A reasonable budget handset, but don’t expect the ageing hardware to stand up to Android’s toughest tests
The smartphone market goes into hyperdrive every time a flagship phone is released, but there’s also a steady stream of mid-rangers and budget models to consider. The latest is Motorola’s Motoluxe, available free on a £15 per month contract.
That’s a tempting price, but don’t expect miracles from the modest hardware. It scored a lowly 1,025 in Quadrant and took just over seven seconds to finish SunSpider – a slow time these days, even for a budget phone. That’s down to the ageing Qualcomm MSM7227 processor It wasn’t a bad chip when it arrived, but in 2012 it’s unable to keep up. The same could be said of the Adreno 200 graphics: it handles Angry Birds, but 3D games such as Temple Run show signs of struggle.
Elsewhere it has a lowly 512MB of RAM, only 1GB of storage, a microSD slot for cards up to 32GB, and 802.11n Wi-Fi. The 1,400mAh battery serves up standard longevity, with 60% left after our 24-hour test.
Motorola hasn’t added many bells or whistles to Android 2.3. The lockscreen works in a similar way to HTC’s Sense 3: pull the lock icon out of a ring to unlock, or pull six app icons into the centre to go directly into that app. There’s a pleasing lack of third-party apps and crapware, but despite this the Motoluxe still feels sluggish, with homescreen transitions stuttering rather than sliding by.
The 8-megapixel camera is good in close-up shots, but detail in wide shots was lacking, with blurry details. The zoom mode is also pretty poor.
And it’s all wrapped up in an uninspiring chassis. It feels sturdy, and at 10mm thick and 124g in weight it isn’t particularly chunky, but the rubberised rear and seams feel very much part of a budget phone.
One area where the phone wins points is its screen. Its 356cd/m2 brightness is impressive for a cheap handset, and it has a contrast ratio of 711:1. At 4in and 480 x 854, the resolution results in crisp text and graphics.
Probably the most obvious feature of this phone is that step at the bottom, which serves a couple of purposes; you can use it as a loop for a strap or lanyard and embedded within it is a light. This light glows red/yellow/green when the phone's charging and flashes blue/green/purple if the phone receives an email, text or voicemail. It's a nice addition in practical terms though we do wonder if it's a little oversized and bright – it's certainly not subtle. The same could be said of the Motorola logo alongside.
Backing up our subjective findings were our benchmarks. In the web browser based benchmarks, SunSpider and BrowserMark the Motoluxe trails the likes of the iPhone 4 and HTC One V by some distance, though it beats the likes of the super-budget Orange San Francisco 2. Likewise when it comes to gaming, this is no powerhouse, though most basic puzzler titles such as Angry Birds and Where's My Water? should work.
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