Review: Moto X (2014)

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

I have no doubt that this year’s Moto X can tussle with any of the leading smartphones we have today and match or even surpass them in the common functions, running apps, surfing the web, multitasking, and even starting the camera and taking burst-mode photos, which are all a huge improvement over last year’s model.

Last year’s most surprising smartphone was the Google-owned Motorola Moto X. A mid-range smartphone in terms of specs, it innovated various areas and became a favourite of many reviewers as well as loyal fans who preferred it to the Nexus 5 as the closest thing to a Pure Android device.

Great design, touchless control, gesture-enabled camera and for lucky US-based users, a fully customizable palette of colours, textures, capacities and even startup screens. The Moto X was the blueprint that was used to create the Moto G (Moto’s white knight) and the Moto E; the original Moto X remains one of 2013’s best non-superphone devices. Let's find out how the new one fares.

 

Rogers got exclusivity and offered the Moto X in black or white and in 16GB only. While many were impressed with the device, it was poorly promoted and subsequently dropped from Rogers’ stable of devices months before any news of a replacement was on its way.

TELUS now has the launch exclusivity for the new Moto X, and fingers crossed, they’ll have the sense to properly promote and push the new Moto X as well as its companion accessories.

Motorola continued where it left off with the Moto X and took design, materials, and build to another level. The new Moto X will get a lot of press for being offered in bamboo and in fine leather, but that’s just a small part of this latest flagship’s appeal. Yes, I said flagship.

Moto X now sports a larger 5.3-inch display, yet it remarkably manages to sit well for one-handed usage.The new curved stainless steel frame adds great weight and the ergonomic shape of the case, the rounded Gorilla Glass display and overall feel and texture of the new Moto X is an absolute delight.

My black resin review unit did not feature the bamboo back plate, but it still looks  and feels quite stunning in its  Wayne Enterprises' matte black colour with subtle metal accents. The bamboo on white model, also coming to TELUS, is similarly appealing and is likely to be popular with users who want to sport a smartphone that is visibly unlike anything else out there.

 

Attention to detail is evident, the new power button is ribbed so you don’t mistake it for the volume rocker, the dimple at the rear is now metal and adds a sense of depth to the phone’s surface, and the almost invisible borders on the display all give you a phone that feels smaller, lighter, and more compact than it actually is. 

Motorola is all about natural textures and a smartphone that feels ‘real’, so the variety of materials and finishes has been extended to include various rubber, resin, leather and bamboo finishes that set it apart from the smartphone industry at large.

While Apple and HTC’s recent models have thrived using nearly completely metal enclosures, which feel exceedingly premium, Motorola has found its place mixing and matching various combinations which are so well put together that they feel similarly top notch.

The new Moto X is a tactile treat; it’s the type of device that’s been so thoughtfully designed that it is well balanced, attractive yet also appears quite resilient. 

Subtle innovation abounds with the new Moto X. For example,  there are four neatly hidden IR (Infra Red) sensors that can ‘feel’ when you’re near, or when you want to interact with the phone. These sensors wake the screen when you come close, and can also be used to silence calls with a simple wave to check notifications with another wave.

 

To improve voice control and noise reduction, Motorola has added four microphones, which are responsive and adjust according to various conditions. The result is call quality is crisp and noise is cut down to a bare minimum.

The sensors make a phone’s user feel like Jedi controlling the phone remotely though simple gestures, it’s all very cool and functional. All of this is handled by a co-processor, which also figures out whether you are walking, driving, in a meeting or getting ready to sleep and then adjusts  the phone's settings accordingly.

Moto X runs Pure Android and the latest version of KitKat 4.4.4 and by stripping out any bloatware or overlay, the device can take full advantage of the processor, RAM and graphics chip to deliver what the company calls 'Pure Performance.'

The Moto X is a beast in terms of performance. This is easily noticeable when interacting with the device. Webpages load very quickly, the touch-response of the display and the scrolling accuracy is far, far beyond various smartphones I’ve used on any platform, and even the pinch-to-zoom motion is very responsive.

Prior to the new Moto X, I was testing the OnePlus One, which by all accounts is a superphone with even more RAM and a comparable quad core processor, but the Moto X’s experience is just so cohesive, so well integrated that it feels a notch faster in almost every respect.

The new Moto X runs a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 with quad-core CPU, 2 GB of RAM.Speed and performance-wise, I have no doubt that this year’s Moto X can tussle with any of the leading smartphones we have today and match or even surpass them in the common functions, running apps, surfing the web, multitasking and even starting the camera and taking burst-mode photos are all a huge improvement over last year’s model. 

The 5.2-inch display is now full in 1080p HD, it is a glorious 423 pixel per inch OLED and quite skewed towards saturating some colours but it is well balanced, renders images and videos nicely while it seems to have a slight orange tint but not so much as to appear unnatural

The camera is now 13MP and is faster to deploy, it does a great job shooting photos in burst mode. There doesn’t seem to be a way to change photo sizes so you’re pretty stuck with 13 megapixels or 9 megapixels, which a little bit too much considering the 16 GB storage ceiling and no microSD card slot.

The camera offers the following features, Quick Capture – LED flash – 4K UHD video capture – 4X digital zoom – Slow motion video – Burst mode – Auto HDR – Panorama. I like that it is easy to use and that the settings are quite intuitive. Check below for some unedited results from my new Moto X.

Voice Control is now even better on Moto X with an expanded feature set to include the ability to create your own control phrase instead of just ‘Ok Google’, I tried ‘Hey Moto X,” and that seems to work well. More than just enabling Google Now commands, you can control apps in more ways. Send a message with WhatsApp, take a seflie (groan), and post to Facebook, are just  some examples of what one can do now. It is expected to get smarter.

The new Moto X is exceptional. Many might say it is what the original Moto X should have been, and in today’s landscape it really is top-tier phone with some very unique and compelling features.

I’ve always been partial to the Moto X’s curvy design and this year’s model takes that design to another level completely but without abandoning the core design principles. Few companies get the subtlety of iteration, that is, to take a recognized form and revise it and improve it while maintaining an imprint of the original, this is Motorola's strength.

The new Moto X is the best top tier Android smartphone Motorola has made, and brings all the qualities one would expect from a company that thrives on invention. Moto X feels solid, tightly designed, cohesive and it is also a workhorse.

Even while tethered to my Moto 360 via Bluetooth, it managed over a day and a half of moderate to intense use. It runs apps well, is super-responsive, and has a wealth of built-in apps that help make it easy to use and fun to interact with. 

For Canada, the Moto Maker customization feature is unlikely to come. So, no leather and no fancy color combinations. The black resin and bamboo versions coming to TELUS are quite attractive and rather safe, which means they should appeal to most users.

The lack of a microSD card slot is a head scratcher, given the two cheaper Motorola smartphones have the ability to add storage quite easily. The new Moto X comes only in a 16GB capacity, which in this day and age is quite small.

Thankfully there are third party products like SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash card, which can be used for carrying and streaming media wirelessly.

Who is it For?

Android users wanting a compact smartphone with a large 5.2-inch screen and some of the coolest touchless voice functionality. For anyone who values high performance and super-responsive multi-touch interaction with their smartphone, the new Moto X is really impressive.

Anyone interested in exploring wearables and the interaction between smartwatch and smartphone, as well as possibly smart headsets, should check out the new Moto X and it’s companion Moto 360 smart watch and upcoming Hint headset, they do work well together and this early in the wearables game, seem to be the most compelling combination of watch and smartphone.

Conclusion

The new Moto X elevates many the features and qualities that made the original so endearing. This revision adds s great material redesign while fulfilling a user’s wishlist of a larger screen, better camera, flagship processor and more RAM. The stainless steel frame and various design and functionality upgrades are subtle, yet appreciated.

The limitation to 16GB storage capacity dampens my excitement for the new Moto X a little bit, but it’s not a deal-breaker.

Anyone looking for their next flagship Android device should put the new Moto X in their shortlist. It is well-built, powerful, and offers the best that Motorola and Google have to offer in one sleek package.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5