If you are a fan of the legendary ThinkPad line, you probably know that, firstly, last year ThinkPad celebrated its 30th anniversary, and, secondly, in honour of this, the first smartphone in the series with a simple and clear name – ThinkPhone by Motorola – was released. At first glance, you can see that the design of this business device was based on the ThinkPad – it is as strict and laconic as the majority of smartphones on the market. And the “stuffing” in it is to match – a top-of-the-line chipset from Qualcomm, 8 GB of RAM, pure Android with ThinkShield data protection, a beautiful screen, a protected body and decent battery life – so ThinkPhone looks very, very interesting. Let’s find out how successful the joint brainchild of Lenovo and Motorola is in our review.
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ThinkPhone technical specifications
- Display: pOLED, 6.55″, 2400×1080, 402 ppi, 144 Hz, 1200 nits, 20:9 aspect ratio, HDR10+ support, DCI-P3 coverage, Gorilla Glass Victus protection, display-to-body ratio – 89%
- Processor: Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, 8 cores, 4×Cortex-A510 (2.0 GHz) + 3×Cortex-A710 (2.75 GHz) + 1×Cortex-X2 (3.2 GHz), 4 nm
- Graphics processor: Adreno 730
- Permanent memory: 256 GB, UFS 3.1
- RAM: 8 GB, LPDDR5
- Memory card support: no
- Slot: dual (2 nanoSIM)
- Wireless networks: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, GPS, Galileo, GLONASS
- Main camera: main module – 50 megapixels (f/1.8, 1/1.5″, 2.0 μm), wide-angle – 13 megapixels (f/2.2, 120°), auxiliary – 2 megapixels (f/2.4), optical stabilisation, video recording 8K UHD (30 fps), 4K UHD (60 fps), Full HD (60 fps)
- Front camera: 32 megapixels, f/2.45, 4K video (30 fps), Full HD (60 fps)
- Battery: 5000 mAh, 68W Motorola TurboPower fast charging, 15W wireless charging support
- OS: “pure” Android 13
- Dimensions: 158.76 x 74.38 x 8.26 mm
- Weight: 189 g
- Optional: IP68 and MIL STD 810H enclosure protection, USB Type-C (USB 3.1) with Displayport 1.4 support
Price and positioning
The ThinkPhone has become one of the flagships of the business class, as well as a “great partner to the ThinkPad”, as Motorola calls it. Business smartphones are a rather narrow, but nowadays practically free niche, where logically, devices with full functionality and a strict design should be presented. This is where the smartphone will try to take its place of honour. But also, judging by the price tag, which is currently around $1025, it should compete with the flagships of other brands. For example, the Galaxy S-series from Samsung. And this is quite an ambitious and challenging task. Let’s see if ThinkPhone can really make Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, and others nervous.
Design and materials
Among the many smartphones of various classes, the ThinkPhone really stands out. This is because it is primarily a business device, which means that its design is more strict and representative. It definitely looks like a ThinkPad: clear lines and matte textures. Looking at the ThinkPhone, you can see the image of its owner – determined, active, someone who values his time and does not waste it.
The body combines several materials that together give the smartphone a premium look. Thus, the back is made of aramid fibre (we have already seen this in the Droid Turbo, Droid RAZR, Moto X models), which has a level of strength higher than steel, the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, and the bezels are metal with plastic inserts for antennas. The case is not only IP68-rated, but also MIL-STD-810H protected. This means that it can easily withstand a fall from a height of up to 1.25 m and immersion in water for up to 30 minutes. A true flagship story.
The camera unit rises slightly above the body, has a glossy surface and rounded edges. It houses two large camera modules (main and wide-angle), and on the side there is an auxiliary module and a flash. In the lower corner, you can see a short list of characteristics of the main module – 50 megapixels, 2.0 μm, OIS.
The lid is matte and pleasant to the touch, and also has a minimalist diagonal pattern that harmoniously complements the appearance of the device. The “ThinkPhone by Motorola” logo is also angled, and a red dot above the letter “i” is a direct reference to the ThinkPad, but it’s a pity that the dot is not backlit. It would have been a complete break.
The front has a large 6.55-inch screen with thin and symmetrical bezels. There is no protruding “chin”, as is usually the case with many models, and this is another point in favour of the smartphone’s appearance. The selfie camera is located in a hole in the display, and above it, at the junction of the screen and the top bezel, you can see the earpiece speaker grille. Probably, the light sensor is located in the same place, because the screen has a factory protective film that fits snugly to all the details.
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Element arrangement and ergonomics
To the right of the display is the classic trinity – volume and power buttons. The buttons are metal and have a clear response with a distinctive click. This creates a pleasant and unusual sensation when pressed. On the left is the “red button”, another reference to the ThinkPad. It is a multifunctional button that performs many actions and can be programmed to suit the user’s needs.
By default, a single short press opens the Moto menu, where you can find gesture settings and other options to help you customise your device. Double-clicking opens Ready For for quick connection to other devices, such as a PC, tablet, TV or portable display. To set up a particular gesture, just press the button for 2 seconds. By the way, you can also use the button to open the walkie-talkie function in the Command app. It’s a very niche feature, but it’s there.
Але повернемося до елементів управління. Зверху можна побачити одинокий отвір для додаткового мікрофону та напис «Dolby Atmos». Знизу – роз’єм Type-C (USB 3.1) з підтримкою Displayport 1.4, слот для двох SIM-карток, основний динамік та отвір для розмовного мікрофона. Аудіоджека, звісно, немає, рівно як і підтримки карток пам’яті. Тут все по-флагманські.
For a 6.6-inch smartphone, the ThinkPhone has fairly standard dimensions (158.76 x 74.38 x 8.26 mm) and weighs 189 g. It feels a little heavy in the hands, but not too big. The flat metal ends cool the palm of your hand pleasantly, and the absence of roundings on the sides allows you to hold the device confidently. When you hold the smartphone in your hands, the power button fits perfectly under your thumb. But there are questions about the location of the fingerprint scanner. In my opinion, it is installed too low – literally above the “Home” button. Yes, you can reach it when you have the ThinkPhone in your hand, but if you raise the sensor higher, in my opinion, it would be more convenient to use it.
ThinkPhone display
Here we have a gorgeous 6.55-inch POLED matrix that takes up 89% of the front panel, with a 2400×1080 resolution, 402 ppi pixel density and refresh rate of up to 144Hz for a smooth and enjoyable scrolling experience. Of course, there’s HDR10+ support, as well as full DCI-P3 colour space coverage. The brightness is up to 1200 nits, and it’s a sight for sore eyes. If you set the brightness slider to maximum, using your smartphone outside on a sunny day is just what the doctor ordered. The readability of the screen is perfect.
The settings have everything you could want: automatic brightness, reading mode and scheduled dark theme, low-light flicker prevention and a choice of colour rendering. There are two modes available – Natural and Vivid – and you can adjust the temperature to your liking in both. The refresh rate can also be set manually – 60, 120, all 144 Hz or automatic mode. The latter is the most balanced solution, because the refresh rate is automatically adjusted depending on the type of content, and the battery is consumed more economically.
The settings also include control of the screen split and screenshot functions with three fingers. And unlike many smartphones (mostly Chinese), it is not done by triple swiping down, but simply by pressing on the display with three fingers. To be honest, it took me a while to stop swiping down to capture the screen, because a habit is a habit. There is also a quick access to Ready For and a screen recording function (up to 1080p at 60 fps).
Overall, the experience of interacting with the ThinkPhone screen is very positive. I don’t know if I need to add anything about viewing angles if we’re talking about a cool flagship-level OLED matrix. Everything here is clear, beautiful, bright and saturated, and there are many settings to create the most optimal conditions for the user and enjoy every time the smartphone is in his hands.
Performance and wireless connectivity
Inside ThinkPhone is top-of-the-line hardware that can handle any task. The “engine” is not the latest, but one of the most worthy and productive chipsets from Qualcomm – the 8-core Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, made using the 4 nm process technology. As for the cores, we have the following picture: four energy-efficient Cortex-A510 with a clock frequency of up to 2.0 GHz, three Cortex-A710 workhorses with a clock frequency of up to 2.75 GHz, and one Cortex-X2 alpha core with a frequency of up to 3.2 GHz. Graphics are handled by the Adreno 730 processor. There is 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 256 GB of permanent storage (UFS 3.1). Expansion of flash memory via microSD is not supported, and wireless interfaces include Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC and geolocation services – GPS, Galileo and GLONASS.
Technically, there is no task that the ThinkPhone can’t do. In addition to multitasking and working with the voracious applications you may use for work (and this smartphone is primarily designed for work processes), it will easily handle heavy modern games. Of course, if a busy person has time for it. And this performance margin will last at least for several years without a “dip”. Needless to say, the simplest but most popular Wild Test in 3DMark ended early, reporting that the ThinkPhone is too powerful for this test and suggested choosing a more serious option. The results can be found below.
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Software
The software part is represented by “pure” Android 13, seasoned with Moto’s proprietary features, which are displayed in a separate menu. It has everything that is available in the brand’s smartphones and is already very familiar to us – a lot of gestures and functions for customisation. A cool feature is that you can quickly open applications by double-tapping on the back cover. By the way, there are 3 types of tapping available (weak, medium and strong) and each can be set separately. There’s also a quick screen split to work with two applications (not supported by all apps), quick access to the camera by double-rotating the smartphone in your hand, turning on the flashlight with two shaking movements (this is my favourite) and many more features that we know from other Motorola smartphones. In general, the interface is very lively, there is nothing superfluous in it that could mar the experience of working with a smartphone. Although the hardware would pull out all the stops.
Another important thing is data security. ThinkPhone has paid a lot of attention to this. It combines both hardware and software to keep your important information behind seven locks. And it’s worth highlighting the ThinkShield security system with AI technology.
“Ready For” and connecting to ThinkPad
We also took a ThinkPhone and a ThinkPad X1 laptop to review. So we were able to see for ourselves how Ready For works with its “best friend”. However, it’s worth noting that the smartphone can be connected not only to the syncpads, but also to other laptops, TVs, tablets, and monitors. But in this case, since the ThinkPhone was created not least as a companion to the ThinkPad, we are interested in their combination.
“Ready For is installed by default on your smartphone, but you need to install it manually on your ThinkPad. The link to the service leads to motorola.com, and from there to the Microsoft store.
We install it, make sure that both devices are connected to the same network, pair them with a QR code – and voila!
It allows you to stream any application from your phone to your laptop, use your smartphone as a high-quality webcam, get instant access to files on your smartphone, and create a quick hotspot to the Internet (using the mobile Internet). There is also end-to-end copy-paste, and you can view data from your smartphone in several ways – as a PC, mobile version, or live streaming (for some reason, it is called “Mirroring” in the menu).
The same fast access to files on a laptop is available via a smartphone, so the technology works both ways.
In terms of functionality, speed, and convenience, Ready For gives Microsoft’s sadly dated Smartphone Connect a run for its money. Rumour has it that its capabilities may be improved in the next Windows update, but when will that be? Motorola already has everything, and it’s been around for a long time. And it works like a Swiss watch.
You can learn more about interaction with a laptop in this video:
Unlocking methods
In terms of unlocking methods, we have the usual picture – a face scanner and a fingerprint sensor. Face recognition works well and quickly in sufficient light. In the dark, the display backlight is enough, if it is somewhere around 40% or higher. But when there is no ambient light and the screen backlight is low, the scan will not work. In this case, you will have to use a fingerprint scanner or a PIN code. However, I wouldn’t call the lack of the “face illumination” function (when the smartphone display temporarily increases its brightness, which works as a flashlight for the scanner) a disadvantage. Yes, it doesn’t allow you to use owner recognition in the dark, but it also doesn’t hurt your eyes, as in most cases when you try to do it.
As for the fingerprint scanner, everything is great. I only have a comment on the location (I would like it to be higher), but this has nothing to do with its performance and speed. It works quickly and accurately, which, after all, is what a device of this class should have.
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Sound
ThinkPhone has stereo sound, which is provided by the main speaker and the earpiece speaker and supports Dolby Atmos. Unlike many mid-range devices, where stereo is created in the same way and the lower speaker pulls the volume and clarity to itself, the sound is balanced almost perfectly. Holding the smartphone in landscape orientation, you don’t feel that the earpiece speaker lags behind the main speaker, and a really high-quality stereo effect is created.
ThinkPhone cameras
The rear camera is dual. Technically, it is triple, but one of the modules is auxiliary and has a resolution of 2 megapixels (f/2.4), so we will not take it into account. So we have a 50 megapixel main module (f/1.8, 1/1.5″, 2.0 μm) with optical stabilisation and video recording up to 8K (at 30 fps, but 4K UHD already at 60 fps) and a 13 megapixel wide-angle sensor (f/2.2) with a 120° viewing angle.
The camera’s native app offers the following modes:
- for photos – Night Shot, Photo, Portrait, Pro, Panorama, Plate Colour, Document Scanner, Ultra-Res (50 megapixels)
- for video – “Slow Motion”, “Video”, “Two-camera shooting”, “Video with colour plate”, “Accelerated shooting”
Щодо якості знімків – картина неоднозначна. Від смартфону такого класу (і такого цінника) очікуєш флагманських фото за замовчуванням, але у випадку з ThinkPhone він трохи не дотягує. Почнемо з ширококутника. Він доволі стандартний і враження від нього приблизно такі ж самі. Для денних знімків він доволі юзабельний, якщо потрібно захватити більше об’єктів в кадр. Так, трохи не вистачає контрасту і деталізації, але в екстрених випадках на нього можна розраховувати. Вночі ж його використовувати сенсу не багато. Нижче є трішки семплів.
THINKPHONE PHOTO IN ORIGINAL RESOLUTION
And now to the most interesting thing – the main sensor. In terms of characteristics, it looks quite promising, but the image quality is not perfect. During the day, everything is quite pleasant – the shots look detailed, clear, three-dimensional. But sometimes there are issues with focusing – it doesn’t always work as it should. And in low light, the quality drops and, although the colour is reproduced well, the images are sometimes soapy and blurry, especially in dark areas. The night mode improves the situation, but makes the pictures look unnatural by adding artificial sharpness and contrast and painting over details. Overall, you can use it to get nice creative shots, but they don’t look very much like the real thing. Let’s compare them. On the left is a photo taken in standard mode, on the right – in Night Mode.
І ще трохи знімків, зроблених за допомогою стокового застосунку камери.
THINKPHONE PHOTO IN ORIGINAL RESOLUTION (STOCK CAMERA)
The situation can be improved by installing the Google camera app. Obviously, different algorithms are used here, and photos can be obtained at a really higher quality level. Both during the day and at night, with or without Night Mode (right). It’s not hard to see the difference, so I recommend using GCam.
Other photos taken using the Google app.
PHOTO FROM THINKPHONE IN ORIGINAL RESOLUTION (GOOGLE CAMERA)
The camera for selfies and video calls here is 32 megapixels, with an aperture of f/2.45 and support for shooting video in 4K (30 fps). We have no complaints about it – it can take quite good, clear selfies, and for video calls it’s a top-end solution. In terms of shooting modes, the selfie camera has the same modes as the main camera, except for the specific Panorama or document mode, and they didn’t forget about beauty modes.
Battery life
The ThinkPhone is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery, which is a fairly standard figure for smartphones in different price segments today. The device supports wireless charging (15 W) and, of course, Motorola TurboPower 68 W fast charging. Interestingly, the bundled charger from ThinkPhone can also be used to charge ThinkPad without any problems, which means that you can have only one charger for both devices with you. This is very convenient for owners of Lenovo business laptops.
The manufacturer claims that the smartphone will provide up to 36 hours of battery life with an average load (this is on average). But I believe it can do more, because the PCMark battery test showed that it easily works from 100% to 13% to almost 18 hours with the screen on and at an average brightness level. Impressive, isn’t it? This is despite the fact that average brightness is more than enough in everyday life, as it reaches a maximum of 1200 nits. It seems that the balanced stuffing of ThinkPhone, as well as “clean” Android, which does not “eat up” the background charge to support some unnecessary processes, do their job. And another nice bonus is that the smartphone can be recharged from the native charger in 15 minutes from a low charge level.
Read also: Motorola Edge 30 Fusion review: “flagship killer” or is it too loud?
Conclusions
If you look at ThinkPhone as a business flagship, it’s unbeatable. It has everything you need for corporate work: powerful hardware with a good reserve for the future, a great OLED screen that is bright and smooth thanks to a 144Hz refresh rate, a stylish and yet unbreakable body, pure Android and user-friendly proprietary software without frills and bells and whistles, impressive battery life, and a cool data protection system, which is really important for those who work with confidential information. The price of the ThinkPhone is not low, but in this case it is justified by the quality, reliability and thoughtfulness to the smallest detail.
If you consider the device as “for everyone”, it is unlikely to become a mass market. And it’s not just about the price (although it’s not the only thing). For a nominal $1000, you can buy a Samsung Galaxy S23 and get almost everything the same plus one of the best cameras among Android smartphones. Unfortunately, the ThinkPhone’s camera leaves much to be desired. For those who are active on social media, this is far from the best option, but for business customers, it doesn’t matter much. Otherwise, ThinkPhone is a really cool solution, and probably the best for workflows.