Moto x vs S4

Ichi_Bear

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I wish the Moto X was available in the UK. *Sulking*

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I'm usually on Twitter @Ichi_Bear ;-)
 

garublador

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Do you have a moto X also?

Posted via Android Central App
No, but my wife has an iPhone 5 which is generally regarded as a "lag free" device. I've had my S4 since the first day it was out on Verizon and after the last firmware update back in July I haven't had any lag issues. It most certainly hasn't gotten worse.
 

planoman

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I've been patiently waiting for the ability to unlock the Verizon versions boot loader so I can make my girls a Google edition. She wants to throw her phone half the time. Camera stalls, won't open, apps hang.. Pretty much stuff typical of touchwiz skin.

Great specs and camera but awful skin UI

Posted via Android Central App

I have an S4 and it is just as smooth as ever so I do not think the experience you are speaking about is the majority opinion. In fact, I own two S4's one being a Google Editon and while I like it for different reasons over my touch wiz version, it (TW) is not noticably inferior in smoothness in my experience.
 
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planoman

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Why not have a GS4 with the Google Play Edition ROM on it? Or an actual GPE? It gives you the lag-free UI of the X but the amazing specs of the S4 :p

Maybe this is why I have not pulled the trigger on the moto x...I have the S4 GPE and is it in my opinion the best android device I have used, and I have used a lot. It is everything I wanted my Nexus to be and then some! I actually took the money I had saved for the moto x and bought a Lumia 1020 Windows Phone...great pictures but an absolute brick to carry around and WP is promising but not quite there for me yet.. Still got my money and still waiting...

Not trying to slam the Moto X, but I just do not get the wow factor, especially with what I read about the camera. I suffered through that with the Nexus 4. How many of you are off to the next Nexus if it has a S 800, LTE, 32GB etc? Just waitng to hear about that...
 
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planoman

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The actual GPE doesn't allow all apps to write to the to the SD card since the update to 4.3

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This is partly true...it does not allow third party apps to write or delete from the ext SD card. It is a fairly easy fix although if you are not inclinded to mess with the fix, ES file explorer can move, write and delete to and from the ext SD car so not really a big issue. Having that 64GB of additonal storage is great as well as it coming with 12+GB of internal storage since it is not touch wiz weighted down.
 

RayMabry

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This is partly true...it does not allow third party apps to write or delete from the ext SD card. It is a fairly easy fix although if you are not inclinded to mess with the fix, ES file explorer can move, write and delete to and from the ext SD car so not really a big issue. Having that 64GB of additonal storage is great as well as it coming with 12+GB of internal storage since it is not touch wiz weighted down.

What's not true about the statement? It doesn't allow every app to write to the SD card. Perhaps it's vague in comparsion, but hardly untrue.

At any rate, it seems like a big issue for those that don't want to have to fix the device. Apps like Spotify loses the ability to auto-save onto the External SD and you can't exactly just move the songs over with ES File Explorer and have the app play them. Plus backing up app information directly to the EXT SD goes out the window. Just seems like a big hassle if you don't actually do the fix. I'd rather spend my money on the 32 GB Moto X and live with that.

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ne0ne

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Okay guys. Here is my 2 cents.

I spent a month with the s4 gpe. I then moved to the htc one dual booting gpe Rom and HTC sense. I switched due to build quality. low light camera performance and build quality.

Fast forward four months later. I pick up a moto x. Very impressed. At first I was hesitant due to it's display and specs. Not much a fan of amoled displays. However after spending about a week with the Moto X it's hard to go back to a phone without active notifications. How often do you pull your phone from your pocket to check the time and notifications ? Well this breathes the time. No need to press anything.

Also I never thought I would use the touchless Google now controls on it. I was eating lunch and my hands were full, a quick okay Google now text so and so did the job. It was great.

Also the form factor of the Moto X is amazing. Almost edge to edge display it feels. Great design. I love my HTC one. however they both have there advantages.

Go feel them in person. Do you prefer the size of the Moto X? Also you have software buttons and a hardware and capacitive on the s4.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
 

planoman

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What's not true about the statement? It doesn't allow every app to write to the SD card. Perhaps it's vague in comparsion, but hardly untrue.

At any rate, it seems like a big issue for those that don't want to have to fix the device. Apps like Spotify loses the ability to auto-save onto the External SD and you can't exactly just move the songs over with ES File Explorer and have the app play them. Plus backing up app information directly to the EXT SD goes out the window. Just seems like a big hassle if you don't actually do the fix. I'd rather spend my money on the 32 GB Moto X and live with that.

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I did not say anything was partly untrue. I said partly true which means what you said is true but there is more to the story. I just added the additional because your statement while true could give some the impression that the ext SD card cannot be written to by "all" apps. I think you meant every app & I just clarified by adding third party apps except for ES file explorer which can. Google play music can save just fine to the ext card even if you use a different music app.

I also agree it is a big issue for those that do not want to fix it because it is not working as originally designed. I would agree that the moto x might be a better option for those people. If I were going to consider a moto x it would be the developer edition only.
 
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RayMabry

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I did not say anything was partly untrue. I said partly true which means what you said is true but there is more to the story. I just added the additional because your statement while true could give some the impression that the ext SD card cannot be written to by "all" apps. I think you meant every app & I just clarified by adding third party apps except for ES file explorer which can. Google play music can save just fine to the ext card even if you use a different music app.

I also agree it is a big issue for those that do not want to fix it because it is not working as originally designed. I would agree that the moto x might be a better option for those people. If I were going to consider a moto x it would be the developer edition only.

I gotcha. Every would have probably been a better word choice.

As of yesterday night I'm not even so hot on the Moto X at the moment. After doing more research, it seems like it gets the average battery of the higher end phones, thus not really keeping its end of the bargain either. If the S4 GE worked as intended, I'd probably just get that. Decisions, decisions....

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mfdemicco

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The S4 has a replaceable battery, SD card slot, and a better camera even with the fix Motorola just put out. The screen is higher resolution. The Moto X only comes with 16 GB of memory, except on AT&T, and the phone is cheaper.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4
 

ne0ne

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I gotcha. Every would have probably been a better word choice.

As of yesterday night I'm not even so hot on the Moto X at the moment. After doing more research, it seems like it gets the average battery of the higher end phones, thus not really keeping its end of the bargain either. If the S4 GE worked as intended, I'd probably just get that. Decisions, decisions....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

Lol. Average battery. I spent the last four months using the htc one as my daily driver. Just spent the last week on the Moto X. The most I got in one charge was four hours of screen time. I got 6 hours of screen time with the Moto X. Browsing. Posting. Streaming. Etc. I also did two full days with almost four hours of screen time. The Moto X is an amazing device and hands down has significantly better battery life. Yes there are several variables however it clearly gets better battery life.

Also touchless control was something I didn't expect to use. Nor did I expect to use the quick camera launch feature. Both have already come in handy over the past week. And active notifications are awesome. How often do you pull your phone out of your pocket to check the time or a notification. Even though I love my htc one using the Moto X you get spoiled. The features they included into an otherwise stock like android experience are very useful.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
 

planoman

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The S4 has a replaceable battery, SD card slot, and a better camera even with the fix Motorola just put out. The screen is higher resolution. The Moto X only comes with 16 GB of memory, except on AT&T, and the phone is cheaper.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

The developers edition is also 32GB just to be fair, but I am a S4 fan for the reasons you mentioned. It does everything I need and want it to do.
 

RayMabry

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Lol. Average battery. I spent the last four months using the htc one as my daily driver. Just spent the last week on the Moto X. The most I got in one charge was four hours of screen time. I got 6 hours of screen time with the Moto X. Browsing. Posting. Streaming. Etc. I also did two full days with almost four hours of screen time. The Moto X is an amazing device and hands down has significantly better battery life. Yes there are several variables however it clearly gets better battery life.

Also touchless control was something I didn't expect to use. Nor did I expect to use the quick camera launch feature. Both have already come in handy over the past week. And active notifications are awesome. How often do you pull your phone out of your pocket to check the time or a notification. Even though I love my htc one using the Moto X you get spoiled. The features they included into an otherwise stock like android experience are very useful.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the info. It's just confusing because some praise its battery life, while others are disappointed and call it average. But 6h screen time is a whole 2+hrs better than my GS3 can do. Under moderate usage I get 8-9 on average. I can only imagine what I can get with that.

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Johnly

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How is the screen quality on the X? From what I've seen it is a bit pixlated when watching youtube videos. Not so much a fan of that. The screen on the S4 is beautiful .

RGB layouts are always beautiful on amoleds. Moto x screen is great. Nice balance of sharpness and proc to give a great user end result.
 

happasaiyan

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Just got my Moto X a couple days ago. Came from a launch-day S4 running AOKP. No complaints, I just wish I had root on the X.

Lag: I turned everything "S" off on the S4 when I got it, and never experienced lag. When it had AOKP, no lag either. The Moto X does not lag, either. As far as I am concerned, it's a wash, but YMMV.

Battery: Just about the same. My usage pattern is very consistent. Both phones make it through my day with about 20% left.

Performance: I don't care what the benchmarks say, they do all the things I need them to and I don't feel one was faster than the other.

Screen: I could never tell much of a difference between 720p and 1080p. Not enough for it to sway my decision one way or the other, that's for sure. My past 6 phones or so have all been AMOLED. My tablets have been non-AMOLED, and I can say I much prefer AMOLED.

Camera: The stock S4 camera was pretty good, but I was not a fan of the software. The GPE and AOSP camera's both kind of suck, in my opinion. The GUI/functionality is great, but I always find the shutter speed to lag and it is almost impossible to take decent pics. Focus (the cyanogenmod camera) was what I started to use towards the end of my time with the S4, and it is a pretty solid camera app. The Moto X camera does take some weird pics sometimes, but more often than not, for me, it has taken good pics. Once the Moto X update is rolled out to everyone, I'm sure it will be about a tie.

The Feels: Moto X wins this by a mile. The S4, especially with a case, is just too big for me. The Moto X just feels amazing in your hand. It is just about the perfect form factor.

Time to sell the S4.
 

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