Motorola Signature Review: A Brilliant Signature, Slightly Smudged

Motorola has been absent from the flagship segment for quite some time, and as someone who adores their budget and midrange devices, it's been a letdown for me. But the company finally decided to come back in the big leagues this year with the Motorola Signature. A proper flagship phone, with some uber features. Well, I have been using it for 2 weeks now, and let me tell you the good and bads of this phone in this Motorola Signature review. 

Unboxing

Here is a rundown of everything included in the Motorola Signature box: 

Before starting with the Motorola Signature review, let's take a look at its key specs: 

Design and Build 

I used the Pantone Martini Olive colour for this Motorola Signature review, and I must say that it looks suave and sophisticated. Its design feels like a runway model in a fashion show, with sharp "edges" and a sleek presence that instantly becomes the centre of attention. I took it with me to my editor's wedding, and anyone who spotted this phone in my hands had one question to ask: "Which phone is that?" 

It sports olive green accents on the metallic sides and camera bump. The rest of the back has a smooth velvety texture that adds subtle contrast. This appeal is further enhanced by its thinness. It is just a credit card thicker than the iPhone Air, and still manages to pack all that hardware. I think the added thickness of the Motorola Signature feels more ergonomic than the 6 mm-thin Moto Edge 70. 

This sleek and slim design language made the phone a comfortable carry for me throughout the wedding celebrations and rituals. It was always in my pocket, yet I barely felt it was there, and I used it extensively to capture the precious moments, yet I didn't feel tired holding it. Motorola Signature also features IP 68/69 rating, so you can dip the phone in water and it won't be an issue. 

Display and Audio Quality 

Up front, the Motorola Signature sports a mesmerisingly beautiful LTPO AMOLED display. This is a slightly curved screen from all sides, with up to 165 Hz refresh rate, like the OnePlus 15. However, it mostly runs at 120 Hz outside of some games. This is a vivid panel that makes it enjoyable to watch any content on it. And the brightness is pretty good too, at 6200 nits at its peak. 

However, I do feel the screen is slightly wide for my liking, and even though the front is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is the best screen protection for smartphones right now. Yet, I still got a couple of scratches on the display during my Motorola Signature review period. That said, it is still among the best display smartphones, almost as good as the flagship iPhone 17 or the Galaxy S25. 

I also enjoyed the loud and boomy speakers of this phone. These are tuned by Bose, and deliver a full, rich and crispy sound, further improving the content-watching experience on the phone. 

Performance Tested 

For performance, Motorola Signature has opted for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 instead of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Probably to save on cost, since the 8 Gen 5 is quite a powerful chipset that I tested out in my OnePlus 15R review. But here are the benchmark results for those interested. 

The benchmark scores are similar to those of the Snapdragon 8 Elite phones. And to make sure this thin phone does not overheat in demanding tasks like gaming, Motorola has used a copper mesh liquid cooling system in the Signature. 

So as a result, the phone runs buttery smooth in everyday tasks, and handles gaming like a champ. BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile run at 120 FPS on the lowest graphics settings. Meanwhile, heavier titles like Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves fluctuate between 40-55 FPS even with the highest graphics. Weirdly, the only game I found to support 165 FPS during my Motorola Signature review period was Clash of Clans. So, if you are a hardcore CoC player, this is the best gaming mobile phone for you. 

Software and Updates

Like the rest of the Motorola Signature runs on the latest version of Hello UI based on Android 16. It's like stock Android, with a ton of added features and customisations. The company is also promising 7 years of Android updates, along the lines of other flagship smartphones. 

The OS feels nice and snappy, and it is completely bloatware-free, as a premium device should be. However, Motorola really needs to fix the optimisation problems with Hello UI. Despite packing a flagship processor, I noticed a few hiccups in the camera app when switching lenses, photos taking longer to process, and some animations stuttering when opening or closing apps. 

The highlight of this phone is the Signature Club, which is an app which provides a 24/7 concierge service. You can use it to get a table at a hotel, book a spa session, or a pickup from an airport. It is free for the 1st year, and any purchase up to Rs 6,000 is free for the first time. However, I did not find it as useful during my Motorola Signature review period. It's a nice touch, but I don't think many people will use it after the first time.

Camera Reviewed 

Motorola has gone all out this time in terms of cameras. The Signature comes with 3 x 50 MP lenses at the back and another 50 MP selfie shooter in the front. And here's how the photos come out: 

The main lens is the same as the one found on the Vivo X300 Pro, which is considered the best camera mobile phone available. The photos from the Signature deliver good-looking shots with a decent level of detail, close to natural colors, and a balanced dynamic range. HDR could be handled better, especially in high-contrast scenes, but the overall results are quite crisp. 

At night, the main camera offers well-lit photos with good exposure control. There's no over-sharpening to be noticed, and minimal noise. However, in extremely dark scenarios, the details do look soft. 

The 50 MP ultrawide lens lets you capture some detailed grand shots from a distance. The daylight photos look great, but the quality drops off in dimly lit conditions. There's also a greenish tint that I noticed while clicking ultrawide photos during my Motorola Signature review period. 

Moving on to the Telephoto lens, which is the same one seen on the OnePlus 13 but with a larger aperture. It produces detail-rich close-up photos with natural colours. Even the bokeh effect in portraits looks amazing. It even managed to capture the fine textures of clothing and accessories, which blew me away. Whether it is day or night, this periscope lens performs great in both situations. 

The phone can zoom up to 100x, but the photos only look clear till 15x. After that, Motorola Super Zoom AI kicks in, which tries to improve the photos, but the shots still look soft and messy. The same case occurred with the Oppo Find X9 Pro, where AI processing compromised the image quality. 

The front camera takes good selfies with natural skin tones and solid details. Most shots look clean and social media-ready. When it comes to videos, all 4 cameras can record in 4K 60 FPS and even do Dolby Vision videos at 8K. Even some of the best flagship phones can't do that. The footage from what I have captured comes out stable and really good-looking. 

Overall, the company has really worked on their camera game with this phone. The Motorola Signature does deliver a close to flagship camera experience. However, they do need to fix the camera app for the colour science problems and optimise it to perform better. 

Battery Life and Charging 

The battery capacity of the Motorola Signature is on the modest side. It packs a 5200mAh silicon-carbon cell, which helps to keep the phone thin and lightweight. But don't judge a phone by its battery, as I was able to get almost 7.5 hours of screen time at an average during my Motorola Signature review period.

No matter what I did, be it streaming, gaming or recording videos, the phone easily lasted for a day. And by the end, I plugged it into the 90W supplied charger, which topped it up from 0–100% in almost an hour. There's 50W wireless charging support too, but I couldn't test it since it requires a dedicated charger. I wouldn't say that it is the best battery flagship. But in terms of slim phones, this is easily at the top. 

Motorola Signature Verdict: Should You Buy It? 

The Motorola Signature is, without exaggeration, one of the strongest flagship phones of 2026. It undercuts the likes of Vivo X300, iQOO 15, and even the Realme GT 8 Pro in pricing, yet it doesn’t feel like it compromises on hardware. The display is excellent, the cameras are capable, performance is solid, and the design arguably looks more refined than some of the phones I have mentioned above. 

But there’s one thing holding it back: the software. Motorola’s software experience still needs refinement. It’s not broken, but it lacks the polish and long-term confidence you get with OxygenOS or One UI. At a starting price of Rs 59,999, the Motorola Signature is definitely a strong value flagship. So, if you only care about specs, get it without a second thought. If software experience tops your priority, you might want to think twice.