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My experiences or review of my Moto X Play

rzozaya1969

Member
May 18, 2011
58
5
Mexico
I just came from a Moto G2, and also switched companies.
I did like (I still do) the Moto G2, but when switching I was able to also get the X Play.

In Mexico, from AT&T, I got the Turbo Charger, but no headphones. I think that it was good, I prefered the faster charger than headphones (which I already have).

Size wise, the X Play is a little larger, but doesn't feel that much larger than the G2. Now that I sometimes see the G2, I feel that as small, which is kind of weird.

I went for the white unit, I think that it looks a little nicer than the black one. While I would have prefered the plastic simulating metal to be metal, I think that it does feel good, but a little splippery, even with the back texture. I like the location of the volumne and lock buttons, I haven't feel the volume keys rattling, I feel them pretty nice.

Because I work from home, and need to be in constant communication, the call quality and reception is very important. So far I haven't been disappointed at all, I get a very good signal and the audio reception is very good, no missed calls or anything. I usually use a bluetooth device, and I'm using a Motorola HK110, which on reviews it's been bad, but I find it pretty good and reliable. When I need to use the device, the speakers and mic work pretty good too.

The screen looks great, but I'm finding that this display likes to get more dust and grease than the G2, I don't know if it's because of the splash resistant stuff that they put. If so, that's a good trade off. The 1080 screen is good, very nice photos and such. Maybe it's too large for one handed use, but I can live with that. Maybe if Motorola would have decided to put a 720p screen, it would be a tad faster, I don't know. On the G2, the 720p screen at 5" worked good, but I don't know if going from 5 to 5.5" would mean a 720 res would mean starting to pixelate text.

The camera is very nice, but I haven't used it much yet, mostly to do testing, in a very casual way. The camera app does what it does, easy. But there are several things that the camera software needs to change. Specially when we ask somebody to take a picture of us. Even when we just explain to them that they just need to touch the screen anywhere, the still search for a camera icon or a circle, which they find, and... get back to the main screen without any picture taken :S If Motorola would have the option to ask if we wanted to use a icon to take the shot, or anywhere, it would be more usefull for this situations. Also the sliding setting wheel could be changed to just display the options. This are just enhancements, I find that the camera has been pretty fast and I'm pleased with it.

Current configuration:
I switched to the Nova launcher. The original standard Google Now launcher is pretty good, and I could use it, but I like that Nova can let me use a slide down gesture to bring notifications, which is usefull on large screens. Also, Nova also let me lock the icons, so that I can't unadvertedly move them around. Google Now is very good, but I prefer Nova for the gestures and some customization options that it offers.

Swiftkey keyboard. For me, this has been the best keyboard, very good prediction and good customizations.

Motorola Camera as default, but also use MX Camera.

I'm using True Phone dialler, which is a little easier than the stock dialler that the X Play uses. One of the main issues is that I can set the app to instantly display the dialling pad, instead of having to use the + icon. It has also some nice features like themes and option to display by groups.

I'm very pleased with the phone.

The alternatives that I searched before this phone was Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3, Huawei P8 Lite or Huawei G7. They were cheaper. What made me go for Motorola was, in part, I was happy with the brand, I feel that Motorola has a good support for the phone, more likely to keep my phone updated. I think that spec wise, the Moto X Play is better than the Huawei options, but similar to the Idol 3. But I'm not sure on how good or bad Alcatel builds their phones, but I was very tempted with the Idol 3.
 
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