Motorola Moto X40 Review: The 2nd Gen of Snapdragon 8

After being acquired by Lenovo, moto has been full of surprises in the past two years. The Snapdragon flagship processor was launched several times in a row, continuing the “price butcher” route, and launched representative models such as the traditional candy bar moto X30 Pro and the folding screen moto Razr 2022, allowing moto to regain its popularity in the market.

Now, we have got the new Moto X40 launched by moto, let’s take a look at what kind of surprises it will bring.

As the most attractive model at the same price, the moto X40 is very kind in terms of the overall configuration.

1. The first batch equipped with the second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile flagship platform

The moto X40 is the first to be equipped with the second-generation Snapdragon 8 flagship platform, which together with LPDDR5X memory and UFS4.0 flash memory form a new generation of performance iron triangle.

Based on TSMC’s advanced 4nm process technology, the second-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform has improved performance by about 35% and energy efficiency by about 40% compared with the first-generation Snapdragon 8 and supports hardware-level light-tracking technology for the first time on the mobile terminal. It’s over, and the future will provide gamers with more realistic game screens.

Coupled with the faster LPDDR5X and the double-speed UFS 4.0, this three-piece set of performance can bring a more stable gaming experience and faster loading speed.

The moto X40 is also pre-installed with the MAXE system scheduling engine, which can dynamically schedule AI energy efficiency for seven common user scenarios of video, games, reading, navigation, VoIP, cameras, and fast charging, further optimizing the power consumption performance of the entire scene, and also for Users bring a comprehensive, stable and fast-response experience.

2. The rear three-camera is more practical to meet the needs of users for multi-scene shooting

In the rear camera of the moto X40, in addition to the 50-megapixel smart original picture main camera and the 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle, it also uses a 12-megapixel 2x optical zoom lens.

This combination is more practical than the conventional main camera + super wide-angle + macro three-camera solution on the market, and it also avoids the problem of one of the three cameras being reduced to tasteless.

With such a combination of three shots, users can meet the needs of different scenes whether they want to take pictures of scenery or humanities.

3. 125W wired flash charge + 15W wireless fast charge + 15W reverse charge

High-power fast charging is an essential quality for high-end flagships. moto X40 supports 125W wired flash charging, 15W wireless flash charging, and also supports up to 15W reverse charging, which can easily charge earphones, watches, and other wearable devices in an emergency.

On the whole, such a configuration is very attractive at the same price. Next, let’s take a look at the performance of this moto X40.

Design & Appearance

The main interface of the Motorola Moto X40 inherits the business gene. It is equipped with a 6.7-inch 165Hz high-refresh OLED large screen, which supports intelligent self-adaptation of the frame rate up to 120Hz in multiple scenes. Of course, you can also manually turn on the global 165Hz, which can bring a smoother and more handy screen. control experience.

The resolution is 2400×1080, supports 100% DCI-P3, 10bit color management, HDR10+, 4K HDR10+ video system, can show more natural and vivid colors in use, and meet the needs of high-definition gaming experience and audio-visual entertainment. This screen has also passed the double certification of SGS eye protection, supports full DC dimming, and brings a more eye-protecting experience.

The overall size of this moto X40 is 161.16×74×8.59mm, including the camera bump, the thickness is 10.8mm, and the weight is only 197g, which feels very good in the hand. The screen uses a micro-curved surface design, which gives people a more rounded feeling overall, and the four sides transition with an R angle, which makes the hand feel very good.

The center digging design is equipped with a 60-megapixel front camera inside. The middle frame of the moto X40 is made of aviation aluminum, which has been processed by a curvature-cutting process to bring a thinner and lighter visual impression, while also taking into account the round and consistent grip and the durability of the fuselage.

On the top of the phone, the Dolby Atmos logo is printed between the noise-canceling microphone and the speaker, and the bottom is the SIM card slot, USB-C interface, and other conventional layouts.

The back of the Motorola Moto X40 is more business-like, and it feels very warm and smooth. It has a round and delicate curve design like a pebble and is supplemented by the velvet AG 2.0 process. The smoky black color scheme is not a deep black in viewing. It will give people a frosted feeling when facing the light, bring a bright visual beauty, and realize the combination of texture and appearance.

But in fact, the back of the fuselage is covered with the 7th-generation Corning Gorilla Glass backplane, with a hardness of up to 9H, which brings strong anti-drop and scratch-resistant performance to the moto X40.

The integrated non-porous four-curved surface design of the rear camera module of the moto X40 is derived from the natural aesthetics inspired by the surface tension of water droplets. The perfect fusion of challenging manufacturing processes brings excellent anti-fog and anti-ash characteristics.

Motorola Moto X40 also supports IP68 dustproof and waterproof. Users can also use moto gestures to realize functions including turning on the flashlight, camera, and switching front and rear cameras underwater. You can switch between taking pictures and taking pictures, and you can use your phone normally even underwater. It is very suitable for outdoor activities such as diving and surfing.

The Motorola Moto X40 rear camera module is a three-camera solution composed of a 50-megapixel smart original picture main camera + a 50-megapixel 117° ultra-wide-angle macro main camera + a 12-megapixel portrait lens, and a flash in the lower right corner.

The moto X40 mobile phone body and a list of items included in the package, including card pins, chargers, dual C-port data cables, protective cases, manuals, and three-package certificates.

The Motorola Moto X40 also supports 125W flash charging and comes with a Type-C interface 125W gallium nitride GaN flash charging head. This 125W charging head can support multiple fast charging protocols such as 15W/27W/45W/125W.

Performance & Hardware

The core hardware of the moto X40 is a new-generation performance trio consisting of the second-generation Snapdragon 8, LPDDR5X, and UFS 4.0.

The most noteworthy thing is naturally the second-generation Snapdragon 8, which brings the latest Adreno 740 GPU. Based on Qualcomm’s Elite Gaming feature, it introduces hardware-level ray tracing, which brings higher and better energy efficiency. It is foreseeable that the second-generation Snapdragon 8 will be the hottest SoC within a year.

Antutu

The Motorola Moto X40 scored 1,282,310 points on AnTuTu, approaching the 1.3 million mark, surpassing nearly 99% of users. Among them, the CPU score is 260025 points, the GPU score is 578080 points, the memory score is 244202 points, and the UX score is 200003 points.

Compared with the moto X30 Pro equipped with the first-generation Snapdragon 8+, the overall improvement has been 27.2%, and the sub-items CPU, GPU, memory, and UX have increased by 12.9%, 32%, 41.9%, and 19.6%, respectively.

GeekBench

In GeekBench 5, the single-core score of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 on the moto X40 is 1460 and the multi-core score is 4914.

Compared with the first-generation Snapdragon 8+, this second-generation Snapdragon 8 has a single-core improvement of 10.4%, and a multi-core upgrade of about 13%.

GFXBench

We used GFXBench as a test tool and selected six test items: 1080P Aztec ruins OpenGL, Aztec ruins Vulkan, racing chase, Manhattan 3.1, Manhattan, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and the second-generation Snapdragon 8 on moto X40 In terms of graphics, they ran 157 FPS, 178 FPS, 128 FPS, 222 FPS, 313 FPS, and 373 FPS respectively.

Compared with the Snapdragon 8+ of the previous generation of moto X30 Pro, the second-generation Snapdragon 8 has an overall upgrade rate of 70.9%~114.5% in graphics, and the highest scores are Ruin Vulkan and Manhattan 3.1, reaching 114.5% and 113.5%. The performance has nearly doubled, and the improvement is very significant.

AndroBench

The Motorola Moto X40 is equipped with UFS 4.0 flash memory as standard. Through our actual measurement, it can achieve a sequential reading speed of 3508.9MB/s, and a sequential writing speed of 2644.43MB/s, compared with UFS3.1, which only has a sequential reading speed of 1800MB/s. , resulting in a nearly doubled increase.

There are also 11.6% and 35.4% improvements in random reading and writing scores, which bring faster installation speeds during use, and the map loading speed in the game is naturally one step faster.

The above performance benchmark test meets our expectations for the second-generation Snapdragon 8 and UFS 4.0 and can bring a more stable performance experience. Let’s measure the game performance below.

Gaming Performance

In the game part, we use the hardware killer “Yuanshin”, we change the game quality to extremely high, and on this basis, change the frame rate to 60 frames.

The new expansion pack in Sumeru City recently brought more pressure on the mobile phone. During the game test period, we used Zaoyou’s skills to randomly and quickly run maps in the main city of Sumeru.

During the game, when encountering scenes with many NPCs (represented by theaters), there will be certain frame rate fluctuations, but there is no frame lock problem caused by temperature control problems.

The average frame rate during the game can reach 56.8 FPS. It can also be seen that the Adreno 740 GPU equipped with the second-generation Snapdragon 8 has greatly improved performance and brought better game performance. 

The GPU usage graph during the game fluctuates to a certain extent at the beginning, and then becomes relatively stable after 45 seconds, with an average usage of about 70.1%. Coupled with excellent temperature control, it can ensure that users can play for a long time when using the moto X40 game.

Because the high-performance mode is turned on, the power consumption has increased to a certain extent. During the game, the average power consumption of the moto X40 is about 5.2W, which is not high.

We use an infrared thermometer to see how well the heat is dissipating on the back of the phone. The author turned on the high-performance mode and ran “Yuan Shen” for 15 minutes at a room temperature of 22 degrees Celsius. The core area of ​​the second-generation Snapdragon 8 is only 40.8 degrees Celsius. , just around the heating area, the hand feels only warm, not hot.

Cameras

The Motorola Moto X40 uses a three-main camera solution consisting of a 50-megapixel smart original painting main camera + a 50-megapixel 117° ultra-wide-angle macro main camera + a 12-megapixel portrait lens.

Among them, the sensor size of the main camera is 1/1.55 ​​inches, and the fusion pixel is 2.0 μm, which is a relatively mainstream specification.

The ultra-wide-angle is 1.3μm, 117° ultra-wide-angle, can achieve 2.5cm macro, coupled with a 12-megapixel 2x optical zoom high-definition portrait lens, users want to record the current scenery, portraits and other needs, moto X40 can fully meet.

Main Camera

Zhengzhou has been foggy, and there has been no sunny day for many days, but even in an environment where the light is not very sufficient, the overall color reproduction of the moto X40 is still accurate, and the current slightly dim environment is well restored.

Even in a nighttime environment with rich lighting, the control can be relatively in place. The effect of the proofs is more pleasing than that of the daytime. The colors, light, and shadow details of various buildings can be accurately recorded.

However, when viewing the view, it is recommended to avoid strong light sources, otherwise, the problem of glare is extremely prone to occur, which is also a problem that the current mobile phone has not completely solved.

Telephoto  

Motorola Moto X40 also provides a 12-megapixel 2x optical zoom high-definition portrait lens, which is also very suitable for taking pictures of the scenery.

Although the pixels are only 12MP, because of the use of 2x optical zoom, it can be flexibly framed, and the samples taken are also very good, and the resolution is naturally better than the main camera cropping solution. There is not much noise, and the picture is pure enough.

Ultra Wide Angle

If the user wants to express the tension of the building, it is very suitable to use the 50-megapixel 117° ultra-wide-angle, which can highlight the advantages of resolution in a well-lit daytime environment and has a good imaging effect even at night.

Portrait mode

The Motorola Moto X40 retains the well-received high-definition portrait mode. In this mode, it provides three focal lengths, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm, which are most suitable for portraits.

The 35mm is more suitable for shooting panoramic photos and cultural images, and it can also highlight the main body of the characters in a complex background.

The 50mm focal length of the moto X40 is also excellent. While highlighting the main body of the character, it will also blur the background to a certain extent.

The 85mm focal length is suitable for local close-ups, which can better highlight the details of the statue’s face and the emotions of the characters. The blurring algorithm further deepens the background, bringing the effect of mottled light and shadow, which is very suitable for taking pictures of girls at night.

Video experience

The Motorola Moto X40 is based on the dual-view mode and brings a brand-new anchor mode, which is very suitable for users who shoot vlogs every day.

The way to turn it on is also very simple, just select the dual-view mode with a record button in the cameras. The above is the GIF animation of the video taken after using the effect of the anchor mode video.

It can be seen that as long as you speak, the foreground frame will be automatically activated, and the front and rear scenes will appear on the shooting screen at the same time, which can be accurately identified even if you are wearing a mask.

Stop talking, the foreground frame will be closed automatically, and only the rear shot will be kept, which is very friendly to vlog users and saves you the trouble of modifying here later

This time also brought two functions auto focus tracking function and horizontal lock, which can ensure that when you are shooting video, The main body will not be lost during sports follow-up shooting, and the picture is stable enough.

Spatial sound effects

The space brought by Motorola Moto X40 will also rely on self-developed algorithms this time, which can be used with dual speakers and can achieve better sound positioning capabilities according to different positions when it is played externally.

In addition to external speakers, it also supports headphones, even wireless and wired headphones, which can bring users an immersive sound field effect.

Battery

The Motorola Moto X40 uses a 4600mAh large-capacity battery, supports 125W flash charging, and also supports 15W wireless charging and up to 15W reverse charging.

With the dual support of MAXE system tuning and the excellent energy-efficiency ratio of the second-generation Snapdragon 8, the moto X40 can theoretically bring a very good battery life. Let’s test it now.

Charging test

Let’s first turn on the “fast charging” in the settings of the Motorola Moto X40 mobile phone. This option can increase the charging speed when the mobile phone is guaranteed to be safe.

The measured 125W flash charge can charge a 4600mAh battery to 57% in 10 minutes, 95% in 20 minutes and the remaining 5% to 100% in less than 5 minutes, which means 4600mAh It took a total of 23 minutes to fully charge the battery.

Endurance test

For battery life, we use a professional battery life test tool – the battery dog ​​produced by Kuai Technology.

In terms of test items, we chose the limit battery life test and checked all the test items including CPU high voltage, CPU multi-threading, AI recognition, picture browsing, video playback, and web browsing to simulate user usage scenarios and restore the real load to the greatest extent. Infinitely close to the real power consumption.

We changed the screen brightness to manual 50%, and the screen refresh rate was Smart Refresh (up to 120Hz). After an hour and a half of testing, the moto X40 consumes 95% of the power to 79%. After conversion, if the user fully charges from 100%, the 4600 mAh can achieve 9-10 hours of performance.

In other words, the battery life of the moto X40 is comparable to that of models equipped with 4700-4800 mAh batteries on the market. If the capacity is the same, the battery life of the moto X40 will be half an hour longer.

With such performance, one charge a day can meet the uninterrupted use needs of most users for a whole day.

Verdict

From the overall experience point of view, moto has polished the product handier and handier. This moto X40 has shown a high level in terms of performance, video, charging, and battery life.

1. The second-generation Snapdragon 8 easily handles “Yuan Shen” with full frames and low temperature

The second-generation Snapdragon 8, compared with the first-generation Snapdragon 8+, this generation of the second-generation Snapdragon 8 has a 10.4% increase in CPU single-core and a multi-core upgrade of about 13%.

The Adreno 740 GPU graphics improvement is very obvious, and the upgrade rate has reached 70.9%~114.5%. Such a powerful flagship SoC is no problem facing the more complicated Sumeru City map in “Yuanshin”. It can easily achieve a performance of 59.1 FPS close to the full frame, the pressure is not high, and the temperature is only 40.8 degrees Celsius.

During the 15-minute game period, there was no game frame lock caused by temperature control. It can be said that it is tamed “Yuanshin” again.

Especially the power consumption is lower than the previous generation Snapdragon 8+. The average power consumption of the moto X40 is 5.2W. Conservatively speaking, it is at least 30% lower than the Snapdragon 8+.

LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0 upgrades are also very obvious. According to the author’s most intuitive feeling, when “Yuan Shen” enters the scene and switches maps, it is much faster than previous models.

2. The more practical rear three-camera solution, portrait telephoto is a surprise

The Motorola Moto X40 has brought enough surprises in terms of images. While focusing on cost performance, it has not made concessions in this regard.

Especially the 2x high-definition portrait telephoto lens, although it only has 12 Megapixels, thanks to the well-tuned, it achieves a performance that is not inferior to the main camera. This high-definition portrait telephoto lens can adapt to a wider range of application scenarios. Even at night, it can shoot at will, and it can directly output very pure proofs, and the light, shadow, and color performance are very good.

In the high-definition portrait mode, users can easily switch between the default focal lengths of 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm with one click. It can also be seen that moto tries to satisfy everyone’s tastes in terms of photo details so that Xiaobai can also shoot casually.

There are also unique details in video shooting. It can automatically activate/deactivate the anchor mode of the foreground frame, autofocus tracking without losing the subject when shooting video, and more stable horizon locking. It is very suitable for users who often shoot vlogs.

3. It only takes 23 minutes for the 4600 mAh battery and 125W flash to fully charge the blood

125W charges the 4600mAh battery to full capacity, and it only takes 23 minutes to provide more than 9 hours of battery life.

In other words, the moto X40 is comparable to the models on the market equipped with 4700-4800 mAh batteries. If the capacity is the same, the moto X40 will have half an hour more battery life. Judging from product design and actual performance, the moto X40, which focuses on business style, focuses on practicality without compromising on quality. It can be said to be very competitive at the same price.

If you need a business-style mobile phone that is not too ostentatious, has extremely high requirements for performance in daily experience, and also needs to take photos in multiple scenes, then this moto X40 is very suitable for you. Do you want to consider getting one?