When the original Motorola Moto X debuted last
year, it gave consumers a smartphone with solid
performance and clever voice controls, all in a
customizable package. Now, the company is
attempting to make that winning package even
better, and it has succeeded by adding more
power, more innovation and more customization
options. The Moto X now has an updated, stylish
design; a bigger, 5.2-inch display; a powerful
Snapdragon processor; and even better voice
commands. Starting at $99 ($124 as tested), the
new and improved Moto X is a sequel done right.
Design
Many subtle design changes in one smartphone
make a noticeable difference. When the Moto X
first launched, it was made of a plastic composite,
but my unit sports a metal and leather body,
giving it a sophisticated, chic look. (The starting
model has a black resin back.) The back of the
device is rounded, giving it a better, more
comfortable grip. On the back, you'll find the 13-
megapixel camera at the top right, above a
Motorola logo emblazoned into the leather.
The Moto X's sides are lined in sleek, cool, dark-
gray aluminum. On the right side lies the raised
power button and volume rocker, with a SIM card
slot and a 3.5mm audio jack at the top and a
micro USB port at the bottom.
Weighing 5.07 ounces and measuring 5.5 x 2.9 x
0.15-.39 inches, the Moto X is lighter than most
of its competition, including the HTC One M8 (5.6
ounces, 5.8 x 2.8 x 0.37 inches) and the
Samsung Galaxy S5 (5.1 ounces, 5.6 x 2.9 x 0.32
inches). It doesn't quite beat the Apple iPhone 6,
though (4.6 ounces, 5.4 x 2.6 x 0.27 inches).
Moto Maker
Moto Maker, Motorola's personalization program
for Moto X smartphones, now lets you have even
more fun building your own design. Originally, the
service let customers choose from 18 back-cover
designs, seven accent colors and two front colors,
and now, you'll have the option to choose from
25 backs in 17 colors. There's a wide selection of
cool, warm and neutral color backs. For those
who want to add more texture to their
smartphone, there are rich leather and wood back
options available for $25.
Moto Maker goes beyond the physical design of
the X, allowing you to choose the amount of
onboard memory (16GB standard, 32GB for an
extra $50), and customize a greeting that
displays on the smartphone's startup screen and
the home screen's wallpaper. You can even sign
in to your Google account in Moto Maker, to pair
your forthcoming device with your account before
it even arrives. Options like that might seem
trivial, but they help new Moto X users feel right
at home with their new smartphone as soon as
they take it out of the box.
Durability
The Moto X is treated with a water-resistant
coating, so it can withstand spills and drops in
puddles.
But keep in mind that it's not waterproof, so it
likely won't survive a long dip in the pool. The
Samsung Galaxy S5, in contrast, can be
submerged in up to a meter of water for 30
minutes.
Display
The Moto X has a 5.2-inch AMOLED display
covered in resilient Corning Gorilla Glass. It's a
truly gorgeous screen for navigating Android and
watching videos. Its 1920 x 1080-pixel panel
presented the trailer for Disney's Big Hero 6 with
bold, vibrant colors and sharp details.
Like the Galaxy S5, the Moto X tends to produce
saturated hues. Using our colorimeter, the screen
displayed 164.7 percent of the sRGB color gamut.
That's higher than the Galaxy S5 (158 percent),
the One M8 (116.1 percent) and the iPhone 6
(94.9 percent). Those who prefer more natural-
looking colors might want a rating closer to 100
percent.
The Moto X didn't perform as well on color
accuracy, measuring 2.5 on the Delta-E test (a
score of 0 is perfect). While that's better than the
category average (4.9), the One M8 (5.8) and the
iPhone 6 (3.0), the Galaxy S5 (0.9) has the Moto
X beat.
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Unfortunately, the Moto X doesn't have the
brightest screen, averaging only 268 nits in our
testing. That's much dimmer than the 353-nit
smartphone average, and lower than the Galaxy
S5 (373 nits), the One M8 (402) and the
ultrabright iPhone 6 (559).
Audio
The Moto X's front-facing speakers deliver
surprisingly powerful, clear sound. With the
volume at about 65 percent, the speakers played
Marc Anthony's "Vivir Mi Vida" with robust
vocals, powerful horns and bouncy percussions,
although I found the background vocals to be
slightly washed out.
When I blasted the song at the maximum volume,
however, the entire track sounded a bit scratchy
when I had the smartphone close to me. When I
moved the Moto X a little farther away from me,
however, it nearly erased that scratchiness.
On the Laptop Mag Audio Test, the Moto X
measured 86 decibels, which is better than the
One M8 and the category average (80 dB) and
much louder than the Galaxy S5 (73 dB).
Interface
The Android experience on the second-generation
Moto X is similar to the original. This model runs
Android KitKat 4.4.4, and navigation among the
three set home screens, and among icons and
apps, is seamless. Google Now takes up one of
the preset home screens, and it also can be
accessed by long-pressing the home button.
Swiping down from the top of the display reveals
notifications, while a two-finger downward swipe
reveals shortcuts for things like Settings, Battery
Life, Wi-Fi and Brightness. I just wish I could
access the camera from the lock screen, as you
can on the Galaxy S5 and One M8.
Moto Voice
While Moto Maker allows for customization before
you get your Moto X, Moto Voice takes that
customization further by turning the X into your
personalized assistant with voice controls. You're
not limited to the standard "Hello, Moto X"
greeting, but rather you can record what you'd
like to call your Moto X when you want to
activate voice control. It's quick and easy to set
up that personalized greeting, and afterward, all
you have to do is speak it at the smartphone —
even while the lock screen is on — to get an
instant response.
For instance, when I said, "OK, Moto X, what's
up?" the smartphone relayed to me my most
recent notifications, including Twitter messages
and text messages I had received. I could even
say, "OK, Moto X, post to Twitter," and a Google
Now page would pop up, prompting me to type or
speak a Twitter post. This type of specific voice
command works with other apps as well,
including WhatsApp, YouTube and Facebook. If
you forget any voice commands, you can say,
"Help" to launch a phrase list.
While Moto Voice is handy when you need to take
note of your to-do list, find a quick fact or check
notifications, it still can't do things like make
restaurant reservations or buy movie tickets, as
Apple's Siri can.
Moto Display
Moto Display (formerly called Active Display) uses
a dedicated contextual computing processor to
keep track of when you move your phone, so it
can display notifications on the Moto X's lock
screen without waking the device.
Small notification icons will pop up on the lock
screen when you have things like an email, a
Twitter message or a Facebook update. To view
the notification, simply press the icon on the lock
screen, and a summary will pop up on the top of
the screen. Pull down to unlock the phone if you
want to answer or interact with that alert.
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You don't have to receive all your alerts through
Moto Display; you can go to the Settings menu to
choose which ones you want. I found this feature
very useful, as I receive tons of notifications but
don't want to constantly unlock my phone.
Moto Assist
Moto Assist lets you create rules for your
smartphone so it can be more efficient in your
daily life. For example, you can designate a time
frame you want your Moto X to be in Silent Mode
while you're sleeping. I set mine to go into Silent
Mode from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., and made it
so only calls and text from my favorite contacts
would come through. There's a similar feature
that can silence your phone when you're in a
meeting, and even send out automatic text
messages to those who try to contact you during
meetings.
Moto Assist can also help you when you're
driving. It will read text messages to you, so you
never have to look down at your phone and take
your eyes off the road.
Moto Actions
The Moto X has a few gestures you can set to
interact with your smartphone without touching
it.
Wave to Silence will quiet incoming calls, and the
same wave gesture can snooze your wakeup
alarm. It could be a useful feature to prevent you
from fumbling with your phone in the dark when
you wake up early in the morning, or if you don't
have Moto Assist's meeting parameters set and
need a quick silencer.
Moto Migrate
Moto Migrate is a useful tool if you're buying a
Moto X as an upgrade to your current phone.
Moto Migrate lets you transfer important
information wirelessly from your old phone to
your Moto X, and it can be used with other
Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S5, an
iPhone and feature phones.
Apps
The Moto X comes with some preinstalled
bloatware, including AT&T-specific apps like AT&T
Locker, Mail, Call Name ID, Navigator and AT&T
Live.
We'd ignore or delete most of these options. On
the home screen, there's a shortcut to the Google
Play store and a folder that holds Google's app
ecosystem, including Gmail, Google+, Drive,
Hangouts and YouTube.
Performance
The Moto X packs quite a bit of power, despite its
relatively low price. It has a 2.5-GHz quad-core
Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of
RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. The
smartphone seamlessly switched between apps,
played music and videos, and turned my voice
commands into actions. The only lag I
experienced was in using voice control to search
Google, and even then, I never waited more than a
few seconds.
The Moto X launched the resource-hogging
N.O.V.A. 3 game in 12.5 seconds, which is faster
than both the Galaxy S5 (19 seconds) and the
HTC One M8 (17 seconds).
Even more impressive, the handset took a mere 4
minutes and 15 seconds to transcode 204MB,
1080p video to 480p. Not only is that better than
the smartphone average of 7:34, but it also beats
the Galaxy S5 (4:42), which is also powered by a
2.5-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU, and
the One M8 (5 minutes) powered by a 2.3-GHz
Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU.
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On the Geekbench 3 benchmark test, which
measures multicore performance, the Moto X
scored 2,903. That's just slightly lower than the
iPhone 6 (2,931), but it's better than the
smartphone average (1,996), the Galaxy S5
(2,897) and the One M8 (2,324).
On the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited graphics test,
the Moto X beat the 12,548 average, with a score
of 19,593. That wasn't enough to beat the One
M8's score of 20,640, but it did outperform the
Galaxy S5 (18,547) and the iPhone 6 (16,558).
Web Performance
AT&T's 4G LTE network serves more than 400
markets, including New York City, but not all
areas are created equal. In Brooklyn's Sunset
Park neighborhood, I measured download speeds
of 20.3 Mbps and upload speeds of 9 Mbps.
However, in Manhattan's Flatiron District,
download and upload speeds dropped to 5.78
Mbps and 5.2 Mbps, respectively.
Camera and Camcorder
The Moto X's 13-MP camera is so quick that I
sometimes wasn't sure if the X had taken a
picture until I checked the gallery. It's also
lightning fast when taking burst shots.
While its photos delivered crisp details, the Moto
X isn't the best at accurately reproducing color.
Most of the photos I shot looked blown out
compared to those taken with the iPhone 5s. Its
2MP front-facing camera did a decent job of
capturing selfies with bold colors, but the details
were slightly fuzzy.
Shooting videos in 1080p with the Moto X was a
lovely experience; the smartphone took video that
was filled with bold colors and sharp details, even
through the constant motion of New York City
streets. Sometimes, wording on faraway signs
looked a little blurry, but it was always legible.
Highlight Reel
The Highlight Reel feature in the Moto X's camera
and photo gallery lets you stitch together photos
and videos to make slideshows you can show off
or share with friends. It's a fun feature, especially
if you have family and friends who want to be
visually updated on your life in an engaging way.
In your gallery, you can select the photos and
videos you want to include in the slideshow and
click the film-esque icon at the top of the screen
to activate Highlight Reel. Then, you can choose
how long the slideshow will be, and even add
music in the background with some select sound
bites. Once you name and save your slideshow,
you can share it via social media sites like
Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Battery Life
The Moto X's 2300-mAh battery lasted 7 hours
and 33 minutes on our battery test, which
involves continuous Web surfing over 4G LTE at
150 nits of brightness.
That's better than smartphone average of 7:27
and the iPhone 6's battery life (7:40), but it's not
enough to best the Samsung Galaxy S5 (9:42) or
the HTC One M8 (8:42).
Call Quality
Motorola claims that the Moto X uses its four
microphones cooperatively for better call quality
and noise reduction. The calls I made sounded
fairly clear, and the person on the other line said
my voice was very clear. The only issue I
experienced was intermittent choppiness in phone
calls made to cellphones.
Bottom Line
While the original Moto X was a solid device, the
sequel is truly stellar. It's a smartphone that
delivers swift performance, a lush 1080p display
and helpful voice commands, all in a highly
customizable, sleek design.
Those looking for longer battery life might prefer
the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8. I
would have also liked to see better photos from
the Moto X's camera. Overall, though, the Moto X
is the best Android phone for the money.
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