After the Moto X (2014) reveal, are you excited?

[KennyJohnson]

Re: After the reveal, are you excited?

I feel like the only Android "flagship" phone I can buy is the Moto X. Samsung and LG cannot leave Android alone so I won't buy their phones. I don't have carrier junk and I don't want much of a skin. Motorola offers me a solution for both problems.

 

[mountainman15]

Re: After the reveal, are you excited?

I'm excited, but I'm crossing my fingers that the battery life will be decent. I can get through 2 days (usually) with the HTC One M8 which has a 2600mah battery so I'm hoping that the Moto X will get me through a day easily. If it can do that with 4-5 hour of SOT, then it'll be good enough for me!

 

[anon(8082935)]

Re: After the reveal, are you excited?

I'm excited for it. The battery stats are important, clearly, but since I'm at work most of the day, I'm more worried about standby than anything else. I really want to see what else they plan on doing with the IR sensors throughout the life of the phone.

 

[Westiemom]

Re: After the reveal, are you excited?

I'm not just excited, I'm practically drooling. It looks gorgeous and the bigger screen with higher res, better camera, and tweaked features that I already love will make it hard for me to wait for this one. I find a 5" screen perfect (as I have now in my Ultra) and the extra .2 won't bother me at all. I don't remember what dimensions were reported for the entire phone, but I imagine with the small bezels it won't be much different than what I have now. And I've had great battery experience with all my Moto phones, so not worried there.

 

[someguy01234]

Re: After the reveal, are you excited?

I wasn't excited at first, but after watching all the hand ons and learning more about the phone, I have my money ready. I think it's the best looking phone of 2014 as well (more than the M8). I like the curved glass edge, I missed that feature from the Nexus 4.

 

[mayconvert]

Re: After the reveal, are you excited?

Thrilled now that I have seen the camera shots. Thanks AC for those.
I had Great battery life with the original X. Not worried at all with the new X. Battery life will get me thru any day.
I just have to decide on what colors I want. Don't want leather or wood. May go all black with Bright blue accents.

 

[Puzzlegal]

Re: After the reveal, are you excited?

As long as the software updates make it to the current x there's no compelling reason I can think of to upgrade unless you *like* bigger phones (which I happen to prefer slightly).

I'm quite excited by the rumors of software upgrades to the original X. Some of those look sweet.

 

[Carrtman]

Exactly, the quality of the optics trumps the megapixels once you reach a certain threshold, which for most purposes is in the 5-10mp range. So I guess I'm curious why you think they should've done a higher than 1080p screen if you understand it doesn't actually gain any perceivable function? Granted, a higher res screen could boost buzz, but it would also boost cost, and likely hurt battery life. I personally feel they made the right call.

The difference is once the QHD is taking of apps will find ways to make it more useful and the biggest benefit for me would be it reduces scrolling.

Indeed it increases costs but if it boosts sales too might have been worth it

 

[SeanJamesWright]

I think I will be getting my hands on a bamboo Moto X when available SIM free in the UK. Beaut.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[LoganK]

The difference is once the QHD is taking of apps will find ways to make it more useful and the biggest benefit for me would be it reduces scrolling.

It's not supposed to work that way. The greater resolution increases clarity, not the amount of stuff you can get on the screen. I actually think the resolution of the original Moto X is sharp enough for me, but the S4 screen was pretty gorgeous. (There are other factors that come into play, but AMOLED is pretty much at the top of those other factors.)

Indeed it increases costs but if it boosts sales too might have been worth it

Bingo! It's a bullet point on the feature list and most of the review sites will take it into account even if it has no effect on end-user experience.

 

[Carrtman]

It's not supposed to work that way. The greater resolution increases clarity, not the amount of stuff you can get on the screen. I actually think the resolution of the original Moto X is sharp enough for me, but the S4 screen was pretty gorgeous. (There are other factors that come into play, but AMOLED is pretty much at the top of those other factors.)

Bingo! It's a bullet point on the feature list and most of the review sites will take it into account even if it has no effect on end-user experience.

Yeah amoled screens are the best especially the samoled ones. I think in terms of multitasking it could be very useful but we'll see

The most disappointing fact to me is the non removable battery a feature which wouldn't have increased costs

 

[anon(7894520)]

Yeah amoled screens are the best especially the samoled ones. I think in terms of multitasking it could be very useful but we'll see

The most disappointing fact to me is the non removable battery a feature which wouldn't have increased costs

it must be a matter of taste because i've gotten myself the new moto x and whilst i am enjoying it, i find its screen not as crisp as the SLCD 3 of the HTC One. The whites for starters are not whites, and in comparison it all seems a bit washed out.

Good phone though.

 

[mpetruzz]

I was saving my upgrade but after seeing the specs and size I went with a G3.

Its basically the same size but the g3 is thinner, bigger/better screen and way better camera.
Once it comes out I figure I can sell the g3 and get one used.

I was disappointed with many of the specs and that they made it that big. And with no SD slot!!

 

[anon(7894520)]

I was saving my upgrade but after seeing the specs and size I went with a G3.

Its basically the same size but the g3 is thinner, bigger/better screen and way better camera.
Once it comes out I figure I can sell the g3 and get one used.

I was disappointed with many of the specs and that they made it that big. And with no SD slot!!

you are disappointed they made it that big yet you got the G3?


anyway..


yes the G3 has a better screen and a better camara BUT its just too big for some. the moto x has a 5.2 inch display but small bezels compared to other manufacturers.

i too was tempted with the G3 initially but with android L around the corner i did not want to wait until march next year to get it.

 

[mpetruzz]

The reason I got the g3 was because if all the new phones are going to be big, I might as well get the phone with the best specs etc.

Plus it already has root and an unlocked boot loader is coming so I'm not worried about android l.

Once development starts on the g3 it'll be insane. I had a moto x dev edition and there was very little support. I know that's because it's mostly stock but the dev community didn't latch on and I'm assuming it'll be that way for the New version.

Another plus for me is that I like to tinker and mod my phones and the x wasn't the phone for that.

 

[someguy01234]

The reason I got the g3 was because if all the new phones are going to be big, I might as well get the phone with the best specs etc.

Plus it already has root and an unlocked boot loader is coming so I'm not worried about android l.

Once development starts on the g3 it'll be insane. I had a moto x dev edition and there was very little support. I know that's because it's mostly stock but the dev community didn't latch on and I'm assuming it'll be that way for the New version.

Another plus for me is that I like to tinker and mod my phones and the x wasn't the phone for that.

I don't think you should look at the Moto line if you want to do a lot of roms flashing. Moto phones have lots of security features than other phones and for some reasons it never caught on for the XDA crowd. The Moto G will have some more roms availability. I wouldn't get anything but a Nexus for custom roms purpose so look for the Moto Nexus.

In the end I simply can't agree with buying a Moto X and installing custom rom on it, because you lost everything useful that Motorola put in which is unique and not found in other phones.

LG (unlocked version) tend to be much easier with unlocking. The fact that LG have been working with Google, they made their fastboot version to be very compatible and similar to Nexus default fastboot. It's one of pro of the device over Samsung which is now very locked down. Arguably all Samsung new devices have the least amount of roms and development at XDA, my last choice to get for rooting. There is also issues with tripping Knox and you will no longer receivr official OTA updates afterward. I have messed with some of the newer Samsung with Knox and I have to say I rather jailbreak an iPhone.

 

[JeffDenver]

I'm disappointed. Seriously disappointed. Essentially the same hardware as the S5, but with a smaller, non-removable battery and no SD card slot. I'd sooner have a rooted S5, I think.

Not the same hardware as the S5...the S5 has a way better camera. The S5 is also waterproof.

Motorola pretty much won me over; I'm pretty excited. I just hope the camera is way better than the original X. Although I don't generally take photos to begin with, I feel like I would do it more if I knew my phone had an awesome cam.

The camera still sucks, especially in lowlight. I don't think it is worse than the original Moto X, but it is definitely not in the same league as a GS5/G3/G2/Nexus5 and probably the M8. It has a MP bump, but thats it. Still sucks in low light. See for yourself here - Hands-on: Moto G and Moto X get big screen updates—but not new names | Ars Technica - Look at the full resolution version of that silver tea set picture.

It does do 4k video though. And daylight photos (as with the original Moto X) are still decent.

 

[JeffDenver]

I have ceased caring about QHD...on anything smaller than a tablet, it is completely pointless. Like complaining that the sun isn't bright enough when you look at it. I am glad Moto went to 1080p though.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

The camera still sucks, especially in lowlight. I don't think it is worse than the original Moto X, but it is definitely not in the same league as a GS5/G3/G2/Nexus5 and probably the M8. It has a MP bump, but thats it. Still sucks in low light. See for yourself here - Hands-on: Moto G and Moto X get big screen updates—but not new names | Ars Technica - Look at the full resolution version of that silver tea set picture.

That's rather presumptuous given that Ars provided no comparison shots from other phones. All cell phone cameras have noise in low light, but some handle it better than others (like the HTC One M8 and Nokia's 1020). Also, the sensor in the new Moto X is a Sony IMX135 13MP sensor, the exact same one found in the Galaxy S4 and the LG G2 and G3. None of those are known for poor picture quality.

What I've seen looks good, and definitely better than the old camera. I'll wait for direct comparison shots before passing judgment, however.

Edit: added link for sensor information: thanks, Ry!

 

[JeffDenver]

That's rather presumptuous given that Ars provided no comparison shots from other phones.

That tea set image is awful IMO. Any of the current flagships (even the ones from 2013) could do better. Look at the full res image for that picture...that noise is a mess. This is a 100% crop:



Here's the original if anyone wants to look - http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IMG_20140904_153252242.jpg

All cell phone cameras have noise in low light

The differences are pretty significant IMO. These are unmodified Nexus images in lowlight.









This should be the LOW bar for any flagship camera in 2014 IMO. The Nexus is almost a year old at this point. Any current flagships coming out right now should be spanking these pictures in lowlight and an obvious way.

Given Moto's history with cameras, I think being presumptuous is called for. They had a chance to make a significant leap over the 2013 Moto X (just as the Nexus 5 was a significant leap over the 4), and settled for a small spec bump instead.

I still like the Moto X, and will probably still recommend it to friends on Verizon (a fast UI counts for a lot, and touchless control is awesome). But Moto had a chance to re-invent the smartphone here, and dropped the ball.