It is a decent upgrade over both of those. I'd say you will be pleased. The new update also improved it.
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Moto X
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It is a decent upgrade over both of those. I'd say you will be pleased. The new update also improved it.
I've been using an iPhone since the 4. Went from the 5 to a note 2. I used that for a few months and really enjoyed it. I liked the big screen and some android features but also missed some things about IOS and how easy the iPhone was to handle. I picked up a 5s but returned it as I'd become too addicted to swype typing and really had a hard time living without it and a few other android features. I bought a used moto X off of swappa.com and have really fallen in love with it.
The build quality is far superior to the samsung offerings and it's just the sweet spot in terms of size and ease of use/handling. It doesn't seem all that useful before you use it but the active display features are an absolute god send.
It's not really the best at anything in particular but offers a fantastic overall package and is just a joy to use day in and day out.
The build quality is far superior to the samsung offerings and it's just the sweet spot in terms of size and ease of use/handling. It doesn't seem all that useful before you use it but the active display features are an absolute god send.
It's not really the best at anything in particular but offers a fantastic overall package and is just a joy to use day in and day out.
Moto X
Can anyone comment on group texting on android, particularly the Moto X.
I switched last year to a galxy s3 but couldn't stick with it due to the poor group messaging. Currently anyone I care to group
Message with has iphone so it's super easy to just iMessage everyone in a seamless manner sending photos and videos etc. on the s3 it lagged so bad if a lot of messages would come through by group chat because of how it handles group as mms. Has anything changed in the past year in terms if speed in which group messaging works? I heard textra is pretty good but I want to know speed of incoming group texts especially if its an active group text say at times 30 messages a minute. Thanks! Looking to upgrade from my iP5. iMessage was the sole reason of my move back to iOS. I love what I see with moto x though.
Can anyone comment on group texting on android, particularly the Moto X.
I switched last year to a galxy s3 but couldn't stick with it due to the poor group messaging. Currently anyone I care to group
Message with has iphone so it's super easy to just iMessage everyone in a seamless manner sending photos and videos etc. on the s3 it lagged so bad if a lot of messages would come through by group chat because of how it handles group as mms. Has anything changed in the past year in terms if speed in which group messaging works? I heard textra is pretty good but I want to know speed of incoming group texts especially if its an active group text say at times 30 messages a minute. Thanks! Looking to upgrade from my iP5. iMessage was the sole reason of my move back to iOS. I love what I see with moto x though.
Group messaging always has been bad on android until hangouts. Now that hangouts can handle text messages, it actually does group messaging properly. Instead of sending out individual messages it sends a message within that group.
The one thing I've been playing with, and showing off, is a "find my phone" command. With the screen off, just say "OK Google Now, Find my phone". The screen wakes and it rings at full volume until you pick it up, even if the ring volume is off. Obviously it has to be within range, but this is a GREAT example of the "always listening, always on voice command core". The screen even says "Yoohoo, over here!" and then says "Yay, you found me" for a second before showing the PIN code screen, once you've found and picked up the device.
That command is only available on the X BECAUSE of that hardware configuration, and it works even with a PIN code lock.
I don't think it's that it does any more or less than S-Voice, but based on past experiences with my S4, S-Voice is slow, clunky, and unreliable. I'd ask a question and wait 10 seconds for an answer only to be given the wrong one. S-Voice seems like it was added in as an afterthought, while the Moto X was built around the features it has, hence the AMOLED display for Active Display/Notifications, and an always-listening, low-power processor to handle Touchless Control. Look at this old screenshot from my S4 using S-Voice, it says it all:
There's different texting apps that support group messaging and can send/receive iPhone emojis. My favorite texting/messaging app is Textra. Supports group messaging, sending and receiving emojis to and from iPhone's, it's got quick reply, is updated frequently, and is very fast and smooth. Highly recommended, it blows the stock messaging app out of the water.
Thanks for the reply. I am most concerned about group sms with iphone users. So does textra still have to convert sms group messages to mms before sending? Or have they changed this? I mean for it to be a single threaded conversation with multiple users by sms phone numbers, there's no mms conversion when sending or receiving?
You can change it in the Textra settings, it works great. See the screenshot.
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Does anyone here have a Moto X and a Nexus 5? I have a Nexus which I really enjoy using, but I still have an itch to try out a Moto X. The extra Moto features look quite useful and I'd love a custom MotoMaker phone. Could anyone give a quick comparison?
OK so best buy is giving the Moto x away for free when you open a new line on Verizon. That plus the Verizon model already having Kit Kat was too interesting to pass up. It's hard to get a real feel for a device playing with it for 10 minutes in a store, so I brought it home to try out and see how I like it.
Yeah, ...if Hangouts would only give us a number badge it would be the one id always use. Til then, Textra is still it.
Initial impressions after a few hours are mostly positive. I am already getting used to not having to use a power button to turn on the phone. As silly as it seems, like how hard is it to push a button, there is just something satisfying about picking up the phone and immediately seeing the time and anything missed and just swiping to open it. Whatever issues the camera had must have been fixed with the update because it looked just fine in my test photos. Not quite as good as my Note but pretty close. Being a photographer, I really like all the different edit options built in. The ability to be able to control the shadows, highlights, hue and even a curves adjustment is amazing to get on a phone!
Love the texture and feel of the phone, very easy to grip and I feel I can just set it down normally on a hard surface. With my 5s and now my Note 3, I feel like I have to carefully set it down so as not to jar the camera or scratch the lens. I also have to admit the voice control picks up way better. Just tried it again now. The X is sitting a good 8 feet from me and saying "Ok Goole" in just a low voice woke it up. My Note 3 is sitting a foot in front of me and wouldn't wake up until I picked it up and said Hi Galaxy. Its also a very fast device opening apps, switching apps, typing...the screen also seems more responsive than my Note. Only real negative so far is my roommate said she could notice a difference right away in my test call. She said I didn't sound nearly as good on speakerphone or when I was using the X normally as I do on my Note. So far so good.
Love the texture and feel of the phone, very easy to grip and I feel I can just set it down normally on a hard surface. With my 5s and now my Note 3, I feel like I have to carefully set it down so as not to jar the camera or scratch the lens. I also have to admit the voice control picks up way better. Just tried it again now. The X is sitting a good 8 feet from me and saying "Ok Goole" in just a low voice woke it up. My Note 3 is sitting a foot in front of me and wouldn't wake up until I picked it up and said Hi Galaxy. Its also a very fast device opening apps, switching apps, typing...the screen also seems more responsive than my Note. Only real negative so far is my roommate said she could notice a difference right away in my test call. She said I didn't sound nearly as good on speakerphone or when I was using the X normally as I do on my Note. So far so good.
Are you comparing it to a Note 3? That's one of the other phones I was looking at, although it does seem a tad too big for my tastes. I do have to say though, Samsung REALLY knows how to optimize their cameras. The camera on my S4 receive many compliments and I loved it. The camera, beautiful display, and (from what I've heard) great battery life are what is really attracting me towards the Note 3. And then there's Touchwiz... worst UI ever. The only part I like about it are the toggles in the notification bar and the camera app. Everything else sucks. If only they had stock Android on the Note 3, that'd be amazing.
On the topic of the Moto X, however, since I'm a heavy user I think I'm going to be returning my Moto X to get a Droid MAXX or maybe a Note 3 for the reasons stated above (same phone, just has a much larger battery and display). The Moto X get's great battery life and can easily last most people a day, but I'm a very heavy user and on some days I can kill the Moto X by 6 or 7pm (still better than my S4 and iPhone 5s). I'm hoping that with a MAXX or a Note 3, that'll be a non-issue. Can you comment on the Note 3's battery life (if that is the Note that you indeed are using)?
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Yea, Note 3. I am going to do the same and return the X for the Droid Maxx too I think. A larger screen and bigger battery would be welcome and I don't see any real difference between KK and JB anyways
If you get the MAXX I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts on how they compare to each other in terms of battery life, display, and camera.
Don't want to hijack the thread but just wanted to answer you. I already returned the Maxx after 3 hours. Didn't have it long enough to comment on battery life. Here are my thoughts. First off, it is not the same phone as the X. Its a Droid phone, the X is pure Google/Motorola. The Maxx has a ton of bloatware like Amazon and Kindle crap everywhere and you face pop ups and ads with 3rd party stuff, like Go SMS. Things not found on the X and therefore, its not as smooth and fluid as the X. Although it actually weighs slightly less than the Note 3, it feels like an absolute brick in comparison. I was quite surprised since its only a 5 inch device. The Note 3 just distributes its weight more evenly I guess but its a joy to hold compared to the Maxx.
Display compared to the Note isn't even close. At least the X had 316 ppi, the Maxx only has 294. That combined with the larger display than the X made it much more noticeable how sub par it really is. The camera is about the same quality as the X but you don't get nearly as many editing options as you do on the X which was pretty disappointing. Neither of them have a camera anywhere close to the Note which has the best camera Ive used on a phone aside from the Lumia 1020 and iPhone 5s.
I would get the Note 3 if I were you, you can always return it for something else if you don't like it. The software alone makes it worth it but its display, battery life and camera are all top notch. The ways to multitask with it and customize it are nearly endless and I even find myself using the pen sometimes too.
Don't worry about hijacking, I'm the one that asked these questions in the first place, and I appreciate your feedback. I'm going to be taking a long look tomorrow at the Note 3 at Best Buy since they don't have a billion cables securing the phone down in case of theft like Verizon stores do (you can't even get an accurate feel of a device at the Verizon store!). I really do love my Moto X, but I do wish battery life was a tad bit better. After letting KitKat settle for a few days, I can make it from 7am-9pm with moderate use, but there's usually about 3 days a week where I use my phone very heavily and my day may not end until midnight or later, so I need the extra battery life. I'm hearing mixed results from Note 3 users; some say it's amazing, unreal, and lasts all day, while others say it's average or bad, hence my interest in the MAXX. What's your screen-on time looking like on the Note 3? Also, bloatware isn't a problem for me as I will probably end up rooting whichever phone I get to get rid of all the bloatware.
The only real thing that concerns me with the Note 3 is the size... I played with the Note 3 briefly at Best Buy when it first came out and I found that I could use it comfortably with one hand. I also came to the same conclusion with the LG G2. It wasn't until I put a case on my G2 (a cheap TPU case I got on Amazon for $9) that it became uncomfortable and cumbersome to use with one hand. That extra 1-2mm of width and thickness caused the phone to go from comfortable and easy to use, to uncomfortable and difficult for one handed use. I'm afraid of the same thing happening with the Note 3. On the other hand, I LOVE big displays. Even the 4.7" display on my Moto X feels small at times now that I've become comfortable with 5-5.2" displays. While I love the huge display on the Note 3, that screen size seems humongous! To be fair, though, I've never honestly given any of the Note-series phones a chance as my daily driver, so I've never given my self the opportunity to get used to such a big screen. No matter how long I play with a phone in-store, it'll never be the same as actually owning it and using it day in and day out. I think I'm gonna wait for Black Friday next week, buy a Note 3 from Best Buy (no restocking fee, unlike Verizon) and if I don't like it I'll just return it for something smaller and get a MAXX.
Just got back from testing out both the MAXX and the Note 3 and I'm towards the MAXX. I actually didn't mind the display too much, although it wasn't as crisp or accurate as the Note 3's. On the other hand, the button layout is much better than the Note 3's (not a fan of the menu, home, and back button layout) after getting used to back, home, and recents layout on the Moto X. Gonna look at more reviews and see what users of each phone are saying on different forums and then will hopefully make a decision in a few days.
I would lean towards the maxx just because as far as android skins go, motorolas is by far the best. Its essentially stock with a couple added features. Its not a complete redesign like htc or samsungs skins. Motorola seems to be on their A game with updates as well. They were able to get even verizon to roll out 4.4 to the moto x right as the nexus's are recieving it.
That's another reason as well. The Maxx does indeed have a lot of bloatware, but that's running on stock nearly stock Android. The Note 3 seemed to have just as much bloatware, but that's also with Touchwiz running on it. On either phone, most of the bloatware can be disabled so they don't hog resources or they can be removed by rooting. I'm still debating on whether or not I want to give the Note 3 a chance or not, but as of right now the Maxx is looking like the better option. The Maxx also felt really nice in the hand with the soft-touch kevlar back, while still being very slim (same thickness as the Nexus 5) even though it's got an insanely huge battery. The Note 3 also felt good and that faux leather back is a huge step up from the glossy plastic that Samsung has used in the past. Either, way this is gonna be a difficult decision.
I love having a menu/settings button because I always know where it is. It's in different places in different apps that need it onscreen. I mean Go SMS wouldn't even work on the Maxx because the Settings button was under the keyboard where the space bar should have been which was very annoying and made it unusable because there was no space bar. It all depends on what you like and what feels good to you though
Hmm, good point; I hadn't even thought of that. I could always just get used to the Note 3's button layout, it's not like I ever had any problems with the buttons on my S4 and they're the same as the Note's. One of the other things holding me back on the Note 3 is the price. I'm buying off-contract, so I'd be paying $499 for the Maxx vs. $699 for the Note 3. That's a huge difference that I'd have to decide whether or not it's worth the extra $200.
The Maxx has (IMO) better build quality, better battery life, significantly better UI, and features that are actually useful (touchless control, active display). The Note 3 has a much better display (in terms of size, resolution, and colors) and camera, but other than that I can't think of other features that come with the phone that I'd be using. That better display and camera, however, are HUGELY important things that I need to take into account. I don't take pictures often, but when I do, I want them to come out good. The display is also beautiful on the Note 3. It's huge and very bright; everything just look incredible on it, and while my mind is telling I love it, my hands are still iffy about it.
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