Motorola Signature Review: Flagship Muscle with Lifestyle Ambitions

Motorola Signature. One has to admit that the name has a ring to it. I mean, in a market filled with iterative models bearing alphanumeric combinations that keep getting replaced every six months, having a name as simple as this gives you a fair degree of novelty.

Of course, there are other, more important aspects to this device that grab your attention as well. Like the fact that it’s got four 50MP cameras (three on the back, one at the front), military-grade durability, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 CPU, and IP68/IP69 protection. But there’s seemingly a reason why Motorola has switched to calling its new upper-midrange offering ‘Signature’ instead of giving the ‘Edge’ branding.

And that’s access to the Motorola Signature Club, a set of benefits that mimic the kind of exclusive privileges that high-end credit cards offer. I’m going to be testing all that in this review. But first, let us look at the phone’s design.

Design

The Motorola Signature greets you with a familiar sensation, and no, I’m not talking about the touch and feel yet. I’m talking about the way the device smells. The trademark Motorola fragrance primes you up for the rather pleasant experience ahead of you.

And that pleasantry is the effect of its weight and feel. At just 186 g, the phone is quite an easy slab to handle, even when you’re lying on your bed at night. The aluminium frame is slightly slippery, though that doesn’t make the entire phone slippery, as the rear surface, with its twill-inspired texture (the other colour gets a linen-inspired texture), adds enough grip to balance things out.

Also Read: TM Narasimhan, Managing Director of Motorola India – Leaders In Tech & Auto

The familiar AI Key is present on the device as well, giving users access to Motorola’s own suite of AI features. On the front, the experience is pretty premium. You get a 6.8-inch screen with thin, equidistant bezels on all sides. The only blemish on this panel is the 50MP selfie camera that sits in a punch-hole.

Speaking of durability, that’s where a lot of Motorola’s focus has seemingly gone. It’s MIL-STD-810H compliant and gets a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 coat on its display. And although I could not test these parameters for obvious reasons, I will say that the phone does not look and feel like it can handle a waist-level fall without a case on.

And that’s something that always makes me doubt these military-grade certifications. Lastly, its IP68/IP69 ratings are a big plus.

Display and Sound

You can seldom go wrong with an LTPO AMOLED display. This one’s a crisp panel that feels exquisite through and through. And the cherry on top is that it’s rated for Dolby Vision content, which means supported movies and TV shows will feature excellent colour reproduction along with better contrast.

That’s where the claim of this display’s 6200 nits of peak brightness will also come true. At other times, the brightness is pretty respectable. I had little problem understanding what’s on the screen when outdoors, directly under the sun. The refresh rate is 165Hz, but the phone caps it at 120Hz during regular operations.

Coming to the sound, the speakers are splendid in terms of quality. They’re great in this mids, so listening to dialogue while scrolling through Reels or even streaming content is a pleasant experience. Don’t expect these speakers to be great for music listening, though.

Camera

The Motorola Signature’s rear camera setup consists of three 50MP shooters. At the helm is a 50MP Sony LYTIA 828 sensor that boasts significant gains in the dynamic range department. And that’s very much visible in everyday images.

The highlights and shadows over considerably long distances manage to maintain their details thanks to the advancements in the main sensor. Where I did notice a shortcoming was in the colour balance department, especially in indoor conditions.

A slight change in the lighting leads to a completely different colour profile being used for images clicked within the same room. At one moment, I had a satisfactory shot of a tiled wall in our office, but then I clicked it again by just moving one step closer to it, and the resultant image was way more washed out than the original.

Moving on to low-light photography, the main sensor is quite capable of returning good shots. You won’t find iPhone-level clarity here, but it’s good enough for capturing memories of night-outs with your friends and family.

The camera’s strength actually is its HDR capability, which also gives its videos Dolby Vision certification. I’m pleased to report that this phone returns great videos that are high in dynamic range and rich in colour. The multiple lens means there’s ample scope for zooming, which is always a plus, but what’s worth highlighting is the phone’s portrait performance.

The way the four focal lengths manage to subtly blur the background and capture an adequate amount of light is commendable. This phone can be a portrait fan’s new best friend. And the same goes for selfies. The 50MP front camera leaves nothing to be desired when capturing self-portraits.

Performance

With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 at its heart, the Motorola Signature sits firmly in flagship territory when it comes to raw performance. Everyday usage is, unsurprisingly, butter-smooth. App launches are instantaneous, multitasking is effortless, and the phone never really feels like it’s breaking a sweat, even with heavy workloads. I threw a mix of productivity apps, social media, camera usage, and background music streaming at it, and the experience remained consistently fluid.

Gaming performance is equally impressive. High-refresh-rate titles take full advantage of the panel, and graphically demanding games run at high settings without noticeable frame drops. Thermal management is well controlled, too.

The phone does get warm during extended gaming sessions or long 4K video recording, but never uncomfortably hot, and I did not experience any visible throttling that affected gameplay or camera performance. Motorola’s tuning here feels conservative in a good way, prioritising sustained performance over short bursts of peak numbers.

Battery Life

The Motorola Signature packs a 5200mAh battery that is comfortably capable of lasting a full day of heavy usage. With mixed use that included social media scrolling, camera testing, streaming content, navigation, and a fair bit of background syncing, I consistently ended the day with around 20–25 per cent charge still left. For moderate users, stretching this to a day and a half isn’t unrealistic.

Charging speeds are also in line with what you’d expect from a premium device in 2026. 90W wired charging (charger included in the box) tops the phone up quickly enough to remove most battery anxiety. And then short top-ups during the day ensure that the phone can go a long way.

Wireless charging support is present as well, which is convenient for desk and bedside use, though it’s clearly meant more for overnight charging than rapid refuels. Overall, it’s not trying to win a charging-speed war, but it delivers a balanced, reliable battery experience that complements the phone’s flagship ambitions.

Software and AI Features

The Motorola Signature takes a broad approach to AI by offering native access to multiple assistants, including Moto AI, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and Perplexity. This makes practical sense, since each model brings different strengths to the table.

Gemini is better suited for creative and visual tasks, Perplexity works well for quick, research-backed searches, and Copilot’s vision-based features are handy for interpreting on-screen content. Moto AI handles lighter, system-level actions like summaries and quick image generation. Having all of them built into the system makes switching between use cases fairly seamless.

Beyond AI features, Motorola is also pushing a service-led experience through the Signature Club app, which comes bundled with the phone. This app unlocks access to lifestyle benefits such as spa bookings, airport concierge services, and even select golf course access, which are perks you’d normally associate with premium credit cards rather than smartphones.

I tested the service to see how legitimate it actually was and received a ₹6,000 credit towards a spa appointment through the platform. While I’m yet to fully redeem and evaluate the end-to-end experience, my interaction with the Signature Club customer support team was smooth and responsive.

If these benefits scale well and remain consistent, this could become a genuinely differentiating part of the Motorola Signature ownership experience rather than just a marketing add-on.