Review: UPDATED: Moto X Introduction, display and design Update: Moto X continues to be one of the most stylish Android phones in 2015 and looks even better with Android Lollipop. Our review reflects that. The Moto X name didnt changed in 2014, but rest assured, this updated Android smartphone packs enough new specs to deserve its own Moto X+1 or Moto X2 title. With a larger screen, a better but not perfect camera, surprisingly useful first-party apps and, of course deeper customization, the original Moto Maker returns with a competitive price. Its just $99 on-contract and on sale for as little as $1, or $499 (£419.99, AU$534). Dont let Motorolas low ball price fool you either. Like its low-key name, the Moto X 2014 has a deceptive asking price. Motorolas flagship phone is slightly bigger in every sense, enough to make it one of the best Android premium phones next to the more expensive Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8. Its also one of the most stylish phones of 2014 and into 2015, enough to be part of our best phones list. Availability and price The Moto X 2nd generation launched on September 16, 2014, but that was the AT&T release date in the US. It came out for Verizon on September 26. Both carriers sold the 16GB phone on-contract for $100 and 32GB version for $150. On sale, it was reduced to $1 during the holidays by some retailers, and Motorola eventually followed suit on its Moto Maker website in December. Its next to nothing there too and unlock price begins at $399. In the UK, the new Moto X GSM unlocked edition became available at the end of September for £420 through Motorolas official website. Bumping the internal storage from 16GB to 32GB takes it to £460. Wood and leather adds to the price. Moto X 2014 with a premium back costs $425 and £439.99 for the 16GB version and $175 and £479.99 for the 32GB edition, based on the original pricing. Android 5.0 Lollipop premiered with the Motorola-made Nexus 6 and has arrived on Moto X, at least from some carriers. Both the unlocked version and Verizon variant benefit from this upgrade. AT&T customers with Moto X 2nd generation have to wait for the Android update sometime in 2015. Nexus 6, by comparison, has the Android Lollipop from the get-go, a larger 6-inch screen, a camera with optical image stabilization, dual front-facing speakers and a bigger battery. But its also much more expensive at $650 (£499) for the 32GB base model and it loses that one-handed appeal. Display Theres more to the Moto X 2014 now that the display literally measures up to its competition. Its 5.2 inches, the same size as the new Sony Xperia Z3 and a hair larger than the 5.1-inch Galaxy S5. Thats up half an inch from last years 4.7-inch Moto X, a size that Motorola left to the likes of Apple and its, by comparison, pint-sized iPhone 6 display. With a little reach and large enough fingers, the new Moto X is still a one-handed phone that almost ventures into two-handed territory. Yet it doesnt compromise much on the display when compared to a phablet. Its again protected by Corning Gorilla Glass with the same AMOLED technology behind it, but the 1080p Full HD resolution makes for a much crisper screen with 423 pixels per inch. You wont want to go back to the originals 720p and 316 ppi display specs, thats for sure. This sharper display is put to the test as soon as the new Moto X is booted up thanks to the bright and colorful default wallpapers that Motorola included with the handset. It really sets the tone for this premium smartphone experience, especially next to the still 720p Moto G 2014. It stands bezel-to-bezel with the Samsung Galaxy S5 in this regard, though it lacks the Super AMOLED display. In a few cases, we found the Moto X screen harder to read outdoors. But keep in mind that Motorola has made its smartphone much cheaper than anything in its class. The Moto X 2014 makes up for its direct sunlight shortcomings with a better way to conserve battery life by default. The return of the extremely efficient Motorola Active Display means that waving your hand over the phone or taking it out of your pocket brings up the current time and simple notification icons in white. The rest of the screen remains off. The popular, always-on microphone is here as well, giving you a way to cut to the chase with voice commands. Tapping an Active Display icon reveals more information about the notification, like the gist of your latest emails or Hangout messages. Its a great use of AMOLEDs ability to selectively light up individual pixels and it sure beats an ambiguous blinking status light on a phone. Design An all-new aluminum metal frame means that Moto X 2nd generation is stronger than its predecessor, not just bigger than before. Plastic is no longer binding together Motorolas flagship device. Its closer to the build material of the iPhone 5S, sturdier than the pliable iPhone 6 Plus and, most importantly, doesnt feel as cheap as the metal-looking polycarbonate Samsung Galaxy S5. Whats surprising is that despite the Moto Xs naturally larger size care of the 5.2-inch display, Motorola once again used tricks to minimize the overall dimensions, and it worked in its favor. For example, theres very little bezel around the edges and the soft buttons are on-screen, as opposed to the capacitive buttons used by Samsung devices. This makes the Moto X 2014 roughly the same size as the Galaxy S5 and, remarkably, even the iPhone 6. Its official measurements are 2.9 in (72.4 mm) x 5.5 in (140.8 mm) with a sloped 0.2 in (3.8 mm) to 0.4 in (9.9 mm) curve. The S5s width and height are 2.9 in (72.5 mm) x 5.5 in (142 mm) with a narrower overall depth of 0.3 in (8.1 mm). iPhone 6 is nearly as big: 2.64 in (67.0 mm) x 5.44 in (138.1 mm) x 0.27 in (6.9 mm). As much as I appreciate the iPhones home button and Touch ID, it has half an inch less screen real estate to show for its almost-as-tall dimensions. Moto Xs premium frame thins out along the corners, but forms a fairly thick bow shape at the center for a curved back. This leaves plenty of room for a top-center 3.5mm headphone jack, an adjacent nano-SIM card slot and bottom-placed micro USB port. Along the thinned-out sides, theres just enough depth for a volume rocker thats smooth and power button thats accented with ridges. This makes it easier to tell the two stainless steel buttons apart in your pocket. Moto Maker returns with additional customizations to match the now-premium Moto X with even more personalization. Leather, for example, is now among the choices that can back your phone in one of four colors. It joins last years four wood options and 17 plastic colors. Black or white fronts and 10 accent colors for the front-facing speaker grills and rear Motorola logo dimple round out the most pressing Moto Maker decisions. Cradling the Moto X backed in soft leather is a delight, but its also the most delicate material within Moto Maker. Yes, the Moto 360 smartwatch uses the same genuine leather sourced from Horween Leather Company, but the supple material bruised more easily in our pockets than on our wrists. Thats whats great about Moto Maker, though. Its filled with more options than your standard one-size-fits-all smartphone in case that doesnt work for you. Moto X weighs in at 144 grams vs last years 139 grams. Considering the aluminum metal frame and 5.2-inch screen, thats a worthy trade-off. Of course, there are beefier specs too. Specs, performance and interface Moto X 2014s specs, like its larger display size, complement the fact that its no longer the runt of the Android litter. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor is identical to the 2.5GHz quad-core chip thats found at the heart of the LTE-equipped Galaxy S5. Motorola also answers Samsungs graphics performance with the same Adreno 330 GPU at 578 MHz and its memory with a healthy 2GB of RAM. The new Moto X isnt an also-ran when it comes to the most important specs. Its snappy performance backs this up even when all of our favorite apps, photos and video are clogging the internal storage. Theres a caveat: you can only fill up the Moto X so much because you wont find a micro SD card slot anywhere. Expandable storage isnt a part of the Moto X like it is on the Moto G 2014 and the earlier Moto G 4G model. Youll have to contend with the 16GB and Moto Maker-exclusive 32GB internal configurations. Also missing is any sort of fingerprint sensor, heart rate monitor (not that you really need that) and waterproof seal. It doesnt measure up to the IP67 rating of many Android smartphones, so its not water resistant up to 30 meters for an hour. Instead, its just splashproof. Its more than the leather back thats delicate in wet conditions. Moto X did get the speakers right where others often fail. Its front-facing bottom grill projected music the right way - forward - not down at the ground, and its four microphones for voice calls and noise canceling reduced background noise to appropriate levels in all our test calls. Interface and apps Google may have sold Motorola to Lenovo, but the company is still dedicated to providing a pure Android experience that helps its phone contrast with devices from Samsung and HTC. You wont find TouchWiz or Sense changing the experience with a wonky overlay. Moto Xs Android KitKat 4.4 interface is much the same as last year save for the Google Now Launcher, a few fresh Motorola-branded apps and some carrier-loaded bloatware depending on your provider. Once again, the aforementioned Moto Display shows up when the display is off, providing a discreet and battery-saving method of peeking at notification icons. Moto Assist takes driving seriously by reading text messages aloud while youre on the road. It also knows when to keep quiet without disruptive noises during meetings or when youre ready for bed. The next day, it wakes up when you wake up, according to your schedule. Moto Actions takes advantage of the Moto Xs IR emitters that resemble the sensor-spotted Amazon Fire Phone. The built-in app recognizes hand motions from all directions to turn on the Moto Active Display, silence calls and a snooze alarms with a simple wave. Just hop out of the shower and want to know the time? Look no further than Moto Actions. Thats really convenient for a phone thats only splashproof. Moto Voice builds upon Google Now by letting you change the always-listening voice prompt. Instead of the Okay Google Now command that seemed futuristic in 2013, the new Moto X lets you use custom phrases - everything from You there Moto X? to Wake up buddy! were among the Motorola-suggested examples. But I preferred the Motorola staffer / X-Men fan who used the prompt, Okay Professor X to get things started. And, again, unlike Siri, theres no need to hold down a button or have the phone plugged in to get the attention of Moto Voice. Outside of the main Moto suite is Connect, a way to bridge the messaging gap between your Moto X smartphone and computer. It delivers text messages to a Chrome browser extension, though not as reliably as third-party apps like MightyText. Im still hoping that Google one day brings SMS to Hangouts on a PC. Apple aced this with iMessages among its device owners two years ago and is further building upon it (by relaying all texts) with Mac OS X Yosemite and iOS 8. Connect is hopefully a stopover to something broader from Google. Everything else about Motorolas Android KitKat 4.4 setup is untouched next to the Nexus 5, and for the most part, this pure interface is really appealing. It does mean that Googles quick settings for brightness, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are buried behind one and two extra steps compared to what Samsungs pull-down menu. I really hate having to adjust the brightness outside with an swipe down, a poke at the left quick settings button, a stab in the dark at the brightness grid label and a feel for the brightness slider. Even with this, pure Android a lighter and cleaner alternative in all other cases. Camera Moto X 2014 cant pull off premium without a vastly improved camera considering last years middling snapper. Motorola bumps the specs to 13 megapixels, up from the 10-megapixel rear camera that proved extremely inconsistent 12 months ago. With a 13MP sensor thats identical to many of todays Android smartphones, the new Moto X took much sharper pictures than its predecessor. It also put the autofocus in the right place more times than not. Thats not to say that its performance was flawless or as responsive as the speedier LG G3, but I walked away with higher-resolution photos and subjects in focus without the need to plead for retakes. Its a step in the right direction for Motorola. The default camera app is simple and straightforward like last year, offering a tap-to-snap touchscreen shutter button, Auto HDR and Panorama. The controls are hidden to the left, while swiping right explores the gallery. Whats interesting here is that Motorolas software tries to pick out the best pictures via its Highlight Reel functionality. Its not always perfect, but it does weed out blurry shots and handily group images for a quick comparison. Keep in mind that Moto Xs stripped-down manual focus and exposure options may make you leap for third-party alternatives in the Google Play Store, but Motorolas camera app is the only one that opens with two twists of a the wrist. Even if you dont use the default app all of the time, this shortcut makes for easy to capture photos in a minimal amount of time. The 13-megapixel camera is accompanied by a unique-sounding ring flash, which essentially means the lens is flanked by two LED flash bulbs. The right and left lights do an admirable job brightening up subjects to balance shots, but approaching subjects too closely still results in overblown pictures. When the Moto X gets things right colors temperature are oversaturated and pushed to the extreme on the equally saturated AMOLED. Its vibrate-looking, though not true to life in all cases. Selfies are best shot with the front-facing camera thats 2 megapixels and doesnt have a flash even if you want one. Both cameras can shoot 1080p HD video, but only the rear-facing camera is capable of slow motion video at 120fps and Ultra HD video quality at 30fps. The pixels extend to 2160p, which means Motorola is now welcomed into the 4K smartphone capture club. Whether or not you really want to use up your limited internal storage for such video files is up to you. Camera samples Battery life The new Moto X has a 2300 mAh battery backing up its larger screen, which is bigger than the 2200mAh battery found in last years model. That seems better on paper until you realize that the 5.2-inch screen requires more power throughout the day. Throughout our testing the new Moto X lasted us 24 hours with mixed use. Thats enough to plug it in at night without fail, but not as long-lasting as something like the Galaxy S5 with a 2800mAh battery. Motorola does benefit from the AMOLED Active Display because checking the time and notifications doesnt light up the entire screen. It also doesnt accidentally light up in this mode when face down or in a pocket. The companys Moto 360 smartwatch has a significantly shorter battery life of less than a day and its yet another thing to charge. However, also shored up our notification-checking addiction on the Moto X 2014 and ultimately helped the battery last even longer than 24 hours some days. When battery life is critical, though, its Samsung that swoops in with its Ultra Power Saving mode. It can be a real battery life-saver. Motorolas 10% is the same as its 90%. You also wont find a backward compatible micro USB 3.0 connection on the Moto X for faster charging and transfers, as seen in the Note 3 and S5. Motorola does sell a Turbo Charger that can add an impressive eight hours of battery life in just 15 minutes thanks to Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 technology. Its ideal for juicing up during work breaks in the day and layovers at the airport, but its not something youll get out of the box. It costs $35 (about £21, AU$40) through Motorolas Moto Maker store, unlike the Nexus 6 and Droid Turbo that come with the larger power brick. Verdict Moto X 2014s display size jumped half an inch, but the overall quality leapt a full foot from its also-ran origins. Thats not to say that it was a terrible mid-range device the first time around. Motorola has just updated the design and specs enough to make it a high-end contender in 12 short months. It takes on the premium label without sacrificing the low price point in most regions. In fact, the US price is actually a lot cheaper: $99 on contract, making it half the price of its leading competitors. SIM-free its still a deal: $499 (£419.99, AU$534). We liked The 5.2-inch display gives us more screen real estate without verging on phablet territory. Its still a one-handed device for people with large enough fingers and coupled with the AMOLED Moto Active Display that we wish all smartphone manufacturers would blatantly copy already. A metal frame makes it feel as good as the screen looks, while Moto Maker combinations now total in the thousands. The pure Android OS is thankfully only supplemented by Motorolas useful apps and the price makes it Androids hidden treasure. X truely does mark the spot. We disliked Its premium, but its not without pitfalls. Moto X 2014 doesnt have a micro SD card slot, so youre either stuck with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. You can also forget about taking it in any sort of water. Its not IP67 waterproof like many other Androids so hold onto it tight. Wait, dont hold onto it too tightly. That all-new premium leather back cost more, but bruised on us rather easily. The 13-megapixel rear camera takes better photos than before - not much of an accomplishment. Were still not convinced itll ever take the shot we want every time. Final Verdict Dont think that just because the Moto X 2014 name didnt get much of a change that the phone is just a basic specs bump. Motorolas new flagship smartphone proves that the reinvented company is listening to customer feedback with a bigger screen and aluminum metal frame, all for a price thats better than its competition. It only half-listened the requests for a superior camera and didnt pay attention to pleas for a micro SD slot. The good news is that Motorola continuing with its popular Moto Maker customization policies. That means personalized backs including new soft leather and trim accents on the front and around the camera lense. And yet the firm doesnt tinker with the pure Android experience set forth by Google. The specs are more robust while the software stays minimal, the opposite of other Android phones out there. Thats just the way Motorola rolls, and we rather enjoy it. First reviewed: September 2014
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 06:15:55 +0000
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