This is by far the most critical review I've read. Several others (e.g. The Verge, CNN, ZDNet, BGR) have said the new Moto X is the best Android phone ever.<p>Ars Technica did a wifi battery rundown test, and the 2014 Moto X lasted 18% longer than last year's model. And the other reviews have said the screen was excellent. So this review seems like an outlier, but I'll find out for myself soon as I ordered mine yesterday.<p>Everything seems to have improved with this year's X, but the killer features for me are Motomaker and the extra software (the active display, voice control and assistant), and the leather back will I'm sure feel great when reading on the larger screen.
I've stuck with Samsung, but my wife decided to get the Moto X, and I have to say, I'm impressed. And it's not the hardware, but the Moto software that is cool. Which is funny to me, because I've always been a giant hater of brand software (Dell,HP,Sprint).<p>It's little things like if you bump the phone, it displays the time. On my Samsung, I have to press the power button, and it takes a second or two before I can see the date/time, and then I have to remember to press power button again or risk butt-operating the phone as I put it back in my pocket. With MotoX it's basically as good as a watch.<p>It detects when you are driving in the car and it does a few really cool things. If you get a text message, it reads it out loud to you, and you can verbally respond back. If you get a call, you can verbally respond to take it or not. And it has an option in the drag down menu to turn it off in the case you are riding passenger, but my wife still uses the voice commands when she is riding passenger because it's so convenient/nice.
I <i>really</i> like my 1st gen Moto X. It really feels good. Active notifications are a big time saver and allow me to unlock my phone buttonless. Touchless control is just great, when we are having breakfast, I'll just ask the phone for weather or ask some fun factoid we were discussing. Updates are quickly released (I have an international edition).<p>The second gen looks great, but two things prevent making it an instant-buy for me: (1) the size, I like 4.7" and (2) the fact that the new generation Moto G has dual SIM and the Moto X doesn't (I am a Dutch person living in Germany, so I'd love dual SIM).<p>I'll wait a while to see if they are releasing an updated 4.7" at some point. If not, I might buy it at a lower price point (and after enough testing to see if I can live with the size) or look to alternatives (Z3 Compact etc.).<p>Of course, the 1st gen is still very snappy and will get Android L. So I am not in a rush ;).
The Moto X has been the best Android I've ever used.<p>I'm tempted to order the new Moto X right now now but I find it absurd that in a late 2014 flagship the only storage options are 16 and 32 gigs. I'll have to wait for a 64 gig one to be announced.
The battery life is a little disappointing but not as disappointing as some early commentators made it out to be. It might also get better over time with updates (the Nexus 5 and LG G2 certainly did in my experience).<p>I love my LG G2's battery life. After some updates fixed AT&T specific software problems (wakelock issues) it is by far the best mobile device I've ever owned in terms of endurance, I can easily charge it just once over the weekend.<p>10 hrs of WiFi browsing (7 hrs of 4G) do, for many people, translate into easily two or even three days of average usage. Too bad the 2nd Gen Moto X only manages 7 hrs of WiFi browsing and 30 minutes less of 4G.
This second gen is just an awesome phone but there are 2 things that really pushes me away from it.<p>It is sad because that is the only phone that I really like the design of.<p>- It is just big, It really is. (for me)<p>- Camera quality is nowhere near iPhone