The long-awaited Moto X has finally been announced, and we're afraid to say that the hype leading up to its announcement was a little over-the-top. While it is a pretty good smartphone by today's standards, all the talk about the Moto X revolutionizing the mobile industry was unfounded.
The Moto X's stand-out features include an always-on microphone for voice activation, and user customizable backing and accents. However, these features do have their drawbacks.
Without sounding a little too paranoid, the always-on microphone doesn't inspire any confidence in us, especially with all the allegations that giant tech companies are feeding the NSA warrantless information on their users.
We also want to wait and test out the feature ourselves to see how accurate and useful the voice features are. Google and Motorola claim that the Moto X will train itself to learn your voice, but someone with a similar sounding voice to yours may be able to use your phone's voice-activated features.
Talking at your phone vs. talking on your phone
Most of us don't like talking on our phones, anyway, so why would we want to talk to our phones instead?
One can also argue that most of these voice features are found on other devices, like with Siri. If you're going to make the argument that you don't have to press any buttons with the Moto X to use the same features, then we are truly exploring the new limits of human laziness.
Another highly touted feature is the ability to customize the device, which is actually nice for the people who care that much about their devices matching the rest of their accessories. Unfortunately, this feature is currently limited to the AT&T versions of the Moto X.
Everything else about this phone just makes us say "meh." Sure, it has a nice processor, but its 720p display won't look nearly as sharp as the HTC One's display. It's running Android 4.2.2 instead of Android 4.3.
Total let down?
The 10MP camera has some neat technology in it, but we're holding off cheering about it until we see real-world performance ourselves.
Because of the hype leading up to this announcement, we were a little disappointed in what the Moto X turned out to be. If there is one redeeming quality about this phone, its the claimed 24-hour battery life. If this new Motorola phone hits those numbers with "mixed usage," as Motorola claims, we will be impressed.
Otherwise, we can't find a really good reason to recommend this phone over the HTC One, or why you shouldn't wait to see what the new iPhone is going to be all about. But hey, if getting a funky-colored smartphone is your bag, you're not exactly getting a terrible phone with the Moto X.