Saturday, 27 September 2014

Moto X 2nd Generation - Specs And Review

Motorola, recently showing a good success in market, especially in Indian market. The success story started with Moto G, then Moto E and the recently released Moto G2. Now, Motorola has released their flagship of 2014, Moto X 2nd Generation smartphone for Rs 31,999. Motorola built this smartphone with an entirely different vision than other companies. It is very simple, having good hardware, less customizations in UI i.e. having almost pure stock Android experience.
Lets see if this 2nd generation Moto X captures the heats of customers or it is kept aside for Samsung Galaxy S5 and Apple iPhone 6.


Design:
Instead of fully plastic body, Moto X offers strength with metallic frame around the sides of the device. Frame is thicker in the middle and becomes thinner at the ends, which rises the problem while holding the phone, just like HTC One M8. The is repeatedly slipped from our hands or onto our face while laying down in bed.
It comes with  Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which is beveled round the edges, creating most satisfying experience when you slide your finger on it. Moto X has front facing speaker with nice quality of sound. The back of the phone is very nice. I like the positioning of the camera and LED flash and the surface to very smooth making it easy too wipe the fingerprints on the lens. Metallic 'M' logo of Motorola looks great withing the back panel. All in one, the phone looks great in hands.

Display:
Moto X comes with 5.2 inch 1080p AMOLED display, pretty much larger than previous one.
The display is having several issues such as it does have a typical AMOLED yellow tinge on it, you'll notice it while viewing white screen. Also the display is not that much sharp as a 1080p should be. In case of display, I am disappointed with it.

Hardware and Software:
Last year's Moto X was having nice hardware, but there was something missing in it. With this 2nd generation Moto X, Motorola used all the high end specs you can expect from a flagship of 2014. It is powered by 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GN RAM and 13 MP camera. This hardware is enough for good performance and user experience.
Software is the main thing where the strength of Moto X exists. It comes with latest Android 4.4.4 KitKat. Motorola kept stock android UI which offers a great performance. Motorola throw away some of their apps and came with some more functionality. Everything from automating certain tasks, or adding a more convenient lock-screen, and the most notable improvement is the way Motorola has extended Android’s standard voice commands by providing “always listening” functionality. This means that, even with the screen off, you can still perform quick Google searches, set a timer, or just ask the Moto X what time it is — all without ever having to physically touch the phone. There are some more utilities and apps such as Moto actions, Moto voice, Moto assist, Moto Display, Motorola Connect and some more.

Storage:
Limited storage is the only problem with Moto X and that is really a major problem. Moto X comes with 16GB and 32GB internal storage. The model which I have seen was a 16 GB model with only 10.2 GB usable. On top of that, it does not support any external storage. Now, the choice is yours. I think 16 GB model is almost useless with this much less memory and should not an option. If you want to buy Moto X, go with 32 GB.

Performance:
Thanks to Motorola for running nearly a stock Android on Moto X, which does not take extra memory is useless skins and applications. The 2.5 GHz processor is fast and gives a good performance. They choose the fastest processor currently available. The UI is silky smooth, app opens very quickly. Honestly speaking, its really joyful to use this kicky fast and buttery smooth phone.
Battery life of the phone, the hardest area of a phone to examine as it depends on many things and usage of users. In case of Moto X, battery life is normal, not good not bad with its 3100 mAh battery. Actually, when I look at the battery, I expected more battery backup, but that was a fantasy.

Camera:
Moto X 2nd generation comes with a 13 MP camera with Exmor RS IMX135 sensor coupled with slightly faster f.2.2 lens. This sensor are found on the devices like LG G3 or Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Motorola has its custom camera app which does not offer a complete set of manual functions, but provides good additional features which are not found in stock camera app. Overall, the camera quality is more than adequate.

Conclusion:
Lets come to the conclusion. Moto X 2nd generation is having a nice design, powerful hardware, silky smooth UI, good camera, average battery life and a lot of utility apps. The only problem with Moto X is its display and limited storage capacity. The performance of the phone is really good. I am  sure that you will like to operate it. It gives a fast and smooth user experience. It is really a worthy upgrade of previous Moto X.

Pros:
  • Premium build quality
  • Front facing speaker
  •  Good camera performance
  • Stock Android 
Cons:
  • Display
  • No microSD
  • Limited storage
  • Battery life
Rating : 8.5/10

1 comment:

  1. Really a good phone..very good performance and user experience

    ReplyDelete