Motorola Think Phone Review: Great For Businesses

Motorola Think Phone Review: Great For Businesses: The Think Phone was created with business users in mind and was made to work well with Lenovo laptops, its parent company's line of products. For its professional clientele, it reflects that reality in both its strengths and faults.

Motorola Think Phone Review: Great For Businesses

The Motorola provides a strong basis for corporate clients, but won't be for everyone, in my opinion after using it as my primary device for two weeks. Continue reading for opinions on hardware, design, and more.

Best for:

Businesses looking to deploy phone fleets

Consumers at risk of often dropping their phones

Those who desire to smoothly go between their phone and PC

Skip if:

Get a good camera.

You desire a fashionable “glass sandwich”

Motorola Think Phone Design

Hardcore Hardware

The Think Phone has a certain, comforting heft to it that gives me the impression that it can withstand anything, which it can. The Think Phone adds MIL-STD810H compliance and drop-to-cement resistance up to 1.3 meters in addition to having the same IP68 water and dust protection as its consumer cousin. Simply said, Motorola created a phone that is built to last. The 6.6-inch, 1080p display is protected by Gorilla Glass Vistas, and the body is made of aluminum.

Many of the internal specifications from the previous year are present, such as the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, up to 512 GB of storage, and up to 12 GB of RAM. The Think Phone feels like a respectable all-around package, especially given that it was first unveiled at CES 2023. The phone's battery is 5,000 mAh and charges at 68W cable or 15W wirelessly, comfortably keeping me going all day.

With one exception — a new “red key,” an appropriately called red button on the left side of the phone — I received regular buttons and connectors all around the device. A single press of the red key can be programmed to start a select few functions, such as an app of your choice, while a double press opens a specific Ready For function.

Motorola Think Phone Software Features

Ready For Anything Feature Acts As Its Own Port

The Think Phone's Ready For function immediately became its standout feature. You can effortlessly transfer your images to your PC and receive notifications when you use your Android smartphone in conjunction with a Windows computer. Since Samsung and Microsoft have been working together for a few years, you can mirror any of your apps on your desktop PC if your phone has a Samsung sticker on it. Motorola's version of that design is called Ready For, although it goes far further than Samsung's.

I can stream apps and respond to texts from my phone on my PC, and the Think Phone can also act as a mobile hotspot to provide me with constant access while I'm on the go. Similar to Samsung's Dex, I could access my phone's operating system on my desktop. I could also utilize my Think Phone as a webcam for my PC, which is almost always an immediate boost. Everything functions wirelessly and across wires.

You can also utilize the camera to take a picture that you can later paste into a computer document. Additionally, you can transfer files among the devices. All of this adds up to extremely high mobility productivity and enables you to perform the majority of your regular tasks alternately on your PC and phone. Because it's so efficient, I used Ready For on my phone and the mouse and keyboard from my PC to write this evaluation.

Ready For Isn't Perfect

However, this setup isn't flawless, and I noticed a definite delay between typing and the characters appearing on the screen. Similarly, streaming apps may have hiccups. My results varied because, obviously, a lot will depend on how strong the network is. There is even another qualification.

Notably, this feature set is not unique to Think Phone. The majority of Motorola smartphones, including the Edge+ 2023 and the recently launched Motorola Razor+, support Ready For. All of these reduces the usefulness of Ready For in relation to this particular device. But the main point is that the Ready For feature set is fantastic, demonstrating Motorola's mastery of both software and user experience.

Motorola Think Phone Software

Always-On Display Enhanced For Convenience

When it comes to smartphone software, Motorola has always played well. Since Motorola was previously a part of Google, it has always had a recognizable “stock” Android interface, which I find to be clear and user-friendly. You get a stock-looking launcher and a very clean implementation of Android.

Through its Moto app, Motorola has introduced a few unique elements that let you personalize your experience. For example, you can program the wrist twist to start the camera and the chop-chop gesture to turn on the flashlight. Along with one of the greatest, if not the best, always-on display configurations you can find, those are both features I will miss when I go to other phones.

The top of your phone has a big clock that shows the time, date, and battery level when it is on a table or when you have just removed it from your pocket. You then see a series of icons that represent the notifications that are awaiting you below that. You can see the notification by touching any of the symbols. From there, swipe up to access any of the available quick actions (which vary based on the notification). Alternately, you can swipe down to the fingerprint reader, which simultaneously opens the phone and launches the app. Really well thought out and practical.

Motorola Think Phone Camera

The Camera Is The Weakness

The Think Phone features two cameras: a 120-degree ultrawide camera with an f/2.2 aperture that also functions as a macro camera, and a 50MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization. The Think Phone features one of Motorola's greatest camera configurations ever put on a smartphone. The bad news is that I continued to be rather let down by it.

It works well for photos taken in really good lighting, which is now standard equipment for all smartphones, regardless of budget. When switching between the primary and ultrawide lenses, I noticed a definite color shift; images taken with the ultrawide lens appear noticeably darker and less detailed. Given the difference in sensor size and aperture between the two, that is not surprising, and flagship phones like the Think Phone can typically make up for it by ensuring that the colors are consistent no matter which lens you use.

Photos lose a lot of detail and acquire a lot of grain at full resolution. They appear OK when compressed for social media or on a phone screen, which is acceptable in most situations. But you won't like the outcomes if you wish to show these pictures on a bigger screen.

Again, just during the day. The selfie camera is a 32MP lens with an f/2.45 aperture that takes extremely good pictures. Everything breaks down at night, and most pictures have a definite lack of focus. It can be difficult, particularly with moving subjects. When my daughter waved at the camera in one picture, her entire arm just vanished.

The Think phone is capable of taking high-quality photographs. They are the exception, not the rule, especially at night.

Motorola Think Phone Verdict: Business First

The Think Phone shines as a business-oriented phone that an IT department is intended to order in their hundreds. As a result, the emphasis is primarily on software, durability, and having a phone camera that can scan documents. Companies look for dependability and endurance.

If you're a consumer, the Moto Edge+ 2023 is a much better option for you. If you're looking for something more entertaining, though, you might want to check out the Moto Razor+, which was just released in early July. The Motorola value proposition is the issue here. The Think Phone's Ready For function is a major selling point, but it can be found on hundreds of other phones as well, so using it doesn't actually require it.

The phone has incredible software, is constructed like a tank, and syncs easily with your Windows PC. This phone is excellent for businesses who wish to acquire PCs and phones in large quantities. It will withstand damage and won't require replacement very frequently. In Motorola's portfolio, there are additional and superior possibilities for the customer. If you expand your options even further, this phone is no longer an option. It's okay though since you're not supposed to buy it; it should be given to you.

My Expertise

I'm a Chicago-based freelance reviewer based in Chicago. I've been writing about consumer electronics for more than a decade, with a focus on cellular technology, particularly the emergence of 5G, and mobile phones.

I co-host the Benefit of the Doud podcast and YouTube channel with Clifton M. Thomas when I'm not testing the newest flagship phones, and I also edit tech news stories for Slash Gear. I have bylines at numerous websites, including Android Central, Reviewed.com, Android Authority, Life wire, and others, in addition to Forbes and Slash Gear.

How I Tested The Motorola Think Phone

I used the Motorola Think phone as my primary phone on the T-Mobile network for two weeks. That includes a couple days in western Illinois and some time in the Chicago suburbs. I used my primary phone for calling, sending emails, Slack messaging, playing games, downloading more than 200 apps, and taking pictures.

I gathered a collection of over 200 images in all lighting conditions, as well as numerous video clips, for camera testing. I contrasted the images with those taken on an iPhone 14 Pro and Motorola's other most recent device, the Moto Razor Plus.

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