Motorola brings its first Android One smartphone to Australia for $499

Motorola is bringing its first Android One powered phone to Australia today: the Motorola One Vision.

As the name might suggest, the One Vision is all about camera. On the back you’ll find a 48MP primary camera and a secondary 5MP lens used for capturing extra depth information. While most smartphones can do a great job taking photos during the day, Motorola says the One Vision also excels at lowlight photography. 

It even has a dedicated night mode similar to those found on devices from Huawei, Google, and OPPO. This mode takes multiple photos at different exposures over a couple of seconds and then stitches them together to create brighter image.

Notably, this 48MP camera is the same as used those in flagship smartphones like the OPPO Reno 5G. Of course, with different processor capabilities, the One Vision's results won't necessarily be identical, but it's a promising sign nonetheless.

On the front there’s a 25MP selfie camera embedded in a Galaxy S10-like camera cut out, meaning the Moto One Vision has no notch. The display itself runs a “cinematic” 21:9 aspect ratio; the Motorola One Vision is the longie of the smartphone world. In fact, it’s the first 21:9 smartphone to launch in Australia. For comparison, most smartphones currently have 16:9 to 19.5:9 aspect ratio screens.

Other key specifications for the Motorola One Vision include a 6.3-inch 1080p+ display, a Samsung Exynos 9609 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of expandable storage, and a 3,500mAh battery.

The Motorola One Vision is powered by Android One. Google directly assists manufacturers with updating Android One powered smartphones, which means they are guaranteed to see two major operating system updates (taking the Motorola One Vision through to Android R) and three years of security updates.

While Android One is normally 100% pure Android, Motorola managed to get permission from Google to implement a few extra bits of functionality that it's smartphone tends to be known for. These included karate chopping the device to turn on the torch, and shaking it to open the camera.

The Motorola One Vision will be available for $499. You'll find it online through JB Hi-Fi and through the Motorola website. It will also be available in JB Hi-Fi retail stores from July 22.

In addition, Motorola has dropped the price of the recently launched Moto G7 and Moto G7 Plus to $349 and $449, respectively.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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