Motorola Moto X Review
With Google as its new owner, Motorola is introducing the Moto X, a phone notable for innovations in manufacturing, as part of an attempt to regain its stature.There’s good hardware, too, including a body that’s nearly as slim as the iPhone 5, but with the larger, 4.7-inch screen that is comparable to those found in rival Android phones.Motorola is assembling the Moto X in Texas, making it the first smartphone to be put together in the U.S.
Motorola promises to ship custom designs within four days, faster than it would be able to if the company had chosen to make the Moto X halfway around the world in Asia, as other phones typically are. Moto X has nothing to do with making calls, checking Facebook or holding it in your hands. Rather, it breaks from the pack by allowing for a lot of customization. You can choose everything from the color of the power button to a personalized message on the back cover.
Design
Motorola Moto X isn't going to take the crown in a beauty contest anytime soon. Built from two pieces of plastic, the body of the Moto X is designed to fit comfortably in the hand, rather than inspire anyone with breath-taking visuals. The phone is 129.3 mm high and 65.3 mm wide, while the thickness of its profile varies from 5.6 mm to 10.4 mm. This makes the handset slightly smaller than the Nexus 4, which is equipped with a screen of identical size. Meanwhile, the Moto X weighs 130 grams, which is slightly lighter than the Nexus 4, and as heavy as the Galaxy S4 - ultimately meaning that the phone is quite light.
Weighing 4.8 ounces and measuring 5.1 x 2.6 x 0.22 - 0.4 inches, the Moto X is shorter, narrower and lighter than the HTC One (5.4 x 2.7 x 0.37 inches, 5 ounces). This makes using the Moto X with one hand much easier, though we prefer the aluminum aesthetic of the HTC One to the plasticlike X.
To prevent damage from rain and small splashes, Motorola coated the Moto X in a water-repellent coating. However, unlike the Galaxy S4 Active and Sony Xperia Z, this smartphone was not made for dunking.
Display
The Moto X's resolution is a step behind the smartphone competition, offering 1280 x 720 pixels compared with the full 1080p.The Moto X uses a RGB subpixel structure, which means each pixel has its own red, green and blue subpixels. Inches and pixel densities aside, the new phone will have an AMOLED screen, but thankfully, it's going to be with a standard RGB pixel arrangement, not the PenTile one. We can't make any conclusive predictions about the quality of the display right now, but chances are that it's going to sport vibrant colors and an extremely high contrast. It'll be interesting to check the color balance and daylight visibility, as those are usually the weak sides of AMOLED displays. Samsung is the biggest proponent of AMOLED screens right now, and to tell you the truth, those panels have been getting better and better with each new iteration. Whether Motorola is going to do a similarly good job, though, remains to be seen.
Quick Launch Camera
Motorola doesn't have the best reputation for camera quality (see our 2013 Smartphone Camera Shootout), but it hopes to change that with the Moto X. It all starts with two flicks of your wrist -- a gesture that launches the camera quickly, in about 2.2 seconds -- whether you have the screen off or on. It's a 10-megapixel sensor that you'll find on the recently-announced DROID line-up for Verizon, as well as the Moto X. The thing about this camera, as almost every other smartphone camera, is that it's designed to capture good low-light photos and blur-free daylight photos. Whether it'll succeed in doing so, we can't say just yet.
It's worth noting that the Clear Pixel camera relies on 1.4-micron pixels, which is bigger than the 1.12-micron pixels found in 13MP shooters like those in the Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z. This should supposedly help the camera perform better in low-light scenarios. Motorola claims that the RGBC ('C' stands for 'Clear') technology in use by the Moto X is capable of capturing up to 75% more light than the traditional RGB Bayer sensors, but it remains to be seen if that's really going to have a positive impact on the images.
Naturally, the device also supports 1080p video recording using the rear, as well as the front-facing camera, which has a resolution of 2-megapixels.
Processor and Memory
The X8 does feature eight cores, only thing is that just two of those are CPU cores, courtesy of the Snapdragon S4 Pro (1.7 GHz Krait cores). The other six consist of the 4 GPU cores of the Adreno 320, a dedicated natural language processing core and a context computing processor.
The Motorola Moto X is yet another proof that Google hates microSD cards, as there is no such slot on the phone. Instead, users will simply have to choose between a 16 GB and a 32 GB model. Thankfully, Google is at least throwing some cloud storage into the deal, with every Moto X granting you access to two-years of free 50 GB Google Drive storage.
Image quality
Moto X can capture up to 75 percent more light than a traditional sensor can. That ability, combined with an f2.4 aperture, is supposed to allow the phone to snap photos up to twice as fast in bright light while also taking brighter images in low light.
Software and apps
Motorola is owned by Google and all, the Moto X isn't going to run a pure Android build. There will still be some software customizations by Moto, and there's also going to be our favorite carrier bloatware. (Remember, the Moto X will be sold by the five biggest US carriers!) Thankfully, a Google Play Edition of the phone is expected, which should solve this issue for those users who can't stand having some junk on their devices.
Motorola includes a few special apps that can make your life easier. One is Motorola Assist, which builds on the work Motorola did with its Smart Actions and simplifies it. You can check off rules that will allow you to drive, go to meetings and sleep uninterrupted. For instance, you can check Silence, and the Moto X will keep your phone quiet when you're in meetings.
The Moto X also supports Motorola Connect, a Chrome extension that lets you send text messages and see incoming calls right on your desktop. After downloading the extension and signing into our account, we were up and running in no time. We especially liked that we could respond to incoming calls with texts.
Battery
The Moto X doesn't pack a very high-capacity battery, clocking in at 2,200 mAh. Still, we had pretty high hopes, given Motorola's claim of 24 hours of usage time.
Motorola promises to ship custom designs within four days, faster than it would be able to if the company had chosen to make the Moto X halfway around the world in Asia, as other phones typically are. Moto X has nothing to do with making calls, checking Facebook or holding it in your hands. Rather, it breaks from the pack by allowing for a lot of customization. You can choose everything from the color of the power button to a personalized message on the back cover.
Design
Motorola Moto X isn't going to take the crown in a beauty contest anytime soon. Built from two pieces of plastic, the body of the Moto X is designed to fit comfortably in the hand, rather than inspire anyone with breath-taking visuals. The phone is 129.3 mm high and 65.3 mm wide, while the thickness of its profile varies from 5.6 mm to 10.4 mm. This makes the handset slightly smaller than the Nexus 4, which is equipped with a screen of identical size. Meanwhile, the Moto X weighs 130 grams, which is slightly lighter than the Nexus 4, and as heavy as the Galaxy S4 - ultimately meaning that the phone is quite light.
Weighing 4.8 ounces and measuring 5.1 x 2.6 x 0.22 - 0.4 inches, the Moto X is shorter, narrower and lighter than the HTC One (5.4 x 2.7 x 0.37 inches, 5 ounces). This makes using the Moto X with one hand much easier, though we prefer the aluminum aesthetic of the HTC One to the plasticlike X.
To prevent damage from rain and small splashes, Motorola coated the Moto X in a water-repellent coating. However, unlike the Galaxy S4 Active and Sony Xperia Z, this smartphone was not made for dunking.
Display
The Moto X's resolution is a step behind the smartphone competition, offering 1280 x 720 pixels compared with the full 1080p.The Moto X uses a RGB subpixel structure, which means each pixel has its own red, green and blue subpixels. Inches and pixel densities aside, the new phone will have an AMOLED screen, but thankfully, it's going to be with a standard RGB pixel arrangement, not the PenTile one. We can't make any conclusive predictions about the quality of the display right now, but chances are that it's going to sport vibrant colors and an extremely high contrast. It'll be interesting to check the color balance and daylight visibility, as those are usually the weak sides of AMOLED displays. Samsung is the biggest proponent of AMOLED screens right now, and to tell you the truth, those panels have been getting better and better with each new iteration. Whether Motorola is going to do a similarly good job, though, remains to be seen.
Quick Launch Camera
Motorola doesn't have the best reputation for camera quality (see our 2013 Smartphone Camera Shootout), but it hopes to change that with the Moto X. It all starts with two flicks of your wrist -- a gesture that launches the camera quickly, in about 2.2 seconds -- whether you have the screen off or on. It's a 10-megapixel sensor that you'll find on the recently-announced DROID line-up for Verizon, as well as the Moto X. The thing about this camera, as almost every other smartphone camera, is that it's designed to capture good low-light photos and blur-free daylight photos. Whether it'll succeed in doing so, we can't say just yet.
It's worth noting that the Clear Pixel camera relies on 1.4-micron pixels, which is bigger than the 1.12-micron pixels found in 13MP shooters like those in the Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z. This should supposedly help the camera perform better in low-light scenarios. Motorola claims that the RGBC ('C' stands for 'Clear') technology in use by the Moto X is capable of capturing up to 75% more light than the traditional RGB Bayer sensors, but it remains to be seen if that's really going to have a positive impact on the images.
Naturally, the device also supports 1080p video recording using the rear, as well as the front-facing camera, which has a resolution of 2-megapixels.
Processor and Memory
The X8 does feature eight cores, only thing is that just two of those are CPU cores, courtesy of the Snapdragon S4 Pro (1.7 GHz Krait cores). The other six consist of the 4 GPU cores of the Adreno 320, a dedicated natural language processing core and a context computing processor.
The Motorola Moto X is yet another proof that Google hates microSD cards, as there is no such slot on the phone. Instead, users will simply have to choose between a 16 GB and a 32 GB model. Thankfully, Google is at least throwing some cloud storage into the deal, with every Moto X granting you access to two-years of free 50 GB Google Drive storage.
Image quality
Moto X can capture up to 75 percent more light than a traditional sensor can. That ability, combined with an f2.4 aperture, is supposed to allow the phone to snap photos up to twice as fast in bright light while also taking brighter images in low light.
Software and apps
Motorola is owned by Google and all, the Moto X isn't going to run a pure Android build. There will still be some software customizations by Moto, and there's also going to be our favorite carrier bloatware. (Remember, the Moto X will be sold by the five biggest US carriers!) Thankfully, a Google Play Edition of the phone is expected, which should solve this issue for those users who can't stand having some junk on their devices.
Motorola includes a few special apps that can make your life easier. One is Motorola Assist, which builds on the work Motorola did with its Smart Actions and simplifies it. You can check off rules that will allow you to drive, go to meetings and sleep uninterrupted. For instance, you can check Silence, and the Moto X will keep your phone quiet when you're in meetings.
The Moto X also supports Motorola Connect, a Chrome extension that lets you send text messages and see incoming calls right on your desktop. After downloading the extension and signing into our account, we were up and running in no time. We especially liked that we could respond to incoming calls with texts.
Battery
The Moto X doesn't pack a very high-capacity battery, clocking in at 2,200 mAh. Still, we had pretty high hopes, given Motorola's claim of 24 hours of usage time.
Motorola Moto X Review
Reviewed by Ankit Kumar Titoriya
on
20:24
Rating:
Reviewed by Ankit Kumar Titoriya
on
20:24
Rating:
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