I tested the Motorola Signature 27, Moto's biggest shot at Samsung yet

Motorola has shifted gears with the Signature 27, its first proper flagship phone in a number of years. Moving to offer flagship-grade camera credentials, adopting the most powerful chip around, and stepping up its software support, it puts the Signature 27 right in the firing line of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Exactly why Motorola chose this moment might just be down to the alignment of the stars. The company has been seeing growth, while competitors, like OnePlus, have stepped out of the US and Europe. Also consider that the margins on flagship devices are much higher than the mid-range phones that Motorola has been known for over the last few years.

So can the Signature 27 really take on the likes of Samsung? I got to test the phone in Tromsø, Norway, ahead of launch, and there's a lot to like about it.

Leaning into Motorola's strengths

Motorola has, for a number of years, talked about offering lifestyle devices that aren't necessarily all about having the highest specs. That was the message at the launch of the Razr 70 Ultra, where few specs changed from the previous year, but the luxurious finish still turned heads.

Coming in Pantone Coal Smoke (black) and Pantone Capulet Olive (green), that Pantone partnership continues to show, with unique textured finishes on these phones. They lend that sense of premium luxury, and they are distinctly different to every other flagship phone on the market.

They're also different to other Motorola phones, with a design that shifts the cameras up to the top on a raised bed where the phone is thicker. This isn't an island, this isn't Motorola copying Apple or Samsung, it's something different. It might also be a case of Marmite design, because the clustering of cameras is a little busy.

It also skews the weight towards the top of the phone; although it's only 227g (lighter than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, but heavier than the Galaxy S26 Ultra), it doesn't quite feel balanced in the hand.

Elsewhere, Motorola continues to curve its devices towards the frame, and there's certainly no shortage of grip - and no chance of fingerprints on the back of the phone either, thanks to the textured finish.

A change in user experience

Those familiar with Motorola's recent phones will know that the move from a clean Android build to Hello UI, with Moto AI, has raised a lot of questions. That's seen an increase in sponsored bloat around the device, awkward AI integration and changes to some fundamental parts of the Android experience - namely the apps tray.

I've only used the Signature 27 for a short period of time, but a lot of this has gone. There are still some preinstalled apps, but they are easily removed, and there's no sign of that irksome newsfeed in the apps tray.

The Signature 27 also sees the shift over to Qira, the new AI assistant that Motorola and Lenovo will use. That seems to have tidied up the AI experience (while still offering Gemini and all the standard Google AI features), making the user experience better.

Adding to this, the Signature 27 will come with 7 years of OS updates and 7 years of security updates, so it offers parity with Samsung, Google and Honor - exactly what you'd need to compete in the flagship space.

Debuting Snapdragon's latest hardware

Leading the hardware charge is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, the very latest flagship chip from Qualcomm. The Motorola Signature 27 is going to be one of the first phones available with this chip, months ahead of the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra, which is expected to be powered by the same hardware.

That's a great position for Motorola to be in. I didn't get to stress-test the hardware in my hands-on time, but everything I encountered was swift and smooth. Excitingly, it's backed by a 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, which I'd expect to make it through the day with relative ease. If it doesn't, there's 90W wired and 50W wireless charging to quickly top it up.

That's something that Samsung doesn't offer - and isn't likely to offer on its next phone.

Going big on the camera

For many phone companies, the camera is the real battleground. Motorola was keen to point out that it had worked with DxOMark on calibrating the cameras, while Qualcomm was also on hand to make sure it got the most out of the powerful new hardware.

My first impressions of the 50-megapixel main camera, using a Sony Lytia L910 sensor, are really positive. I've only tested it in limited situations, but so far it has produced detailed images rich in colour, although testing it in Norway in November, I barely saw the sun, so I can't make any definitive judgements yet.

It's supported by a 200-megapixel telephoto camera, offering 3x optical and up to 100x digital zoom. Once you get over 20x zoom, the phone's AI system wants to help. That can clean up images, but it can also leave some of the longer-range shots looking a little unrealistic as AI fills in the details. I took a picture of some herons at 100x zoom, and the AI results look like a one-legged sparrow crossed with a kiwi. They're birds, but not the right ones.

Finally, the ultrawide seems, at first impressions, slightly out of tune with the other cameras. Most of the test shots I took were a different colour tone from the main camera, so they don't quite match. That's potentially fixable with a software tweak, but it's a demonstration of how hard it is to get things right on a complex camera system like this.

I was impressed with the performance of the video that I shot. With Dolby Vision capture included, it took advantage of one of my favourite features of the Signature 27 - the display.

A sublime display experience

There are a couple of firsts on the Motorola Signature 27, with a tandem OLED display, offering up to 12,000 nits. That's ridiculously bright, but there's no ridiculousness when actually using the display. It's bright and vibrant, with a great pop to the colours, but exactly where you'll see 12,000 nits used remains unknown.

Previous high-brightness phones have used that brightness for HDR content, where there's a brief peak highlight - like the centre of a candle's flame, for example. But content isn't mastered to 12,000 nits - professional mastering monitors only reach 4,000 nits, while Dolby Vision's theoretical peak brightness is 10,000 nits.

So, take the 12,000 nits figure with a pinch of salt and instead concentrate on the fact that this is a great display, supported by very capable speakers.

These have been developed in partnership with Bang & Olufsen, supporting Dolby Atmos, as well as offering a range of presets to customise the sound to your liking. The speaker quality seems great, with noticeable immersion and stereo separation.

Is this enough to dethrone Samsung?

There's no doubt that Motorola offers a flagship experience in the Signature 27 and it's great to have a proper top-tier phone from the company. With that comes a high price, at £1,299. It's cheaper than Samsung, while offering a packed spec sheet that might draw the attention of those shopping for a flagship Android phone.

But much will hang on how well that camera works in wider testing, which will be the real challenge that Motorola faces. Things so far look great, with the Signature 27 offering a great experience in a number of different areas.

The Motorola Signature 27 will be on pre-order from 16 November, starting at £1,299 in the UK.