Arstechnica says the Moto X is the best overall Android phone of 2013

[UJ95x]

Are you talking about Verizon or the Moto X on any carrier?

Any carrier. The Nexus 4 is just getting the OTA. I believe the GPE S4 and One haven't received it yet.

 

[clankfu]

Any carrier. The Nexus 4 is just getting the OTA. I believe the GPE S4 and One haven't received it yet.

I think we'll get it sometime in December. If the soak tests start going out, that's a solid sign that we're not that far off.

 

[t0ked]

Verizon Moto X soak started as of today. So probably a week or two until its pushed out (that's the general pattern with big red, soak test, official release a week or two later). That means Droid flavors likely very soon afterwards. All in all, kitkat coming very soon at least on vzw, which is very surprising, but welcomed.

Motorola maybe pushing past Google to bolster sales. They did promise kitkat before the end of the year. The surprise is that vzw may the first of the MotoXs to get it.

 

[Ry]

Weird. It seems there's a segment that wants these sites to declare a "best" phone but if it's not their phone, they get kind of offended.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Tech First]

Weird. It seems there's a segment that wants these sites to declare a "best" phone but if it's not their phone, they get kind of offended.

Posted via Android Central App

Probably its more for the people who just google "best android phone" and then buy whatever is recommended for whoever Christmas present they are shopping for.

 

[JRDroid]

When I think of what is the best phone, I think what phone would I recommend someone I barely know. It has to do everything solidly, not have any major issues, and have a few cool "wow" features to boot. Until recently, that was the HTC One. Now, I think it is the Moto X. Sure there are phones with bigger screens, faster processors and more "features", but most of them also come with some sort of caveat. The One has a great screen and nice build and front speakers, but it is huge and heavy relative to its screen size. The GS4 is solid, but it has touchwiz, and touchwoz needs fine tuning for battery life. The G2 is great but between ots size, LGs terrible skin, and the rear buttons, I'm hesitant to recommend it to too many people. The Note is awesome but huge. The Moto X is this years goldilocks phone.

 

[UJ95x]

Probably its more for the people who just google "best android phone" and then buy whatever is recommended for whoever Christmas present they are shopping for.

Or they just like to start flame wars in the comment sections

Posted via Android Central App

 

[roadkizzle]

When I think of what is the best phone, I think what phone would I recommend someone I barely know. It has to do everything solidly, not have any major issues, and have a few cool "wow" features to boot. Until recently, that was the HTC One. Now, I think it is the Moto X. Sure there are phones with bigger screens, faster processors and more "features", but most of them also come with some sort of caveat. The One has a great screen and nice build and front speakers, but it is huge and heavy relative to its screen size. The GS4 is solid, but it has touchwiz, and touchwoz needs fine tuning for battery life. The G2 is great but between ots size, LGs terrible skin, and the rear buttons, I'm hesitant to recommend it to too many people. The Note is awesome but huge. The Moto X is this years goldilocks phone.

My big problem with the One is really its ergonomics. The phone just does not appear to be designed for human use. The power button is almost impossible to reach, the height of the phone means that you can't cradle it in your hand while using it.
Then they decided on the horrible decision to cram their branding down their customers throat rather than give them comfortable usage by taking up over half of their button real-estate with a crappy HTC logo. This sadly necessitated awkward compromises in between the multi-tasking functionality and Google Now implementation in the phone, not to mention making only two buttons uncomfortable to use while holding the phone naturally.

 

[eyesopen1111]

One of my female friends got a MotoX because it had pretty colors, and I thought it was a good, but nowhere near great, device.

I like the voice activation feature and the lockscreen reminded me of my old Nokia N9 low power screen. But there has to be a reality check as to how unimpressive it is compared to the other heavyweights. I asked myself, "Why would anyone be hungry to buy a MotoX?"

As it turns out, low sales demonstrate that they're not very hungry for it at all.

Any phone so uncompelling as to produce the Moto X's market effect has no legitimate claim on being the best Android phone. I'd honestly take at least 5 phones ahead of it.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[ultravisitor]

Any phone so uncompelling as to produce the Moto X's market effect has no legitimate claim on being the best Android phone.

So you're butthurt that your phone wasn't chosen as the best overall phone. Got it.

BTW, I hope I'm not the only one recognizing the irony of an HTC fan criticizing another manufacturer for low sales.

 

[Aquila]

Being a Moto X owner, I am not sure I would say it's the best, at least not absolutely. But I'll try to make a case for it's relative value to the Nexus (Warning, Long Post)

Disclaimer: There are obviously some consumers that value things that the G2 and Note 3 uniquely bring to the table very highly, this post isn't to them, but rather to those that go after the refinement and optimization philosophies, rather than the "cram it all in". If you NEED a HUGE phone, obviously the X, HTC One, iPhone and Nexus lines are not what you're shopping for and if there were more players, that niche could have it's own debate. As it stands in these comparisons, simply being large is not a selling point and can be a detraction, depending on execution, usability, etc.

It was the device that knocked the HTC One and Nexus 4 out of their fight for spot #1 and pushing the Nexus 5 to the top of the list (The Unofficial Android Central Nerds, blah blah Top 10 List, published Monthly) happened prior to it being released based on the Nexus trends. I haven't heard anything alarming about the Nexus 5 that would suggest to me it hasn't once again crowned the market, but those are clearly the top 2 devices out there, with (IMO) the iPhone 5s pulling up a close 3rd.

If we are talking Android only, the top 5 for me gets rounded out with the One, the LG G2 and the Note 3, probably in that order, although a very compelling argument could be made for the G2 over the One.

• Despite the 64-Bit OS on the A7, Moto did release the most advanced SoC so far,and by a long ways, demonstrating a clear understanding of the platform that not every OEM is grasping yet.
• That coupled with the first non-large phone that's able to consistently knock out an actual full day's use (Yes, I know the Note 2 and Optimus G Pro could, they're huge, as are their batteries) and to do so because of innovation in how the tech is used, rather than just a bigger battery. That being said, I'd have loved to see the same innovation coupled with a larger battery.
• Finally, again a first (at least in a couple of years), a device that changes the way that we do - and the way that we soon want to - interact with our devices. I'd venture that few would care as much about the ability to talk to Google Now from your home screen, with the screen on, in the GEL from the new search app if they had not seen the Moto X do it first. Hands free, predictive usage and meaningful shortcuts to the most important parts of the experience. An actual conversational partner in your battle (or affair) with the information overload that is our lives that is actively trying to make things more simple, rather than just adding a thing or two that the device "can do". It's downright delightful.
• I didn't use Moto Maker, so I'll stay hands off of that subject, other than to say there are some folks that are REALLY excited about it.

Racing with the GPe devices to put 4.4 on my last device in the house that doesn't have it (only one without the word "Nexus" on it) isn't hurting my opinion either. Anyone that can push through Verizon's "approval process" like this, deserves a giant hug and probably an investigation into their strong-arm tactics, because I suspect Verizon wasn't all cool beans about it.

Buying a phone that you know a lot about.... researching engineering concepts from a device whose philosophy have argued for and against, at length (much length) and contrasted with real world performance of the titan devices... only to see it win, time and time again. And then to be pleasantly surprised by it, over and over. That's what makes a winner.

The biggest complaint anyone had, once they stopped whining about the 720p screen that they cannot easily distinguish from a 1080p SAMOLED screen and that grants them the battery life and, to no small extent, active notifications that they love... and once they get over the "dual core" processor that is far more advanced, and apparently somewhat more muscular, than the all powerful quadcores... the biggest complaint is the Camera. It simply should not have been released without an update to the camera. My Moto didn't arrive until the first couple days of September and the Camera update arrived 7 weeks later. The one thing we always wanted: "yeah, that's not right, here's an update." To be fair, 2013 has been a year in which many OEM's have adopted that stance, but worst issue corrected and forward we go.

So does the Moto X beat the Nexus 5? In total value per dollar? No. At $100 more, I don't like not having instant updates made available to me (it's only been three weeks, but I have noticed that the 4 Nexus devices have it and this does not and I have no illusions about the next major update's chances of coming out only three weeks later to the Moto X.). On paper the Nexus 5 has a "stronger" processor, definitely it is clocked higher, it has the 1080p LCD that everyone wants, a better camera (hardware), the faster (Instant) updates and is available in far more places on the Earth (that's really important, even to a North American-centric blog). If you value numbers about theoretical performance and winning spec measuring contests, the Nexus is hands down the best device you can buy today. If you value real world performance, there is a fight to be had and the winner is not obvious.

Here's the bottom line for me: My only service choice other than Verizon is AT&T and I have unlimited now. If the Nexus 5 was on Verizon and being treated like a Nexus, I would probably have bought the Nexus 5. If the Moto X didn't exist, I would have left Verizon. Verizon has by far superior service in my area (almost twice as fast data for the same price and unlimited rather than tiered), plus penetration through buildings that AT&T cannot match here. Having a device that lets me keep the carrier that provides the best service without me having constant Nexus envy (never got too worked up about the GNex because Devs had ports out within a few hours of every code drop after 4.2.2) can not be understated.

Is the Nexus a better device for most people? Maybe. It probably is a better "value". But for me, the extra $100 for the X is well worth it... and all things considered, the Nexus cannot do anything the Moto cannot... which is not true, the other way around. (Usual caveats, such as knowledge of Tasker, Root, willingness to circumvent security measures, etc)

 

[JungleLarry]

So you're butthurt that your phone wasn't chosen as the best overall phone. Got it.

BTW, I hope I'm not the only one recognizing the irony of an HTC fan criticizing another manufacturer for low sales.

You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.

 

[tonymhoffman]

So you're butthurt that your phone wasn't chosen as the best overall phone. Got it.

BTW, I hope I'm not the only one recognizing the irony of an HTC fan criticizing another manufacturer for low sales.

I was thinking the same thing. Well, actually I was waiting for the end of the post to see a Samsung signature but turns out it was even better than I had hoped for.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Aquila]

One of my female friends got a MotoX because it had pretty colors, and I thought it was a good, but nowhere near great, device.

I like the voice activation feature and the lockscreen reminded me of my old Nokia N9 low power screen. But there has to be a reality check as to how unimpressive it is compared to the other heavyweights. I asked myself, "Why would anyone be hungry to buy a MotoX?"

As it turns out, low sales demonstrate that they're not very hungry for it at all.

Any phone so uncompelling as to produce the Moto X's market effect has no legitimate claim on being the best Android phone. I'd honestly take at least 5 phones ahead of it.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Just to knock this one out... sales and quality don't necessarily have much to do with each other. Sales <> Quality. Sales = Sales. They're probably not even correlated.

Marketing, brand, pricing strategy and timing have a lot more to do with sales than what is actually the best choice for a person. People will often buy something with not but a friend's recommendation and ignore all competitors, or buy the lowest priced item, the first thing they see, the prettiest thing they see, what the sales person recommends, etc.

These are phones. They're cheap and most people are doing little to no research at all prior to buying them. Furthermore, they buy them from the store, which, for example on Verizon, in the case of a device like the One in early Summer, means they don't know your device exists, and in the case of the X, they haven't heard of Moto Maker, etc.

Many people do not buy Galaxy and iPhone devices because they are the best devices for them as individuals. They buy them because they think they are the best devices. We as people who think and talk about phones a lot represent about 1-2% of the smartphone consumer base.

This is in fact the best example, because of the "rivalry" between the One and S4. Most with some knowledge on the subject agree the One is the better device, although they are very similar on the spec sheet. The S4 is beating the One in sales by a huge factor. Sales <> Quality. Sales = Sales.

 

[jephanie]

I doubt they'll get Kit Kat in anything less than 3 weeks, even less than a month is unlikely

The last update was rolled out to the full user population two days after the soak test was initiated. So we might be surprised (and gifted) by the speed this time, too.

 

[eyesopen1111]

So you're butthurt that your phone wasn't chosen as the best overall phone. Got it.

BTW, I hope I'm not the only one recognizing the irony of an HTC fan criticizing another manufacturer for low sales.

But the HTC One sold at a much faster pace and many, many more units than the MotoX's 500,000. Plus the critical acclaim, plus being voted best phone by several websites for extended periods. Remember, we're taking flagships, not overall corporate earnings.

The MotoX is about as mediocre as the article describes and is doomed to failure. Why would my **** be hurt when it's the MotoX that's taking it in the S? Lol

I just want Motorola to make a phone that tries harder than mediocrity. Or else only the mediocre customer and the websites who cater to them will be talking about the MotoX's successor.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[Aquila]

Ladies and Gentlemen, lets please keep the discussion about the topics and not the members. Thanks!

 

[guesswhat_567]

One of my female friends got a MotoX because it had pretty colors, and I thought it was a good, but nowhere near great, device.

I like the voice activation feature and the lockscreen reminded me of my old Nokia N9 low power screen. But there has to be a reality check as to how unimpressive it is compared to the other heavyweights. I asked myself, "Why would anyone be hungry to buy a MotoX?"

As it turns out, low sales demonstrate that they're not very hungry for it at all.

Any phone so uncompelling as to produce the Moto X's market effect has no legitimate claim on being the best Android phone. I'd honestly take at least 5 phones ahead of it.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Sales are different thing ..it doesn't always indicate if the device is good or bad ..moto x sold 500k in 5 weeks right in line with what moto ceo woodside said 100 k per week ..not sure you can call it a failure ..also any new brand(moto x is essentially a new brand) takes time to take off ..to increase brand awareness to make people aware of its new features ..its going to take moto/ Google some time to reach sales anywhere near Samsung/iPhone it will probably be moto x 2 or 3 ..that doesn't make current generation moto x any lesser device ..if you Google you will find that Samsung also went through similar phase while trying build galaxy brand ..first gen galaxy sold one million in 4 months even galaxy s2 took a while to take off not until s3 that Samsung started seeing huge sales comparable to iphone..it takes consistent marketing and product execution for couple of Years

Posted via Android Central App

 

[JungleLarry]

All this guy's done is troll the Moto X forum with the same schtick over and over again. Don't take the bait.

We've had enough intelligent discussions that have allowed us to sift through the crap. No sense sticking our noses in it again.

 

[zobog]

Yea but there is entertainment to be had by reading ignorant positions by folks upset that other people do not think their phone of choice is God's gift to android.

Being jealous of other people's phones is funny. Or sad depending on how you look at it.

But on the bright side few people troll other phones forums once they have decided and purchased what they think is the best of the crop.

Posted via Android Central App