Potential Windows Phone refugee considering a moto X with some questions.

[diabolicalstreak]

So despite the fact that I really enjoy the WP 8 interface, the lack of appeal in WP 10, vzw not carrying new devices, and my aging lumia 822 (I had a webOS device before this, gee I sure can pick 'em), I'm seriously considering switching over to an android device, but I have a few questions I was hoping I could get some input on.

I'm on a prepaid verizon plan. Switching isn't an option because nobody else offers coverage or roaming in some of the areas I need unless I were to go back to postpay, which is not going to happen. I occasionally need tethering/wifi hotspot.

I'm looking at picking up a 2014 moto X, and I'm curious about things like what's necessary to tether, how much of a pain in the neck is it to remove verizon's assorted crapware on the stock rom (these were all completely untinstallable with no effort on WP, but I've been given to understand vzw makes it a bit more difficult on android, if I'm not mistaken), and so on. I'm leaning toward the 2014 moto X because new devices are in my price range and because I'd rather gouge my eyes out than have a huge phone, and it seems to be reasonably sized (that said, if there were a release date and a non-crackpipe price on the priv, I'd hold out for it). I looked at the nexus 5x and its pretty close in size but its a bit more than I'd like to have to budget for.

I've installed cyanogenmod on B&N nooks before, so I'm comfortable installing custom roms if it seems like a good idea to do so, so if anybody has any experience in this regard I'd be interested to hear it, especially regarding how well it plays with the vzw network and whether there's any impact on stuff like camera quality, battery, etc.

Thanks.

 

[Golfdriver97]

As far as rooting/flashing ROMs, it might be kind of difficult. Verizon and AT&T both like locking down the phone to where even root access is difficult at best.

As for bloatware, I'm not sure. I can ask around.

 

[doorknob385]

I don't own this particular one, but i'll go by my experience on my VZW moto x '13. I also have a moto x PE '15 and moto x PE '14 both unlocked. The crapware is there to stay with no way to uninstall. You can disable them though. Other than that, should not cause other issues.

The Moto X '14 is a fine phone. Motorola has stated that the phone won't be updated to marshmallow, so you may want to consider something else if that's important to you. Motorola threw them a bone and allows the bootloader to be unlocked though.

Prepaid allows tethering, so you shouldn't have any issues with it. All you have to do is go into the settings menu and turn it on.

 

[diabolicalstreak]

Marshmallow isn't super duper important to me, or at least not important enough to consider a phone as big as the 2015 moto X. One of the reasons I looked at the 2014 X is because of the bootloader unlock, and from what I understand, CM 13 is in development for the X '14 with nightlies available, so if it gets to the point where there are snapshots or stable releases available, I would probably flash that. If there's no major problems with 12.1, I don't see any issues with just switching to that right away, either.

I guess one thing I'm in doubt about is whether or not it would be "worth" it to flash cm 12.1 versus sticking with stock lollipop, and I don't really know how much control over the system one gains or loses with a stock rom or a custom rom. Coming from WP, if I want an app gone, I just uninstall it (i mean you can't remove stuff like phone dialer of course, but you know what I mean), but in terms of sweeping changes there's not a lot you can do with the system. I don't use a great deal of apps, but I want the most functional and controllable experience possible without causing myself any undue problems. I guess for the most part I'm fairly sold on the device, I'm just trying to rationalize the best way to make the most of it in terms of software.

 

[doorknob385]

I don't have an experience using CM. You may want to ask in the specific device forum for X'14, CM, Verizon combo. They'd probably be best to answer that.

In terms of usability, I haven't found it necessary to root or use custom firmware, not that i'm unwilling to do it. Once you disable an app, it more or less disappears until you reenble it. It does stay on the phone, so if you need/want to have that extra MB of space then you'll have to root or go to CFW.

My personal configuration for several months is to just disable all unwanted apps and use nova launcher. That's offered me plenty of customization for my wants.

 

[Ry]

As far as rooting/flashing ROMs, it might be kind of difficult. Verizon and AT&T both like locking down the phone to where even root access is difficult at best.

As for bloatware, I'm not sure. I can ask around.

Motorola has announced that the Verizon second gen Moto X is now officially a part of their bootloader unlock program.

 

[Ry]

So despite the fact that I really enjoy the WP 8 interface, the lack of appeal in WP 10, vzw not carrying new devices, and my aging lumia 822 (I had a webOS device before this, gee I sure can pick 'em), I'm seriously considering switching over to an android device, but I have a few questions I was hoping I could get some input on.

I'm on a prepaid verizon plan. Switching isn't an option because nobody else offers coverage or roaming in some of the areas I need unless I were to go back to postpay, which is not going to happen. I occasionally need tethering/wifi hotspot.

I'm looking at picking up a 2014 moto X, and I'm curious about things like what's necessary to tether, how much of a pain in the neck is it to remove verizon's assorted crapware on the stock rom (these were all completely untinstallable with no effort on WP, but I've been given to understand vzw makes it a bit more difficult on android, if I'm not mistaken), and so on. I'm leaning toward the 2014 moto X because new devices are in my price range and because I'd rather gouge my eyes out than have a huge phone, and it seems to be reasonably sized (that said, if there were a release date and a non-crackpipe price on the priv, I'd hold out for it). I looked at the nexus 5x and its pretty close in size but its a bit more than I'd like to have to budget for.

I've installed cyanogenmod on B&N nooks before, so I'm comfortable installing custom roms if it seems like a good idea to do so, so if anybody has any experience in this regard I'd be interested to hear it, especially regarding how well it plays with the vzw network and whether there's any impact on stuff like camera quality, battery, etc.

Thanks.

I don't think we had a "apps safe to disable" thread specifically for the second gen Verizon Moto X. http://forums.androidcentral.com/mo...atware-free-moto-x-2014-verizon-possible.html

 

[diabolicalstreak]

Well I thought I'd drop in and offer a quick update; due to a deal too good to pass up on a new LG G3, I have a shiny new device on its way to me in the coming days. I like the fact that the G3 manages to be reasonably compact for its screen size (seems to be not much bigger than the X?), and I'm looking forward to getting started with it soon. Thanks again for the advice.