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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Mugur - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
Nice phone, bad price. The actual BOM for a flagship phone is 200-250 USD, by the way. All in all, this is the HTC One Mini hardware, priced like HTC One. Why should I choose it?grahaman27 - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
so thats why samsung's design inspiration videos are in korean?Arbie - Sunday, August 4, 2013 - link
-No SD card = no sale.
I need a phone but only once in a while for special cases. But I play a lot of media. Any electronic box I carry around must be able to swap media sets in and out quickly. With (micro)SD I can change 16GB or even 64GB in 5 sec - with no wires... and carry both sets with me. Filling fixed storage via USB is pathetic compared to that. I'm not going to buy pathetic. And to all those who say "you really don't need SD"... you're right. You don't. However, I and many others do. So stop apologizing for minimalist feature-weak designs.
No SD card = no sale.
abazigal - Sunday, August 4, 2013 - link
Is it just me, or is "Ok, Google Now" seem quite cumbersome to say, especially for something you expect to activate many times over a day?fteoath64 - Sunday, August 4, 2013 - link
The "always listening" part would qualify for Apple to copy to make Siri Always On feature. I suspect the algorithm would also detect movement (and directional movement as such or that part is done by the Contextual AP and passed to NLP AP). Like voicemail, the talking-to-machine part is more likely a US centric usage model while ROW (rest-of-world) prefers a silent usage model.The software would no doubt need a lot of refinement to make such features useful. If there is no >95% accurate speech recognition, most people would likely stay away or only use it for trivial tasks like setting alarm, reminders, book appointment.
Still, I would think, this is innovation in a good way. It would not be long for software-only solutions to show up.
theduckofdeath - Sunday, August 4, 2013 - link
Not aligned with the industry of having larger and larger displays? I'm not sure if I can agree with that. Its display is bigger than the latest Nokia phones and as big as the latest HTC flagship phone, and slightly smaller than the latest Samsung ditto. I'd say it is aligned right in the middle of that trend. :)Twister292 - Sunday, August 4, 2013 - link
The device looks good, but the SIM-free $575 (and on-contract $200) price is a bloody joke for a device with these specs. The SIM-free price is too close to the GS4 and HTC One GPE versions for the Moto X to make any sense at that price.irule9000 - Sunday, August 4, 2013 - link
I think this would pair very nicely with a smartwatch http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kreyos-the-only-... dont you?mk54321 - Monday, August 5, 2013 - link
Is the Cirrus Logic Audio - Ultra-Low Power, 4-Channel Microphone A/D Converter Enhances Performance for Voice Applications CS53L30 inside the Motorola Moto X ??garadante - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
Can someone -please- explain to me why every good feature of a phone is AT&T exclusive? Black, 64 GB HTC One in practical uses, and all the customization options with this now? Do they just pay Google and HTC a bunch of money for exclusive rights?