Moto X Force – Software and Performance

Just like every other Motorola device released in 2015, the Moto X Force runs a pretty-much stock build of Android – just the way Google intended.

The release of the Force seems to have come just a bit too soon for Marshmallow, though. It comes with Lollipop 5.1.1, but considering Motorola has said M is coming, hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.

Motorola has made a few nice improvements to the software, although it is possible to use the Moto X Force as a stock Android device if that’s what you prefer. Moto Display pulses the screen when you receive a notification, while Moto Assist silences any noises when it knows you’re in a meeting.

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Having a clean build of Android also helps the Moto X Force to feel speedy. Internally, it has the most impressive spec-sheet of any Motorola device this year. There’s a Snapdragon 810 processor handling the majority of the grunt, paired with 3GB of RAM.

Lag is almost non-existent. Apps open up as soon as you tap the icon, and even intensive games such as Hitman Sniper run smoothly without a dropped frame.

The phone comes with 32GB of internal storage as standard – there’s a 64GB option available too – along with a microSD card slot for upping this further.

While the Moto X Style has some of the best speakers in the game, the Moto X Force is lacking here. They’re still front-facing, but they lack volume, are on the tinny side and overall are just disappointing. Call quality is pretty much on a par with other Moto handsets, so there won’t be any complaints from people at the other end of the line who can’t hear your dulcet tones.

In my standard suite of benchmark tests, the Moto X Force matched up with similarly powered devices. On AnTuTu 6 it picks up a score of 78,342, while on Geekbench the multi-core score of 4,089 puts it above the HTC One M9, but below the 4,245 achieved with the Nexus 6P.

Moto X Force – Battery

Although 2015 hasn’t been the best year for phone batteries, the Moto X Force does a really good job of trying to change that. I can safely say that from all the devices I’ve reviewed in the past six months, this one goes for the longest.

Considering there’s a 3,760mAh cell inside, this longevity shouldn’t come as a surprise. During my testing, the Moto X Force consistently lasted two full days of heavy use. Streaming a 50-minute episode of Jessica Jones on Netflix consumed 7% – that’s seriously good – and an hour playing Monument Valley took the battery from 70% to 63%.

If battery is of the utmost importance to you, it’s definitely worth checking out the Moto X Force.

When you do hit the red, there’s TurboCharging on board to power you back up in about 90 minutes. There’s wireless charging too, a rarity for Motorola. However, due to the size of the battery wireless charging is still a bit slow – it will take a good few hours to juice the phone up without wires. Still, it’s nice to see the capability included.