what if you dont care about custom colors?

RavenSword

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Here's the thing I wonder about this phone:

The ability to cosmetically customize the phone is one of Motorola major selling point for this phone.

But aren't most people going to put this phone in a case? So then who cares how the back if the phone looks?

We are then left with its software, hardware, and experience .

Without the customizability angle being a factor for some, if not the majority of us because we use cases, then is the tech inside going to be compelling enough to sell it?or the software and experience?

I'm interested in the phone, but will the phone be able to last me a year and a half or two years if I get it on contract? (Which I have to for financial reasons. I am on a family plan so I don't need to personally worry about paying a monthly bill. And if I do,it'd only 40 bucks.( My folks don't usually make me pay for the line,though. I'm pretty fortunate :) )

What do you guys think?
 

ultravisitor

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I'm interested in the phone, but will the phone be able to last me a year and a half or two years if I get it on contract?

The only way to know is to wait and see. There are no other phones like it that have been on the market for any period of time. Motorola's X8 is new, so no one really knows. In benchmark comparisons, it's performing better than many would believe. In a side by side comparison with the HTC One, it loaded a game faster than the One. But again, the X8 is too new, I think, to predict how the phone going to perform a year and a half from now.

And I won't be putting a case on mine.
 

jdbii

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I think customization is a gimmick and won't last. Apple has nailed the market after decades development with cutting edge design, loyal customers, and being first with the iPhone that factors heavily into buying decisions, but even then there are basically two options -- white and black. I think sleek and attractive devices with a couple color options is the industry model that is here to stay. I might be missing the importance of marketing as well as whether or not heavy customization catches on with younger and upcoming generations, but I think Moto X customization will be a dud for the long run.
 

roadkizzle

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Truly, I really don't care about the customizability for the phone. I'll be doing it just because I can and I'm on AT&T, but it's nowhere in my reasons for preferring the phone over the SGS4 or HTC One.

I love the software features of Touchless Control, Active Display, and form factor, and hope the battery life will be substantial (I am holding off on making any decisions about phone purchases until after I read many reviews testing the batteries).
The GPU and screen size are very promising for actually making a smooth phone that appears to be more than adequate for any gaming purposes I would desire.

Edit:
I think that the Customization aspects will appeal to a LARGE portion of the potential user base, especially in the younger generation and more fashion-conscious people, and I think it's a terrible mistake to restrict this ability to AT&T for any length of time. I still definitely feel that the phone stands on its own without any attention payed to the customization.
 

Paisley

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How long has your last phone lasted you? and what happened that it no longer lasted? Cuz when you say "last", usually that has to do with internal storage and how upgrades and new apps deal with your current capacity.
I don't see what would come up to make this an issue on a 16GB phone. Do you want a significant portion of your music library online? cuz no sd card. And there is nothing it doesn't have that will make it last less than any phone on the market other than expandable storage, which is only an issues if you need certain things from it. So yes, it will totally last.

It's LTE, so no worries there, that's all other phones have as well.

The software is pretty awesome. :D. Other phones will have to play catchup on the always ready.

Personally, i want nothing to do with the colors. If it had a fabulous gold i'd consider it. lol.
 

ultravisitor

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I think that the Customization aspects will appeal to a LARGE portion of the potential user base, especially in the younger generation and more fashion-conscious people, and I think it's a terrible mistake to restrict this ability to AT&T for any length of time. I still definitely feel that the phone stands on its own without any attention payed to the customization.

I agree. The people from whom I'm hearing that customization supposedly isn't a big deal are people who are very much a part of the tech crowd. The other people from whom I've heard about the Moto X are psyched about it because of the customization aspect--and this includes people with ages ranging from early twenties to late 30s and early 40s.

And yeah, from what I've seen so far, the phone totally stands on its own apart from the ability to customize it.
 

jdbii

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I agree. The people from whom I'm hearing that customization supposedly isn't a big deal are people who are very much a part of the tech crowd. The other people from whom I've heard about the Moto X are psyched about it because of the customization aspect--and this includes people with ages ranging from early twenties to late 30s and early 40s.

And yeah, from what I've seen so far, the phone totally stands on its own apart from the ability to customize it.

But there is nothing unique about the customization that gives Motorola and Google any sort of competitive edge other than being first. Being first won't be enough because competitors can very quickly and easily copy the model if it is a hit. Apple had the luxury of not only being first but also being exclusive for a long time. Motorola won't have the same advantage and the competition will move in fast.
 

philly

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Here's the thing I wonder about this phone:

The ability to cosmetically customize the phone is one of Motorola major selling point for this phone.

But aren't most people going to put this phone in a case? So then who cares how the back if the phone looks?

We are then left with its software, hardware, and experience .

Without the customizability angle being a factor for some, if not the majority of us because we use cases, then is the tech inside going to be compelling enough to sell it?or the software and experience?

I'm interested in the phone, but will the phone be able to last me a year and a half or two years if I get it on contract? (Which I have to for financial reasons. I am on a family plan so I don't need to personally worry about paying a monthly bill. And if I do,it'd only 40 bucks.( My folks don't usually make me pay for the line,though. I'm pretty fortunate :) )

What do you guys think?

1. the customization is only a factor for ATT customers, doesn't matter to the rest of us (at least for right now)
2. many people don't use cases, the customization is a great feature for them (me).
 

JungleLarry

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But there is nothing unique about the customization that gives Motorola and Google any sort of competitive edge other than being first. Being first won't be enough because competitors can very quickly and easily copy the model if it is a hit. Apple had the luxury of not only being first but also being exclusive for a long time. Motorola won't have the same advantage and the competition will move in fast.
Well, being a first mover does present its own competitive advantage, though not necessarily long term as you mentioned. The problem with the customization aspect is it severely alters the supply chain management for a product. Hell, it even alters how a company has to account for said product as inventory.

Not cheap. Not easy. I don't think you're correct in thinking this will be universally adopted in a short period of time.
 

SteelGator

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Not cheap. Not easy. I don't think you're correct in thinking this will be universally adopted in a short period of time.

+1

Customization, if a hit, will be a challenge for a fast follow. To many moving parts, and really the phone needs to be designed for it. It would not be unreasonable for it to take two generations for others to catch up--it is incumbent on Moto to make sure the perfect the process and potentially add items that can be customized.

I think it is an AT&T exclusive, at least in part, to phase in the launch. Going to AT&T and VZW out of the gate would have really strained the supply chain.
 

tdizzel

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Not cheap. Not easy. I don't think you're correct in thinking this will be universally adopted in a short period of time.

True, but if the customization is very popular on AT&T, how hard would it be, for example, for Samsung to say "buy a GS4 for $49 on contract and get a free customized case" Now you're getting a great phone for a quarter of the price, you can walk into a store and take the phone home immediately(you'd only have to wait for the case) and you still get some level of customization.
 

jdbii

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2 generations sounds quick to me. Maybe 2 generations to market and distribute in the US, but in China it'd take less than 6 months to get a product like this on the domestic market from scratch. Hence, by the time they entered Korean, Japanese, US and everywhere else the product would already be 1.5 years into the making. Don't get me wrong, the success or failure of the Moto X isn't going to hinge on customization but rather the quality and user experience of the device. From everything I've seen so far I'm won over with how impressive the phone is, but as pointed out its not cheap and easy and introduces many pitfalls. There won't be much room or time for Motorola to stumble and recover if they run into production and assembly problems. Personally I don't think heavy customization is going to catch on anyway but we'll see.
 

Lanzeelus

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Are people seriously still using the "People use cases so hardware doesn't matter" excuse? Well maybe that's why Motorola offers transparent cases as an add-on in Moto Maker, so you can protect your phone and still see the customizations. That whole argument is null and void here.
 

JungleLarry

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True, but if the customization is very popular on AT&T, how hard would it be, for example, for Samsung to say "buy a GS4 for $49 on contract and get a free customized case" Now you're getting a great phone for a quarter of the price, you can walk into a store and take the phone home immediately(you'd only have to wait for the case) and you still get some level of customization.
Well, my post was assuming that this whole customization aspect is as new to the industry as it is to us consumers...which it probably isn't. Corporate espionage is a tricky beast, and I'm guessing this idea has been thrown around board rooms for all the major OEMs since whispers of this phone arose. That makes it hard to pinpoint a strategy and a timetable for the other players. Maybe sooner, maybe later. Who knows.

That being said, I don't know how persuasive a free custom case is vs. a completely customized phone, but I'm no marketing guy. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, especially given the currently similar price points of all these devices. Right now, I'd give the *customizability* edge to Motorola, but I believe you're correct in assuming that Samsung/HTC (through their respective carriers) have the edge in potentially pricing their phones lower since they've been on the market longer. That would effectively present better value for many consumers.
 

SteelGator

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2 generations sounds quick to me. Maybe 2 generations to market and distribute in the US, but in China it'd take less than 6 months to get a product like this on the domestic market from scratch. Hence, by the time they entered Korean, Japanese, US and everywhere else the product would already be 1.5 years into the making. Don't get me wrong, the success or failure of the Moto X isn't going to hinge on customization but rather the quality and user experience of the device. From everything I've seen so far I'm won over with how impressive the phone is, but as pointed out its not cheap and easy and introduces many pitfalls. There won't be much room or time for Motorola to stumble and recover if they run into production and assembly problems. Personally I don't think heavy customization is going to catch on anyway but we'll see.

I agree that heavy customization will not catch on. The more choice you introduce for customers, the less able they are to choose. Moto will have to work hard to keep it simple, so people are not so overwhelmed they quit and get the 'easier' product.

I think the idea is cool, and as a marketer, I will have fun watching what they do with this. There is a lot of potential there, but it is not easy to execute.
 

jdbii

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I agree that heavy customization will not catch on. The more choice you introduce for customers, the less able they are to choose. Moto will have to work hard to keep it simple, so people are not so overwhelmed they quit and get the 'easier' product.

I think the idea is cool, and as a marketer, I will have fun watching what they do with this. There is a lot of potential there, but it is not easy to execute.

I didn't even think about Quality Assurance. What a headache. This also strikes me as gender-specific strategy since women put a lot more foresight into accessorizing and fashion then men.
 

SteelGator

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I didn't even think about Quality Assurance. What a headache. This also strikes me as gender-specific strategy since women put a lot more foresight into accessorizing and fashion then men.

True. I am struggling between the X and the Maxx. If I go X, I will wait for VZW to get custom and I will go team colors for one of my favorite teams, depending on the palette available.

The battery, wireless charging and 32 gb of the Maxx are going to be hard to pass on, especially if it turns out that the form factor is the only difference between the Droids and the X.
 

SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl

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Here's the thing I wonder about this phone:

The ability to cosmetically customize the phone is one of Motorola major selling point for this phone.

But aren't most people going to put this phone in a case? So then who cares how the back if the phone looks?

1st - Many people don't use cases and B) really? people could give a **** about what the phone looks like?
 

ysbg

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I never really cared about the color of my phone. If the nexus 4 came only in pink I would have gotten it because I wanted a nexus 4. Yet after seeing all those different colors for the moto x I'm thinking I wouldn't mind being able to pick my color and get a change from the usual black. Why not get a yellow phone and feel like my phone is finally a bit different. But if the option was not there I wouldn't have cared. I'm more interested in the active display to be honest.
 

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