We review the very best Motorola Moto phones that you can buy in the UK and here’s our favourites available right now. From great-value budget mobiles like the latest Moto E handset, to premium flagship phones like the Moto Z series – which can be expanded with Motorola’s own Moto Mods accessories – there’s something here for everyone.
When it comes time to buy a new smartphone, there’s a crazy amount of choice out there. In fact, Motorola alone often launches a dozen or so devices in any given year, spread across the complete price range.
Why buy a Motorola Moto phone?
Of course, all of Motorola’s Moto smartphones offer solid value for money, from the cheapest sub-£100 handsets that come packing solid battery life and performance, to the premium Moto Z flagship phones. Those budget mobiles, including the new Moto E4, often sport the kind of features you’ll never find on other rival handsets at that price point – such as fingerprint sensors and metal design work.
Meanwhile mid-range Motorola handsets such as the Moto G5 boast a great all-round experience, even for quite demanding users, without breaking the bank. You can expect a clean Android interface and some handy gesture support, for ease of use. These Moto phones are a solid choice for smartphone newbies as well as anyone after solid specs for a good price.
Even the flagship Moto Z phones stand out from the Samsung and Apple crowd, with their Moto Mods support. This means they can be expanded using bolt-on accessories, with new Moto Mods launching all of the time.
Best Motorola Moto phones you can buy now
Here’s our pick of the very best Motorola Moto phones you can buy right now in the UK, as well as the best new Moto phones coming in late 2017 or 2018.
Moto Z2 Play
| Price: | £369 |
| Release Date: | August 2017 |
| All you need to know: | Motorola Moto Z2 Play review |
While the Moto Z2 Force looks to be a seriously premium handset, it also comes packing a premium price. Which is where the Moto Z2 Play comes in.
This excellent remake of the Moto Z strips back some of the specs, for instance reducing the Quad HD display to a Full HD panel and replacing the super-powered processor with a more energy-efficient Snapdragon 625 chipset.
The result is a great all-round handset that still boasts Moto Mod functionality, as well as incredible battery life, for a fraction of the cost of the Moto Z.
The Moto Z Play was a great way to end 2016, and we already can’t wait to see what Moto has in store for us in 2017.
Motorola Moto G5 Plus
| Price: | £259 |
| Release Date: | July 2017 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto G5 Plus review |
We’ve been big fans of the Moto G series of smartphones for yonks, with last year’s Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus proving to be two of the best affordable phones of 2016. However, recent months have seen the release of some seriously strong handsets around the £200 to £250 price point, including heavyweights like the Lenovo P2 and Wileyfox Swift 2 X.
Thankfully the G5 and G5 Plus can match these mobiles blow for blow. They’ve slimmed down compared with the G4 handsets, while once again packing solid specs and dependable camera tech for an impressively low price. In fact, the G5 Plus’ camera is one of our favourite budget-friendly smartphone snappers right now.
Check out our long-term Moto G5 Plus review to see how this great phone holds up after a few months.
Motorola Moto G5s Plus
| Price: | £269 |
| Release Date: | September 2017 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto G5s Plus preview |
The G5s Plus is a ‘special edition’ version of the standard G5 Plus, launched just a few months after the original smartphone. You get a bigger 5.5-inch screen, refined design work and a new dual-lens camera, which is pretty damned decent – as you’ll see from our G5s Plus camera review.
Check out the differences between these Moto blowers in the video below.
Motorola Moto G5
| Price: | £159 |
| Release Date: | July 2017 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto G5 review |
Motorola’s most popular phones have to be the excellent Moto G series handsets, which offers incredible value for comparatively little money.
The new Moto G5 launched in 2017 stays true to the G family formula, with a strong focus on key aspects like design, battery life, camera tech and – at £169 here in the UK – affordability. Certain elements, like storage, fall a little short of the mark admittedly.
However, for the most part, the Moto G5 packs in plenty of character and functionality, with appeal for social media fans or the budget conscious.
Motorola Moto G4
| Price: | £169 |
| Release Date: | June 2016 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto G4 review |
The 2016 update of the Moto G packs a large 5.5-inch design, plus a Full HD screen for enjoying your media on the move. And with the respectable Snapdragon 617 processor packed inside, along with Motorola’s usual slimline Android interface, this handset can still cut it – if you can find it at a great price.
Motorola Moto G4 Plus
| Price: | £199 |
| Release Date: | June 2016 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto G4 Plus review |
2016 was the first time Motorola introduced a ‘Plus’ version of its Moto G handset. Despite that name, it’s no bigger. Rather, it packs in a couple of extra features including an upgraded camera and a fingerprint sensor for an extra £30.
If you want to see more details on the differences between the Moto G4 and the Moto G4 Plus, check out our full G4 vs G4 Plus comparison review, complete with video.
Motorola Moto E4
| Price: | £119 |
| Release Date: | August 2017 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto E4 preview |
At the affordable end of the Motorola Moto line-up is the Moto E series. These phones can be yours for around £100 yet still boast 4G connectivity, solid battery life, a decent display and – in the case of the E4 – a fingerprint sensor and metal frame.
We’ve just unboxed the Moto E4 so check out our full hands-on session below.
Moto Z
| Price: | £500 |
| Release Date: | September 2016 |
| All you need to know: | Motorola Moto Z review |
The original Moto Z flagship phone is undoubtedly Motorola’s brightest and best flagship smartphone so far. First off, it’s a stunning sandwich of Gorilla Glass banded by a metal frame. Like the G4 Plus it packs a fingerprint sensor and there’s a 5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLED display on offer too, for a visual feast.
However, two things really make the Moto Z stand out from the other Android flagships. First, this phone is so thin (just 5.19mm) that it lacks a headphone jack altogether – although a microUSB to jack adapter comes in the box, just as with the iPhone 7. Secondly, and more importantly, the Moto Z supports the company’s new MotoMods modular accessory system.
Read next: What are MotoMods and what MotoMods will launch with the Moto Z?
Whether it’s the extra boom of an attachable JBL speaker, an additional bit of battery power from Incipio, a bolt-on projector or just a nice wood finish, the Moto Mods change the look and functionality of the Moto Z depending on your specific needs.
Motorola Moto X Force
| Price: | £479 |
| Release Date: | November 2015 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto X Force |
Motorola surprised us all with this late release in November 2015, but the Moto X Force is another excellent smartphone with one killer feature; that shatter-proof screen can withstand all kinds of punishment, including drops from a decent height. So if you’re always smashing your handset by accident, the Force could well be the best Moto phone for you.
Factor in the excellent battery life and the wonderfully sharp, vibrant screen and you’ve got a solid all-round Android phone that’s not just for butter-fingered mobile users. However, bear in mind that the Moto X Force is rather big, at 5.4-inches. Anyone with tiny hands or pockets might want to look elsewhere. And the Force is also one of the pricier handsets in our lineup.
Motorola Moto X Style
| Price: | £349 |
| Release Date: | August 2015 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto X Style review |
Thought the Moto X Force was pretty big? Well, the Moto X Style is a mighty 5.7-inch phablet handset, but there are some seriously cool premium features packed inside, for an asking price of £349 and above (at the time of writing).
The highlight of the Style is the Quad HD screen, which is well suited for media fans who enjoy catching up with their favourite TV shows on the commute. Plus with some impressive battery life, the Moto X Style can keep you entertained all day long and then some. Sure, the Style isn’t as powerfully specced as the Moto X Force and lacks the extreme ruggedness, but it’s still a great all-round mobile.
Motorola Moto X Play
| Price: | £229 |
| Release Date: | August 2015 |
| Our Review: | Motorola Moto X Play review |
If your budget won’t quite stretch to the Moto X Style, the Moto X Play is a good alternative at £229. It boasts the same 21-megapixel camera as the Style, but with a (slightly) smaller 5.5-inch Full HD screen and a less powerful Snapdragon processor.
Read next: Moto X Force vs Moto X Style vs Moto X Play, which is best for me?
Despite this, the Moto X Play is still a solid all-round phone that will suit anyone who wants a clean, simple Android experience without breaking the bank.
Motorola phones coming soon
Here you’ll find the Motorola Moto phones that have us most excited, ahead of their official UK release later in 2017.
Moto Z2 Force
| Price: | TBC |
| Release Date: | TBC |
| All you need to know: | Motorola Moto Z2 Force preview |
Motorola’s rather good Moto Z2 Play mid-range mobile offers the same great Moto Mods experience of previous Z-series phones for an affordable price tag. Although you might expect the new ‘Force Edition’ model to simply be a rugged version of the Play, you’d be very wrong indeed.
The Moto Z2 Force actually boasts significantly upgraded specs, including a sharper Quad HD screen, improved performance thanks to the Snapdragon 835 platform and a new 12-megapixel dual-lens camera for snapping your life, something also seen on the new Moto X4 (see below).
Both phones of course support the Moto Mods, and will suit different user types based on your personal needs. We’ll be bringing you a full Moto Z2 Force review soon.
Read next: Moto Z2 Force vs Moto Z2 Play, what’s the difference?
Moto X4
| Price: | £349 |
| Release Date: | TBC |
| All you need to know: | Motorola Moto X4 hands-on review |
At IFA 2017, Motorola only went and launched yet another handset. The new Moto X4 resurrects the X-series smartphones, which used to be top-end devices and now sit neatly beneath the snazzy Z-series mobiles.
Despite that £349 asking price, you can still expect some top-end specs and the usual clean version of Android OS, which should receive an upgrade to Oreo imminently. All of that, plus some seriously good-looking metal and glass design work. Which, incidentally, is fully water resistant.
Flip the X4 over and you’ll spy a dual-lens camera on the rear, which boasts the kind of features we usually only see on more expensive blowers. Rounding off some solid specs is full Bluetooth 5 support.