Google-owned Motorola Mobility recently released their flagship smartphone, the Moto X, generating quite a buzz in the somewhat-slumbering tech industry. With no new big-name handsets set for release anytime soon (despite boisterous rumors about the iPhone 5s, S5, Note 3, Nexus 5, and more) the unveiling of the Moto X received the perfect hype as Google’s own entry to the high-end smartphone market. And as expected from the biggest tech name in the world, the Moto X kept everyone talking, even days after the big reveal.
It was positively reviewed by most tech authorities, including CNET, Engadget, and TechCrunch, among others. But amidst all the praises, there are also those who think Google is just overselling its new product.
Moto X on paper
On paper, Moto X is not really outstanding—its specs can barely keep up with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One. Even the oft-criticized (when it comes to tech specs) iPhone 5 looks more appealing on paper than this new Google offering. Consider this: a quad-core processor is the industry standard for higher-end phones, with the exception of the iPhone 5 and its proprietary dual-core A6 processor. It is an Apple processor in an Apple product, so the integration is seamless and the performance is undoubtedly remarkable. The Moto X on the other hand, uses a dual-core 1.7 GHz Krait processor, with a custom-built X8 Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset – a very wordy phrase that can be surmised as “for us, made by someone else.” We have yet to see a fully-functional Moto X, so we won’t know yet if its innards can really stand the test of the real-world mobile computing demands.
Another aspect that seemed a bit lacking for the Moto X is its display. Yes, its screen is bigger than the iPhone (the unofficial benchmark of screen size mediocrity) at 4.7 inches. At 316 ppi, its resolution was able to push past the 300 pixels-per-inch standard expected from a high-end smartphone. But this doesn’t really make it spectacular: the iPhone 5, even with a 4-inch screen, has a 326 ppi pixel density. The 4.7-inch HTC One and the 5-inch Galaxy S4 have pixel densities over 400, at 469 and 441, respectively.
And last, but probably the most glaring concern with Moto X’s specs, is its Android 4.2.2 Jellybean operating system. The Moto X could be considered Google’s pet project, but it’s definitely not getting the latest gems from the tech giant’s very own mobile OS. The 4.2.2 update was made available to devices last February 2013, so it’s not really that old. But since then, significant improvements were made to the Jellybean version of the green robot, and all these are included in the recently released Jelly Bean version, 4.3. From a consumer’s perspective, this is a bit unsettling since you’ll be paying top dollar for something that you could have gotten for less. Yes, this is a serviceable entertainment and business phone, but there’s nothing new that we can expect from it. The Android operating system and the Moto X are both Google’s, so it’s hard to understand why they’re making the consumers settle for less.
Highlighting the Useless Crap
Aside from not really going all out in terms of specs (and consequently, performance,) the Moto X is luring consumers with less important features that they could do away without. The hot-swappable colored back covers and curving-at-the-edge glass panel features could easily be mistaken as Nokia features—a novelty, but not really revolutionary. They managed to put in such features, but failed to deliver in aspects that would have really been beneficial for consumers, like having an expandable memory. It may be following the playbooks of the HTC One, and the iPhone, but it’s really risky, considering that this will be Motorola’s first foray in the high-end smartphone field.
Nancy Perkins
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