The Moto M's design formula is one that's proven successful across a myriad of makers and generations of smartphones, so if it works for them, it should work here. And it does - the Moto M is an attractive handset with an upmarket feel to it, and certainly says more than 'I'm just a tool to get things done'.
Underneath the golden veil, there's some serious hardware too - serious midrange hardware, of course. The Mediatek P10 is a proven soldier ( with well-known weaknesses, but more on that later) , and the India-only P15 isn't all that different. RAM and storage won't be an issue in either version and the 5.5-inch display packs pixels aplenty.
Now that pixels got into the conversation, the Moto M's primary camera has the tiniest of those, but at least there are 16 million of them. Half the number on the front, but slightly larger ones, could mean a strong selfie game. Other niceties include a fingerprint sensor and a water-repellent nano-coating - not quite water-resistant, the Moto M, but better than nothing. Oh, and there's an FM radio too, and we all know how that magic abbreviation can mean the world to some.
Motorola Moto M key features
5.5 IPS LCD of 1, 080 x 1, 920px resolution; 401ppi
Body measuring 151.4 x 75.4 x 7.9 mm and weighing in at 163g
Mediatek Helio P10 chipset, octa-core 1.95GHz Cortex-A53, or
Mediatek Helio P15 chipset, octa-core 2.2GHz Cortex-A53 ( India only)
Mali-T860MP2 GPU; 3GB/4GB of RAM
32GB/64GB of storage; hybrid microSD card slot ( uses SIM slot 2)
Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
16MP main camera with f/2.0 aperture, 1.0µm pixel size, PDAF, dual-tone LED flash
1080p@30fps video capture
8MP front-facing camera, 1.12µm pixel size
Rear-mounted fingerprint reader
Dual-SIM; Cat. 6 LTE support; 802.11 a/g/b/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.1, A2DP, LE; GPS; FM radio
3, 050mAh battery
Type-C 1.0 reversible connector
Water-repellent nano-coating, splash and dust resistant
