Moto X

Posted by: GadgetDesk on 12:04 AM in Moto X 0

On August 15, 2011, Google announced its intent to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. At the time, Motorola had just had its fifth straight quarter of losses, plus Google also wanted to have access to the company's portfolio of 17,000 issued patents as a means of defending its Android mobile operating system. Following the closure of the acquisition in 2012, rumors began circulating that Google and Motorola were developing a device known internally as the "X Phone", which would be the company's next flagship device. Reports indicated that the device was to have a focus on unique functionality in an effort to compete against Apple and fellow Android vendor Samsung, and that the company had experimented with curved screens and ceramics as possible hardware aspects. While Motorola's new CEO Dennis Woodside declined to comment directly on the X Phone project, he did mention that the company now had the "resources to do big things" because of its acquisition by Google, and that Motorola was "investing in a team and a technology that will do something quite different than the current approaches.

Moto X was revealed publicly for the first time during a press event on August 1, 2013, where it was announced that the device would be released by all major U.S. carriers, while Rogers Wireless later announced it would exclusively sell the device in Canada. Motorola specifically stated that it would only release the device in North America, and had "[no] immediate plans" to release it in areas such as Europe, although the company hinted that it had "exciting plans" for a separate device tailored to the European market. This would eventually come to fruition with the Moto G. A "Developer Edition" with an unlockable bootloader was released in late-September 2013. On September 19th, Republic Wireless announced that they would offer Moto X without a service contract at a significantly lower price compared to the Developer Edition and other models sold without a contract.

^{Camera :}

According to the company, users will be able to wake the phone into camera mode via a wrist-twisting gesture and then capture photos in just under two seconds. There's no dedicated dual-detent hardware key to press, nor is there a software shutter button. You just tap anywhere on screen and the 10-megapixel ClearPixel camera snaps away. And if you continue to hold your finger pressed to the glass, it'll keep on shooting (much like a burst mode) and record the number of images with an onscreen counter. Since autofocus and exposure are automatically handled, the Moto X's camera is basically idiot-proof. You don't need to know what an ISO is or worry about white balance. HDR is even set to auto by default. All that said, you will need to give the RGBC sensor time to adjust to a scene before you snap away. Quickly grabbed shots will often appear out of focus and in low-light conditions, moving objects will appear extremely blurry.

^{Display :}

Yes, 1080p panels make for great bullet points in device announcement posts and headlines -- even as talking points in podcasts. But let's be real, for those folks that don't pretend to know the difference between AMOLED and Super LCD 3, 720p is good enough and especially on a 4.7-inch screen. The Moto X's AMOLED display packs a pixel density of 316 ppi, looks great from most any angle and has that signature vibrant pop of saturated color associated with this panel type. In short, I like it and you will, too. That said, it's not the brightest display I've ever seen on a smartphone and the glaring light of a bright summer sun does make it difficult to discern onscreen content.

Hardware :

Moto X uses a polycarbonate-based construction with a slightly rounded rear. The device is powered by a chipset branded as the X8 Mobile Computing System, which consists of a dual-core, 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, a quad-core Adreno 320 GPU, a custom-designed Natural Language Processor core and Contextual Awareness Processor core (for a total of 8 cores), and 2 GB of RAM. It uses a 4.7-inch 720p Super AMOLED display; Wicks referred to the size as a "sweet spot" for phone displays, and argued that using a 1080p display like other recent high-end phones "would just suck battery and nobody would know the difference." The device includes a non-removable 2200 mAh battery, which Wicks claimed could achieve full-day battery life. The device also includes a 10 megapixel camera with "Clear Pixel" technology that the company claimed could take in 75% more light, improving performance in low-light conditions.The device is available with either 16 or 32 GB of non-expandable storage

Software:

Moto X ships with a stock version of Android 4.2, but enhanced with several additional features. Among these features are a voice recognition system; taking advantage of the on-board Natural Language Processor, the device can be trained to recognize the voice of its user. Once configured, the phone will automatically respond to the phrase "Ok Google Now" (even when in sleep mode) and launch a voice assistant which can be used to perform various tasks. The Active Notifications feature wakes the phone to display notifications received by the user on a special white-on-black lock screen—the feature also takes advantage of how the device's AMOLED display operates, as the color black is rendered by not turning on the pixel at all (thus conserving battery power). The Assist feature can automatically enable or disable certain modes, such as silencing the ringer, auto replying to text messages, or activating voice controls, depending on certain scenarios—such as when a user is in a meeting as determined by their calendar, or driving). The device's camera software uses a minimalistic interface with few options, as the software automatically optimizes each photo without user intervention. The camera can also be accessed by performing a special twisting gesture.

In late-November 2013, U.S. carriers began pushing an update to Android 4.4 for the device

Pricing and final thoughts :

PROS :

·         Long battery life

·         Useful Active Display notification previews

·         Easy to activate Quick Capture mode

·         Smooth overall performance

CONS :

·         Moto Maker restricted to AT&T

·         On-contract pricing should be lower

All variants support four 2G GSM bands 850/900/1800/1900. This is not yet available in India but you can easily ship it from the 3^rd party stores available on the web. Overall the performance and the software updates straight away from Google will be easily compete with many devices out there. You should definately check this device
but a moto x at an exculsively low price with discounted rates-

Peace!

The GadgetDesk Team