Moto X Impressions + Possibility of Leaving iPhone

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I got my hands on the new Moto X by Motorola this past Thursday. For those who don't know much about this phone, it's Motorola's new flagship Android device. It is also the first Motorola phone made under development with Google. Google purchased Motorola Mobility last year for $12.5 billion (jeez!).

What does this mean? Well mainly that the device will be a much tighter, pure Android experience. So forget about manufacture's OS skins and additional software features. It's not part of the Nexus line, but it could be.





You can design this phone to your liking on the Moto Maker website before purchase. I decided to go with the Kermit Green look. I don't know why, but I wanted something kind of loud and obnoxious with this device lol.

The design of the phone is of very high quality. It has a polycarbonate, non-removable back plate. The back is concaved which makes holding the phone a joy. It's a very comfortable phone to use. Even the Motorola "M" logo on the back is recessed for your index finger to stay snug in one spot. The screen has curved glass which has been a feature used in every Nexus device since Samsung's Nexus S.



I have heard some complaints about the sleep/wake and volume rocker buttons to feel too loose but in my case I don't have this problem. Every single thing on this phone feels solid and of high quality. It is also the first smartphone to actually be designed AND assembled in the USA, if that matters to anyone.



The phone has a 4.7" 720p AMOLED screen. I really like the display. Everything looks very clear and crisp. The screen certainly does pop when viewing it. It has been a long time since I used an AMOLED display, I forgot about the good stuff. But with saying that it still has issues on any AMOLED display (poor visibility in daylight and so-so viewing angles, mainly).

I have personally been comparing this device side-by-side with my iPhone 5. Mainly because I am looking to stop having two phones. This work device is 100% free and 100% unlimited, I have just been very wrapped up in the iOS ecosystem so I am looking for something good enough to make the jump. This phone might be the one to do it.

Camera, Winner = iPhone 5

There is simply no better camera on the market in my opinion for a daily, quick to use shooter. There's a lot out there that come with more features (Galaxy S4) and others that truly have better image quality (Lumia 1020) but as a whole the iPhone 5's camera takes better pics each and every time.

The iPhone will almost always get a good shot. Low light, with a flash, movement... it doesn't matter. I could name a phone that does each thing better, but not all of them. iPhone is pretty darn good with color accuracy and especially with adjusting to the appropriate white balance (one thing where the Lumias are all over the place). If I am doing tons of manual adjustments and tweaking settings to get a good shot, something like the Lumia 1020 would kill it each time. But if I was going to spend that much time I would just use my DSLR.

If you can't tell, the Camera is the biggest thing that makes me hold on to my 5.

The Moto X camera is above average though, but its very unpredictable. Sometimes it can get a great shot and other times its just plain bad. It seems to have problems adjusting indoors. It can do good low light shots, it just takes a few tries.

Here's a few shots with the Moto X:








As you can see, quality jobs around a lot. This is definitely fixable with a software update though. Good shots are definitely doable.

Android vs iOS, Winner = Moto X

At this point I find Android to be a more enjoyable user experience than iOS. There are still some things where iOS perform better. The keyboard and web browsing through Safari are two immediate things that come to mind. But Android is just more fresh. Their updates in the past 2 years feel more significant and multi-tasking and android's notification system is just above and beyond iOS's.

Keep in mind though, I don't feel this way towards most "tweaked" Android roms. I don't like Samsung's TouchWiz and I am not a fan of HTC's new Sense 5 with the BlinkFeed features. I would still put iOS above those.

Battery Life, Winner = Moto X

Oh where the mighty has fallen, right? Android is simply better at power management this point in the game. Another big fact of the matter is the iPhone's battery is relatively small compared to other devices. Small battery = Small battery life. iPhone's still charge fast as [censored] though!
smile.gif


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Anyone else interested in getting this phone? I'm only two days in and it's very safe to say that the experience is good. Real good. I am going to wait for Apple's announcement on Sept. 10th before I decide to stay with one phone. As of right now, the idea of a gold iPhone 5s isn't doing much for me. And iOS7 is a mixed bag as well.
 
I am considering this phone and the HTC one.

Going to go out and check out both in person before making any decisions.
 
Good luck with it. Had a Droid X. Horrible POS phone. Would lock up randomly, reboot when it felt like, had horrible battery life. Motorola then basically abandoned it and stopped updating it. I use it now as an MP3 player with headphones at night and it's ok but still bad.

And don't get me started on the Android experience. Not that good. Things did t sync well, adding music was not my cup of tea (don't like managing folders and that other [censored]). Didn't integrate well with my car and Ford sync and was not as seamless as an experience as iOS.

I was glad to ditch that POS and Android and go to an iPhone 4S. Things work, music is synced automatically, photos are waiting for me on my computer, and it works great with my stuff. iOS may not be "flashy", but I've found the flash of Android is horrible and it's not that great of an OS where the rubber meets the road.
 
Have you tried out any more recent android devices? Things have come a long way. And believe me, I know about the old Motorola. It also does not help that Verizon is notorious for being the worst carrier for locking things down and filling their devices with bloatware. I have always loved iOS, but with Google putting 500 million into just marketing this device I see it being a little different than the old line up of droids.
 
Very nice review, thanks!

Interested to see how the uptime/crash behavior turns out, but given that this is a google phone really, Id imagine it will be quite good.

I agree about smaller batteries = less life, but what gets me is the form factor. The iphone is a nice width, but the 5 is IMO too long. This thing is a beheamouth, not suitable for a dress shirt upper pocket. Can you put in a few pics of the phones side by side?

Which is thicker?

Thanks again for a great review!
 
Originally Posted By: jigen
Have you tried out any more recent android devices? Things have come a long way. And believe me, I know about the old Motorola. It also does not help that Verizon is notorious for being the worst carrier for locking things down and filling their devices with bloatware. I have always loved iOS, but with Google putting 500 million into just marketing this device I see it being a little different than the old line up of droids.


I'm trying to figure out why I should go back. What is so much better than iOS? Customization really doesn't interest me as while desktop widgets were cool they were always behind and the only one I kept was a quick dial to my wife.

The integration in iOS is top notch...

I love that pictures taken will be waiting for me on my Mac in Aperture or a folder on a Windows machine. Don't think Google offers anything like that.

I love the iCloud backup that if my phone, iPad, etc is lost I can be back up and running in short order. Google sync takes care of your contacts but free apps are out of the question.

I love that e-mail that is not Gmail is not treated like a second class citizen. The Droid X did not handle IMAP well at all and Morotola's response was silence.

I realize I'm in the moniority but I like iTunes for managing content on the phone. I have a playlist that is a random sampling from my library. Every time I sync I get new stuff. For Android I need an app like iSyncr to do this and while it was good, it was a PITA. I don't want drag and drop management - that is a PITA.

I like that the Apple store is free from malware unlike Play which has given it out in the past.

I do like the AppleTV integration where I an share stuff from the phone, wife's phone, etc seemelssly. Chromecast is a great start but I think Google needs to bake some stuff into their OS for it.

iPhones have better accessory support. Much easier to design stuff for 2 form factors (4/4s and 5) than the bazillion factors of Android devices. Also with things like car integration companies will still test iOS first and Android second. Why? Because you can test 2-3 phones (4/4s/5) and know it's going to work. Compare that to Android where Motorola may do something slightly different than HTC or Samsung. This is especially true for Bluetooth.

I just don't know why I would go back when iOS does 99% of what I want now and is tightly integrated. It works, works well, and has tons of support. Sure it may not be as customizeable, may not have huge screens (I actually like the smaller form factor - those huge Samsungs are comical when people talk on them), but 99.99% of the time it's ready and willing to work for me. Android? Not so much, in my experience.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: jigen
Have you tried out any more recent android devices? Things have come a long way. And believe me, I know about the old Motorola. It also does not help that Verizon is notorious for being the worst carrier for locking things down and filling their devices with bloatware. I have always loved iOS, but with Google putting 500 million into just marketing this device I see it being a little different than the old line up of droids.


I'm trying to figure out why I should go back. What is so much better than iOS? Customization really doesn't interest me as while desktop widgets were cool they were always behind and the only one I kept was a quick dial to my wife.

The integration in iOS is top notch...

I love that pictures taken will be waiting for me on my Mac in Aperture or a folder on a Windows machine. Don't think Google offers anything like that.

I love the iCloud backup that if my phone, iPad, etc is lost I can be back up and running in short order. Google sync takes care of your contacts but free apps are out of the question.

I love that e-mail that is not Gmail is not treated like a second class citizen. The Droid X did not handle IMAP well at all and Morotola's response was silence.

I realize I'm in the moniority but I like iTunes for managing content on the phone. I have a playlist that is a random sampling from my library. Every time I sync I get new stuff. For Android I need an app like iSyncr to do this and while it was good, it was a PITA. I don't want drag and drop management - that is a PITA.

I like that the Apple store is free from malware unlike Play which has given it out in the past.

I do like the AppleTV integration where I an share stuff from the phone, wife's phone, etc seemelssly. Chromecast is a great start but I think Google needs to bake some stuff into their OS for it.

iPhones have better accessory support. Much easier to design stuff for 2 form factors (4/4s and 5) than the bazillion factors of Android devices. Also with things like car integration companies will still test iOS first and Android second. Why? Because you can test 2-3 phones (4/4s/5) and know it's going to work. Compare that to Android where Motorola may do something slightly different than HTC or Samsung. This is especially true for Bluetooth.

I just don't know why I would go back when iOS does 99% of what I want now and is tightly integrated. It works, works well, and has tons of support. Sure it may not be as customizeable, may not have huge screens (I actually like the smaller form factor - those huge Samsungs are comical when people talk on them), but 99.99% of the time it's ready and willing to work for me. Android? Not so much, in my experience.


This whole post is inaccurate, maybe it was true back when the Droid X was released in 2010 and Android was at 2.3, but the Android OS has come a long way since then and has addressed all of these issues. I do agree that accessory support outside of popular phones like the Galaxy line is behind iPhone, however. However since Apple decided to change their proprietary connector, the millions of docking stations people purchased have become obsolete. I am glad to see that docking stations are starting to go towards Bluetooth for connection to these stations, and the industry standard USB for charging so no matter what device you have, it will work.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Can you put in a few pics of the phones side by side?

Which is thicker?


I didn't feel like busting out the DSLR to upload side-by-sides but here's a couple I found online.

S4, MotoX, iPhone 5




The Moto X is thicker up top and towards the middle but slims down at the bottom.

And like I said before, I'm not trying to start a phone war (the debating is fun though). I have a Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV... I am pretty connected in their ecosystem and it's great. I just think it's worth pointing out how good the Android OS has gotten in the past year or so. In an ideal world I would have both a high end Android device and iPhone and just sim swap when I got bored.
smile.gif
 
That helps. The Samsung devices though nice, are obnoxiously large IMO.

I'm sure droid is just great now. What's the price of this phone unlocked?
 
Thanks for the review. Every Android I've used has been "skinned" to some degree. I agree with you that a true Android experience would be the best.

Can you connect this to your computer and mount it as a USB drive? I was very shocked to find that the Samsung Galaxy S3 cannot be mounted as a USB drive, and you have to download Samsung Kies (a connectivity software) to be able to view content on the phone. It bore a curious resemblance to iTunes...

I can plug my iPhone into a Windows computer, mount it as a USB drive, and can at least copy my photos across... Was shocked to find that a Galaxy S3 cannot do that.

This Moto X looks like a great phone. Looking forward to hearing more about it.
 
Good review. I am keeping an eye on this phone. I hear the developer's edition is coming out and if I were to buy it, that's what I would get. The Nexus 5 is rumored to come out in October so I may wait to see what that offers as well.

Hokiefyd, I agree with you. The pure Android experience is best imo. All the Nexus devices (and hopefully the Developers Edition Moto X) can connect like a USB. I was recently traveling and didn't have access to internet and needed to move an email attached Excel file from my phone (Galaxy Nexus) to laptop. It was no problem dragging it over with a USB connect.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
It bore a curious resemblance to iTunes...


It seems that the more this stuff matures, the more semblance everything has to the i-platform. Specialty software that is needed for connectivity, integrated batteries that can't be swapped out, price, etc.

Not a dig on the droid ecosystem, just more the reality of engineering products.
 
This is why I don't like Samsung. They are copycats and trying to make it more difficult to share files by forcing you through an "iTunes" like software will not make me buy Samsung in the future. They are copying in the wrong direction here.

And I don't agree that "everything" is resembling the i-platform more and more. While Samsung might be, the Moto-X is an example of a phone that is moving it's own direction. Also, stock Android (without that overbearing Samsung skin) has many features that iOS7 is emulating.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude

This whole post is inaccurate, maybe it was true back when the Droid X was released in 2010 and Android was at 2.3, but the Android OS has come a long way since then and has addressed all of these issues.


No, the post is 100% accurate. Android has evolved but the tight integration is not there.

Where can I manage my music automatically?
How can I easily share my photos taken with my camera? Are they waiting for me on my computer? Can I connect my camera to my tablet and upload pics to that (I can with my iPad)?

And Android devices pretty much never get updated. The 2010 phone was the iPhone 4. In 2013 you will be able to run iOS 7 on it. In 2013 that Droid X is stuck on some ancient version of Android.

Once you loose someone as a customer you usually don't get them back. I doubt I'll ever go back to the mess that is Android.

Quote:
However since Apple decided to change their proprietary connector, the millions of docking stations people purchased have become obsolete.


I suppose this doesn't exist then:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD823ZM/A/lightning-to-30-pin-adapter

or this:
http://www.cellphoneshop.net/30microusb....CFQSk4AodZwMA8g

Or any of the lightning to dock connectors.
 
No itguy, you cannot connect your camera to your tablet and upload pics. That is very 2010. Nowadays, this happens wirelessly on Android and automatically and you do not have to lift a finger after the initial setup. And yes, they show up on your tablet, computer and phone and they are also in the cloud if you choose to activate any other random device.

And my Nexus Androids get updated constantly.

One thing to keep in mind is there is not one Android. So when people say "Droids" I don't know which one they are talking about. This is a blessing and a curse depending on your perspective. It gives you flexibility to customize but it also means you have to pay more attention to what you are buying. There are some Androids I would not touch. In fact, I mostly stick to Nexus Androids. The Nexus line is a developers phone, controlled by Google and the hardware is generally co-designed by Google to facilitate tight integration with the software. It is also not heavily commercialized with gimmicky marketing and software skins designed to extract you from your money, like most skinned Samsung phones.
 
Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
All the Nexus devices (and hopefully the Developers Edition Moto X) can connect like a USB. I was recently traveling and didn't have access to internet and needed to move an email attached Excel file from my phone (Galaxy Nexus) to laptop. It was no problem dragging it over with a USB connect.


What's the difference between a "Nexus" device and a non-Nexus device? The lack of some basic functionality with a non-Nexus device would steer me clear.

I think Android's biggest problem, as an OS, is the market fragmentation. Apple's market is obviously a closed one: only Apple makes iPhones, iOS runs only on iPhones, every iPhone runs iOS, etc. There are obviously pros and cons to this, but one of the pros in my opinion is you know what you're getting with an iPhone.

I was disappoinged that I couldn't connect my mom's phone to our computer without an additional piece of software. And the reason we had to do it is because it wasn't emailing the picture, for whatever reason. She had LTE connectivity, and Gmail seemed to be working, but her SG3 simply wasn't sending the email (it was perpetually stuck in the outbox). It sounds like if they had bought any one of the various "Nexus" phones instead, which are made by multiple manufacturers, this admittedly rare event would have been made much easier.

That experience left me wondering, what makes a phone a "Nexus" phone? It seems that the "Nexus" phones get star Google status, while non-Nexus phones are potentially not as feature-rich.

Edit: I see from your last post that Nexus phones are co-developed with Google and appear to have better integration. I would have no need, in this case, for a non-Nexus phone, and the potential issues that go along with that. Google would do good, in my opinion, to ensure a more consistent level of integration across the Android product line. Inconsistency frustrates consumers like me; unless I've really boned up on the latest product offerings and know exactly what I'm doing, I'm not really sure what I'm buying.
 
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Hokiefyd,
You make some good points. But there are a couple of things that will keep Android from being a closed system. First, it is meant to be open source so Google will lock it down as little as possible. Google does not charge manufacturers for the OS and they have freedom to tinker (that is part of the open source "contract" if you will). And the term "fragmentation" was originally an Apple marketing term directed at Android. Another wword for fragmentation is choice. In the open source community, "closed" is the bad word. Whether you think this is good or bad is subjective. So fragmentation (or choice) is not objectively bad as Apple wants you to believe. Personally I like choice and feel stifled by one size fits all systems. I like variety when buying cars, food, wine and yes electronics. But I know people who are overwhelmed when walking in a supermarket and see 8 varieties of a cereal from the same manufacturer. And I recommend iPhones for members of my family who don't want to think about their electronics. To each his own.
 
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I was unaware Apple used fragmentation as a buzzword. I'm familiar with it from the computing world; stuff gets spread out across a hard drive and once cohesive pieces get broken up. I agree that fragmentation is not objectively bad. It can introduce confusion, though. The notion that some phones are knowingly not as integrated as others means that you have the situation where users have inconsistent experiences. My only point was that I think Google would do well to tighten some of that stuff up. This wouldn't necessarily reduce choice, but would ensure a more consistent experience. You have folks who got real frustrated with some types of Android, and it may have simply been because they got the "wrong" phone. This ultimately as the potential to hurt the brand.

This isn't to say that Android is good or bad. Not that at all. I'm just making an observation based on my experience and unfamiliarity with the different types of phones. I consider myself somewhat tech-oriented, but openly admit that the various flavors of different Android phones (some running different versions of the OS) is confusing to me. Someone like my wife or mother wouldn't have a clue what the different choices are. And so if we buy an Android phone, buy the "wrong" one that isn't as feature-rich as others, and get frustrated by it, this is where the Android brand has the potential to be hurt.

What may be most helpful to folks like us is perhaps more effective marketing from Google and/or its phone makers to better distinguish what a Nexus phone is vs. a non-Nexus phone, and what the pros and cons are to both types of phones.
 
Fragmentation is without a doubt Android's biggest downfall. It would be close to impossible for me to use anything that's not a Nexus or Developer's phone. It has gotten a little better though, still not enough for me to trust getting smooth updates from many manufactures. Motorola announced that carriers have no say in Moto X updates, just Motorola... So we will see how it goes with the device.

A couple more pics from yesterday. The camera could be great with a software update. When you get the right shot, pictures are very good. It just never seems to know what to do in anything but ideal lighting scenarios.

Overcast:


Sunny:


 
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