I had high hopes for Camera Awesome. How does it fall short?
A few things. It cant be set as the default camera app so the convenience of the twist to open feature is negated- and I use that a lot or always really. Its slower to open, focus and from shot to shot. It does give control over iso and exposure but no HDR. In general, in a number of different lighting situations and various environments, the quality of images captured were no better. And with the improvements to the image editor within the gallery app itself, I have no need for any other apps editing capabilities either.
What would be perfect is the Moto camera app as it is, but with the updates in contrast/saturation and low light handling of the nexus. All just a software update away for Moto! I believe that besides the OIS of the nexus, the x has superior hardware. Just needs the appropriate software to accompany it. The contrast and saturation can be fixed easily in an editor, which makes the way it handles low light shots (too high iso and combined with too much exposure time at the level shot - need to bump down ISO while keeping exposure time constant) the only glaring issue for me. And would be nice if they'd just give us a damn manual mode with at least control over iso and exposure!
EDIT - After writing, I became curious again so redownloaded the app (I wrote it off and deleted it off my phone). Did a walk through the neighborhood at night as well as some more well lit shots in my apt to compare and I retract some of what I said above. The app has been updated since I last used. Start up time to focus/shot is now quite fast. Maybe just a hair behind the stock app but totally serviceable. In low light, the shots produced by CA are much better than the stock app. Like a lot better. Noise is much lower and color balance/exposure is the difference. Theres just so much noise in the stock cams low light shots. It still doesnt have HDR on the moto x nor the ability to set as the default app which would be super convenient of course. Lastly, theres no separate exposure/focusing control which isnt a deal breaker. And honestly, because the CA algorithms seem to be so much superior to the stock app right now, theres not much need for HDR it seems. Though of course would be a nice option. For now, just use the CA awesomize feature to give some more dynamic range. I'll now be shooting with CA permanently. Do hope they update soon though!