Moto X thoughts.

[BCM]

First I would like to say that I like what I see from the Moto X with a few exceptions. The battery life looks very promising and I love the minimalist design of the phone. The always on voice commands is pretty cool and I think Google should pursue that in future OS updates.

Unfortunately, I think Motorola could have done a few things different with this launch.

1. AT&T gets an exclusive (even if its short lived). Carrier exclusives are a real turnoff.
2. No off contract pricing at the announcment is really irritating.
3. The on contract price is a bit high.

I would like to see a few things happen and I can justify the purchase.

1. A Google Play edition.
2. Motomaker is available for the GPE of the Moto X.
3. The off contract price is close the Nexus 4 price.

I currently use the Galaxy Nexus and I will be in the market for a new phone at the end of the year. I am not spec crazy and think the Moto X would suit me fine. I am even willing to pay a little more for it being that it is assembled here in the states but I am not willing to sign another contract or pay $450+ for this phone.

By the end of the year we should have the Nexus 5 and perhaps it will squash my Moto X interest. One trend I really hope I see continuing is the Google Play editions, it would be great if this were an option for all Android phones.

Okay, rant over.

 

[SensationalRob]

I was really really hoping the moto x would be my next phone....

I could have lived with no SD...if I could get an unlocked 32g model.
I might have taken a chance with the non-removable battery (my g'nex with the 3800mAh sedio has me spoiled).

But I fully expected a Nexus 4 like pricing scheme....no way is it worth GS4 money.

I guess I will wait for the Nexus 5...lets hope it has an upgradable battery..

 

[trophynuts]

someone in the main moto x thread said it best i think. At the Moto X price point what makes you want to buy it over an SGS4 or HTCOne?

 

[Jersey Tom]

High price point = downside of "made in USA."

Gross oversimplification, but you get the idea.

 

[landolakes]

High price point = downside of "made in USA."

Gross oversimplification, but you get the idea.

I would like to agree but Verizon's droids are priced the same and there is no made in America promise with them. I never understood how the X would be a nexus priced phone when it's droid siblings are not.

 

[themax4814]

someone in the main moto x thread said it best i think. At the Moto X price point what makes you want to buy it over an SGS4 or HTCOne?

I'll give you my reasonings.

The only thing that I feel the SGS4 has going over the other phones is the Multi-Window mode.
-To get that I'd have to put up with a phone that's much to large for my preferences for one-handed use.
-The thin-ness makes it uncomfortable to hold with such a wide phone.
-Samsung loads the OS down with such unnecessary bloat named Touchwiz with the airwave/eye motion
-Touchwiz itself is a utterly horrendous looking UI
-The screen and processors are huge and impressive on paper, but still do not keep the phone from showing up with lag and just being a terrible waste of battery power.

I completely agree with the article on PhoneArena. I think that Samsungs philosophy is to try to load the phone down with so many gadgets and gizmos without any though on how it will actually benefit the consumer. In my opinion this really turns out an overall poor product.
I base my main judgements from this from purchasing a Galaxy SII and using it for a year. Both my wife and myself feel that it is a very poorly designed device.


The HTC One shows a lot of positives in the smoothness factor though, from my experiences giving an overall smoother experience than the SGS4.
My issues are as follows.
-The multitasking still appears to have been nerfed (although it doesn't seem as bad as the One X)
-The phone is still to big for my tastes
-I despise the capacitive button layout they've used, and I really think that it'll frustrate me to no end having just the two buttons.


The positives I see in the Moto X are:
-The size and shape of the phone appear to make it a joy to hold and use one-handed
-The new features such as the Touchless Controls voice actions look like they can be extremely useful, and I really think that it will actually give me a chance of actually using Google Now (because I can use it at times where it is inconvenient to touch the phone)
-The Active Screen actually looks really helpful to me as well. Actually getting information of notifications with a glance without having to unlock the phone or even touch it.
-I think that if Motorola actually was able to utilize the battery optimizations and low power processors to yield substantially better battery life I'm sold.

It seems that Motorola used the processor and screens they did in order to produce good battery savings over any meager benefit a Quad-Core CPU or 1080p screen would provide.
It is true that the GPU is much more important for actual user experience than the CPU for mobile devices, so I am strongly of the opinion that Motorola made a good choice to go with the upgraded Snapdragon Pro with the Adreno 320 GPU over going with the Snapdragon 600.

The actual material costs between the S4 and Moto X are negligible, and in my opinion, the Moto X overall user experience will be much better as well, so I think that the $199 cost is more than adequate.

 

[jkmasi]

someone in the main moto x thread said it best i think. At the Moto X price point what makes you want to buy it over an SGS4 or HTCOne?

Motorola's better radios. I spend a lot of times in areas with weak cell reception, and Samsung radios (had a GS3) do not cut it. Not sure about the One. If this X has a decent camera, I'll go for it.

 

[AntimonyER]

Hey guys, we kind of already have this covered in this thread : http://androidforums.com/showthread.php?t=684628

In the interest of keeping things clean. I'm going to lock this. Please feel free to continue the discussion there. Also if you disagree, feel free to PM me to discuss it further.

Thanks