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Moto X Review (2nd Generation)

Somewhere-in-the-Middle

Camera

Is it safe to say that the “camera” section of every single Moto X (2nd gen) review has been the most anticipated of the year? After last year’s disaster of a camera in the original Moto X, Motorola had no choice but to do something completely different this time around. They have done that in some form by at least going with a Sony sensor in favor of the Omnivision sensors they have used for years. They also tossed in a dual-LED ring flash that is supposed to bring in much softer, more natural light when taking photos with the flash on (wait, people use the flash?).

So, what’s the verdict? Well, the camera is capable. It isn’t terrible. That’s an improvement, right? In fact, unlike with last year’s Moto X, I am actually not ashamed to post pictures to Instagram that were taken with the new model, if that means anything to anyone. With great lighting, it can take pretty solid pictures, just like most smartphone cameras. In low light, it’s not the best – again, like most smartphone cameras. With that said, the low light performance on the new Moto X is probably closer to “bad” than “good,” especially when you compare it to the G3 or Galaxy S5. In daylight, though, I would put its photos up against photos taken from most of today’s top tier phones.

While testing, mostly in Chicago, I took a bunch of cityscape and building photos that turned out really well when looked at on a smaller screen (like a phone) or on a social network. Blow up the photos and you will most definitely notice the noise and the less-than-sharp lines, probably due to too much processing. The colors captured seem to be quite accurate to my eye, but every so often come off a little muted. It’s kind of a mixed bag with the camera, which is why we placed it here. Some photos I really like, others I would re-shoot if I had the chance.

Like last year, your photos will look just fine with great lighting or in an outdoor situation (where most of your photos are likely taken). Come inside or find poorly lit areas and you may not love the results. It is definitely a step up, both in speed and picture quality, but I wouldn’t say that it is all that close to the total package you are getting with the Galaxy S5 or LG G3.

As for the camera UI, the experience mimics last year’s model, but adds the option to choose between 4:3 (13MP) and 16:9 (9.7MP) resolutions. Motorola also tossed in 4K video recording. They kept the super minimal UI, though, along with the double-wrist-twist Quick Capture camera gesture. Focusing can be a bit finicky at times, so I would recommend going with the drag-to-focus option.

Overall, the camera on the new Moto X is perfectly fine for most shooting situations, it just isn’t stellar. I would have loved to see stellar, but then again, an improvement over last year’s camera experience is at least that, an improvement.

Battery Life

Earlier in the week, I told you that battery life on the new Moto X wasn’t great. I advised that you buy a Turbo Charger just in case, because there is a good chance you will need some extra juice before you go to bed each night. After factory resetting my phone and testing the device for another three days leading up to this review, I still feel the same way. The Moto X battery clocks in at 2,300mAh, which is by all means pretty small for a 2014 flagship and it shows in my results.

The new Moto X is quite capable of pushing through 14-16 hours of use each day, but maybe not much more than that. I have been through at least a half-dozen other flagship phones this year that all provide much more life out of a single charge than the Moto X. It will get you from the moment you wake up in the morning until you arrive home from work in the evening, but don’t expect it to have much left as you sit back and relax on your couch before heading off to bed or out on the town for a nightcap.

Motorola decided that it would rather make a phone that remained slim and felt great in your hand instead of tossing in an all-day battery. While I love the feel of this device in hand, it really would have been fun to see Motorola construct a great feeling phone that also killed it in the battery department. I guess we’ll have to wait for that kind of battery life in the new DROID that they are making in partnership with Verizon.

This post has been edited by SyathibiyMegat: Sep 20 2014, 06:11 PM

Not surprised at all. Motorola phones have long been sturdy, and will always be. No matter what I did to my previous or current phones, they won't die. LOL

This could be for you



- 5.92" QHD display (498PPI)
- 3200mAh battery
- 13MP camera and 2MP front shooter
- Snapdragon 805 processor
- 3GB RAM

Here's everything you can command your new Moto X to do by voice

What's easier than telling your new Moto X to tell you all the things you can command it to do with your voice? Why, getting one of us to tell you first.

Moto Voice is the new-and-improved voice integration that does a lot of what you get with Google Now, but with a few Moto X-specific features as well. When you first set up Moto Voice it'll recommend you take a spin through this list. But if you're still trying to figure out if the Moto X is right for you (and we highly recommend taking a read through our full Moto X review first), here's a preview:

Voice commands on the new Moto X

- Goodnight: Turns on the Sleeping do-not-disturb mode in Moto Assist.
- Post to Facebook: Shares that oh-so-urgent status update that's just burning a hole inside you.
- Send WhatsApp message: Same, only over WhatsApp.
- What's Up? Tells you the time, and any unread notifications.
- What's this song? Listens to the beat. Tells you what's rocking.
- How far away is the moon? Just a basic Google search. (Answer: 238,900 miles.)
- Navigate home: If you have a home location noted in Google and need to know how to get there, this will help guide you there. (Or you can obviously navigate other places.)
- Take a selfie: We're not saying you should, but this will fire up the front-facing camera and count down from three. Be sure to remember to use duckface.
- When's my next meeting? Uses Google Now to see what you're about to be up to, or what it was your were supposed to be doing.
- Find my phone: A great old feature. Finds your phone.
- Remind me to pick up milk tonight: Sets a reminder to pick up milk. Or bread. Or cheese. Need anything else?
- Play Beethoven on YouTube: Because if there's one thing Beethoven had in mind all those years ago, it was being broadcast on the same medium as cat videos.
- Talk to me: Will announce incoming calls and texts and for a half-hour.
- Set alarm for 6 a.m. tomorrow: Boy, you sure do wake up early.
- Take a photo: Fires up the rear camera.
- Send text to Lisa Lewis: She'll be glad to hear from you. Or text anyone else in your contacts.
- Check voicemail: It's your mom. Give her a call back.
- Open Calendar: Because being late is for losers.
- Good morning: Wake up, talk to your phone, learn your next appointment.
- Get list of commands: This does what we just did here. Only not as funny.
- What's the weather? So you know what it's like outside without having to go outside.
- Call Lisa Lewis on mobile: That Lisa Lewis sure is popular. Or you could call anyone else.

The important part as you're looking at this list on your phone in the Moto Voice app are all the words in bold. Those are the actions. You knew that, of course.


Not sold yet?

Jesus. Can't it be anymore neat and genius than this? Damn!

SIM unlock, so that you can use any other SIM other than theirs, bcs they don't want their phones to be used on other telcos. Kinda greedy I would say, bcs other telcos don't do this to their phones

No, it's not. No offense bro, but if you're familiar with the so-called smartphone thingy, you should be able to understand it easily. If I used another term 'phone unlock', people would perceive it as unlocking the phone's bootloader. That's why I didn't use that term. So, SIM unlock simply means to unlock the SIM, which is being locked by AT&T for the use with other SIMs other than theirs. It's as simple as that But of course, like this fella above here Someonesim said, if you want to use the phone with other SIMs other than AT&T's, you need to unlock it, either by calling AT&T yourself, or you could buy a code, around $15. So, yeah. It's a bit of a hassle there. Calling AT&T is definitely ridiculous since you're in MY. So, another choice is to buy a code, and that, will require more money. Other telcos, for example T-Mobile or Verizon, they don't lock their SIM. It's what they call, 'factory unlock'. Meaning, the phones that are under their brand won't require SIM unlock. You can basically insert any SIM into the phone, without having to call them, or to buy a code. I hope it's clear now

The answer for relatively small battery on Moto X (2nd Gen.)

DROID TURBO Will Have a 3,900mAh Battery

Not a prob to me, bcs I don't need LTE. I have access to WiFi almost all the time. But what annoys me is the carrier's bloatware. Sigh

Holy Geez. I'm so getting this

Nope, anybody can basically buy it

No offense bro, but I guess you also don't know. Verizon phones with LTE come with 'factory unlock', same as T-Mobile. You can basically insert in any SIMs into their phones, and they'll work almost perfectly, with the exception of LTE. The fastest that it can reach is H+, which is faster than 3G

No need

This post has been edited by SyathibiyMegat: Oct 19 2014, 07:56 PM

Why would you want to wait when you could get it now