Motorola Thinkphone Review: $999 dark horse offers great value for money

Out there solely in black, the Motorola Thinkphone doesn’t look very thrilling on the floor however when you take a better look you’ll discover a variety of helpful options and an important worth telephone for lower than $1000.

Unboxing & Setup

Contained in the field, you’ll discover the Thinkphone, bumper case, 68-watt quick charger, USB-C quick charging cable, USB-C earbuds and a fast begin information.

These are much more beneficiant inclusions than many different telephone producers, which implies you don’t must spend 100 {dollars} or extra further to purchase equipment. There may be cardboard packaging as a substitute of plastic which can also be good.

After organising I personalised my settings and acquainted myself with the Thinkphones further options.

Key Specs Examined

The telephone comes with Android 13 as you’d count on from a excessive mid-range handset. Cellular knowledge and connectivity labored high quality on 4G and 5G. Whether or not listening to telephone calls on my ear or utilizing speakerphone the telephone audio was notably crisp and straightforward to hearken to.

The display screen is excessive decision, 144hz, 10bit and with a peak brightness of 1200 nits is nice to have a look at inside or exterior. Coupled with 8GB of RAM and Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Cellular processor the Thinkphone was in a position to play movies and run all my apps with ease.

There may be loads of storage onboard (256GB) and a battery capability of 5000mAh is sufficient to final a heavy telephone consumer like me till late afternoon.

  • OS: Android 13
  • System display screen measurement (inches): 6.6″
  • Decision (Pixels): 2400 x 1080
  • Show sort: pOLED
  • RAM: 8GB
  • Storage: 256GB UFS 3.1
  • Battery capability: 5000 mAh
  • Charger: 68W PD
  • Wi-fi Charging: 15W Qi
  • Processor: Snapdragon  8+ Gen 1 Cellular Platform
  • Rear Cameras: 50MP (normal) + 13MP (ultrawide)
  • Entrance digicam: 32MP
  • USB: Sort-C Port 3.1
  • NFC, Wi-Fi 6e and Bluetooth: v5.3

Fortunately the 68-watt quick charger means the telephone can prime up in hardly any time and 15-watt wi-fi charging can also be an choice.

The Cameras (Customary 50MP, Ultrawide 13MP and Selfie 32MP) carried out effectively in daylight. There isn’t a optical 2x or 3x zoom choice however the telephone is okay for taking photographs throughout a piece day and any social photographs afterwards.

Listed below are some instance photographs from my walks and commutes round Sydney.

Thinkpad Styling, Toughness and Practicality

Inserting the Thinkphone subsequent my private Thinkpad laptop computer you possibly can positively see the similarities proper all the way down to a programmable further pink key on the prime left facet of the Thinkphone.

I reckon a bundle sale deal of a Thinkpad and a Thinkphone can be a good suggestion, (that’s a touch for you Motorola/Lenovo).

Beneath the signature design, the Thinkphone can also be powerful like a Thinkpad, with Aramid Fiber Inlay, Aluminum Body, Gorilla Glass Victus display screen, MIL-Spec (MIL STD 810H) ranking and IP68 mud/water resistance.

There may be an sudden sensible profit when you personal a Thinkpad laptop computer and the Thinkphone as a result of I realised I might go away the cumbersome Lenovo Thinkpad charging adaptor and cables at residence and simply carry my Thinkpad, Thinkphone and the small 68-watt Thinkphone charger which may recharge the telephone or change over to energy my laptop computer.

Security, Safety and Home windows Connectivity

ThinkPhone integrates seamlessly with a ThinkPad (or really any Home windows 10/11 laptop) enabling options like:

  • Immediate Join: The telephone and Home windows laptop will uncover one another when close by and linked to the identical WiFi community.
  • Unified Clipboard: Customers can copy or seize textual content and pictures from the ThinkPhone and paste them immediately onto the Home windows laptop.
  • File Drop: Equally, information may be transferred throughout gadgets via a devoted sharing hub.
  • Superior Webcam: Home windows laptop customers can leverage the ThinkPhone’s rear cameras for larger res video output throughout conferences and conferences.
  • Immediate Hotspot: A one-click toggle lets Home windows laptop customers seamlessly dial into the ThinkPhone’s cellular connection.

If you wish to you possibly can join the Thinkphone to a TV utilizing an HDMI cable plus USB-C to HDMI adaptor. It could then be used for gaming, video chats or as a desktop laptop. Very helpful for travelling enterprise folks if their lodge room TV has an accessible HDMI port.

Company IT departments can use ThinkShield for cellular, a whole suite of safety and help options that ship seamless safety and full manageability.

Moreover, the ThinkPhone arrives with Moto KeySafe, a separate processor working on Android, including a further layer of safety to raised defend essentially the most delicate knowledge in your smartphone. It isolates PINs, passwords, and cryptographic keys, storing them in a tamper-resistant surroundings defending the information from the within out.

With smartphones typically bridging the hole between work and play and handsets generally being shared amongst customers Motorola is introducing Household House, a delegated “secure area” on the handset the place children can be taught and play.

Household House permits mother and father and guardians to set limits on display screen time, management which apps are accessible, and even create a number of profiles, in the end selling wholesome digital experiences, serving to maintain undesirable or inappropriate content material away from little ones, and giving everybody the chance to discover on their very own.

Safety Updates, OS Updates and Guarantee

It’s nice to see that Motorola promise the Thinkphone will get 3 years of Android OS updates and 4 years of safety updates. Including to the credibility of this promise, whereas I used to be testing my mortgage Thinkphone it acquired an replace upon first setup and one other one just a few weeks later which is an efficient signal.

Mixed with its powerful options it means you gained’t want to vary your telephone for 4 years which saves cash.

  OS Updates Safety Upkeep Launch Guarantee
ThinkPhone by Motorola 3 Updates 3 years month-to-month + 1 yr bi-monthly 24 months

Must you purchase the Motorola Thinkphone?

ThinkPhone by Motorola is geared toward enterprise individuals who wish to easily combine their work telephone and Home windows laptop workflow, particularly in the event that they wish to match the look of their Thinkpad laptop computer.

Nevertheless it’s additionally price a search for many different individuals who need a good Android smartphone that’s powerful, has sensible options which make digital life simpler and doesn’t price $1500.00 – $2000.00 and up.

ThinkPhone is on the market in Carbon Black at JB Hello-Fi and Lenovo.com.au for $999.00 and I believe it’s nice worth for cash.

Leave a Reply

GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings