Name: Motoluxe
Brand: Motorola

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Go to page:

Verdict

We don't know if Motorola has actually seen a fashionista these days, but lately the Fashion Week set have to do a lot more than just hold their phone and act pretty.

The Motorola Motoluxe, despite the attempt to pass it off as a somewhat luxury item, is resolutely mid-range and middling. It's not terrible, but it doesn't particularly shine either.

It has a lovely screen size to be sure, but the rest of the hardware lets down the potential of the stand out offerings of this phone, such as the 4-inch edge to edge screen and the 8MP camera.

We liked

The rubberised light chassis, thanks to the metal-plated battery cover, didn't feel cheap in the hand.

We really liked the screen size; 4-inch edge to edge, with decent colour saturation, meant watching a video or streaming content was decently pleasurable.

The sound quality was generally good when making calls (with occasional feedback), and for casual social networking or internet-based app use, it's a solid phone.

We disliked

The slow single core processor, however, meant that navigating the phone often produced lag.

We didn't like the performance of the let-down camera, 8MP or no 8MP. In fact, with the blurry images and washed out, over-exposed images, it had to be the single most disappointing 'selling point' of the handset.

Final verdict

We've established that the Motorola Motoluxe is no real fashion accessory.

Not only that, but at around £20 per month, the performance isn't up to scratch with even other older-but-more capable Android phones, such as the HTC Desire S. It's more of an entry-level handset than one for a capable smartphone user.

If you're looking for something around the same price point (or just a tad more expensive), the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, brings Android 4.0 to the table.

Or wait to see if the HTC One S with Beats technology comes up with the goods instead - with a dual core processor and Android Ice Cream Sandwich at only £10 or so more a month, it's looking likely to be the better buy.

At a too-high price point for the performance it gives, the Motorola Motoluxe is probably not worth the punt. Comfortable but not sleek, this is no cool fashion accessory as the company would have us believe, and is only just functional enough.

Hang around for the newer Android phones running Ice Cream Sandwich and get twice the smartphone for only a little bit more buck.