Moto X: Moto X vs Rooted Galaxy S4 (April'14)

[Varun P]

I am looking to buy a new phone and have heard a lot of good stuff about the Moto X. The other contender for my budget is the S4. As for the S4 most of the complaints seem to be related to TouchWiz. After i get either one of the phone i am going to root it. So my question is that if the S4 is running a decent Near Stock Android ROM(like CM11 or something similar) will it be a better choice than the Moto X? I would love a phone running stock android with a great camera!

Also can i get Active Notifications on the S4 after root? ( it should function as nicely as it does on the Moto x)

Any inputs will be appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
** I stay in India, do not have MotoMaker but do have colour and wood options. Also Rooting the S4 won't be a problem.

 

[enik]

Re: Moto X vs Rooted Galaxy S4 (April'14)

I am looking to buy a new phone and have heard a lot of good stuff about the Moto X. The other contender for my budget is the S4. As for the S4 most of the complaints seem to be related to TouchWiz. After i get either one of the phone i am going to root it. So my question is that if the S4 is running a decent Near Stock Android ROM(like CM11 or something similar) will it be a better choice than the Moto X? I would love a phone running stock android with a great camera!

Also can i get Active Notifications on the S4 after root? ( it should function as nicely as it does on the Moto x)

Any inputs will be appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
** I stay in India, do not have MotoMaker but do have colour and wood options. Also Rooting the S4 won't be a problem.

Honestly go with the moto if you do not want Touchwiz. It will be smoother and the faux active display built into some ROMs is not as good as Motorola's. You'd also be losing touchless control!

 

[Snake Griffin]

Re: Moto X vs Rooted Galaxy S4 (April'14)

You can root the Moto X but there's little point to loading a custom ROM as it already feels like a phone running AOSP with some great features on top.

I had a GS3 before this which was rooted and I ran ROMs on it. It was much much better than having Touchwiz but it was not as stable...not to say that it crashed all the time but there were always little things here and there that became annoyances. I needed my phone for actual use and got tired of messing with it periodically. With the Moto X I don't have the need to put a ROM on it, the phone runs for me exactly how I wanted the GS3 to be.

Also something to consider, although the GS4 will have a better camera as soon as you put a custom ROM on it the camera quality will get worse. One of the things that make the GS4 camera good is the Samsung camera software which you will lose if you get rid of Touchwiz. You could get an app that mimicks active notifications for the GS4, I did that with the GS3 and it worked alright but I didn't use it very much. Finally, I can't speak for the GS4 but compared to the GS3 the build quality on the Moto X is a whole level better and that may matter in the long run. My GS3 sort of started to fall apart over time - the USB connector became loose and connecting to a CPU or to charge it became problematic, the microphone broke and I couldn't talk to people and within a few weeks of ownership the back cover developed cracks which just made the phone creaky and less solid feeling, that's not to mention the (edited by Moderator) pentile screen which produced a purple hue to the white colors. I'm pretty sure that some of those things have been fixed on the GS4 and beyond but all of that left me with a bad taste in my mouth and pushed me away from Samsung phones. I'd like to get a Galaxy Note phone one of these days but as long the build quality doesn't improve I'm staying away (checking out the Note 3 forums with all the cracked screens is enough to keep me away).

 

[Murph5150]

Re: Moto X vs Rooted Galaxy S4 (April'14)

Here's the bottom line. Moto X will offer better signal reception and a longer battery life.

The S4, which I use, has sub-par reception, decent battery life, and an excellent processor for gaming and multitasking.

If Motorola would step up their game in the processor department, they'd be my next upgrade.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[benhaube]

Re: Moto X vs Rooted Galaxy S4 (April'14)

Here's the bottom line. Moto X will offer better signal reception and a longer battery life.

The S4, which I use, has sub-par reception, decent battery life, and an excellent processor for gaming and multitasking.

If Motorola would step up their game in the processor department, they'd be my next upgrade.

Posted via Android Central App

I switched from a galaxy S4 to the Moto X, and even though the processor is not as good on paper there is no noticeable difference in speed. And after all the GPU is identical to that of the s4. When it comes to gaming the Moto x does just as well.

Overall the Moto X is the better phone. Not having touchwhiz is a major plus and you could not pay me to go back to a Samsung phone of any kind.

Sent from my XT1060 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[techwxy]

Re: Moto X vs Rooted Galaxy S4 (April'14)

I find people on these forums are bit too harsh on Samsung Galaxy and iPhones in general. Just because they capture the most general public, does not automatically make them bad phones.

I own both S4 and a Moto X. I currently use a Moto X, and gave the S4 to my wife. They BOTH are great phones. I'll list out the pro and cons based on my experience.

- S4 has the better camera by far( I do agree that you have to use the stock touchWiz camera to get the most out it)
- S4 wins the display, hands down. I know that most people won't tell the difference between 720p vs 1080p. But if you put S4 and Moto X side by side, you'll be wowing at S4's gorgeous display, not saying Moto X's display is bad, just S4 is better.
- Removable battery and option to add Micro-sd can be huge plus for some, I am OK to live without.
- Both have excellent battery life, Moto X edges out by a bit, despite its smaller battery.
- Moto X's activity notification is awesome, plus you can unlock the phone without having to reach for the power button (it will be more hassle if you have a password/pin setup of course)
- Moto X feels great in hand, its width just few mini-meters narrower than S4, but seems that made the difference between comfortable one hand use or not.
- The touchless control on Moto X is far less useful then its active notification, unless you have the habit of talking to your phone.
- Don't see much mentioning, but the sound on the Moto X is top notch, it's the best sounding Smartphone I've used so far (and I've used tons them). It clearly beats the S4 on this department.

To conclude, I am happy with either one of these 2 phones, there is no clear winner here, but you will get a distinctively different user experience between these 2 phones. For the OP, I would not get a Samsung S4 and put a non-touchwiz rom on it, it basically defeat the purpose of a S4, in many aspects. Touchwiz is not as bad as some of these guys mentioned here.. If you want a AOSP experience, get a Moto X or Nexus 5.