I am going to review my year old phone the 2013 Moto X. It has been an amazing phone for me and I'm really proud of Motorola's recent devices as 3 of my family members use Motorola android phones (you guessed it. G and G2 and my X)
So, the device was priced at Rs. 23999 which is roughly $400. No customisation in India but just the solid shades and a woven black or white phone. 
I got the woven white phone and the image on flipkart was deceptive in a good way. It seemed plasticy but the real thing is gorgeous folks. It's soiled a bit due to my extreme use in mud, water and rains but yeah, it looks great. The Motorola dimple is cool and the phone being curved is easily appreciated by spectators. 
You all know about the phone through specs and all. I'll cover some unique aspects and experiences.
1) Build Quality
Phone is built great. It feels nice in the hand. It's comfortable and rigid. Front has a gorilla glass display but it did pick up few light scratches despite no specific reason. I even separated my keys all the time but still.
My phone has been dropped like 10-15 times face down and it's not nicked or cracked at all. However, due to a few falls on the back, the plastic casing has developed cracks. Surprisingly, the cracks are parallel to the sim slot and so it doesn't look bad or out of place magically.
2) Hardware And Camera
The hardware might deceive a few. Some may dismiss this device as a dual core product but I challenge you to find a phone that runs as smooth as the X even though it is almost full of music and apps. I've used every new phone like the iPhone 6, Note 4, Xiaomi MI3 and even One Plus One. They have a small degree of lagginess somewhere but moto X has been a star.
It is a special designed chipset with 8 feature rich cores. Each for a different purpose. One handles battery saving voice detection, one detects motion and action. One for battery etc. the graphics chip is ahead of its peers even today. 2GB Ram helps you breeze past screens on the current OS kitkat which will becom Lollypop very soon.
Camera is 10MP Omnivision sensor and it is a slight letdown. However, with practice and other alternatives you can get better images.
The Motorola camera opens with a twist of the wrist and it's great. It's efficient but the camera quality could have been better. However, by using Google camera, I could adjust exposure and take much much better shots with better details. I have uploaded those images too.
Selfie camera is 2 MP and it's great. Selfies are clear and bright. I have attached a photo of my friend, Devavrat, a genius and awesomely crazy dude indeed.
Battery life is superb. I can pull the phone 1 and half day without charging after a full charge if I use it moderately i.e music, photos, some 3G browsing and normal gaming. So, I've maximum achieved a 4 hour odd screen on time on Kitkat after I discovered a great big that was eating up my battery.
Moto X has an always listening Ok Google Detection. It was on the moment I got the phone and had been on ever since. I was noticing a super abnormal low standby. An hour goes, the phone dropped by 10 %. I found out and then turned it off and my battery has become so much better. Now, the phone can standby for nearly 12 hours without dropping more than 5% even despite taking push notifications and all. A magical breakthrough.
3) Active Display
This feature is the best one according to me. I barely have to touch my lock button. Whenever I want the phone or it needs my attention, it automatically lights up and I just have to hold a finger. As simple as that. I can't do without that feature now. But, turning it off improves battery tremendously. So, you'd get another hour I'm guessing. 
4) Clearing Some Myths
1) Call Quality
It's okay. Calls are clear but sometimes, catching signal is a trouble on this device.
2) Phone is incapable of high graphical and powerful apps.
No. The phone breezes every app you throw at it. It runs Asphalt 8 better than the iPhone 5.
3) AMOLED Brightness
The phone has a maximum brightness which enables distinct and trouble free reading in direct sunlight. Anybody else saying otherwise is comparing visibility to an LCD panel. It's not the brightest but it's comfortable and pleading to use.
4) Hidden Features
It houses an NFC chip and is capable of Wireless ContentMirroring via miracast. It is a 4G compatible handset.
5) Camera Flash
It is terrible. With flash, colours are haywire. Photos are so much better without flash. Plus, your hand keeps blocking the flash as it sits right above the dimple.
6) Audio Jack
The phone has a built in equaliser. The effects are great and input is clear. BOSE and beats headphones receive great sound from the 3.5 MM jack.
7) Trouble multitasking
If you subject the phone to a Google + photo backup, the apps will run slowly. This is the only disadvantage of the dual core architecture.
I'll upload camera samples in the next post.
Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Do tell me what you think. Suggestions always welcome for those willing to improve!