Moto X Pure Edition: Various Reviews

[somdave2005]

All these reviews compare the Pure to other flagships like the Note 5, but those phones are like $300 more in cost. While the Pure is not the best spec'd Android phone , I think the overall user experience is more important. I'm tired of chasing specs. The Galaxy series usually has the best specs but Touchwiz is a pain in the ***. I'm getting to the point that I just want a phone to work well out of the box and not have to tinker with ROMs.

The only comparable phone is the OnePlus Two, which actually has better specs. But you have to deal with poor quality control, poor customer service and support. Plus you need an invite.

 

[Wildo6882]

I take reviews with a GIGANTIC grain of salt. First, a lot of the battery reviews are garbage. Doing things like looping a video until it dies. That's not real world use. Sure it gives you some information, but it doesn't give you anything as to how you would actually use the phone. Second, these guys are paid to nit pick. What they may notice, because they've recently picked apart 20 different phones, I'll probably not notice. And to top it off, I saw a TON of reviews that said they couldn't make the S6 stutter or lag if they wanted to. I beg to differ. I went through two S6s and an Active. Those things lagged like my BlackBerry Storm. I would click on a message notification and it would literally take 5 seconds to open it up. Every day. After a reboot. After a long time without one. Didn't matter. It lagged like it was designed to do so. Not to mention on all three of my phones I had delayed and sometimes non existent notifications. Never saw that in a review either.

So basically, take these reviews (either positive or negative), but they aren't the gospel. Try out the phone. If it sucks, return it to Moto. They have a good return policy. I used my Moto credit so I'm out $0 until I know I actually want to keep it.

 

[bpe4]

I take reviews with a GIGANTIC grain of salt. First, a lot of the battery reviews are garbage. Doing things like looping a video until it dies. That's not real world use. Sure it gives you some information, but it doesn't give you anything as to how you would actually use the phone. Second, these guys are paid to nit pick. What they may notice, because they've recently picked apart 20 different phones, I'll probably not notice. And to top it off, I saw a TON of reviews that said they couldn't make the S6 stutter or lag if they wanted to. I beg to differ. I went through two S6s and an Active. Those things lagged like my BlackBerry Storm. I would click on a message notification and it would literally take 5 seconds to open it up. Every day. After a reboot. After a long time without one. Didn't matter. It lagged like it was designed to do so. Not to mention on all three of my phones I had delayed and sometimes non existent notifications. Never saw that in a review either.

So basically, take these reviews (either positive or negative), but they aren't the gospel. Try out the phone. If it sucks, return it to Moto. They have a good return policy. I used my Moto credit so I'm out $0 until I know I actually want to keep it.

So you prefer reviews with anecdotal battery comments like "I think I had a moderate day, and went to bed with 30% left in the tank" ?

I prefer a side-by-side controlled comparison where phones perform the exact same function with identical brightness parameters. I posted a week or so ago that Motorola made a big mistake by putting a small battery in relation to such a large screen, and I think these reviews on average to bad battery life are backing me up. I'm not a total hater though. I was really hoping to be proven wrong, because I think it's a beautiful phone.

 

[jephanie]

So you prefer reviews with anecdotal battery comments like "I think I had a moderate day, and went to bed with 30% left in the tank" ?

I prefer a side-by-side controlled comparison where phones perform the exact same function with identical brightness parameters. I posted a week or so ago that Motorola made a big mistake by putting a small battery in relation to such a large screen, and I think these reviews on average to bad battery life are backing me up. I'm not a total hater though. I was really hoping to be proven wrong, because I think it's a beautiful phone.

I've seen reviews that run the whole gamut from "not good" to "very good" battery life with "moderate" and "heavy" usage. The problem with any review is, as you stated, the lack of exact same function during the tests. They can run every phone through standardized "screen on times" with a video playing but that doesn't do squat to tell me how the battery will last with the SOC and affiliated video chip will perform the tasks *I* typically use it for. I don't do much gaming. I do mostly Facebook, texting, YouTube and some web browsing along with limited gaming. NONE of these reviews will mimic MY usages so I can't trust them too much. The listed tests are very arbitrary to say the least. But I also recognize that they have to have some sort of baseline with which to compare vastly different devices and their screen time.

So I take them all with a grain of salt and only accept approximation of averages across all the different reviews. And, so far, the reviews seem to be pretty decent for this device. The only way I'll know for sure is with actual usage with my actual usage patterns.

You know the rule of thumb: YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)

 

[rushmore]

Straight video playback reviews though are a good indicator of the display's power efficiency, since straight SOT and minimal subjectivity of apps. There have been two reviews saying the same thing, so at a minimum it is not a good sign and enough for me to wait and see what Anandtech, Phone Arena and Display Mate say.

Hopefully they refute

 

[Ry]

Also, let's go AC. Where's the review?!

You should know AC isn't gonna do a day 1 review.

Posted via Android Central App (Moto X)

 

[bunique4life05]

Re: Moto X Pure Edition: Engadget Review

The performance hiccups have me more concerned than anything. This combined with the major issues on the Play make me think that the latest Moto software isn't very well optimized (just because it looks like stock doesn't mean at a low level it is stock, or that simply slapping stock on any phone will make it run like a Nexus without optimization for the hardware).

My Nexus 5 feels as fast or faster than every more recent flagship phone I've tested with the exception of the Nexus 6 (which felt more buttery smooth). My Nexus 5 does not have a cutting edge processor. I was expecting the Moto X pure to perform at least as good as my Nexus 5 but the consistency of complaints from a couple of the reviews are making me concerned. I say this also because most people who use a brand new device for a week have glowing things to say about its performance (especially when they are conditioned to think stock android = fast) unless something is really wrong.

Well I have just read one review and may have blown things out portion. I think what Verge was saying it is as smooth just not as smooth top phones on market.

What your saying about software is true but I think it's hindering battery life not smoothness of you IU. This phone I assume basically 5.7 version of the Nexus 6 with a better processor and LCD screen. What I don't is combination of software,LCD screen and having 3000mah battery reason why it's battery life is less than the Nexus 6?

 

[rushmore]

Verge only truly likes iPhones and phones that clone iPhones like the Note 5.

 

[getbretweir]

Verge only truly likes iPhones and phones that clone iPhones like the Note 5.

the Note 5 is an iPhone clone? now I've seriously heard everything!

 

[eak1570]

Verge only truly likes iPhones and phones that clone iPhones like the Note 5.

Iverge..

 

[Ry]

Re: Moto X Pure Edition: Engadget Review

Well I have just read one review and may have blown things out portion. I think what Verge was saying it is as smooth just not as smooth top phones on market.

What your saying about software is true but I think it's hindering battery life not smoothness of you IU. This phone I assume basically 5.7 version of the Nexus 6 with a better processor and LCD screen. What I don't is combination of software,LCD screen and having 3000mah battery reason why it's battery life is less than the Nexus 6?

Yep. The Verge mentioned that the Moto X Pure Edition did not lag nor stutter but simply didn't feel as fast as recent "flagships".

Posted via Android Central App (Moto X)

 

[David Rosen]

Re: Moto X Pure Edition: Engadget Review

on paper you're right about the processor, but that's why reviews are so important. doesn't matter what the spec sheet says, matters how it performs.

personally, I think people blow processor speed way out of proportion. it needs to only be as good or better than your last phone IMO, and the miniscule difference is hardly noticeable.

overall it's a great phone. I've said before I don't care about aesthetics, but after messing around on MotoMaker I'm shamelessly retracting that statement!!

that charcoal leather with the red accents looks awesome!

See that's exactly why I DONT listen to reviews haha. No reviews said that the Note 4 was gonna be the laggy mess it ended up being for me. Of course there's multiple reasons for lag, but I've been able to reproduce some of my issues in the store with nearly fresh installs, yet no reviews mentioned that stuff.

Another thing... Most smartphone reviews are 50% comparing it to an iPhone, 25% complaining about something design wise (my least important aspect of a phone), 15% calling it "plenty snappy" as the entire performance section of a review... And finally 10% left over to review the actual phone itself.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

[Ry]

Verge only truly likes iPhones and phones that clone iPhones like the Note 5.

Not true.

Posted via Android Central App (Moto X)

 

[sulla1965]

Re: Moto X Pure Edition: Engadget Review

They all say the camera is excellent. One of the best in the market. The battery is on par with most of the best phones, just not better. And the processor is again, on par with the top of the line phones except the Note 5 (which will probably even out because of Samsung's crappy software). In other words... Those cons are hardly cons.

The phone starts a $399, yet some of you are expecting everything to match phones with a $650+ price tag. Looks like Moto did a great job here. A quality device that can clearly hang with much more expensive phones. Also those expecting this phone to be a "game changer" clearly don;t understand what Moto is trying to achieve.

 

[Wildo6882]

So you prefer reviews with anecdotal battery comments like "I think I had a moderate day, and went to bed with 30% left in the tank" ?

I prefer a side-by-side controlled comparison where phones perform the exact same function with identical brightness parameters. I posted a week or so ago that Motorola made a big mistake by putting a small battery in relation to such a large screen, and I think these reviews on average to bad battery life are backing me up. I'm not a total hater though. I was really hoping to be proven wrong, because I think it's a beautiful phone.

Now where did I say I preferred any review? I said I take reviews with a GIGANTIC grain of salt. Most reviews for any phone are all over the board. And I used my experience with the S6 to show how it wasn't even remotely close to the experience reviews were saying I should be having.

I was stating that I think people should see some of their own real world use before passing judgment. And I don't just mean when it comes to this phone.

But I would like to reiterate, if you're on the fence, try it out. Return it to Moto if it sucks. I may return mine too, if MY experience using the phone isn't up to snuff. It will literally cost me nothing to form MY OWN opinion of the phone.

 

[OMGLadyGaga]

These big tech site reviews I do take with a grain of salt, since they review so many phones and don't really test em out that long in order to just get it up and running on their site. A lot of phones that have performance issues get praised for stellar performance despite glaring flaws that would be caught with prolonged usage (s6 multitasking and lag problems and G4 stuttering from time to time) which makes the New Moto X issues being brought up a little more alarming because even these guys are noticing them.

Even still, I prefer the YouTube reviewers who take a stance as an everyday consumer. That Erica girl and Flossy Carter are my favorites because of the very very long detailed reviews that focus on the pros and cons of each device. Mkbhd has become a caricature of himself and the only big tech site that gives consistent reviews seems to be pocketnow.

I have a nexus 6 and nexus 5. I want to gift the nexus 5 to my mother and have a backup phone to my 6. Both of those devices are unbelievably smooth and lag free, the nexus 5 might be a bit better in that respect shockingly enough. So performance issues are my biggest deal breakers. I had my eyes set on the Moto x pure as it's a bit smaller than my nexus 6 and essentially has the same footprint as the note 5 without the obnoxious price. Unfortunately it really does seem like the new Lenovo developers aren't quite as adept at optimizing android as the ones from past years. It might be an 808 Qualcomm issue but from a lot of comparisons I've seen the 615 in the play isn't even as smooth as the new 2015 Moto g. The Moto g also has a better camera than the play, based on comparison shots. If these issues are corroborated by real world users, the unreal battery life of the Moto g and its somehow better performance than its more expensive brothers' will probably be enough to sway me to pick it up instead and saving myself a few bucks in the process.

The new nexus will probably be optimized better than the new motos but I don't think build or camera will be up to snuff and pricing is still unknown. If only the note wasn't so darn expensive

 

[Ry]

In addition to AC reviews, I love Pocket Now, ZDNet's Kevin T and Matthew M, JR Raphael. And yes even the Mobile guys at the Verge.

Posted via Android Central App (Moto X)

 

[RHChan84]

Re: Questionable reviews? Quick question

Also the phones these early reviewers have are all running pre-release software, so there may still be bugs that won't be in the final shipping version.

That is also what I'm thinking.

I don't see why they think camera isn't as good as the S6 or G4. Images look great and the colors are more true to life then the other two. Colors have nothing to do with the camera and its all software that can change that. Low light photos looks great I think. It's no DSLR but it's a sensor that is a fraction of the size of a DSLR.

 

[somdave2005]

The battery life is my concern. The video playback tests that a few reviews have done suggest as I "feared" that the LCD display could be power hog. For video playback the battery life is four hours less than the the Note 5 and that is about two hours worse than I expected. That is 3.5 hours lower than my Note 4 and two hours lower than the G4. The .2" different display should not equal two hours. Perhaps Motorola went lowball on the display for costs.

I will hold off ordering until I see more reviews of battery life, Anandtech's review and Display Mates display review.

yeah it'll be interesting to see the battery reviews from phonearena, AC, Anantech. Hopefully the battery life will be decent. Battery life from today's reviews are all over the place.

 

[somdave2005]

The battery life is my concern. The video playback tests that a few reviews have done suggest as I "feared" that the LCD display could be power hog. For video playback the battery life is four hours less than the the Note 5 and that is about two hours worse than I expected. That is 3.5 hours lower than my Note 4 and two hours lower than the G4. The .2" different display should not equal two hours. Perhaps Motorola went lowball on the display for costs.

I will hold off ordering until I see more reviews of battery life, Anandtech's review and Display Mates display review.

yeah it'll be interesting to see the battery reviews from phonearena, AC, Anantech. Hopefully the battery life will be decent. Battery life from today's reviews are all over the place.