Motorola's new One Vision smartphone looks as smooth as a Pixel 3a (and cheaper!)

Motorola One Vision

Motorola have announced they'll be launching a new $499 smartphone aimed at competing with Google's Pixel 3a.

Available exclusively through retailer JB Hi-Fi (and through the Motorola website, of course), the Motorola One Vision looks like a fascinating break from what the mobile brand have been up to lately. Squeezed between their MotoMod-friendly Z-series and the budget-minded E-Series and G-Series, the new Motorola One Vision promises to prove itself a mid-premium competitor to fare like the Google Pixel 3a and Oppo Reno Z.

The Motorola One Vision features a 6.3-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 21:9 aspect ratio. Interestingly, the device runs on a Samsung-made SoC - pairing up the Exynos 9609 with a 3500mAh battery, 128GB of storage (expandable via Micro SD) and 4GBs of RAM. Out of the box, the One Vision will run on an Android One-graded version of Android P. Motorola say they'll be fast-tracking Android Q when it arrives.

Of course, the biggest differentiator here is gonna be the camera. Motorola have equipped the One Vision with a dual-lens camera. That's pretty common these days, even in the sub-$500 segment. The next part isn't. The back of the Motorola One Vision throws together a 48-megapixel primary sensor with a 12-megapixel secondary lens.

Beyond just the number of megapixels in the camera, Motorola are also talking up the low-light performance on the One Vision. They say it'll offer a dedicated "Night Mode" akin to something you'd find in the Huawei P30. There's also a 25-megapixel front-facing selfie camera.

We'll have to wait until we've spent more time with the device to render our verdict, however.

What don't you get here that you would in something that's truly premium? Well, the Motorola One Vision doesn't feature any proper water resistance beyond basic IPX2 splash-proofing, nor does it support Qi wireless charging. You also don't get any in-screen fingerprint sensor tech or 3D face unlock. The Motorola One Vision does have NFC though and it does arrive with Dual SIM - two things that are going to matter more for some users than they are for others. 

In terms of what it's up against, the closest competitors for the Motorola One Vision are likely to be the aforementioned Google's Pixel 3a, Samsung A70, Oppo Reno Z, Huawei P30 Lite plus whatever Nokia's fielding at that price-point. Still, on paper, it's a strong proposition and the brown color scheme does help it stand out from the crowd without losing the luster you get from an all-glass design.

In Australia, the Motorola One Vision is available through JB Hi-Fi and the Motorola website from today at a recommended retail price of AU$499.