The phone is a worthy upgrade and most definitely one of the best Android mobile phones around. The price tag. though, might hurt its chances, says Himanshu Juneja.
The curtains are off and Motorola has revealed the updated version of the Moto X. Earlier rumoured to be called X+1, Motorola did well to simply call it Moto X (Generation 2), than go for a name which sounded like a mathematical equation.
Laying stress on the ergonomics and user experience, the Moto X had created quite a buzz with its overall fluid experience. The expectations with the latest iteration of the device was not only to create a similar experience once again, but to iron out the shortcomings and showcase some new features onboard.
Let us see if Moto X's new model has done enough to command a pricing of Rs 32,000.
Specifications
- OS: Android Kitkat 4.4.4
- Display: AMOLED 5.2" @1080 x 1920 pixels, ~424 ppi
- Processor: Qualcomm Quad Core 2.5Ghz
- RAM: 2 GB
- Camera: Primary: 13 MP with LED Flash; Secondary: 2 MP
- Memory: 16/32 GB
- Battery: 2300 mAh Li-Ion
Build and design
Motorola has ditched the plastic affair from the earlier device and has given the revised Moto X a somewhat metal affair. The phone has nice aluminium frame which not only adds to aesthetics, but also acts as an extension for the internal antenna.
The phone reminds a lot of the Moto E, a rather elongated and a slim one at that.
The phone has two speakers at its front, but unfortunately no chance of an HTC like surround sound experience, as only the lower speaker is capable of producing the call/volume music in an enhanced manner. The upper speaker only serves as an ear piece.
Motorola has done a pretty good job in keeping the overall footprint to a respectable proportion. The display is a delight to use, and due to the fact that the display curves at the borders and is not flush with the metal frame, swiping around becomes a delight. Motorola has indeed looked into basic things.
Carrying onwards with Motorola's way of enhanced ergonomics, the back panel has a more pronounced dimple which features the brand logo. Not only does this look good, it also provides a nice reference point to jam the finger into the phone for enhanced grip while talking on the phone.
Right above the dimple is the hole for the camera module, which looks more pronounced as well, thanks to the ring around it which houses the LED Flash. Motorola again does its little bit by making the entire module smooth, which makes it easier for cleaning up before the all important photography/videography.
Also Read: Low on camera, high on UX: Can Moto X be a winner?
Display
The display has been bumped to 5.2" as compared to the 4.7" from the earlier model. The AMOLED screen has been provided with corning gorilla glass 3 for enhanced protection.
At 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution, which works out to be 424 ppi pixel density, the display is much sharper than the earlier one. All this has been achieved despite the fact that the new Moto X looks just a little big bigger than its predecessor.
The screen is pretty good overall with bright white levels and deep blacks. Going in with an AMOLED screen meant that the colours will be a bit saturated, and that is the case here too. The screen has good viewing angles, and does a good job with a crisp and vivid output.
One point of concern being that the Moto X does carry the yellow-orangish tinge which was present in the earlier model as well. This really does leave a bad taste in the mouth, but thankfully the aberration doesn't effect overall experience to alarming levels. The tinge is apparent especially while comparing with other screens. So this should put things in persepective.
Software
There is no doubt that the software facet of the Moto X is where the main expectations will be concentrated at, and it doesn't disappoint either.
Carrying the 4.4.4 version of Android, and powered by Quad-core 2.5 GHz and 2GB RAM, the performance is quite smooth and using the phone becomes a delightful experience. The apps launch and close smoothly and demanding games too give a butter-smooth experience. But this is just the beginning.
The phone comes with a near 'pure' form of Android, as the tweaks and skinning are not overtly done on the Moto X. The ergonomics and seamless experience is what Moto X again aims for and excels at it as well.
The phone comes with a small bundle of the expected Google apps like Gmail, Google Drive, Chrome browser, Quickoffice and Maps.
The real treat for the users is the voice and gesture controls which turns the phone into a device which acts as a medium to deliver innovative experience.
Motorola goes a step ahead with the Android's standard voice commands and brings 'Always listening' feature. This means that the users can perform tasks with the phone even when the screen is turned off.
Moto Voice, the digital assistant works pretty much the way Google Now does.
In order to activate it, the user just needs to set up a personal greeting message (like 'Hey Moto') and then speak out the desired command.
Searches like weather information, google searches, current time etc can be asked for. One can even launch apps via moto voice as well, or make post to social media website like twitter or Facebook. If one is driving, she can ask for navigation as well.
It is this area where Motorola's Moto X really zooms past the competition and offers users an experience which really seems like obvious innovation.
Also Read: 10 things you must know about the Moto X
Other useful apps
Moto Actions: Using the IR sensors, the phone allows for interaction with the device using only gestures.
Simply waving a hand above the phone will silence up the incoming calls. Same can be done to various alarms as well. The camera app launch via wrist flick too is accomplished by this feature.
Motorola Migrate: This app is installed on the phone from where one desires to transfer content like Contacts, Texts, Media files etc to the Moto X.
The app will provide a QR Code which is scanned using the Migrate residing on the Moto X and the desired content will be downloaded.
Moto Display: The intelligent display mechanism from Motorola which was earlier known as Active Display.
Whenever the phone receives a notification, those notifications are faded in and out. This allows a user to be aware of what the notifications are without actually powering the display to its fullest.
If one needs more details, the user simply has to put her/his thumb on the unlock button at the Active display screen, and bits like the subject of the newly sent mail are made visible to the user.
Motorola Assist: This functionality allows for blocking of calls at desired times, which can be predefined or be set by using the Google calendar. The app also allows the texts to be read out automatically. The text messages can be replied to by the phone automatically as well, something which frequent drivers will definitely find useful.
The defining stroke of intelligence is that Assist uses the phone's GPS to understand whether the user is driving or not.
The user can set up time frames when only important contacts can get in touch, that too if they have tried to call in quick succession. Great for emergency or sleeping hours!
Motorola Connect: It is a service that connects to a Chrome desktop browser plugin, allowing the user to receive notifications.
To summarise, the Moto X experience comes straight from the software department. One cannot be blamed if users are ready to ignore any little shortcoming to get overwhelmed by the Moto X's rich and innovative software experience.
Camera
As expected, Moto X's second edition sees an upgradation as well. The new model comes with a 13 MP instead of 10 MP camera of the old. In addition to that, the phone has Sony's Exmor RS IMX135 sensor being used this time.
It should be worth mentioning that the same module is being used on the LG G3, and Note 4. This essentially brings Moto X on par with the good camera phones mentioned earlier, but the photography is not entirely on the same pedestal, especially the night photography.
But the camera on the new Moto X performs admirably well. The camera and its app are feature rich to a very good extent and should keep the users reasonably satisfied. The camera is capable of recording ultra HD 4k videos as well as slow motion video capture as well.
The neat tricks with the camera department again underlines Motorola's effort to provide the users something special. To activate the camera, users just have to flick the wrist and the camera app gets launched.
A thing to be noted is that the camera launches pretty quickly as well.
In order to click a photo, users can tap on any area of the screen, but must ensure proper autofocus for the desired subject has been achieved. To initiate the 4x digital zoom, users need to swipe at the viewfinder's left side. To launch the menu wheel, the user needs to swipe inwards of the screen from the edges.
An extremely useful feature is that the photo actually gets clicked even before the finger makes contact with the touchscreen. This allows the phone to notify if the picture actually clicked is a 'bad shot' or not. For example, while trying to capture an important instant, a slip up would mean clicking the picture a second too late.
Thankfully, Moto X keeps clicking in the background and retrieves the desired moment which it captured on its own.
Motorola here again delivered a feature which ought to feel like a natural and obvious addition.
Overall, the camera performs admirably well. Camera launches quickly, feature set provides basic features as well like HDR, geo-tagging, panoramic shooting etc, but there is no doubt that the low light photography leaves room for improvement.
The front-facing camera is a 2 MP affair, and is capable of 1080p recording as well.
Also Read: Can Motorola Moto X threaten Samsung?
Battery
Powered by a Li Ion 2300mAh battery, Moto X boasts of 17 hours of talk time, with 10.4 days of standby time.
This in effect means that the phone should last a day on moderate usage, but chances are that heavier users will find the battery running out of juice pretty quickly and hence it will be wise to make arrangements for a backup.
This is a bit of disappointment, because while owning a phone of such high pedigree, one will be keen to explore it and not be holding himself back to use its features.
Thankfully the new Moto X is Quick Charge 2.0 enabled. Users can purchase a turbo charger separately, which charges the battery for almost 8 hours worth of backup taking a mere 15 minutes to accomplish this.
Verdict
Moto X (second generation) is indeed a phone which is worthy of a serious look in. The near pure Android experience is a big draw in itself. It is not without its set of flaws, but there are many things to look forward to, which makes the second generation of Moto X a compelling choice. Motorola has tried to provide a wholesome experience with the improved Moto X.
The Moto Voice in itself has generated tremendous interest and Motorola should be given the credit for such innovation.
True that the phone still has shortcomings like no wireless charging and memory card slot either. Add to it that the variant with maximum memory onboard is just a mere 32GB. A 64GB model should have been released as well.
The screen despite being crisp still carries the slight yellowish tinge, and it doesn't really go with the image of a company like Motorola.
The camera performance is acceptable indoors; thankfully the camera app has been impressive to again negate its shortcomings to a certain extent.
Taking all the pros and cons into account, the phone is a worthy upgrade and most definitely one of the best android mobile phones around. The price tag is something which might hurt its chances.
The US pricing for the non-contracted phone roughly translates to Rs 32,000 and hence does seems okay, but we have seen Motorola bringing in lesser products like Moto E and Moto G with India-suited price tags, and it will be wise move to bring in price cuts after the first few weeks of Moto X's release.
