Computer Shopper - UK (2019-12)

ISSUE 382|COMPUTER SHOPPER|DECEMBER 2019 43

MOTOROLAHAS,LIKESamsung, been on a
strong runof smartphoneform recently,
although its latesteffort, the OneAction,
doesn’t appearto makes things easyfor
itself,appearing on the marketforthe same
price as the MotoG7(Shopper376). Why
bother with this when there’s already a
good budget handset, from the same
manufacturer,for the same price?
The answer lies, at least in part, in the
design. This could much more easily passfor
the premium flagship than the MotoG7,
adoptingataller 21:9 displaywith apinhole
camera cutout in thetop-leftcorner.The
contoured glass chassis is extremely swish
forthe moneyasw ell.
Nevertheless, all the ports and controls are
where you’d expect them. The leftedge hosts
the nano-SIM card slot, which also includes a
space foramicroSD card if you wantto
augment the 128GBof internal storage.
The USBType-C charging port is in the usual
place at the bottomof the phone,the power
and volume rocker keys are on the right edge,
and a3.5mm audio jack sits on thetop.

UPTOTHE NINES
That 6.3in screen runs at 2,520x1,080, the
same resolution as the standard Samsung
Galaxy Note10, although, being an IPS panel,
it won’t match the best OLEDs on quality.
Regardless, the OneAction’s screen is pretty
good overall, covering 93%of the sRGB
colour gamut and havingameasured
contrast ratioof 1,253:1. The maximum
screen brightnessof 418cd/m2 also helps
boost readability in bright environments.
As with the more expensive One Vision
(Shopper381), the 21:9 aspect ratio has the
benefitof squeezing more
content fromFacebook and
Twitter feedson to thescreen
at once ,not to mention the
fact that you can watch 21:9
content on Netflix and
Amazon Prime Video without
any peskyletterboxing.
Interestingly,the One
Action also has the same
SoC as the One Vision: not
the usual Snapdragonfare,
but aSamsung-made
Exynos 9609.Powering itto
Geekbench4scores of 1,606
in the single-coretest and
5,362 in the multicoretest,
it’s notablyfaster than the

MOTOROLA OneAction

★★★★★

£220•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

Thereareafewfancycameratricksonthisbudget
phone,butitsrealvaluecomesfromtheessentials

ANDROID9.0 SMARTPHONE

MotoG7a nd even the

pricier One Vision.

Gaming performance is

encouraging,too, with the

GFXBench Manhattan

onscreentest returning an

average frame rateof2 1fps.

That might not sound like

much, but this isapretty

demandingtest of a

phone’s GPU, so you

shouldn’t encounter any

glaring issues when running

graphically intensive games.

The OneAction’s battery

lifeisa lso closeto that of

the One Vision, ultimately

lasting for14h 21m during

our video rundowntest.

While this means you’ll be

able to get throughafull

dayonasingle charge,

we’ve seen plentyof

handsets–including cheap

ones –break the 20-hour barrier,sot his

result isn’t particularly outstanding. It is an

improvement on the MotoG7, however,

which didn’teven make itto 12 hours.

LIGHTS,CAMERAS,ACTION

Motorola is finallyfollowing the multi-camera

trend, equipping the OneAction withatrio of

rear cameras. Rather than use the One

Vision’s 48-megapixel sensor,Motorola’s

latest handset incorporatesa12-megapixel

(f/2.2) camera, alongsidea5-megapixel

depth-sensing lensformore effective blurred

background portrait photography.

The third and final ‘action’camera uses an

ultrawide,117° lensto

squeezefour times moreof

the scene intoone frame.The

sensor has also been rotated

by 90°, allowing youto film

landscape video while holding

your phone in portrait mode.

It’s aunique proposition,

to be sure ,although there

is one small problem: if you

want to film in portrait mode,

you haveto hold the One

Action horizontally,which is

just awkward.

Still, the OneAction

benefits fromalong listof

video-recordingfeatures:

you can record 4K video in

21:9 format andFull HD

footage atasilkysmooth

60fps. Rock-steady video

stabilisation isavailable

forFull HD shooting

modes with both the rear

and 12-megapixel front

cameras,too.

It comes asabit of

ashame,then, that the

video qualityof this action

camera isn’t entirely what

it’s hyped upto be.

Footage does look nice and

smooth, and having the

opportunityto squeeze

more stuff in the frame is

most welcome,but the

detail is sorely lacking. The

MotoG7’s video captures

punchy,vibrant-looking

colours, while the One

Action’s output looks

unremarkably drab.

Thankfully,the OneAction is more adept

at taking pictures. Inareversal of fortune,it

does abetter job at shooting stills than the

MotoG7: images are filled with detail, with

superb colour rendition andawell-judged

HDR mode.Inl ow light,everything looks just

as good, with noneof the excess noise that

spoils image quality on the MotoG7.

ONE-UP

This superior photo-taking ability provesto be

the final blow in the contest between the One

Action and the MotoG7. Despitethe former

having the odd silly gimmick, it’s the better

device in just abouteverything except video.

What’s more,it’s not justaMoto

G7-beater: the OneAction is agreat budget

smartphone in general, with the credentials

to take oneven more expensive models.

NathanSpendelow

Batterylife

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage84f orperformancedetails

PROCESSOROcta -core2.2GHzSamsungExynos9609•

SCREENSIZE6.3in•SCREENRESOLUTION2,520x1,080•

REARCAMERAS12megapixel s,5megapixels,16megapixels•

STORAGE128GB•WIRELESSDATA4G•NFCYes•

DIMENSI ONS160x71x9 .2mm•WEIGHT176g•OPER ATING

SYSTEMAndroi d9.0•WARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•

DETAILSwww.lenovo.com•PARTCO DEPAFY0012GB

SPECIFICATIONS

14h21m