A Quick Look at the Moto X - Motorola's New Flagship
by Brian Klug on August 1, 2013 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Qualcomm
- MSM8960
- Motorola
- Mobile
- Android 4.2
- Moto X
- S4 Pro
Thoughts on Moto X
My initial thoughts with the Moto X are that it's a great device, easily one of the best feeling, sized, and shaped devices of this year. The screen is big enough without the device being bulky, and Motorola says that over 70 percent of the front surface of the Moto X is display. I'm still not a fan of AMOLED, but in this case a lot of the features (active display) do need it to be power efficient. The customization options are novel and unique, even if they're limited to AT&T in the USA for the time being. The idea of a wood-backed phone excites me since it means each device will be unique and have different wood grain, and having some way to differentiate one's handset from all the other black squares out there would be awesome. Having the same device available on all the US operators is also a huge win for Motorola, who has been otherwise stuck to endless Verizon exclusives that dramatically limit the reach of its flagships, even if the Moto X isn't a single SKU solution for all the operators (I do not have cellular banding information for each variant). Even now though, we saw the announcement of some Verizon Motorola Droids that basically include the same hardware platform and a number of features from the X.
The fruits of Google's interaction with Motorola are a bit more unclear. The Moto X runs a primarily stock UI, but it isn't entirely free of operator interaction – there's operator branding and light preloading, of course nowhere near the level that you'd get on a phone that goes through the normal interaction, but calling this "unadulterated android" still isn't factually correct, and it's definitely not Nexus with all that operator branding. I find myself puzzled as well that the Moto X isn't running Android 4.3. For other OEM partners, I can understand not having the absolute latest version of the platform running because of UI skinning and features, with a stock UI and operating under Google's umbrella, it's just a bit harder for me to explain away, especially given how far along Samsung and HTC allegedly are with 4.3 builds.
The last bit is pricing. The rumor and buildup led me to believe that Moto X would be priced like the midrange device the silicon inside misgives it for, but at $199 on contract it's priced just like a flagship halo phone with a quad core SoC. I realize specs aren't the be all end all for everyone, but I was hoping the Moto X would be the realization of an Android for the masses movement and platform direction from Google with the price to back it up, which would've been $199 with no contract. I have no doubt we'll see the Moto X move down in cost quickly, and it's premium, it's just surprising to see $199 out of the gate for what is a midrange platform (8960Pro) right now.
I need to spend more time with the Moto X to really pass judgment. I've popped my personal SIM in and will use it as my daily driver for a while and give it the full review treatment.
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jrs77 - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
End of the year the Jolla will be available for purchase, and it'll beat every smartphone currently on the market.It might not have the beefiest SoC or the best screen, however, it'll have a evolution of the MeeGo OS (Sailfish) that can handle Android-Apps and it'll have a user-replacable battery, all for €400 without a contract. Oh, and it'll have a microSDHC-slot ofc.
I can't wait :)
Krysto - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
Will it beat the Ubuntu Edge in sales?crabperson - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
Assembled in America people, if you want to pay more for what is likely that reason alone then there is finally an option for you. I personally am seriously considering it (or the HTC One), so I look forward to the review.Wolfpup - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
Wow, pretty cool. Built in the U.S.? Customizable backs? Nice design? Looks great...this is what I'd buy if I was buying an Android phone...first Android phone to actually tempt me at all. Unfortunately for better or worse I need iOS' awesome podcast support.sherlockwing - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
Android Podcasting apps is as good as IOS's, Pocket Cast is very good.ruzveh - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
I wonder what made them wait so long to come out with this phone. Now coming to the point yes i have few doubts and suggestions to make here..MIC - Firstly cant they integrate a mic port onto the phone and next to the earphone? As this will help me to use bigger and better noise cancelling earphones and record super clear notes, music or even help for phone calls.
USB - Secondly cant they integrate US3 connector which is faster to fill up those 16gb + 46gb space and which can also be used to fast charge our mobile phones?
OS - Yea even i am wondering why not 4.3 OS? Maybe they have build this phone long time back with testing done with 4.2.2 and that time 4.3 wasnt available.
Battery - I guess the standard battery these days should be atleast 3000mah capacity. Nothing less then this should be acceptable. I dont care those round edges of the phone which may make a hole in my pocket but i do care about the battery life
HDMI - yea i want this to be seen on my phone each and every time. I wan that micro or mini HDMI connector sitting where i can simply use the cord to connect it to my TV or monitor
USB Host - is this possible?
phoenix_rizzen - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
USB: There's no point in adding USB3 support when the internal eMMC/flash can't write as fast as USB2 supports. In order to support USB3, they'd need to rework the flash controller, use different/better/faster flash, and increase the price even more.Battery: It's over 2200 mAh, with only a dual-core CPU and low-power SAMOLED screen. Battery life should be better than most current phones.
HDMI: Would be nice if phone vendors had standardised on "micro-HDMI + micro-USB", side-by-side, the same distance apart, on the bottom of the phone. That could easily have become the "Android Dock Connector", providing (virtually) everything the Apple Dock/Lightning Connector provides, and kick-started a revolution in Android accessories. Instead, we're stuck with each individual vendor providing crappy accessories that only work with a single phone (rarely, a single phone line). :(
ayqazi - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
I stopped reading when I realised it had a pentile display...piroroadkill - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
It doesn't...Azurael - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
I still have yet to find a convincing argument for a 1080 screen <5". It's a waste of battery power and performance for something you can't see unless you're holding the phone at your eyes' minimal focal distance. I find it hard enough to see the pixels on 720 displays this size unless I'm really looking for them. What is the big deal with these marketing tickboxes that are disadvantaging all the people who don't understand? In theory, it should also take less backlight power to drive a less pixel-dense screen at equivalent brightness too.Quad cores are much the same. I bet this device feels every bit as fast as an S4 or HTC One out of the box, if not faster due to the lower screen res and comparative lack of bloatware... I usually run with two cores disabled on my quadcore Android devices and 99.9% of the time there's no difference unless you actually care about (utterly worthless IMHO, considering how Intel and now Samsung have demonstrated the quality and consistency of its results) Antutu results. I'd rather see more of the transistor budget in these SoCs spent on a better GPU or more memory controller width as Apple have done if Android and its app ecosystem aren't eveolving fast enough to take advantage of quads today...