Moto x Reviews

This phone has features that no other phone has

1) Active display
This feature is so addictive that I am not buying any other phone that does not have active display. It is this significant. Just lift the phone, or take it out of your pocket and the screen shows all the information you need in a battery efficient way without you having to press the power button. 

2) Touchless control
Give commands to your phone without turning the screen on. While going to bed, and my phone is lying somewhere else in the room, I just say "OK Google now, wake me up at 7 AM" and that's it. No need to touch the phone. Also just say "Ok Google now, what's up" and the phone will say the time and read your notifications :) 
Note : This feature requires Internet connectivity.

3) Flick wrist to launch Camera
This is not a gimmick and works everytime. Need I say more. You can say this can be achieved by other apps but the key here is achieving this without sacrificing battery life.

4) Motorola Spotlight stories
Moto has teamed up with Pixar animation studios and produced wonderful animated stories. Nothing to add to the features of the phone but it is something that will make you smile, and everyone else will just look in awe and surprise.

This phone has Android 4.4.2 and timely updates. This phone received Android 4.4 even before the Nexus 4.

And to everyone comparing the hardware with the Nexus 5, just use the phone once. The phone has zero lag and the size is perfect too. The 720p screen is just enough at 4.7" screens.

The key here is that Motorola made a custom 8 core hardware for this phone. 2 core application processor, 4 core GPU, 1 core natural language processing and 1 core for contextual computing. The battery life is exactly as advertised and I am happily using it since last 3 months. (Got mine from the US, I have the 32 GB version.)

Cons :
The sound output from the speaker is not very loud. But again, it is not very low too.
Also No FM Radio, if you care about that. 

Don't be fooled by Dual core processor complaints of others, Here's what you need to know

The moto X was not designed like others. It was all about a decent phone with excellent performance over countless meaningless sub standard features.

Coming to the processor. Yes it has a Dual core processor but that's not where the story ends.
1 It has a 2 core Snapdragon S4 CPU for general usage of the phone
2 It has a 4 core Adreno 320 GPU for performance gaming etc
3 It has 1 core For dedicated contextual computing and gesture recognition making it more fluid
4 It has 1 core especially for natural language processing making it more likely to understand any form of speech input

That's a total of 8 cores all managed by Motorola X8 computing system. A dedicated core for each of the specific function means an enhanced battery life and optimization of usage. So in reality it's Octa-Core but since you don't need all of them running together at all times their functions have been segregated.

Another complaint made by people is about Active display. Yes you can grab an app for that but here's what you should know. Moto X uses AMOLED display which unlike IPS display does not use the entire screen while using active display. So if you use active display on IPS LCD it will drain your battery. On Moto X it only uses the part that's enough for showing notifications and thus you won't be running to charge it every few hours.
In my opinion Motorola is giving a phone that boasts of performance and near Vanilla Android experience instead of adding stuff that doesn't matter. Also 720p was deliberate to further enhance performance and improve battery life and you'll hardly notice any difference.

Moto X vs Moto G : Perfect Mid-Ranger at decent price?

This review is to explain the performance comparison between Moto X and Moto G and Return on Investment if you buy them.

Sony Xperia SP which has same processor as Moto X : Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (1.7 GHz Dual Core Krait with Adreno 320 GPU). The fact is that this processor is very fast. If you go by benchmarks my Xperia SP scores around 8200 in Quadrant and 21000 in Antutu which will be almost same in Moto X too if not better. Moto X has more RAM (2 GB) than Xperia SP which has 1 GB, so definitely it will perform better.

But if you want to compare it's performance with Moto G, the Quad Cortex A7 CPU in Moto G from Qualcomm will give almost same CPU performance (little bit less) which means each Cortex A7 is half as powerful as a Krait at 1.7GHz. But if you compare GPU with Moto G which has Adreno 305, Moto X will have a decent win with Adreno 320.

So if performance in games is not a big factor, then Moto G isn't a bad option, given that it costs 10k less. If you are going to use Whatsapp, normal games, calling, definitely Moto G is the best option out there.

Next comes screen. Both have 720p screens. 4.5 inch in Moto G and 4.7 inch in Moto X. Moto X's screen will be little better definitely. The size doesn't makes a big difference. Both are decent sized. My Xperia SP is 4.6 inch 720p and it is very comfortable to hold and very sharp. (~320 ppi, as good as iPhone 5s).

The main differentiating point would be a camera and some voice awake features. The Camera on Moto X will be definitely better than Moto G, but is it worth the extra 10k?, you decide. I don't think so. You can buy a decent point-and-shoot in that price.

I really like the wooden texture Moto X devices, but they increase the price by another 2k, it is a personal choice if you want to go for it.

So if you are a complete geek user and performance matters a lot to you, be aware Moto X is not the best performing device out there. Then you should better look at Nexus 5, Xperia Z1, etc which are actually top-of the line.

If you are a mid-range user who will use normal apps, normal games, then deciding between Moto G and Moto X can be a big problem for you. Moto X will definitely give you a better feeling as owner, but it comes wit a price (10k more than Moto G).

To help you out, think this way: If you think better Camera and some extra features like Voice Awake, Active Display and a little more snappier CPU performance are not worth the extra 10k than Moto G's price, then definitely go with Moto G. It will save you a lot of money and give decent performance. If you want a decent Camera phone, much better GPU performance and the high end status associated with Moto X, go with Moto X by paying the money.

Some other features: Moto G is dual SIM, Moto X is single sim. It shouldn't matter much.

SPECIFICATIONS OF MOTO X

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - all versions
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - for AT&T HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - for T-Mobile
		HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - for Europe
	4G Network	LTE 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - for AT&T LTE 700 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - for T-Mobile
		LTE 800 / 1800 / 2600 - for Europe
	SIM	Nano-SIM
	Announced	2013, August
	Status	Available. Released 2013, August

BODY	Dimensions	129.3 x 65.3 x 10.4 mm (5.09 x 2.57 x 0.41 in)
	Weight	130 g (4.59 oz)

DISPLAY	Type	AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	720 x 1280 pixels, 4.7 inches (~312 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 3

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	16/32/64 GB, 2 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL / EV-DO Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	v4.0, A2DP, EDR, LE
	NFC	Yes
	USB	microUSB v2.0, USB Host

CAMERA	Primary	10 MP, 4320 x 2432 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
	Features	1.4 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, HDR
	Video	1080p@30fps, stereo sound rec., HDR
	Secondary	2 MP, 1080p

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.4.4 (KitKat)
	Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8960Pro Snapdragon
	CPU	Dual-core 1.7 GHz Krait
	GPU	Adreno 320
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, temperature
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White (front panel), 18 color options (back panel)
		- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - Google Drive (50 GB storage) - SNS integration - MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player - MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player - Google Search, Maps, Gmail - YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa - Organizer - Photo viewer/editor - Document viewer - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Li-Ion 2200 mAh battery
	Stand-by	Up to 576 h
	Talk time	Up to 13 h

MISC	SAR US	1.39 W/kg (head)     0.50 W/kg (body)

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Posted in: CELLPHONE REVIEWS