Moto X on KitKat... the future of Android is almost here

[Jinzen]

Moto X on Kit Kat was the closest experience I've had to iOS levels of robustness and fluidity.

I can see the Moto X 2 potentially being the phone that will finally get me to move over to Android from iOS, but the current is not it.

Biggest drawbacks:

1) Hardware - is sometimes "just good enough" (the display, which was fine), and often not even close (processing, camera).

2) Integrated software - Google needs an iMessage and FaceTime to be ideally integrated into Hangouts, tied to a phone number

3) Security via TouchID/other - this is one thing I've never thought I would miss but it really adds a level of security without the hassle of Pins and passwords.

Battery life was good, system was fluid, but really bogged down trying to do some things like navigate Maps rapidly. Flipboard was always almost unusable on the Moto X either due to a horrific port and awful usage of processing or just bad code, or maybe the Moto X isn't powerful enough to do simple flipping page renditions?

 

[Lloydbm41]

Moto X on Kit Kat was the closest experience I've had to iOS levels of robustness and fluidity.

I can see the Moto X 2 potentially being the phone that will finally get me to move over to Android from iOS, but the current is not it.

Biggest drawbacks:

1) Hardware - is sometimes "just good enough" (the display, which was fine), and often not even close (processing, camera).

May want to look at the Nexus 5

2) Integrated software - Google needs an iMessage and FaceTime to be ideally integrated into Hangouts, tied to a phone number

um, you just described what Hangouts does? Not sure what you are getting at here?

3) Security via TouchID/other - this is one thing I've never thought I would miss but it really adds a level of security without the hassle of Pins and passwords.

touch id is not as secure as a simple pin. This is why the government still uses magnetic ID card readers and individual pin codes to access secure areas. Fingerprint biometrics just isn't secure enough. When we get to retina scanning, then we'll be ready.

 

[Jinzen]

May want to look at the Nexus 5

um, you just described what Hangouts does? Not sure what you are getting at here?

touch id is not as secure as a simple pin. This is why the government still uses magnetic ID card readers and individual pin codes to access secure areas. Fingerprint biometrics just isn't secure enough. When we get to retina scanning, then we'll be ready.

The Nexus 5 has poor battery life, none of the useful notification features (Active Notifications is where every phone needs to go to), equally poor camera. As a whole, it's not nearly as good as the Moto X. It's just faster and bigger.

Also, you don't really know what Hangouts is do you? It currently has no integration to phone numbers and is simply one app for two separate modes of conversation (Video/IMing and SMSing). It needs full integration like iMessage and FaceTime.

 

[mattopotamus]

The Nexus 5 has poor battery life, none of the useful notification features (Active Notifications is where every phone needs to go to), equally poor camera. As a whole, it's not nearly as good as the Moto X. It's just faster and bigger.

Also, you don't really know what Hangouts is do you? It currently has no integration to phone numbers and is simply one app for two separate modes of conversation (Video/IMing and SMSing). It needs full integration like iMessage and FaceTime.

poor battery? I average 18 hours on battery and 4.5 hours screen on time. I call that far from poor.

Hangouts is tied to your phone number. The reason it does not work like imessage is b.c hangouts is also a chat client. For example, we use hangouts at work for chat....I would not want those messages to go to those people's cell phones like imessage would. Hangouts will probably never work like imessage b.c it has multiple purposes. IMO it actually works better b.c it separates people you text from people you are in a "g-chat" with.

I do agree about active notifications being amazing, and I actually use "ok google" a lot on my nexus 5. I am sure if I had a moto x I would use it even more since it is truly hands free. Also, the camera is pretty solid on the n5. As long as you let it focus the pictures turn out amazing. My low light pictures, for the most part, look much better than my girlfriends iphone 5.

 

[Jinzen]

poor battery? I average 18 hours on battery and 4.5 hours screen on time. I call that far from poor.

Hangouts is tied to your phone number. The reason it does not work like imessage is b.c hangouts is also a chat client. For example, we use hangouts at work for chat....I would not want those messages to go to those people's cell phones like imessage would. Hangouts will probably never work like imessage b.c it has multiple purposes. IMO it actually works better b.c it separates people you text from people you are in a "g-chat" with.

I do agree about active notifications being amazing, and I actually use "ok google" a lot on my nexus 5. I am sure if I had a moto x I would use it even more since it is truly hands free. Also, the camera is pretty solid on the n5. As long as you let it focus the pictures turn out amazing. My low light pictures, for the most part, look much better than my girlfriends iphone 5.

And your usage for hangouts is definitely not where it should be going towards.

4.5 hours of on screen time is awful. Have you ever used an iPhone that can get 8-10?

 

[mattopotamus]

And your usage for hangouts is definitely not where it should be going towards.

4.5 hours of on screen time is awful. Have you ever used an iPhone that can get 8-10?

Usage and screen on time are very very different. I get better battery on the n5 than I got with the iphone 5

What do you mean my hangouts usage?

 

[viskon]

4.5 hours of on screen time is awful. Have you ever used an iPhone that can get 8-10?

The smart phone that gets 8-10 hours screen time on stock battery has not been invented yet.

 

[fr4c]

poor battery? I average 18 hours on battery and 4.5 hours screen on time. I call that far from poor.

Hangouts is tied to your phone number. The reason it does not work like imessage is b.c hangouts is also a chat client. For example, we use hangouts at work for chat....I would not want those messages to go to those people's cell phones like imessage would. Hangouts will probably never work like imessage b.c it has multiple purposes. IMO it actually works better b.c it separates people you text from people you are in a "g-chat" with.

I do agree about active notifications being amazing, and I actually use "ok google" a lot on my nexus 5. I am sure if I had a moto x I would use it even more since it is truly hands free. Also, the camera is pretty solid on the n5. As long as you let it focus the pictures turn out amazing. My low light pictures, for the most part, look much better than my girlfriends iphone 5.

I agree with you for the most part, but iMessage can do exactly what Hangouts does (if not better) and separate work and play. Friends and family get my mobile number, while co-workers get my iCloud email. I get to separate the 2 to my liking, at the same time saving money when texting an iPhone user as it does not require the need to pay for text messages.

Also the camera performance on the N5 is just too inconsistent for me to say if it's better than any phone. In fact low-light performance is pretty disappointing as most of them turn out to be soft and out of focus. Pictures in daylight can be pretty good, but sometimes takes too much effort when you're trying to take a quick snapshot as I always have to go back and make sure it turned out decent.

 

[Jinzen]

Usage and screen on time are very very different. I get better battery on the n5 than I got with the iphone 5

What do you mean my hangouts usage?

I mean you prefer hangouts to be that way due to a niche usage scenario, but that's NOT what hangouts should be. It should be iMessage and FaceTime rolled into one (along with SMS and mms).

Also, nobody refers to battery life without th screen on. The iPhone 5 does 10 hours on screen web browsing while the 5s gets about the same. http://anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review/13

 

[mattopotamus]

I mean you prefer hangouts to be that way due to a niche usage scenario, but that's NOT what hangouts should be. It should be iMessage and FaceTime rolled into one (along with SMS and mms).

Also, nobody refers to battery life without th screen on. The iPhone 5 does 10 hours on screen web browsing while the 5s gets about the same. http://anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review/13

That test is on wifi. If I am on wifi I could probably push it a lot more. I am comparing real world usage too. I get better bettery on my n5 than on my iphone 5 and I bet a lot with both would agree.

 

[Jinzen]

That test is on wifi. If I am on wifi I could probably push it a lot more. I am comparing real world usage too. I get better bettery on my n5 than on my iphone 5 and I bet a lot with both would agree.

10 hours on WiFi, 8-9 hours on LTE...

 

[Lloydbm41]

10 hours on WiFi, 8-9 hours on LTE...

It's nice to quote from Apple or Anantech, but lab testing in perfect conditions and real world are quite different. Sure, I can push several days of battery life on my Nexus 5 with over 12 hours of 'screen-on' time IF I put brightness at 1%, put it in airplane mode and have it stay on an all black screen image. But that isn't using the phone, now is it? Can probably do the same with a 5S.

Real world use and 'screen-on' time for both the 5S and N5 are between 3.5 and 6.5 hours. There are so many variables in play on everyone's location and phone, no one can give specific times about someone else's phone. To do otherwise is pure bull. If you want to test it out, I challenge you to put your brightness at 50%, use GPS Nav for 30 minutes, stream music for an hour, watch YouTube or a movie for an hour and surf the web/email/chat for an hour and all the while maintain a WiFi or at a minimum 3G connection and I'll bet you a million bucks by the end of that 3.5 hours you will be well below 20% battery. Take the challenge.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Best part of Moto X KitKat...

where the hell did I put my phone?

OK Google Now.... Find My Phone

ring ring ring

there it is

 

[Lloydbm41]

Also, you don't really know what Hangouts is do you? It currently has no integration to phone numbers and is simply one app for two separate modes of conversation (Video/IMing and SMSing). It needs full integration like iMessage and FaceTime.

It does not appear you are familiar with GAPPS or how Google integrates your account information with these individual packages. iMessage and Facetime are separate api's with a hook into your Apple account. On Android this is reversed to allow any phone, from any manufacturer to be able to use the service. Hangouts can do the exact same thing as iMessage and facetime, but can do it from within one application AND can do it on multiple platforms.

BTW, your info about phone numbers is not correct. You van use name, email address, or phone number to start a hangout, chat, video or send pics.

 

[bmac4]

And your usage for hangouts is definitely not where it should be going towards.

4.5 hours of on screen time is awful. Have you ever used an iPhone that can get 8-10?

You honestly have no idea what you are talking about do you? He said his battery would last about 18 hours which is how android calculates battery life. Android does not have usage on it. They do how ever have screen on time with 4.5 being fanatic. The iPhone if calculated in those terms would be about the same. You might want to look up more info before you spout off again.

You may enjoy the way imessage works for you better, but that does not mean everyone does. Saying that hangouts should be more like imessage is crazy. Two different companies made each of those things, so there is no way they would want them to be alike. Google has a different idea for hangouts.

 

[zbarvian]

The smart phone that gets 8-10 hours screen time on stock battery has not been invented yet.

My iPhone 5 with iOS 6 got 8-9 hours of screen on time each day. Granted, I was on Wi-Fi for 85% of that, and my brightness was at about 40% (still very bright, the iPhone screen is capable of almost 600 nits), but nonetheless it happened. I see people getting 3-4 hours of screen-on time in this forum and that just sounds awful. I'm on my phone a lot, and I could never live with that, especially with Android's standby times.

 

[mattopotamus]

My iPhone 5 with iOS 6 got 8-9 hours of screen on time each day. Granted, I was on Wi-Fi for 85% of that, and my brightness was at about 40% (still very bright, the iPhone screen is capable of almost 600 nits), but nonetheless it happened. I see people getting 3-4 hours of screen-on time in this forum and that just sounds awful. I'm on my phone a lot, and I could never live with that, especially with Android's standby times.

Also, when I rarely use my phone I can easily get 25+ hours on standby. Right now I have 7h 32min on battery, 1h 4m screen time, and 74% battery left. That would easily put me over 25 hours on battery with about 4.5 hours screen time.

Why most people would need more battery than that is beyond me. That is more than enough to get me through the day.

This is a link to a pace of 40+ hours standby I had a few days ago.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18356697/

 

[vikingjunior]

I love when people come on here and compare a $650 phone to a $350 phone. We are happy with what we get for $350. Lets see what apple puts out for $350.

 

[bmac4]

My iPhone 5 with iOS 6 got 8-9 hours of screen on time each day. Granted, I was on Wi-Fi for 85% of that, and my brightness was at about 40% (still very bright, the iPhone screen is capable of almost 600 nits), but nonetheless it happened. I see people getting 3-4 hours of screen-on time in this forum and that just sounds awful. I'm on my phone a lot, and I could never live with that, especially with Android's standby times.

How do you know you got 8-9 hours screen on time? I found no where in iOS where it tells you how long your screen has been on. It will tell how much usage you have which is not the same thing. On my iPhone 5 I was lucky to get 8 hours usages. Let along SOT. I would love to know how to find screen on time in iOS if you could share.

 

[gotluck]

^ what he said, usage is not SOT

dont understand the standby comment either, that's the last of my complaints. must've had bloat / location services overload / wakelocks

 

[hallux]

Best part of Moto X KitKat...

where the hell did I put my phone?

OK Google Now.... Find My Phone

ring ring ring

there it is

I LOVE showing that to people!

 

[WilliamBateman]

I returned the X and kept my Note 3. I would have saved $765 by keeping the X but its really a sub par phone in very way from the display and battery to the camera and processor. I also can't figure out why some people are in love with stock Android, its boring and features are severely limited. I'll take a split second of "lag" with a robust UI like Touchwiz that gives you tons of ways to create, multitask and customize over some stripped down vanilla phone you need apps just to do basic things like create new photo albums in your gallery.

 

[zbarvian]

How do you know you got 8-9 hours screen on time? I found no where in iOS where it tells you how long your screen has been on. It will tell how much usage you have which is not the same thing. On my iPhone 5 I was lucky to get 8 hours usages. Let along SOT. I would love to know how to find screen on time in iOS if you could share.

The usage times do indeed reflect more scenarios than screen-on time, but they're limited in the same way that iOS is limited for multitasking. If you aren't listening to music, uploading files in the background, having your location checked or using navigation, then in iOS 6 the Usage section indicated screen on time. I wasn't doing any of those things.

 

[Jinzen]

You honestly have no idea what you are talking about do you? He said his battery would last about 18 hours which is how android calculates battery life. Android does not have usage on it. They do how ever have screen on time with 4.5 being fanatic. The iPhone if calculated in those terms would be about the same. You might want to look up more info before you spout off again.

You may enjoy the way imessage works for you better, but that does not mean everyone does. Saying that hangouts should be more like imessage is crazy. Two different companies made each of those things, so there is no way they would want them to be alike. Google has a different idea for hangouts.

Um.. What? Again, iPhones get 8-10 hours of SCREEN ON TIME. That's with it medium bright (which is still very high nits) and browsing the web or watching video.

No, that does not mean running a GPS Navigation program, or playing a game. But that's NOT how anybody estimates battery life. My MBP would last 2 hours playing a game, rather than 7-8 hours of normal usage. My iPad would last 5 hours doing navigation, rather than 12 hours of regular ON SCREEN usage.

4.5 hours of screen on time is AWFUL. And that's what you have to accept in Android world often, which thankfully is not the case with iPhones.

----------

It does not appear you are familiar with GAPPS or how Google integrates your account information with these individual packages. iMessage and Facetime are separate api's with a hook into your Apple account. On Android this is reversed to allow any phone, from any manufacturer to be able to use the service. Hangouts can do the exact same thing as iMessage and facetime, but can do it from within one application AND can do it on multiple platforms.

BTW, your info about phone numbers is not correct. You van use name, email address, or phone number to start a hangout, chat, video or send pics.

No, actually iMessage and FaceTime are registered with a phone number, and that's ALL you need to use the services .... as they SHOULD BE.

Hangouts requires someone to use
1) A Google Account
2) Tie a phone number to that account
3) Requires a contact to use the Hangouts App
4) Manually initiate a "Hangout".
5) Does not collate SMS and Hangouts into one thread (very beta of Hangouts right now)

Apple's system requires a Phone number only - and from that contact card will automatically allow the option of FaceTime, iMessage, FaceTime Audio etc. If an iMessage fails, it defaults to SMS/MMS.

Google is going exactly where iMessage/Facetime is, but they aren't there yet. The benefit is that they will also integrate Google Voice somehow, perhaps solving the Visual Voicemail as well. (Did I mention that Android needs to give users integrated Visual Voicemail?)

 

[Lloydbm41]

Um.. What? Again, iPhones get 8-10 hours of SCREEN ON TIME. That's with it medium bright (which is still very high nits) and browsing the web or watching video.

No, that does not mean running a GPS Navigation program, or playing a game. But that's NOT how anybody estimates battery life. My MBP would last 2 hours playing a game, rather than 7-8 hours of normal usage. My iPad would last 5 hours doing navigation, rather than 12 hours of regular ON SCREEN usage.

4.5 hours of screen on time is AWFUL. And that's what you have to accept in Android world often, which thankfully is not the case with iPhones.

In your case scenario, my Nexus 5 gets 20 hours of on screen usage.

No, actually iMessage and FaceTime are registered with a phone number, and that's ALL you need to use the services .... as they SHOULD BE.

Really? Do me a favor and call anyone that only owns an iPod or WiFi iPad. You are probably going to run into a little trouble sending all these people an iMessage or Facetiming them. You know, cause they don't have a phone number associated to Apple. They DO HAVE an email/Apple ID associated though. See any issues with your comment now?

Hangouts requires someone to use
1) A Google Account
2) Tie a phone number to that account
3) Requires a contact to use the Hangouts App
4) Manually initiate a "Hangout".
5) Does not collate SMS and Hangouts into one thread (very beta of Hangouts right now)

iMessage and Facetime requires the following:
1) An Apple account
2) Tie a phone number or Apple ID to that account
3) Requires another user to HAVE an iDevice or Mac. Can't be used outside of Apple's ecosystem
4) Manually initiate a Facetime call or iMessage
5) Does not collate Facetime or email or SMS into one thread (after years and years of development, Apple still can't collate Facetime and iMessage together?)

Apple's system requires a Phone number only

As noted above, this information is incorrect.

Google is going exactly where iMessage/Facetime is, but they aren't there yet. The benefit is that they will also integrate Google Voice somehow, perhaps solving the Visual Voicemail as well. (Did I mention that Android needs to give users integrated Visual Voicemail?)

Google will never go where Apple is with iMessage/Facetime. To restrictive and not open to all platforms. Hangouts is platform agnostic, as Google apps should be.
You are correct on visual voicemail. This should be added into the phone api at some point, since that is closed source it can't be messed with by the carriers or oem's.