After the Moto G, Motorola’s Moto X has been launched in India. Check this Moto X review to find out if the handset is really worth it. The X price starts from Rs. 23,999 and is available in different colors plus 2 wooden back panel options.
Moto X box pack
The box is slightly bigger than as compared with the Moto G. Inside the box there is the X handset, quick start guide / warranty booklet in both Hindi and English languages, data cable, travel charger with two USB ports (usually there is a single USB port), earphone, earphone plug cap, earphone clip and Nano SIM ejector pin.
Design, Display and OS
Both the Moto X and the Moto G look almost the same, but there are few differences. The speaker vent location has changed to the right on X as compared to the left on the G. The X also has the front camera placed on the right, sensors on the left as compared to the front camera on the left and sensors on the right as on the Moto G.
The build quality and finishing is very good. I got the black color version with textures on the rear. The back cover feels like rubber, gives a good grip and comfortable to hold. The battery comes built in and you cannot remove the back cover.
The first thing that I wanted to do was to remove the back cover and try fixing the Moto G flip cover since both the handset looked the same, unfortunately the back cover cannot be removed and don’t even try that because there are some modules attached to the back cover like the LED flash. There is a circuit connecting the LED with the mother board. Back cover cannot be removed easily, and even if you succeed you will most likely damage the phone – so don’t try it.
And since you cannot remove the back cover it also make me wonder how the flip cover or a general cover will be.
There are no dedicated navigational buttons on the Moto X. The power button and volume rockers are placed on the right, 3.5mm audio jack on the top and micro USB port at the bottom. The X comes with 3 microphones – there is one on the front bottom, another on the rear back bottom and the third on the top side next to the 3.5mm audio jack. The call quality is very good and because of the 3 microphones you can talk to the handset (touch less control) from a good distance and it even works in noisy environments.
The screen is 4.7 inches – it’s AMOLED (RGB) with corning Gorilla Glass protection. The screen resolution is 1280 x 720p. The onscreen navigational buttons take up some space so effective resolution is 1184 x 720p (depending on the app). The AMOLED screen looks good, vibrant colors and touch is smooth and responsive.
This single SIM handset runs on the Android 4.4.2 (KitKat OS). A Nano SIM tray is placed on the left side, you need to use the SIM ejector pin and insert a Nano SIM card. There are accelerometer, gyro, magnetic, pressure, orientation, temperature, light, gravity and NFC detect sensors.
Memory and Storage
The Moto X comes loaded with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Of the 16GB storage 11GB is the free available space after first boot and of the 2GB RAM you get around 1.3GB free. There are no micro SD card slot. OTG and OTA are supported.
New features
The X comes with Active Display that shows the notifications without having to wake up the phone (i.e. pressing the power button). Then there is Touchless control that is always on you just need to say the magic words “Ok Google Now” and then say the commands or you can ask any questions. With Touchless control you can dial a number, read notifications and do much more. Spotlight player is another app that also comes pre-installed – it uses 3G graphics to deliver interactive stores in real-time. The good part about ‘always on’ Touchless control and Active Display is that it consumes minimal battery juice.
Performance
The Moto X houses the MSM8960 qualcomm snapdragon S4 chipset its dual core clocked at 1.7GHz coupled with Adreno 320 GPU. The performance is lag free and very, very smooth. There is a dedicated processor for contextual computing and for gesture recognition this keeps the load off the main processor, improves performance and also enhances battery performance.
Benchmark scores (Moto G with Moto X comparison)
| Moto G | Moto X | |
| Quadrant Standard | 8673 | 8264 |
| Antutu | 17194 | 23057 |
| Vellamo | HTML – 1937 Metal – 222 | HTML – 1464 Metal – 764 |
| Nenamark 2 | 56.9fps | 60.6 fps |
| Multi touch | 5 points | 10 points |
As you can see there is not much of a difference between other benchmark apps but the Antutu score is pretty good.
Gaming and Entertainment
I installed the Modern combat 4 and the Asphalt 8 both of these games worked really well without any lags. The X can play full HD videos. Do check the video review for MC4 and Asphalt 8 game play.
10MP Camera
There is 10MP rear AF camera with LED flash and 2MP front camera. The still shots are very good, much better than as seen on the Moto G. The handset can shoot slow motion videos at 13fps at 720p resolution and 1080p normal videos at 25 to 30 fps. The video quality is also very good. Do check the sample images attached at the end of this review.
Others
In mobile network setting – preferred network type, there is 4G option (check video review), unfortunately I could not test that as 4G is currently not available on Airtel in my city (Mumbai). 3G (H+), Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth worked well. GPS lock is almost instant. There is built in NFC too. Sound is very loud and clear.
Battery
The handset houses a non-removable 2200 mAh battery and as per Motorola it gives up to 13 hours talk time on 2G networks. I used the handset for about 24 minutes, the battery dropped by 9% and the next time I played high end games for about 18 minutes the battery dropped by 9%.
You can expect 4 to 5 hours of continuous heavy usage when playing high end games.
Verdict
The Moto X is a better option than the Moto G, if budget is not an issue. The handset is pricy but you get NFC and 4G support (not sure if the 4G will work in India, let’s see if any users can confirm that). The 10MP camera output is very good. Performance is lag free; most of the high end games should work. There is however limited space of 11GB. You can connect pendrive using OTG cable. Battery backup is also good.
The key attraction is the ‘Ok Google Now’ touch less operation that’s always on and the active display. Moto X is available for Rs. 23,999 for 16GB version also available in Wood finish for Rs. 2K extra.
Image Gallery
Sample Images
Moto X handset and Gaming review
1080p video recorded using the Moto X handset
Slow motion video @ 13fps recorded using the Moto X handset
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