Motorola Went Big and Gimmicky on the Moto X (2014) a La Samsung This Time

[livetoride4666]

I agree with the spirit of the OP though not really the "gimmicky" part.

The new Moto X looks to me like an up-spec'd DROID MAXX without the battery.

The draw of the Moto X (2013) was its ergonomics, build quality, and the Moto features like Active Notification and Voice which provided a high level of integration with Google apps.

The ergonomic single-handed usability and easy pocketability of the original is now gone. That was its main distinguishing feature. It is now a high-end android phone in a very conventional / conservative sense competing on specs and build quality. It may succeed in that sense but I think the soul of the original Moto X just died.

Well if that was the soul of the X then the soul wasn't very successful. Motorola is hoping the bigger screen sells more, at least in my opinion.

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[anon(464338)]

1. That would be great. Could you provide us the link(s) to this Moto statement?
2. Does the CPU also use less battery power?
3. Also does anyone know how much battery all those IR sensors are going to use?

You certainly have alot of questions for someone who is already seemingly made his mind up on the phone. Which comes to my point. The phone was JUST announced, no one has had a chance to even use it to know such things as battery life. So how can you even form an opinion based off of specs and a few introduction videos?? And by the way if your big gripe on "gimmicks" is using the already implemented "active display" in a hands free way, that's absurd. I didn't hear anyone mention anything about the big allure to this and the previous x which is a basically stock Android experience. It's this that makes the phone run smoother than most phones. It's this fact that makes this phone actually as far away from a copy cat as could be. I totally don't follow why this thread was even made. Opinions.. Yes. Ration thought... mmm.. Not so much.

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[shady28]

Well if that was the soul of the X then the soul wasn't very successful. Motorola is hoping the bigger screen sells more, at least in my opinion.

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The OG X was a high quality, smallish android phone. I viewed it as an Android based phone for people who would otherwise buy an iPhone - many think it looks retarded to walk around with a 5.5" phone (me included) and that such devices are not convenient. I also don't think the iPhone 5.5" will sell well - I do think the 4.7" will do well though. In any case, there is no longer a high end similar-to-iphone size \ quality \ power android from Motorola.

 

[mountainman15]

The OG X was a high quality, smallish android phone. I viewed it as an Android based phone for people who would otherwise buy an iPhone - many think it looks retarded to walk around with a 5.5" phone (me included) and that such devices are not convenient. I also don't think the iPhone 5.5" will sell well - I do think the 4.7" will do well though. In any case, there is no longer a high end similar-to-iphone size \ quality \ power android from Motorola.

The Note series has shown that there is a big market for "phablet" size phones. The 5.5" iPhone will sell like hotcakes. It's not for me, but there are plenty of people out there that want it.

 

[livetoride4666]

The OG X was a high quality, smallish android phone. I viewed it as an Android based phone for people who would otherwise buy an iPhone - many think it looks retarded to walk around with a 5.5" phone (me included) and that such devices are not convenient. I also don't think the iPhone 5.5" will sell well - I do think the 4.7" will do well though. In any case, there is no longer a high end similar-to-iphone size \ quality \ power android from Motorola.

I agree with you about the 5.5 inch screen but we're not talking about 5.5" phones. The Moto is 5.2 and the new 4.7 iPhone will probably the same size or larger than the new X. Their top and bottom bezels will make the phone very long.

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[shady28]

I agree with you about the 5.5 inch screen but we're not talking about 5.5" phones. The Moto is 5.2 and the new 4.7 iPhone will probably the same size or larger than the new X. Their top and bottom bezels will make the phone very long.

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I suspect we'll see the iPhone 4.7 resonate with male users, not female ones. 4.7 is really starting to push the one handed use idea, although the iphone 5+ screen ratio makes it easier.

Along those lines. 5.2" is not one handed usable unless you have really large hands. I had a droid MAXX (5") and it was not a one-hander at all with average size male hands. The OG Moto X is easily a one-hander for most people.

I think both Apple and Moto are making a mistake here. Apple should have gone with 4.3" and 4.7" screens. Moto should have stuck with 4.7" and just up-spec'd the device. Now they are making a device that isn't very distinguishable from an HTC DNA or last years MAXX.

 

[A895]

I suspect we'll see the iPhone 4.7 resonate with male users, not female ones. 4.7 is really starting to push the one handed use idea, although the iphone 5+ screen ratio makes it easier.

Along those lines. 5.2" is not one handed usable unless you have really large hands. I had a droid MAXX (5") and it was not a one-hander at all with average size male hands. The OG Moto X is easily a one-hander for most people.

I think both Apple and Moto are making a mistake here. Apple should have gone with 4.3" and 4.7" screens. Moto should have stuck with 4.7" and just up-spec'd the device. Now they are making a device that isn't very distinguishable from an HTC DNA or last years MAXX.

You assume too much, I am an avid smaller phone advocate and you are generalizing. The fact is phones have gotten bigger, have to adapt or die. For me if I will get any 5inch+ phone it will be the Moto X 2014.

 

[Farish]

I suspect we'll see the iPhone 4.7 resonate with male users, not female ones. 4.7 is really starting to push the one handed use idea, although the iphone 5+ screen ratio makes it easier.

Along those lines. 5.2" is not one handed usable unless you have really large hands. I had a droid MAXX (5") and it was not a one-hander at all with average size male hands. The OG Moto X is easily a one-hander for most people.

I think both Apple and Moto are making a mistake here. Apple should have gone with 4.3" and 4.7" screens. Moto should have stuck with 4.7" and just up-spec'd the device. Now they are making a device that isn't very distinguishable from an HTC DNA or last years MAXX.

Weird because the majority of Note users I have seen are women.

Or we shouldn't generalize and make assumptions when these companies spend millions/billions in product research and surveys and really do know better than us.

 

[Clocks]

Weird because the majority of Note users I have seen are women.

Or we shouldn't generalize and make assumptions when these companies spend millions/billions in product research and surveys and really do know better than us.

My wife loved her note 2, and loves her note 3. If the note 4 was waterproof I know we'd be buying one.

 

[Puzzlegal]

.....what did you expect?

This is pretty much what I expected, but it's certainly not what I hoped for. I wanted a larger battery, wireless charging, some updates to the voice commands, and the same fabulous size and ergonomics. I would also have welcomed a better camera, not because I care, but because I think that was the feature (or lack thereof) that hurt sales the most, and I'd like my phone to be popular and have a lot of third-party support.

You assume too much, I am an avid smaller phone advocate and you are generalizing. The fact is phones have gotten bigger, have to adapt or die. For me if I will get any 5inch+ phone it will be the Moto X 2014.

I'm a smart phone addict, but even I don't think I will die from the growth of phones. I'm currently eagerly checking out the new Sony compact. That's a nice-looking phone and the specs are great. If it works as well as it ought to, I might pick one up. I'd still miss wireless charging , and I might miss the voice commands. But I doubt it, I don't really like talking to my phone and only do it to get directions while driving.

 

[someguy01234]

This is pretty much what I expected, but it's certainly not what I hoped for. I wanted a larger battery, wireless charging, some updates to the voice commands, and the same fabulous size and ergonomics. I would also have welcomed a better camera, not because I care, but because I think that was the feature (or lack thereof) that hurt sales the most, and I'd like my phone to be popular and have a lot of third-party support.

I'm a smart phone addict, but even I don't think I will die from the growth of phones. I'm currently eagerly checking out the new Sony compact. That's a nice-looking phone and the specs are great. If it works as well as it ought to, I might pick one up. I'd still miss wireless charging , and I might miss the voice commands. But I doubt it, I don't really like talking to my phone and only do it to get directions while driving.

The camera is a Sony Exmor IMX135 sensor same as the LG G3 and Galaxy Note 3. It have dual flash and pre-shot buffer.

The voice commands are updated, as well as the entire Moto software suite.

And basically you want a larger battery while having the phone being 4.7" same size as the original. The only way that is possible is to make the phone 1.5cm, no one will buy it. And no one will buy a 4.7" phone as well because only a few people are looking to buy flagship phones with that screen size. (sure you are and a few other people, but they are looking to sell millions, not a few hundreds)

Your demands are not realistic.

Well, enjoy the Sony Z3 Compact.

 

[Puzzlegal]

Battery technology continues to improve. It is completely realistic to hope for a larger battery in the same physical form factor. Most of the newer phones are packing in more electrons per cubic inch, and the Sony compact has a rather hefty little battery.

Since the new Moto X is too large for my hands and pockets, I'm pretty indifferent to its camera. Woo hoo, it has the same camera as all the other phones that are too large for me to use. I'm perfectly fine with the camera in the original Moto X, my only issue is that I think it hurt sales. IMO, that hurt sales more than the size did.

Anyhow, I don't have any "demands". I'm not gonna die from not having my ideal smart phone, after all. I just have wishes. The original Moto X mostly met them. And they can't be too unrealistic, because Sony seems to be making that phone, too. (except for the wireless charging. But it does come with a magnetic charging port in addition to the USB port, which would be a lot less annoying, maybe almost as good as wireless.) I just hope there are some US versions available. That was the chief problem with last year's Sony -- it wasn't made for the US.

I actually suspect that it's largely the demands of fitting in a battery to power the phone that is driving size, not demand for giant screens. Give it a couple years for the technology to mature, and I bet companies compete for smaller phones, just as they now compete for smaller laptops. I have several friends who are still using flip phones, and point out that they are reluctant to move to smart phones because they are too large. That's a big, untapped market.

But if you want to hear my unrealistic demands, I want a phone made of silly putty. Well, something flexible, like silly putty, so that you can stretch it out to be very wide and tall and skinny when you want to watch the screen, but then scrunch it up into something smaller (and thicker) to fit it conveniently into your pocket. I'm not expecting that any time soon, of course. But it seems like the ideal. Everyone wants a screen just a little bigger when watching videos, and almost everyone wants it smaller when just making phone calls or pocketing it.

 

[someguy01234]

But if you want to hear my unrealistic demands, I want a phone made of silly putty. Well, something flexible, like silly putty, so that you can stretch it out to be very wide and tall and skinny when you want to watch the screen, but then scrunch it up into something smaller (and thicker) to fit it conveniently into your pocket. I'm not expecting that any time soon, of course. But it seems like the ideal. Everyone wants a screen just a little bigger when watching videos, and almost everyone wants it smaller when just making phone calls or pocketing it.

You'll have to wait for the Project Ara phone.

 

[shady28]

Weird because the majority of Note users I have seen are women.

Or we shouldn't generalize and make assumptions when these companies spend millions/billions in product research and surveys and really do know better than us.

There are many references I can point to that show women prefer Apple / iPhones.

As far as trusting companies know their markets - If you look at surveys with any sort of a critical eye, you'll quickly find that you can come to any conclusion you like by simply asking different questions, or asking them different ways. Moreover if you've been in a corporate environment for very long, you'll also quickly find that when those doing surveys don't produce the results the execs want to hear - they get replaced by a different survey company.

And my observation has been that women (and I work in an environment where 60%+ are women) will almost always go for an iPhone. I know a few who have android and of those - about half have Android because their husband bought their phone.

The Moto X (OG) was a phone that had what it took to change that. This new Moto X doesn't. There's nothing here to distinguish it from an HTC One M8, SGS5, Nexus 5, or Xperia Z3. It is just another big screen, high-end, fairly high quality Android phone. I'm sure it will do fine for what it is, but it isn't in the same vein as the original.

I think the "spiritual successor" to the Moto X is going to be the Xperia Z3 Compact, a 4.6" Snapdragon 801 waterproof phone with 2GB of RAM and build quality that would look perfectly at home with an apple logo on it.

Women prefer Apple, gentlemen prefer Samsung - CNET

http://readwrite.com/2012/05/22/why-the-iphones-success-has-women-to-thank

Android is for Boys? 73 Percent of Users Are Male

 

[Puzzlegal]

They compete for thinner and lighter laptops. Screen size below 13" is too hard for most people to view comfortably for long periods of time...

the 11" MacBook Air sells very well. Maybe not as well as the 13" one, but that's a nice-sized market.

I don't know anyone under the age of 65yo who uses a flip phone unless they cannot afford one.


It's largely a senior citizen market and it's not screen size that is keeping them away from smartphones, it is their fear of new technology and general lack of technical skills.

I know several people under 65 using flip phones. It always surprises me, because I hang out in a techie crowd. Maybe because these people also have MacBook Airs and tablets, they don't feel need for a smart phone.

And the two things they always cite are poor battery life and a size that isn't comfortable their pockets.

The younger generations don't make very many phone calls.

True. But a smaller phone is much better for texting, and for things like tapatalk and email, too. And for most anything that involves reaching across the phone.

 

[shady28]

But your point was that laptop manufacturers are competing with each other to make laptops smaller. No they are not. If they were we would have laptops with 5" screens. No one is trying to make laptops with 5" screens.

The 13-15" laptop range sells the most. Some people like 11" laptops, but they are the minority and the vast majority of this minority are under the age of 40. Once they are over the age of 40, unless ophthalmological surgery advances quite a bit and they can get their aging eyes fixed by surgery, they will likely want 13" or larger screens on their laptops.

...

I think you're making a bunch of assumptions based on what the flagship Android phones look like.

Google keeps track of screen sizes of Android's installed base for developers. You can find that here :

Dashboards | Android Developers

The ones in the "normal" range are about 3.5" to 4.5". They make up 80% of the Android installed base. 7.4% are below 3.5" (small). Together sub 4.5" phones make up 87.4% of the android market.

The > 4.5" large phones are about 12%.

The 4.5" Moto G was Motorola's best selling phone of all time. Moto sold 6.5 million phones in Q1 2014, and I would bet the screen size breakdown of those phones is about like the rest of the Android market.

 

[Paisley]

I think they had to (the big part). In order to compete with Samsung you have to make a Samsung-like phone. Also, the reality is, as far as the masses, if 5 phones in a store are all alike then people pick amongst those phones, if 4 are alike and 1 is different people will pick among the 4, they don't even visually register the one that is different.

 

[zedorda]

The main area the new Moto X fell short in the general methodology of the original Moto X. Is that the original Moto X can out at a time when 1080 was the new standard for flagships. The hardware was all overkill for 720 and that caused the old Moto X to be so buttery smooth. None of the current hardware is in anyway overkill with 1080 to the degree it was with the original Moto X and 720. Not enough time has even passed to have all the optimizations the X8 chipset had. The focus wasn't 100% about size to me with the original Moto X it was that it used time test and optimized hardware to product a fully matured experience. In this aspect the new Moto X can't be as smooth as the original. I can only hope in 2 years Moto will produce another highly optimized device with the same methodology. As I do believe the new Moto X is an upgrade it is not a successor along the same path.

 

[UJ95x]

How much screen on time can you get out of a Macbook Air running on its battery?

It gets over 12 hours

 

[Woosh]

I think the "spiritual successor" to the Moto X is going to be the Xperia Z3 Compact, a 4.6" Snapdragon 801 waterproof phone with 2GB of RAM and build quality that would look perfectly at home with an apple logo on it.

It's a nice phone that won't even be coming to the states. Even the iPhone is going bigger this year and it looks like people will be forced to go with oversized phones moving forward.

No idea why or how macbooks got into the discussion. /confused

As for the note series... I'd agree that it's more female friendly. Most notes that I see are carried by women. Likely because they have a purse to keep it in?

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