Motorola One Vision first impressions: New design, unique screen but sluggish performance

Motorola One Vision is scheduled to go on sale in India on June 27. Priced at ₹19,999, One Vision will compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy M40, Xiaomi Poco F1 and others.

Motorola One Vision launched in India (HT Photo)

With the Indian smartphone market getting more competitive, older brands like Samsung and Motorola are looking at ways to regain their share. This year we saw Samsung revamping budget and midrange lineup with Galaxy M and Galaxy A series. Motorola is also trying to make a comeback with phones such as One Vision.

Launched at ₹19,999, Motorola One Vision is set to compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy M40, Xiaomi Poco F1 and other top phones under ₹20,000 phones in India. From specifications point of view, One Vision checks all the boxes for a solid mid-range phone. For instance, it has a 48-megapixel rear camera with night mode, 25-megapixel selfie camera, and 4GB of RAM.

What sets Motorola One Vision apart from the competition is the 21:9 full HD+ display with a punch-hole camera on the top left corner. The unique aspect ratio makes the phone look taller than 19:9 phones. Motorola's "CinemaVision" display is said to be suitable for multimedia streaming. During our usage, we found the display quality to be quite impressive. It offers pretty decent legibility indoors and outdoors. Auto brightness is fast. The in-screen camera, however, is quite big and little distracting. The strategic placement makes it easier overlook the camera hole when using the phone in landscape mode.

A closer look at the gradient colour back panel (HT Photo)

A closer look at the gradient colour back panel (HT Photo)

Android purists will like the interface on Motorola One Vision which offers stock Android Pie out-of-the-box. There are a few custom features like three-finger screenshot on the phone as well. Powered by Samsung's 9609 chip, Motorola One Vision is quite slow. There's a visible lag when launching key apps such as camera.

Punch hole camera is way too big to ignore (HT Photo)

Punch hole camera is way too big to ignore (HT Photo)

The image processing is also quite slow on the phone, especially if you're using special modes. We also briefly tried out the much advertised 48-megapixel rear camera and its night mode. So far, One Vision has delivered mixed results. The lowlight images are not at all up to the mark.

Motorola One Vision looks like a well designed phone with unique take on screen aspect ratio. The performance, however, seemed sluggish during our brief usage. This will probably be rectified through future firmware updates. Stay tuned for our full review of the phone.