Friends+Design
- Well put-together and good looking design - though it's plastic, so not quite as premium as the Motorola One Vision
- Fingerprint sensor at the back works quickly and reliably
- Responsive face unlock
- The front has a pretty big punch-hole camera - it's hard to miss, and it's also not easy to ignore even after spending some time with the One Action - it's big and it's well inside the display which also forced the software engineers to stretch down the status bar to completely envelop the cutout, actually making it even more visible in a way - it also interferes with content in some apps
- With the tall dimensions, pocket-ability is not that great, so the phone will tend to protrude out of shallow pockets
Display
- The 6.3-inch, 21:9 IP cinematic screen is pretty decent for enjoying movies (without any letterboxing), as long as you can look past the hole - contrast and outdoor visibility are decent too
Software
- Being part of the Android One series you get clean, simple stock Android + platform updates for 2 years
- Of course there are a few useful Moto customizations like a gesture navigation system, Moto Actions (a karate chop action turns on and off the flashlight while the twist motion launches the camera app and both work even when the screen is off), Peek Display (It'll display notifications and let you interact with them right there on the lockscreen plus it'll wake up when you pick up your phone), and Attentive Display (will keep the screen on as long as you are looking at it)
Performance
- The Exynos 9609 inside (similar to Snapdragon 710) delivers dependable performance across the board (day-to-day apps and games), on par with key rivals
Camera
- Decent triple camera setup at the rear - 12MP primary + 5MP depth sensor + 16MP ultra-wide, that's rotated 90 degrees, and can be used to capture ultra-wide landscape videos
- Daylight photos come out pretty decent - detail is decent and noise is well controlled - dynamic range is good too
- Portrait shots come out nice too
- The front camera takes really nice selfies with great detail and spot on skin tones - it features a decent, software based portrait mode too
- Video recording is of course where the One Action gets its name - it's meant to replace your action cam - the phone's ultra wide angle shooter is mounted at a 90-degree angle so that it captures videos in landscape orientation (which is how video is meant to be recorded) when you're holding the phone in portrait (which is how phones are meant to be held)
- EIS is available on both cams in 1080p resolution at both 30fps and 60fps (though the 4K footage of the main cam can't be stabilized) - and it works well
- Overall video quality is decent (though not exceptional) from both the main and the ultra-wide camera
- The front camera does 4K video too, which is pretty neat to find on a phone in the One Action's market segment
- The ultra-wide camera can unfortunately only be used for video recording, not for clicking pictures
- Night photography is average, and there's no dedicated night mode
Battery
- Decent (though not exceptional) battery life with a 3500mAh battery - you will get the full day with moderate use - there are many competitors who are ahead in this area though
- The included 10W charger isn't the fastest - you will get about 30% charge in 30 min, and a full charge in 2 hours 30 minutes
Verdict
- While the One Action is not a bad phone, it doesn't really end up having any big stand-out qualities, and in fact finds itself in the midst of some pretty tough competition from the likes of Galaxy A50 (superior display, better better battery life), Redmi Note 7 Pro (better performance, better battery), Realme 3 Pro (better performance, better battery), and Realme X (superior display, cutting-edge design, better performance, better battery) - you will be generally better off looking at the competition here, unless the Android One scheme of things is particularly important to you
