with my palm. But that’s when I once changed the phone to get up.
The Exynos chip can sometimes feel lithe if one is into intensive gaming or spends much time glued to their phone.
The One Action, with its tightly set bezels, is suddenly surprising the design with a 6.3-inch display-a common format among the other bestsellers being Samsung Galaxy S10e and Apple iPhone XR. Its almost bezel-less design gave it a sense of modernity, and I think the positioning of the 12-megapixel front shooter is quite appealing.
Just like the Motorola One Vision that has been launched across markets outside the US. The display turns out to be an IPS LCD, and resolution: 2520 x 1080 (432 pixels per inch). This makes it sharp and colorful, even though brightness could be improved.
Though the materials themselves don’t give that most important premium touch I like so much, this design, in its simple yet clean rear, especially in those two colors purposed for the United States–denim blue and pearl white-would definitely make up for that. I’m not the biggest fan of Aqua Teal, which Motorola promised would gift to the U.S.
It’s dimpled by Motorola. The minimalist back holds a single firing speaker designated at bottom, flanked by the USB-C charging port. The body is rated IPX2 for water resistance, meaning it can withstand rain but not much else.
where can you get a Motorola One Action online
Motorola One Action | Unlocked | Made for US by Motorola | 4/128GB | 16MP Camera | Denim: Buy it now
Unlocked Motorola One Action – 6.3 inches – 128GB – Denim Blue – PAGL0003US (Renewed): Buy it now
Performance and battery life:
The Motorola One Action has a Samsung Exynos 9609 processor with 4GB of RAM, just like the One Vision. In our review, performance was satisfactory for basic tasks such as social networking, checking email, and texting. All these processes, however, allowed for faster app-loading speeds without being excruciatingly slow. On the other hand, being a demo, very few apps were actually loaded onto the phone I tried.
So, are you ready to listen? Another big bummer sits beside the Motorola One Action. The U.S. model doesn’t work with Android One programs.
If you really enjoy gaming or heavy usage, Exynos would probably feel weak. I will need to test this out to be sure. There are very few Exynos phones in the U.S., but I liked Samsung’s Galaxy A50 with a slightly better Exynos 9610.
A generous 128GB of internal storage is offered with this device, which is quite a lot for a phone in this price range; it even has a MicroSD card slot for when you need more. From my research, the Motorola One Action has a 3,500mAh battery, which is enough to last a whole day.
No Android One for the U.S.
Another big bummer lies in the Motorola One Action. The U.S. model does not belong to the Android One program. Android One is a Google initiative guaranteeing a clean, bloatware-free experience and promising three years of monthly security updates and two years of operating system upgrades. The global model is part of the program, but the U.S. model is not. Motorola claims it dropped support for Android One in the U.S. because it was not a major purchasing driver.
Whatever the case, it was a mistake, in my opinion. Updates are what make phones safe and eliminate bugs while bringing new features to a phone when it is launching with the latest version of Android. Motorola only offers industry-standard security updates, meaning any update in case of a serious malware threat. Any update on the operating system is a freebie. Android Q will be yours sometime in August, and that will be it.
Some Android One phones are in the U.S. from HMD Global, the maker of Nokia phones, that guarantee updates, including the Nokia 7.1 and Nokia 9 PureView. Its phones available through carriers like the Nokia 2V and Nokia 3.1 Plus aren’t included, but HMD said it’s working with carriers to get the update out. The Motorola One Action is not tied to any carrier yet and will launch as an unlocked phone, so Motorola should be taking extra steps toward update management.
The rest of the interface is almost completely stock Android. It’s smooth, clean, and easy to understand. Usual Motorola actions are present, like chopping the phone twice to turn on the flashlight or twisting the phone twice to turn on the camera.