[vi-android] Re: Motorola X Review
- From: "michael's mail boxl" <michaelandjeanie@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 14:49:09 +1100
I only had mine nexus 7 for aboutt 4 months and the sound out speeker is
good but head phones to soft to hear if a TV is going in the room.And I got
the 2012 model cheap from Harvynormand.
Cheers.
From: Christopher gilland
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2014 1:34 PM
To: vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vi-android] Re: Motorola X Review
I never had an issue with earphones on the Nexus 7 2013 tablet, as I have
one of those too, however on its internal speaker, it was a bit quiet for
my, and a lot of other's likings. I'm not saying it's inaudible, it
definitely is, it's just way quieter than I would have expected it to be.
Chris.
----- Original Message -----
From: michael's mail boxl
To: vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 6:58 PM
Subject: [vi-android] Re: Motorola X Review
Actually Chris the problem with the Nexus 7 tablets has been fixed I could
not use mine on ear plugs.
But now its nice and loud.
I like the sound of your phone.
Cheers Michael.
From: Christopher gilland
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2014 6:38 AM
To: vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vi-android] Motorola X Review
First of all, if you are on a screen reader that will let you do it, you
can navigate this e-mail message heading by heading to jump to the different
sections that I cover.
Introduction
Though I won't bore you all with the details specifically, I just recently
received a white 16GB Motorola X Android handset through AT&T wireless.
I've only had the phone now for about 24 hours, so keep in mind, this review
is quite fresh. By that I just mean, I'm basing all these things only on a
day's worth of use, so if something appears inaccurate, give me a break, I'm
just starting to use the phone, so things could change as I make more
discoveries along the way. Disclaimer out of the way, let's get started.
And oh, by the way, if anyone wants to put this review on their blog, go for
it! Just be sure you credit me as the author.
Look and Feel
Once I received the phone, I noticed that the box appeared to be taped
shut. Not that this really is an issue, but when I say taped shut, I mean
this sucker was taped! I don't feel I have the motor skills in my hands to
be able to slit the tape with a knife or scissors. Thus, I just kind a went
at it little by little with my fingernails. It took quite some effort, but
eventually, I managed to get it opened. It may not actually have been taped
shut as I suspect, but boy did it feel like it was!
Once I got the box opened, I noticed that on the front of the phone, not
just on the screen, but on about 95% of the front of the phone, there was a
plastic cellophane covering that I had to break and tear off the screen to
expose it. This could of just been due to me hardly having any nails, but I
couldn't for the life of me get the thing off. Finally when I did, it was
all bubbled up, and wrinkled. It looked absolutely disgusting! Not that it
was a big deal, seeing it was coming off anyway, but had that been an actual
screen protector, I would a been screwed.
Once I held the actual pone in my hand completely opened and ready to go,
I noticed something right up front. The phone is slightly wider than an
IPhone going horizontally from the left side to the right side of the phone.
It's not enough to be a problem though. the IPhone has a 4 inch screen.
This handset is a 4.7 inch screen, so it's just barely below an inch bigger.
So, we're not talking a 7 inch Note here. This thing's definitely! not a
phablet!
I also noticed that the volume and power/lock keys were over on the right
side of the device. I sort of like this, but it can ge a bit annoying if
the phone is in my pocket, and I'm trying to dig my hand in my pants to lock
the screen or to reject a phone call etc. What tends to happen is, I'll go
to reach for the lock button, and in the process I'll bump the screen with
my finger, and sometimes do really undesired things. No, I've not managed
yet to call 9 1 1, god forbid. LOL! Just kidding. I'm sure my day's a
cummin though. LOL! The other reason I don't like it is, I tend to have a
very heavy, and believe me, I do mean heavy! touch/grip. With this said,
sometimes when I'm holding the phone, I'll grip it a little two high up on
the side edges, and thus will wind up mashing the volume buttons without
meaning to. I don't normally do it to the point where it gets turned down
all the way, as usually I realize I'm doing it, then lighten up on my grip
before it's too late. This problem is rare, and for most people, I don't
perceive it as being much of an issue, so don't let that turn you off. My
guess is, it's probably just the nature of how I hold the phone in my left
hand in combination with how I grip the thing with my fingers.
Unlike the IPhone, this phone isn't made out of metal/glass. I mean, ok,
yeah, the screen obviously is glass, duh, but, I'm saying, the rest of the
phone is not. Actually, now that I feel it as I'm writing, the edges might
be metal, but I don't think so. I don't have quite enough vision to really
fully tell. Sorry about that. What I, can! tell you though is, the back of
the phone is a real hard very nice, and very heavy duty polly-carbon
plastic. If you ever have seen the older white mac books, not the aluminum
pro's, but I'm talking about just the plain standard mac books, then you'll
know exactly what I'm talking about. It's basically the same type glossy
material as those units. Granted, you'd think the smooth glossiness would
make the phone harder to grip, but I'm actually very impressed. It really
doesn't, believe it or not. The other real nice thing is, the back of the
IPhone is totally flat. There's no angle in the thing. this kind a makes
the IPhone feel very deck of cardish. I dono... some may like that, but me
personally, I found it a bit annoying. the Moto X on the other hand is
ever? ever! so slightly convexed. by this, more directly put, what I mean
is, it's kind of jutted out a little ways. It's very suttle, but it's just
enough to tactally be able to tell. I! love this, as it makes it way way
easier for me to hold up to my ear. Normally, the way I hold a phone of any
kind is I wrap my thumb on thn one side of the phone and let my middle and
ring finger gently grasp the other side of the phone. Then I let my pinky
do nothing. It's totally out of the way, not even in contact at all with
the phone. then my index finger is raised and in the dead back center of
the handset acting as a rest/anker to kind of guide the phone to say up to
my ear. With this said, that convexed curve in the back of the phone feels
really really nice against my index finger. It kind of gives me a little
resistance on that finger. That probably doesn't make sense, but I don't
know how to explain it. Trust me though, it really does feel very very
hnice.
When I tried pluggin earphones into the phone, they made a very definite
snap/click which was both felt and heard very very easily. The USB cord was
even cooler! One side of the end of the cord that goes into the phone is a
little bit lipped. It's a little bit concaved, whereas the other side is
completely flat. the side that is a little concaved needs to be faced up
toward the ceiling when you plug the cord in. Again, it's suttle, but it's
definitely also very noticeable. I also really like the fact that it takes
quite an intentional pull in order to remove the cord from the phone. It's
pretty snugged, so you don't really have to worry about it falling out.
The sound quality and volume of this phone when turned up all the way is
amazing! Even with my hearing loss, which is quite profound in some ways,
this phone is incredible! Even all the way up, it doesn't distort in the
least! That was impressive! I could a sworn it would clip really really
badly all the way up, but unlike the IPhone, especially the 5S, and the 5C,
it doesn't distort at all. I even put a TTS engine which has a really
really loud voice, naturally, on the device, and though it was so loud that
it was almost earsplitting, it wasn't distorted at all. Don't get me wrong,
all the way up isn't deafening, nor earshatterring, but it is extremely
loud. believe you me, you'll hear it! for those with the Nexus 7 tablets,
either the 2012, or the 2013 models who've complained that the volume was
really soft even all the way up, you won't have this issue with the Moto X,
I promise! The Moto X goes about 3 and a half to 4 times louder than the
Nexus 7 tablets. It is amazing! that's no exageration either on the amount
calculation! I'm being dead seriously literal! You gotta hear it for
yourself to appreciate it, but it's really good! And, not only this, but
it's in full stereo! It's not even mono! In fact, I can't prove this, but
somewhere, I read, though don't quote me on this, it's actually
quadrophonic! I hear there are speakers in all 4 quadrant corners of the
device. Again, that may not be true. I'm not totally sure. I'm only going
there by what I've read online.
Vibration Motor
One thing I also noticed was that the vibration motor in the Moto X is
wonderful! I'm not much of a fan of vibration, as I feel it normally feels
too mooshy and just over all, kind of, ehh, to me. I dono, I can't explain
it. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but something about vibration
normally just gets on my nerves. I just don't like the buzzing effect in my
hand. But then, I've never liked things buzzing in my hand. Creepy?
Crawly? Firry? scratchy? LOL! Just kidding. No seriously, I just don't
really care for it. This said, I found the vibration on the moto X is
actually, somewhat tolerable! I dono, it just seems to feel more definite.
I know, I'm just weird like that.
The back facing camera
You know... I've not had a chance yet to play any with the camera, front,
or! back facing, so I really can't vouch for the quality quite yet, but I
know the rear camera is 10 meggapixils, which should mean that it would be
very very good. It would be interesting with something like Google Goggles,
or the like, to see what it does, if anything. I've never had much luck
with those apps on any Android device, so I can't really say. My milage may
vary, and so may your's.
The screen digitizer
Unlike my Nexus 7 tablet, where sometimes gestures don't quite work, I've
found that the digitizer in the Moto X doesn't seem to have this issue at
all. All my gestures are seeming to register just fine. Now, this said, I
did remap the up then right gesture for the local context menu, as for some
weird reason, not only did this gesture not work out of the box on my Nexus
7, it's not working either on my Moto X. This may be a Talkback bug, as
I've heard of some who can consistently get it to work without changing it,
but I've heard of others like myself who try as they may, can't get it to
work either. So, yeah, YMMV. Aside this though, it seems to work
perfectly.
Talkback's Two Circular context Menus
I have found that the context menus in Talkback work a little bit better
on my Nexus tab than on my Moto X. I don't think this is an issue of the
phone or of Talkback though. It's probably just that on the phone, you have
less screen real estate to work with than on the tablet, thus, the options
going around the circle are smaller, and are a bit more smished closer
together, thus, making it slightly harder to slide around and find the
option you need. Being they're smaller, it also thus means that the circle
is a bit more sensitive. The slightest little movement, and you'll move
from one option to another. I'm finding that I gotta be really careful when
I lift my finger, as if I'm not, I'll wind up lifting up on the wrong
option.I kind a wish they'd make that screen where you gotta double tap to
activate the option. I see their logic though of why they didn't do that.
Why add more unnecessary gestures?
The phone dialer
I like the phone dialer a lot, however, one thing that is really taking me
some getting used to is, on the keypad screen before you're in an active
call, the numbers like, 1, 2, 3, are horizontally fine, however, going 1, 4,
7, star, or 2, 5, 8, 0: in other words, going virtically, are very very
close together. They're smished really tightly on the screen. And, the
fact that to dial, you basically do just like you do with your keyboard.
You touch type the numbers. So in other words, you slide your finger to the
number of your choice, then you lift your finger, and the number is pressed.
I've found myself fat fingerring and dialing incorrectly quite often. Yeah,
there's google Now, where I could voice dial, and I do use that sometimes,
but I don't necessarily wanna use that as a crutch. You know what I mean?
It's a tool/aide, not a servant, if you will. LOL! OK phone, go dial for
me, bee och? LOL! Just kidding! I do! like that under
settings>accessibility, I have the ability of making the lock/power side
button be my hang up key. That is awesome!
Typing on the beast
Watch it! this is the only negative thing I'm probably gonna say. Typing
on this thing is absolutely disgusting! I don't just dislike it, I flat out
hate it! Even with the Nuance Google Swipe keyboard, it's terrible in my
opinion! I find that the placement of the keys, regardless the keyboard of
choice, makes it extremely! difficult to type. Now, I have fairly big
hands, and decently big fingers, plus remember, in all fairness, I have mild
cerebral pausy in both my hands, which causes my hands both to trimmer a
bit. for this reason, it makes it more so difficult, as the ever ever!
ever! so slightest bit of movement will result in either me sliding off the
key I need, or will make me type the wrong character, or sometimes, at
worst, both. I also don't like where they put the delete key. Both on the
default google keyboard as well as on the Swype keyboard, it's near the
bottom right side of the keyboard, instead of like on my tablet, where it's
on the top most row of keys, on the far far righthand side. I know why they
didn't put it there though. There would have been no room for it. the p,
l, and delete keys on the far right side, as well as the q, a, and shift
keys are so damn flushed, (parden my language,) with the edge rims of the
phone that you literally almost have to use the sides of your finger tips to
hit the letters. I mean, when I say they are flushed with the edge, I mean
they are fee lushed! Frankly, it's enough to almost make me scream! I want
to think positive, that I'll eventually get used to typing on this thing,
but it's not looking very promising at the moment, I'll confess. I hope
that I wind up eating crow, and am wrong in the long run.
Proximity sinsor
What can I say about this thing... Simply, put, amazing! Oh my god! This
thing is simply gorgeous! the fact that I can wave my hand in front of the
thing to silence speech? Oh man! that is nice! Keep in mind, for a lot of
you, you're probably looking at me going, well, yeah? what's so cool about
that! You've been able to do that since ancient of days! No? Not really!
Keep in mind, I have a tablet. Tablets don't have proximity sinsors, so, I
was left out in the cold as far as that went. Back in the days, I had an
Android 2.2 phone, but that thing wouldn't do that natively with the sensor,
and with the app to make it do it, it wasn't always very consistently
reliable, so for most, this is old news, but for me, this is absolutely
wonderful!
Touchless Gestures
You know... I see everyone's argument that you never know what audio is
being transmitted and to where with this feature enabled. I have this
concern too, bigtime. this is why I normally don't have it turned on.
However, that being said, there is something nice about being able to wake
up in the morning, not even yet roll out of bed, and just say: OK google
now! Do I have voicemail? OK google Now! What time is it? OK google now!
Do I have any missed calls? OK google now: turn on my ringer. OK google
Now! turn off my alarm. OK google now: Text mom: Let me get dressed, and
I'll be downstairs for breakfast in just a few minutes. Etc. All of this,
not even once touching my phone physically. I also like that google has
this feature disabled by default, and you always can opt out of using it at
any time if you so choose, and doing so will not cause you down the road to
have to retrain it, if you change your mind.
Data usage
This phone not only can do 3G/4G, but if you have coverage for it, it'll
also do LTE, which is excellent!
Conclusion
I think that just about covers it. So over all, would I recommend this
phone? Heck yeah! Darn straight I would! This phone is absolutely
awesome! It comes with KitKat out of the box, no modding or rooting needed.
If, you happen to get an older Moto X handset that has Jellybean on it after
unboxing, though that now adays is unlikely, don't worry. There is indeed
an over the air update, regardless your carrier in most cases, which will
let you push it to KitKat 4.4.
Chris.
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