Back in 2013, the original Moto X came as breath of fresh air to a smartphone community already growing fatigued of alphabet overload. It was a smaller, humbler handheld that focused on usability rather than the latest features or supercharged specs. It was a product that we said was not for “nerds like us.” It was, to borrow a phrase, a smartphone to restore sanity.
Sanity, though, is not a popular virtue in the smartphone space. Despite positive reviews, the first Moto X did not sell well and Motorola was forced to make some changes in its second go-around phones. The sequel announced a year later stood much closer to its contemporaries in look and feel, with improved specs and significantly increased size and display resolution and many others. But in inflating itself to appeal to a mainstream audience it lost some of the whimsy that had made its predecessor so compelling. It was proof positive that Motorola was not content to cater to a niche crowd of smartphone purists.
One year later, the half-measures are gone entirely. With its 2015 flagship Motorola is finally (literally) making a play for the big leagues with a 5.7-inch, Quad HD monster of a mobile built to do battle with the fiercest alphabets around. How much of the original Moto X intention has been left on the chopping block … and was the trade off worth it? The answers after the jump!
Specs & Hardware
NETWORK
GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
HSDPA: 800 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 / 900
LTE band: 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 17(700), 20(800), 25(1900), 28(700), 29(700), 40(2300), 41(2500)
HSPA, LTE Cat6 300/50 Mbps
GPRS-YES, EDGE-YES
BODYDimensions
LAUNCH
DISPLAY
PLATFORM
MEMORY
CAMERA
SOUND
COMMS
FEATURES
– Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
– MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player
– Photo/video editor
– Document viewer
Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.
Software Review
That reason: the aforementioned Active Display, part of the Moto software suite that’s set the Moto X apart since day one. Waving your hand over the phone or pulling it from a pocket will trigger the IR sensors dotting its face plate, lighting up the screen to display the time and waiting notifications. Active Display makes the concept of a notification light all but obsolete: use it for a while and you’ll really miss it when moving to a phone that isn’t similarly equipped.
That goes for the rest of the Moto features too, which are largely unchanged from previous Moto X iterations. Turning the phone sideways and performing a “chopping” gesture will turn the flashlight on and off, while twisting it twice in quick succession will launch the camera. The phone will read your text messages aloud –and let you respond by voice dictation– if it detects you’re driving. It will silence your alerts if your calendar says you’re in a meeting or the time suggests you may be asleep. It will also obey custom rules based on location, so you can set different notification levels for work, gym and home. Moto Voice is back too, allowing you to ask questions and give voice commands completely hands-free using a custom key phrase of your choice. In addition to being useful when your hands are wet or dirty, Moto Voice is handy if you frequently misplace your phone in your home or office: you just call out “Okay Moto X” (or “Okay Jarvis,” or “Hello Computer” or whatever key phrase you’ve come up with) and listen for the acknowledgement tone.
Camera