The smartphone scenario in India has been drastically improving as new devices keep flooding the Indian markets consistently. Today, there are myriad smartphones available in India ranging from low-end smartphones to the ones with impressive specifications. However, in a country like India, people are more inclined towards budget smartphones—a term used to describe phones which are a little classier (expensive) than the mid-ranged smartphones but are worth every single penny. On that note, we would like to compare two such “budget phones” which made their debut this year.
On one hand we have the phone which the manufacturer has coined as the 2016 Flagship Killer—The OnePlus 2 (OP2) and the other hand is employed by Motorola’s successor—The Moto X Play. Even though the phones are moderately priced, both offer exclusive features and admirable performance. So if any of you were planning on buying a phone somewhere in between the Rs 18,000 and Rs 25,000 bracket, you may want to consider these two devices on your priority list. To help you ease the confusion, we give you a complete comparison between the two smartphones.
As we all know, Motorola recently launched its Moto X Play in India with a price tag of Rs 18,499 for the 16GB model and Rs 19,999 for 32GB variant. With a measly difference of just Rs 1,500 between the 16GB and 32GB models, we would recommend that you opt for the latter if you are planning on one any time soon. The Moto X Play was Motorola’s effort to churn out a phone that can be the “Jack of all trades” and serve all the user’s needs seamlessly.
The Moto X Play
Two of the marquee features of the X Play that make it all the more enjoyable are its astounding 21MP rear camera and its monstrous 3630mAH battery. Motorola claims that this battery has the competency to last two days on a solo charge, even while using full-fledged internet services and other power-hungry apps constantly. While the company’s claim may not be as convincing, even for a four-year-old, the battery still provides abundant fuel to keep the phone alive for an extended amount of time. The phone is also equipped with a turbo charger; a quick-charging USB charger which can refill eight hours of charge in under 30 minutes.
A few weeks prior the initiation of the Moto X Play, the market shy OP2 was listed on two E-commerce sites. Now the reason for the hype over this device was due to the immense success of its predecessor—the inimitable OnePlus One. The OnePlus team had indeed kept their promise to deliver value for money and had designed a masterpiece that disrupted the smartphone market in India back in late 2014. Just like Moto X Play, there are two variants of the OP2— one with 16GB storage with 3GB of RAM (Rs 22,999) and the 64GB version with a 4GB RAM (Rs 24,999).
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The OnePlus 2
However, the company still runs its bizarre policy that has disappointed millions of gadget lovers waiting to get their hands on the OP2. The company is only rolling out limited number of devices to those who have received personal invites to buy the phone. Yes, an invite is required from the company to buy the device and obtaining it is a pretty long wait. This is disappointing because the phone has the capability to match most flagship smartphones in the country and is still comparatively inexpensive.
In terms of availability, the Moto X play is a much better choice as it is easily available online, unlike the OP2. However, if both were as easily available in the market, the story might have been different.
A comparison between the salient features of the two devices
To make matters simpler for you, let’s head to the specifics of each device in brief.
Design and Display:
When it comes to the display, both manufacturers have equipped their individual devices adroitly. Both Moto X Play and OnePlus 2 feature a decent 5.5-inch full HD display and feature Corning Gorilla glass protection. However, the Moto X Play’s full HD IPS display appears to be a tad better between the two. In addition, the Moto X Play is splash resistant, which also makes it less vulnerable to water.
As for the design, the OnePlus 2 gains the upper edge because of its distinctive sandstone back cover finish and availability in multiple colours. The elegant design throughout the device, including the placement of the volume rocker, an integrated finger scanner and the alert slider are some of its attractions. The Moto X Play, on the other hand, offers almost similar design as compared to its predecessors. What makes it stand apart are the few colour-customisable back covers, but it still lacks the premium feel as that of the OP2.
The Moto X Play (169 grams) is fractionally lighter than the OnePlus 2 (175 grams), which makes little or no difference, as both the phones are equally comfortable to use. However, the OnePlus 2 has a sleeker design and offers a number of exciting features such as fingerprint scanning, the alert slider and the metal frame.
Performance and Battery life:
The Moto X Play employs a stock version of the latest Android Operating system, the Lollipop (upgradable to Marshmallow) and also allows users to make choose from a wide variety of apps to optimise their phone. One amazing aspect of Motorola is its efficiency in rolling out updates for their devices quickly.
The Moto X is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 core chipset, along with 2GB of RAM and is capable of running power-hungry games such as Asphalt 8 and manifold applications without any hindrance. However, the Moto X Play does heat up after using it for more than 20 minutes straight. As we mentioned earlier, The Play’s massive 3630mAh battery is one of the noticeable specifications of this smartphone in addition to its 21MP rear camera.
The OP2 is powered by the company’s own Oxygen 2.0 OS which is based on the Android Lollipop 5.1.1. The OnePlus 2 is built around the Snapdragon 810 chipset, featuring a 1.8GHz octa-core CPU alongside 3GB/4GB of RAM. This is one aspect where the OP2 scores higher than the X Play. The OP2’s monstrous configuration is capable of performing tasks at higher speeds and is a perfect choice for people who use their phone for running processor-heavy apps and games.
The OP2 will get the Marshmallow update for sure, but being a third party custom aftermarket ROM, the company might take a while to roll out the Android M update. The OP2 also sports a 3300mAH battery that totally compliments the powerful chipset. Moreover, the Type-C USB charger available along with the OP2 might be the future of smartphones, but it doesn’t charge the phone any faster than any other regular micro-USB cable charger. The device takes approximately three hours to attain full charge. Lastly, the OP2 too heats up a bit while gaming continuously at a stretch, but not as much as the Moto X Play does.
Camera and Storage:
Motorola has also bumped up its camera features for the new Moto X Play by offering a massive 21MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. Having said that, the Moto X Play manages to click good photos during in broad daylight, and has additional modes such as Face Detection, Panorama and HDR included. However, the device fails to capture good images in low-light conditions.
The 5MP front shooter is more than capable of taking good pictures and is good enough for all selfie-maniacs. However, the auto-focus (tap-to-click) option isn’t all as helpful, as images tend to be underexposed on most occasions.
On the other hand, the OnePlus 2 offers a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front shooter. Even though the device is capable of taking good quality pictures and videos during the day, it too fails miserably in low-light conditions. Honestly, both the cameras are pretty decent, but don’t expect DSLR-quality images from either. One area where the OP2 beats the Moto X Play is the laser-guided focus on the 13MP rear camera, which helps in low-light photos and fast focussing on moving subjects.
As mentioned earlier, The Moto X Play comes in 16GB and 32GB variants, and has an expandable storage option up to 128GB to help users stack up on their favourite games and data without any hesitation. Unfortunately, the OP2 offers just 16GB and 64 GB versions with no option for storage expansion. With an increase in usage of smartphones, numerous apps and Internet, the OnePlus team should have provided an external memory slot, but they didn’t, for various reasons. Nonetheless, the exclusion of the memory slot has its own advantage: The phone is efficient and performs tasks much faster than the ones with external memory slots. Maybe this is why OP2 decided against having external memory.
Verdict:
After comparing both the devices, it is a bit tough to decide between them. The OnePlus 2 offers a better chipset and 4GB of RAM, which allows it to perform tasks relatively faster than Moto X Play. The OP2 has striking performance upgrades and is definitely marks the future of performance-oriented budget smartphones. It also has additional features such as a fingerprint scanner, alert slider and many other exciting features. Unfortunately, the OP2 is not readily available in the market, unless you want reach out to a third-party dealer who probably have them in stock, but will sell it to you at a considerably high price.
On the other hand, the Moto X Play is capable of running equally heavy software and games, except a few. Even though the OP2 offers a decent performance, the Moto X Play is no pushover. This all-round entertainer has managed to strike a perfect balance, offering a good blend of functionalities, including loads of expandable storage space, a good camera, fast charging and more apps.
Both the phones have distinctive features that set them apart and are great additions to the performance-oriented budget smartphone category. We advise you to opt for the Moto X Play simply because the phone is readily available in the market, cheaper by Rs 5,000 and will serve your everyday requirements with ease. However, if you are desperate for a phone with more muscle power and superior performance, just go for the OnePlus 2.
