You have no one to be pissed at but yourself if you thought this was gonna be any different.

NoNexus

Well-known member
May 10, 2013
301
0
0
Visit site
The specs were pretty much leaked all over. We knew going into today what they were gonna be.
The look was leaked all over, and lo and behold it is pretty much dead on.
You knew it was going to be on all US carriers, you know what goes along with that. Only the Gnex escaped the wrath of the carriers (bloat) and even that did not come away unscathed. This includes locked bootloaders. It has yet be seen how locked down they are, but I wouldnt bet (especially if you are on Verizon) that they are going to be all that easy to unlock.

Price: The minute you heard that this was a flagship phone, you HAD to know that it was going to be priced the same as a SGS4 or a HTC One. There were never going to be subsidies. If you thought otherwise, you just were fooling yourself. Google Owns Moto Mobility. This is true, but even though they are part of the same company, they COULD NOT subsidize the phone. Motorola still has to make money. Google is not going to eat the bottom line forever.

Even more than that, Google COULD NOT subsidize the phone even if they wanted to. For the final sale to go through, Google had to promise that Motorola would get no special treatment. None. Not on Pricing, not on early access, NONE. This is for 5 years from the date of sale. China Clears Google's Motorola Deal - WSJ.com

Will you see a Moto Nexus? Sure if they beat out the competition in a fair and unbiased fight. But the fight has to be fair.

Blur was always going to be a part of the equation. It is Motorola. Making it pure Android could be considered an "unfair advantage" and go against the agreement I linked to above. I will be honest, I am not sure what exactly is included and not included as far as Blur extras (I havent really seen much) but the point of this phone is quite simply to show that you can have a full featured phone, with a skin that runs beautifully on 6 month old hardware. Blur is there and the features are there, but this should be fast as anything, and as intuitive as people feel Vanilla Android is.

You might see a GPe Moto X, I feel that you surely will. Don't expect the price to be any different than the GPe One or SGS4. It won't be and you will just be setting yourself up for more disappointment. Same thing goes for the Developer edition.

Where you have every right to be pissed is the dumb exclusive stuff with ATT. I don't care if it is a day or a year, that is a major mess up in almost everyone's opinion. 16 and 32GB as well as customization right off the bat on all carriers. That is how it should have been done. But someone at ATT really threw money (or blackmailed) the brass at Moto for this one. I am guessing it has something to do with the Razr line being exclusive to VZW and ATT threatening that they needed a bone.

Don't expect to see Google suck down any costs associated with Motorola from here on out for at least 4 years, if ever. It cannot happen. Would Google really give up China to pay for you to take a phone? I think not.

Personally, this was never on my radar so I really have no dog in this race. I have been holing out to see what the Honami, G2 and Note 3 bring to the table before burning the upgrade I have.

In the end, this phone should send some serious thoughts through the industry. Assemble it in the US and cut the skins down to size, you can still have a great phone without bolted on extras (Samsung). It also might help to curb the "numbers game" with extra cores, higher clock speeds and stuff like that.
 

Scott Kenyon

Well-known member
Apr 2, 2011
2,060
1
0
Visit site
GPe Moto X would be awful. You'll pay more, and lose all the features. You'd be better off buying a Nexus 4 from the Play Store. Pretty much the same thing.

Sent from my HTC One with MoDaCo.SWITCH Beta 8 using Mobile Nations mobile app
 

NoNexus

Well-known member
May 10, 2013
301
0
0
Visit site
Your right but there will be a segment that wants it. I know the Verge is the only one saying that it is coming but I have to think that most flagships will be going this route from here on out
 

benhmadison

Well-known member
Mar 30, 2011
812
0
0
Visit site
I think the release of price/full specs on the Moto X just remind us how great of a deal the Nexus 4 really is.

Sent from my HTC One using AC Forums mobile app
 

NoNexus

Well-known member
May 10, 2013
301
0
0
Visit site
The comment below is in response to the Nexus comment a few up from this post:

Not really. If Google wasn't footing the bill, it would be priced the same way the X is.
 

tdizzel

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2011
1,214
49
0
Visit site
Lol and why is that?

Because they took last year's device, added some "moto magic" and now are gonna market the hell out of it to get people to buy it. So basically, they pulled an Apple. This is a nice device but it is not a 2013 flagship Android device, but they're acting like it is and treating us like we're sheep.
 

osubeavs728

Well-known member
Jan 27, 2010
1,119
27
0
Visit site
Because they took last year's device, added some "moto magic" and now are gonna market the hell out of it to get people to buy it. So basically, they pulled an Apple. This is a nice device but it is not a 2013 flagship Android device, but they're acting like it is and treating us like we're sheep.

You have to realize the irony and hypocrisy of your statement... I mean look at your signature....
 

Aquila

Retired Moderator
Feb 24, 2012
15,904
0
0
Visit site
This is a nice device but it is not a 2013 flagship Android device

Other than the screen resolution and number of cores, it matches or beats specs on most devices it is being compared to and handily beats several on software. It's not the God Phone that everyone wanted for $5 off contract, but it is definitely in a league with the S4 and One for user experience, if not on the spec sheet.

Smaller battery, but way better battery life (advertised, yet to be tested). Less MP on the camera than the S4, but (again advertised) better camera quality, 2 cores instead of 4, but meeting performance closely in controlled tests and exceeding speed and fluidity in the OS because of optimization, etc.

The conversation doesn't stop at the spec sheet, that's just a tiny subject of the entire experience. These are the arguments that cause people to call the iPhone and Nexus devices midrange, despite their dominance on the user experience side of things in their respective markets. Would it have been nicer at a lower price? Maybe... but what wouldn't?

This device did not live up to the wishes, but it isn't a trash heap device by any means and has some clear benefits over the competition that are very relevant. What device has ever lived up to the wishes of tech blog commentors?
 

NoNexus

Well-known member
May 10, 2013
301
0
0
Visit site
Because they took last year's device, added some "moto magic" and now are gonna market the hell out of it to get people to buy it. So basically, they pulled an Apple. This is a nice device but it is not a 2013 flagship Android device, but they're acting like it is and treating us like we're sheep.

There are some very important differences in how things are handled, the trimming of Blur and a few other nuisances that you are apparently missing out on because you are watching the spec sheet. This phone isnt about the hardware, it is the software.

You have to realize the irony and hypocrisy of your statement... I mean look at your signature....

THIS
 

tdizzel

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2011
1,214
49
0
Visit site
There are some very important differences in how things are handled, the trimming of Blur and a few other nuisances that you are apparently missing out on because you are watching the spec sheet. This phone isnt about the hardware, it is the software.



THIS

What specs am I watching? Please tell me because I don't remember mentioning any
 

NoNexus

Well-known member
May 10, 2013
301
0
0
Visit site
Because they took last year's device, added some "moto magic" and now are gonna market the hell out of it to get people to buy it. So basically, they pulled an Apple. This is a nice device but it is not a 2013 flagship Android device, but they're acting like it is and treating us like we're sheep.

If you are not looking a specs, then please explain this statement.
 

tdizzel

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2011
1,214
49
0
Visit site
If you are not looking a specs, then please explain this statement.

Look at Samsung. People say some of their stuff is gimmicky, but Samsung is innovating. Look at HTC, they're innovating. What is innovative about the X? Android flagships should be about innovating. For this being the second half of 2013, what is innovative about this phone? They made iphone-esque "improvements" over what is already existing but brought absolutely nothing new that is even a slight game changer.
 

NoNexus

Well-known member
May 10, 2013
301
0
0
Visit site
Yes but the software optimization is the innovation. They have proven that you can have a full featured phone, with a skin, and give it tremendous battery life and a smooth user experience without cutting corners. You can add to the vanilla android without sacrificing performance.

I am sure that there are a few more tricks in the software itself, including more about the always on feature, that we havent heard about because there has not really been enough "hands on time"
 

Aquila

Retired Moderator
Feb 24, 2012
15,904
0
0
Visit site
Look at Samsung. People say some of their stuff is gimmicky, but Samsung is innovating. Look at HTC, they're innovating. What is innovative about the X? Android flagships should be about innovating. For this being the second half of 2013, what is innovative about this phone? They made iphone-esque "improvements" over what is already existing but brought absolutely nothing new that is even a slight game changer.

Zoes are the only thing from the two manufacturers that you mentioned that I consider remotely innovative. As for the Moto, they're pushing performance boundaries instead of just bumping specs and hoping for a win, increasing battery life, camera quality and the communication functions of the device (not sure about how well this is executed, but you can see the direction)... you know, the things that people constantly ask for.

You don't want to have to worry about a charger, you don't want to take 5 pictures hoping 1 is a winner and you want your phone to understand what you want and accomplish it efficiently. That's what they're doing. It's not really innovation... it's refinement. That's what Android 4.3 and 5.0 are both about.

I'm not really sure what you mean by innovation, but we clearly have a different understanding of the strategies surrounding the products and I'm not sure you are trying to grasp the implications of what this device means as a first step towards a much better Android.

I think we can use one question to help this along. Do you think the S4 is a better device than the Nexus 4, vice versa, or that they're relatively even?
 

Aquila

Retired Moderator
Feb 24, 2012
15,904
0
0
Visit site
I'm not suggesting the Moto X is the best phone out there, better than the S4, etc. I'm really saying that experience is not captured by the spec sheet. The S4 and the Moto X are really two distinct philosophies, despite both being on Android and I love that the distinction is there.
 

tdizzel

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2011
1,214
49
0
Visit site
Zoes are the only thing from the two manufacturers that you mentioned that I consider remotely innovative. As for the Moto, they're pushing performance boundaries instead of just bumping specs and hoping for a win, increasing battery life, camera quality and the communication functions of the device (not sure about how well this is executed, but you can see the direction)... you know, the things that people constantly ask for.

You don't want to have to worry about a charger, you don't want to take 5 pictures hoping 1 is a winner and you want your phone to understand what you want and accomplish it efficiently. That's what they're doing. It's not really innovation... it's refinement. That's what Android 4.3 and 5.0 are both about.

I'm not really sure what you mean by innovation, but we clearly have a different understanding of the strategies surrounding the products and I'm not sure you are trying to grasp the implications of what this device means as a first step towards a much better Android.

I think we can use one question to help this along. Do you think the S4 is a better device than the Nexus 4, vice versa, or that they're relatively even?

Touchless gestures, eyetracking, front facing speakers...I could go on. Some might say they were gimmicky, but they are definitely innovative.
as for the X pushing performance boundaries there are smartphones with better battery life(and we don't even know if it really gets the life they say it will) Early impressions of the camera haven't been favorable. And the always on feature was innovative when it was done in google glass, less innovative for the Xbox, and not at all innovative now.
I'm not gonna argue about it being refinement. They are saying "other phones do this, we just do it better" that sounds exactly like something some company out of Cupertino would say. And i don't see how appleizing Android will make it better.
I've used the S4 but never used the Nexus 4 so I can't comment on that.
 

Members online

Trending Posts

Forum statistics

Threads
942,411
Messages
6,913,957
Members
3,158,400
Latest member
m1000