Tag: Moto X 2nd Gen

Exclusive : Moto’s Next Phone to Have a Solid Build and an Excellent Camera

In the world of mobile handsets, there are very few companies that manufacture phones which are well-built and at the same time, carry high-end specs. The biggest example of this would be the Apple iPhone. Excellent innards mixed with delicate hardware.

Motorola, on the other hand, has a long history of being a firm which produces viably sturdy handsets while keeping the device technologically updated from the software front. Recently, iGyaan got an official tip from the company that their new phone may be similar to their old Motorola Defy.

Released in January 2011, the Motorola Defy could resists water and dust. Its screen was tough and scratch proof, the construction super rigid and environment proof. The phone, at the time, came with a 3.7-inch display, 5MP camera and 1500mAh battery.

Imagine the aesthetics of the Moto Defy and the specifications of today – that’s what Motorola is planning to bring to the table.

This was supported by leaked images and a video of the upcoming what is could possibly be, the Moto X Third Gen, courtesy a Google+ leaker who goes by the name Neo Lee.

The video has been removed on YouTube, but can be viewed here on Google+. Nothing much could be made out from the video, as it simply showed someone scrolling through and reading the specs of the phone. The rumoured phone is expected to have a Snapdragon 410, a 5-inch screen, 1 GB RAM, 8GB storage + microSD expansion, a slightly better 13MP or 16MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera and LTE radio.

On the other hand, the new images reveal a good amount about the upcoming phone. A photo of the rear panel suggests the new smartphone carries forward Motorola’s design language, which includes the dual LED flash. The device is also operating on the latest version of Android (5.1.1 Lollipop). With the new third generation Moto X, Motorola is possibly working towards testing with glass and metal for its device, giving it a solid premium look.

The Moto X (3rd Gen) might have everything that it takes to be the best all-round device we can get from Motorola. With this, the new Motorola smartphone could stand up against the likes of Samsung and Apple.

June 26, 2015
Motorola Launches India’s First Moto Care Centre in Bangalore

Motorola has announced officially that the first Moto Care centre has been set up at Jayanagar Road, Bangalore. This is the first of the many service centre that the company has promised, which will soon be up and running all over the country.

This service centre will serve as a walk-in service support location for Motorola customers. The Experience Zone will cater to the needs of prospective buyers who want to experience products like Moto G, Moto X (2nd Gen), Moto Turbo, Moto E, Moto 360 and other Motorola products at the centre. The Zone can also assist online ordering via Flipkart.

It has been added that the centre will not only facilitate customers directly in Jayanagar, but will also benefit customers from neighbouring locations of Bangalore such as MG Road, Koramangala, Indiranagar and Rajendra Nagar. For its customers elsewhere in India, new reaching out options include the Moto Care app and the helpline number. For its customers in Delhi, Motorola has initiated a pilot project which provides Moto vans for servicing the device within few hours. The Moto van service is valid up to 30 days of the purchase.

Motorola recently launched the new version of its Moto E in India, along with the Moto Turbo, their flagship model. The company has seen a lot of success in the country with the Moto G and Moto E smartphones. This move will only help better the company’s position in the market.

March 31, 2015
Flipkart Offers Big Discounts on 2nd Gen Moto X and Moto G, Moto E Price Slashed

If you’ve been mulling over the idea of switching up your device to a better model, this might be the good news you needed to brighten up your Monday. To celebrate Motorola’s one-year tie-up with Flipkart, the two have joined hands to bring out offers. You can now exchange your old smartphone for a brand new Motorola handset at a discounted rate.

Motorola is offering discounted rates up to Rs. 4,000 on Moto G (2nd Gen) phones and Rs. 6,000 on the Moto X (2nd Gen). In short, the discount brings down the price of the Moto X and the Moto G to Rs. 25,999 and Rs. 8,999, respectively. Another exciting offer is that Motorola is giving out free Moto Deck Speakers, if you decide to go for the Moto X (2nd Gen). As always, the discount rate depends on the phone model you are exchanging.

Other than the Motorola range, the Google Nexus 6 phones are also available discount of up to Rs. 10,000 on exchange, another offer with Rs. 10,000 off if bought along with a Moto 360 Smart Watch – the two offers cannot be combined. These exchange offers are valid only till 15^th February, so make sure to spread the word.

Though there are no exchange offers available on the Moto E handsets, price of the phone has been been slashed by Rs. 1000 and is now priced at a mere Rs. 5,999 on Flipkart.

Want to get a user feedback on the devices? Click here for our full reviews.

February 9, 2015
Moto X 2nd Gen Review : Better Android Smartphone Experience
The Moto X was the reason Motorola was able to bounce back from extinction. With the help and financial backing from Google, Motorola revamped their lineup of smartphones and today is one of the most coveted Android smartphone manufacturers. Although Motorola was unloaded by Google to Lenovo, the company’s principles have remained similar. With the Moto X 2014 Motorola is back with a vengeance, giving you the best mix of hardware and performance.

Overview

The new Moto X aka Gen 2014, is a major overhaul of what was already an impressive kit of a smartphone. The great mix of design build quality and top notch hardware makes the phone an aggressive competitor in the major smartphone market. In most countries the phone is available on the cheap with a contract, in countries like India however it has to be bought outright. Its price at launch is Rs. 31,999, which is much higher than the last generation’s price.

Hardware

Unlike the previous edition, the new Moto X is not impaired by old tech, it’s packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset with Adreno 330 graphics, has a larger 5.2 inch display with a Full HD resolution. New optics include a 13 MP camera with a faux dual led ring flash, and a front facing 2 MP one. The rear camera does 4K video and slow motion at 1080p which is really impressive. Storage is limited to 16 GB and RAM is kept at 2GB.
- 5.2-inch 1080P Display – 401 pixels per inch
- 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 Quad-core processor
- 2GB of RAM
- 16GB and 32GB storage options
- 2,300mAh battery
- 13MP rear facing camera w/ 4k video, 2MP front camera
- Dual LED Ring Flash
- Android 4.4.4 KitKat
- Over 25 customizable back options – India Gets Black Leather or White + Bamboo!
- 140.8 x 72.4 x 9.9mm – 144 grams
Build and Design

Thanks to the Stainless Steel frame, the Moto X is one of the most robust smartphones in the market, the reinforced design with the lack of easily ding-able parts makes the phone more sturdy than expected. The Moto X will not bend, not with your hands, and many videos are trending online to prove it. The phone is solid and engineered well, but the leather finish will not last. We used the phone for a mere 2 weeks and the leather at the back has a lot of nicks and cuts and basically wears easy, the bamboo variant of the new Moto X 2nd Gen costs an additional Rs.2000 but may be worth the moolah. Design is great, however, we are not too sure of the lager Moto logo in a steel insert, it looks great in the leather variant but not on the wooden one. Reactions have been mixed about that one bit, everything else is an excellent change up from the 1st gen. Stainless steel bezel adds premium class and functionality and looks good, the shape is well fitted and curves just right in the hand. It is a handsome smartphone and its built well.

Performance and Android OS

The overall performance from the handset is impressive, it runs top notch hardware on an almost vanilla build of Android 4.4 with an experience only south of Google’s own Nexus line. Benchmarks score upwards of 40,000 in Antutu and they translate to real life usage, RAM is managed well and the Moto X remains pretty smooth through the day of use. Motorola has managed to use its own features like, smart notifications which are now called “Moto Display” and the new voice assistant which can be called up by a custom phrase and not the traditional “Ok Moto” or “Ok Google Now”. Motorola has also managed to leverage Moto communicate, allowing for phone calls and SMS messages to be received and responded to from your laptop/computer, while the setup may seem tedious it works well, although is a major drain on the battery life. The new Moto Assist is also well rounded, it knows when you are sleeping, driving or whether you are at home or work and can customize the alerts according to that, it needs a basic setup, but works mostly flawlessly after that.

Camera

The camera is a big upgrade, a 13 Mp sensor, 4k video and 1080 slow mo, all sounds great on paper. Images however do not justify all that, they are still grainy and low light performance is terrible. Continuous burst mode is a great feature, but is randomly sluggish and will cause images to get blurry and out of focus. The concept of the ring flash is simulated and does do nothing really to enhance the image quality, although the color correction in post flash images is good. The flash module is just like any other on any other smartphone. The camera app is really basic and could use some better features, like filters and on the fly changes. Focus during video will jump in and out, and will cause heartache. 4k video sounds great, but the limited 16GB storage will fill up with just mere minutes of 4k footage.

Without Flash

With Flash

Slow motion works well, focus is tight and quality is impressive. It will do Slow motion at 1080p vs 720p in the last year’s model. The front camera remains basic with a 2MP snapper, it captures 1080p video, which is usually overexposed and grainy, not the best optics in the lot.

Display and Multimedia

The new display on the Moto X larger and brighter, looks good outdoors, and has a crisp 401 ppi density. The glass on the front is Gorilla Glass 3 and it rounds off and meets the bezel at the edges adding to a natural feel when using the touchscreen. The display has excellent viewing angles and looks great indoors and out doors. touch response is excellent and according to Motorola the whole ecosystem is run at 60 fps throughout which adds to the experience, although may not be perfectly accurate. The bezels on the front are really minimal so the display is what takes up most of the front adding to a better look and better content consumption. Thanks to a larger display you will enjoy watching movies and videos on the phone, performance is excellent so no lag or buffer is experienced in the usage of the phone. The speaker is now forward facing, but unlike HTC’s boomsound it’s still a single speaker , yet sounds good and is very loud.

Phone, Networks and Battery

The Moto X 2nd Gen uses the metal fame to boost networks and boy does it work well, we found excellent indoor reception even on 3G networks and no call drops. This goes to show that maybe not all networks are to blame for bad reception. In this case Motorola has really got its antenna design right and yes it is very functional. Call quality, thanks to the impressive reception, is better than most handsets, although noise cancellation is not very great. Microphone is sensitive and the earpiece is loud and crisp. Battery is a smallish 2300 mAh unit that will mostly last a day, but if you use your phone a lot a portable charger or a USB cable will soon become your best friends. Averaging a mere 4-5 hours of talk time, we wish the phone had more juice to go on about its day. If you need the new Moto X to last longer you may want to invest in the Turbo Charger. Although, not yet in India, this optional accessory can charge the Moto X incredibly fast, pumping in eight hours of power in just 15 minutes.

Conclusion

Motorola has a winner with the Moto X 2nd Gen, and while a lot of people are looking at the bump in price, we are looking at the bump in specs. The previous Gen Motorola Moto X was underpowered, under spec’d and smallish. The new Moto X, is powerful, has excellent specs, top notch performance, has the right size and it looks good doing daily deeds. The leather back is tastefully damage-able and will add a custom look to each Moto X, however extreme wear may happen sooner than later. Thanks to quick Android updates and a simple basic Android UI, the handset is customizable and fast from the get go. The display bump is a boon and is well received, the new design is flawless and the built appreciable. The phone is also water resistant and will last you a very long time. But, should you get it? If you want an android phone now, and the price bracket fits, Yes ! get it now. Alternatively wait for the OnePlus One launch or the Next Nexus, which may as well be a Moto X in a cheaper format, who knows?

Review Video

[tw-column width=”one-half”]

GOOD THINGS
- Superb Built
- Handsome Looks
- Top Notch Hardware
- Excellent Performance
- Moto Display
- Voice Assist
[/tw-column]

[tw-column width=”one-half” position=”last”]

BAD THINGS
- No Customization in Global Market
- Leather prone to Wear
- Camera is Sluggish and Not Refined
[/tw-column]
October 3, 2014
Moto X Makes its Comeback With Better Specs and an Aluminium Frame

Along with the Moto G (Gen 2) and Moto 360, Motorola has just introduced the much-awaited 2nd gen Moto X. The new Moto X is bigger, bulkier and it boasts a number of new features and designs that should definitely increase X’s demand.

The new Moto X is not much bigger than the previous one, with a 5.2 inch AMOLED display and it is still protected by Gorilla Glass. Moto X 2nd gen is about 0.5 inch wider than last year’s X. However, the refreshed model sports a 1080p full HD display instead of a 720p one.

The screen takes almost all the space on the front, leaving the bare minimum for bezels. It measures 72.4mm wide by 140.8mm tall and weighs 144 grams. To give the device a premium feel, the company has added a smooth piece of aluminium wrapping the entire edge of the phone.

Motorola has kept the Moto Maker customization option alive with a new leather option for new Moto X. Additionally, Moto Maker also now lets you add metal accents to power and volume buttons, speaker grills and the Motorola logo on the back.

At the back, it has an updated 13-megapixel camera lens with 4x zoom and a ring flash. The camera has the ability to capture 4K video instead of just 1080p and it’s also got a new feature called Best Shot.

It essentially maintains a rolling photo cache in the background, constantly capturing additional shots before and after a photo is taken. An algorithm then analyzes those photos to find what it thinks is the “best shot,” filtering out blurry shots or pics of people blinking. You can choose the picture selected by the feature or the original one. Another new camera feature is the “Highlight Reel,” which essentially compiles all of your day’s photos and videos into a single video collage much like Google+ photo highlights.

As far as the hardware is concerned you won’t be disappointed. The device runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with a 2.5GHz quad-core CPU, an Adreno 330 578MHz GPU and 2GB of RAM. It is powered by 2,300 mAh battery which Motorola claims will last a full day. The new Moto X has four microphones to help reduce background noise, and comes in a “splash guard” water repellent coating and will be available in both 16GB and 32GB variants.

One the software side, new Moto X comes with hand full of softwares same as older Moto X including Migration tool and some of the tools like Touchless Control, Active Display and Motorola Assist have been renamed in the new Moto X as Moto Actions, Moto Display and Moto Assist respectively. Another great iteration in the new Moto X is that instead of ‘OK Google’ as a voice prompt, you can customize the voice command prompt to anything you like.

The company said that they have more than 1.6 million devices stocked for Indian market which only means they will have enough stocks this time. Pricing details are not yet revealed by the company. The new Moto X will go on sale in late september along with Moto 360.

September 5, 2014