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The thing I've noticed from being on android before is you always have to download something extra. Want IOS notifications? download a poor mans version.

There are 40 different apps that do the same thing, and they are all pretty mediocre at doing it. Just a cluster ***** to be honest. My opinion.
 
So...does it just read the text without any prompt? Or do you have to say something like "read that last text".

I don't know if I'd be up for my phone just spouting out text messages. Could make for a funny parody video :p

When you set up your Moto X, you go through the Motorola Assist app. You give the phone specific criteria to do things automatically. Once your done, you never have to touch the phone. It knows when you are driving (with an icon in the status bar, allowing you to manually shut it off via the notification center) and can autostart music from any app you specify automatically.
When the phone sees you at home, you can specify more auto functions. It is a very nice feature. See pics below:
 

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When you set up your Moto X, you go through the Motorola Assist app. You give the phone specific criteria to do things automatically. Once your done, you never have to touch the phone. It knows when you are driving (with an icon in the status bar, allowing you to manually shut it off via the notification center) and can autostart music from any app you specify automatically.
When the phone sees you at home, you can specify more auto functions. It is a very nice feature. See pics below:

Ok - so essentially, you set it up and it knows when you're driving to read text messages aloud without prompting. What if some messages are private in nature and some aren't? It will simply read all texts out loud when they arrive?

I'd much rather be able to tell it to read to me without having to change any settings depending on who's in the car with me. If I'm driving alone, obviously this would be great. But that's not always the case - and while I'm sure the Moto X is great, I don't think its good enough to detect who's in the car with you.

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Read a good unbiased article over at cultofandroid about iOS 8 and how it compares to Kit Kat:

http://www.cultofandroid.com/63853/ios-8-versus-kitkat/

Thought the writer made some good points and articulated which of iOS 8's features were catch-up and which surpassed Kit Kat.
 
The thing I've noticed from being on android before is you always have to download something extra. Want IOS notifications? download a poor mans version.

Just out of interest, why would you want iOS notification or iOS type notifications on an Android phone? Did you think that iOS notifications were better than the stock Android notifications? Or for that matter notification apps that could be downloaded from the Play store?
 
Read a good unbiased article over at cultofandroid about iOS 8 and how it compares to Kit Kat:

http://www.cultofandroid.com/63853/ios-8-versus-kitkat/

Thought the writer made some good points and articulated which of iOS 8's features were catch-up and which surpassed Kit Kat.

Good read, makes me wish I had a Mac.

Extensibility, as far as borrowing features from other apps, is probably the biggest enhancement for non all apple people. For non all apple people switching back from android rather.

The health stuff too I guess since there is no real equivalent, but I personally couldn't care less about that :)
 
Just out of interest, why would you want iOS notification or iOS type notifications on an Android phone? Did you think that iOS notifications were better than the stock Android notifications? Or for that matter notification apps that could be downloaded from the Play store?

Yes in some ways they are. I like banner alerts and seeing the body of text from emails/texts, etc on my lockscreen. You can get apps that replicate this, but not from the stock UI.
 
Ok - so essentially, you set it up and it knows when you're driving to read text messages aloud without prompting. What if some messages are private in nature and some aren't? It will simply read all texts out loud when they arrive?

I'd much rather be able to tell it to read to me without having to change any settings depending on who's in the car with me. If I'm driving alone, obviously this would be great. But that's not always the case - and while I'm sure the Moto X is great, I don't think its good enough to detect who's in the car with you.

Nope. Not how it works. This is what happens when you are driving:

Phone: Hello Lloyd. You have received a text from Joe Bob. What you like to hear it? Say yes or no.

Me: Yes.

Phone: okay. Message reads, "Are you on the way?" Would you like to respond, say yes or no?

Me: Yes

Phone: okay, please dictate message now.

Me: "Yeah, I'm on the way."

Phone: okay, you message reads, "Yeah, I'm on the way." Is this correct? Please say yes or no.

Me: Yes

Phone: okay. Would you like me to send the text now? Yes or no?

Me: yes

All of this done without me touching the phone.
 
You mean they aren't first party.

Do you only use first party apps on your devices?

Pretty much. I use the Android Central and iMore app and pocket casts but I mostly use the built in apps like chrome and YouTube.

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this comment makes my blood boil as a jailbreaker :p
the community fights tooth and nail to have more non-native things!

I know, I used to jailbreak but then I had problems with mobile substrate crashing or the springboard restating and my phone slowing down and eventually I just thought to myself that native is best and switched to Android because Android had all the features I wanted native. Now however iOS 8 has all the features I WANTED and the continuity stuff.

Please guys realize I'm not bashing Android at all! Hell I wouldn't be typing on one if I hated it.

I'm merely saying why I NOW prefer iOS compared to last year where I still didn't like it. One thing I will miss for sure however is the Hover feature in Paranoid Android ROM:(
 
*snipped*

Ahh - then that is definitely cool.

"Hey Siri" can work similarly - in that your iPhone *dings* that you have a message.

You then say, "Hey Siri, read that text message" or you could ask "Hey Siri, who is that message from."

And follow along a similar voice command process.

I think Google would be wise to add that to as many devices as possible - though I'm curious if OEM skins would interfere. For instance, Samsung provides its own assistant. Would Samsung see that feature as competition to its own assistant?

I'm also curious how many of Moto's patents (the ones Google kept in the sale) are from the Moto android skin - would this even be something Google owns (I would assume they would keep it, but who knows)? Or would this now be in Lenovo's hands?

This is a Motorola-only feature at this point correct? Moto Assist?
 
Oh wow. NotifierPro is quite classy and nice. Does exactly what iOS banners do, but with even more customization and control. Very nice recommendation, whoever it was... Thanks.

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The issue with turning the banner off is then you don't get no notification. :(

NotifierPro seems to be an awesome solution for Android. It looks clean and sleek too. And the customizations are really nice, like how long they stay on, etc.

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Woah. SlideLock is nice too. Though I don't think I need it for my Moto X.

I truly hope Motorola expands ActiveDisplay in the Moto X+1!

The flexibility of Android is really starting to win me over. It just seems more adaptable than iOS. In other words, I can more or less add anything missing on Android easier than I can add anything missing on iOS, it seems. If so inclined, I can make my Android more like iOS whereas I can't necessarily make iOS more like Android. My 5C is really going to start taking a back seat, I think...

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One important question, though, for those who have been using SlideLock and NotifierPro:

How does it impact battery life?

I didn't like Active Display as well as SlideLock.
 
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Ahh - then that is definitely cool.

"Hey Siri" can work similarly - in that your iPhone *dings* that you have a message.

You then say, "Hey Siri, read that text message" or you could ask "Hey Siri, who is that message from."

And follow along a similar voice command process.

I think Google would be wise to add that to as many devices as possible - though I'm curious if OEM skins would interfere. For instance, Samsung provides its own assistant. Would Samsung see that feature as competition to its own assistant?

I'm also curious how many of Moto's patents (the ones Google kept in the sale) are from the Moto android skin - would this even be something Google owns (I would assume they would keep it, but who knows)? Or would this now be in Lenovo's hands?

This is a Motorola-only feature at this point correct? Moto Assist?
The Moto Assist patents stayed with Google. But, in order to minimize battery consumption a dedicated core needs to be added like the Moto X and A7 chip from Apple have. And like the Nexus and Moto X devices, a vanilla version of Android is probably needed? And yes, this is a Moto X only feature... for now. I think we'll see Google add it into Android at Google I/O in a couple of weeks.

And I doubt Samsung will use Googles adoption. They'll make their own S-whatever crap for Touchwiz.

As for me, I've become used to the features on the Moto X and since Apple has now made a phone the same size and updated their feature set to be on par with Android, I'm gonna pick up an iPhone 6. I like what Apple has done. (Still gonna get me a new Lumia too though. ;) )
 
The Moto Assist patents stayed with Google. But, in order to minimize battery consumption a dedicated core needs to be added like the Moto X and A7 chip from Apple have. And like the Nexus and Moto X devices, a vanilla version of Android is probably needed?

And I doubt Samsung will use Googles adoption. They'll make their own S-whatever crap for Touchwiz.

As for me, I've become used to the features on the Moto X and since Apple has now made a phone the same size and updated their feature set to be on par with Android, I'm gonna pick up an iPhone 6. I like what Apple has done. (Still gonna get me a new Lumia too though. ;) )

Gotcha - ya I think we're heading into a watershed time period here for Apple and the Android group of OEMs. Also Windows continues refinement and slowly gaining small percentages.

I know people hate Apple's drawn out updates, but I think they been playing a much longer plan than most other OEMs....while Apple has methodically been building to a release like iOS 8, other OEMs have thrown everything they have out in a short period of time.

It will be extremely interesting to see how things shake out in the next 5-10 years. Wouldn't it be wild if Samsung moved to Tizen and WP picked up speed.....we could see a 25/25/25/25 split between Android, Tizen, iOS and WP.

Or, more likely a 35% Android / 30% iOS / 20% Tizen / 15% WP.

That would be a fun world :p
 
Ahh - then that is definitely cool.

"Hey Siri" can work similarly - in that your iPhone *dings* that you have a message.

You then say, "Hey Siri, read that text message" or you could ask "Hey Siri, who is that message from."

And follow along a similar voice command process.

I think Google would be wise to add that to as many devices as possible - though I'm curious if OEM skins would interfere. For instance, Samsung provides its own assistant. Would Samsung see that feature as competition to its own assistant?

I'm also curious how many of Moto's patents (the ones Google kept in the sale) are from the Moto android skin - would this even be something Google owns (I would assume they would keep it, but who knows)? Or would this now be in Lenovo's hands?

This is a Motorola-only feature at this point correct? Moto Assist?

Siri is hopeless, no one i know uses it.
 
Siri is hopeless, no one i know uses it.

No one I know really uses voice commands on any phone that I know of except the Moto X. Think the main reason aside from accuracy is that on every other phone you have to hit a button to activate the voice commands. I can't tell you how many times on my Moto X I use the voice commands because of how easy it is and I can do it with out touching the phone. I really don't use Siri all that much. I never use it on my iPad Air and only use it on my phone when it is in hand and I need to call someone. Even then I don't use Siri all that much to even do that lol. I think if Apple integrates Siri like "Ok Google Now" I would find my self using it a lot more. If Apple could have it be trained to my voice like my Moto X that would be the cherry on top.
 
Google Now requires you to have the UPS email sent to your Gmail account to know the status. I already have a UPS account that provides me with delivery status. It would be redundant for me.

I have a UPS account that notifies me too, but the point is you don't need it. Google now scans your gmail and does it for you. There are likely less people in need of a UPS account like you and I who in turn would much rather just have their casual orders hitting email be tracked for them.

Same thing with Flights. The user would have to be using Gmail for everything because that's what Google does.

Not true. Google now scans my exchange calender used for work and notifies me of the flights automatically. You don't need to route appointments through gmail. Just grant GN permissions to your calender.

It scans all of your email and all your personal info from other Google services to collect and use to provide you with the info. There are people who don't like providing all their personal info like that.

If people don't think what they are doing online and in email isn't being data mined then they are dumb. Snowden wasn't incorrect. I was in the military overseas and can tell you stories of the intel we had access to that would shock you. 99% of computers out there have cookies collecting data.


You say there are 3rd party apps than can read SMS and email. Right. We are talking about Google Now and Siri. Besides, what 3rd party apps allow you to ask your phone to read or reply to SMS and email without touching the device?

Who cares if it's Google Now, Siri or a third party app that runs in the background. In terms of the app, I'll look it up. I deleted it as I really didn't find it of need for me as I tend to just glance at my phone when I stop. However, no, you don't need to touch your phone, you just click on the widget and it puts your phone in drive mode and reads your texts and emails to you as they come in.

You speak of S-voice. Not every Android device user has a Samsung device. Yes, the toggles can be accessed when you unlock your device and swipe down but we are discussing Google Now and Siri. You still have to touch your device.

I'm pointing out S-Voice because it needs mentioned. It works. Regardless of whether you have to push one button or not. With iOS 8 and "hey Siri" you have to have it plugged into a power source to wake the phone with that phrase. Dumb. You also have to wait for the iPhone to acknowledge the phrase before you speak again. Not so with Google now. Just say "okay Google find me pizza" and the results fly back to you.

Google Now provides you maps with traffic conditions. That's great if you don't mind Google collecting that info about you and knowing you are going to the doctors to get rid of that rash that keeps coming back. Be prepared to get ads for ointments to get rid of it. That's TMI for a lot of people.

I've NEVER Seen advertisements pop up. In regards to google collecting the data, again, your blind if you don't think it's not being collected already.

Are Android users with KitKat able to get notifications on the lock screen with a Pattern, PIN, password enabled because I can't on my S4.

Don't know. I don't use a pattern pin. Much rather use a simple code.

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The thing I've noticed from being on android before is you always have to download something extra. Want IOS notifications? download a poor mans version.

That's your view. I'd much rather have options than just what Apple bakes into iOS. I'll never go back to iOS unless they allow me the user not them the developers to choose what app I want to use for specific actions.
 
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The Moto Assist patents stayed with Google. But, in order to minimize battery consumption a dedicated core needs to be added like the Moto X and A7 chip from Apple have. And like the Nexus and Moto X devices, a vanilla version of Android is probably needed? And yes, this is a Moto X only feature... for now. I think we'll see Google add it into Android at Google I/O in a couple of weeks.

And I doubt Samsung will use Googles adoption. They'll make their own S-whatever crap for Touchwiz.

As for me, I've become used to the features on the Moto X and since Apple has now made a phone the same size and updated their feature set to be on par with Android, I'm gonna pick up an iPhone 6. I like what Apple has done. (Still gonna get me a new Lumia too though. ;) )
Samsungs S Voice sucks balls. At least it did when i had it. I dont know if it is any better on the GS5 but it was horrible before so i doubt it is up t par.
 
I didn't like Active Display as well as SlideLock.

Yeah. In my opinion, lock screen notifications are pretty overrated for the reasons I detailed in my post. They're neither here nor there especially if you miss it. Then it's just a waste of battery. Luckily the AMOLED isn't as draining at least.
 
Gotcha - ya I think we're heading into a watershed time period here for Apple and the Android group of OEMs. Also Windows continues refinement and slowly gaining small percentages.

I know people hate Apple's drawn out updates, but I think they been playing a much longer plan than most other OEMs....while Apple has methodically been building to a release like iOS 8, other OEMs have thrown everything they have out in a short period of time.

It will be extremely interesting to see how things shake out in the next 5-10 years. Wouldn't it be wild if Samsung moved to Tizen and WP picked up speed.....we could see a 25/25/25/25 split between Android, Tizen, iOS and WP.

Or, more likely a 35% Android / 30% iOS / 20% Tizen / 15% WP.

That would be a fun world :p

Just what plan are they showing? It seems to be, .... opps, we are falling so far behind, we need to make bigger phones and add some features and do it now!

Thats the plan im seeing.

Windows i do think is going to pick up steam. As long as Nokia phones are involved. Those phones are very nice.
 
Sooooo iOS 8 anyone?

I have a UPS account that notifies me too, but the point is you don't need it. Google now scans your gmail and does it for you. There are likely less people in need of a UPS account like you and I who in turn would much rather just have their casual orders hitting email be tracked for them.







Not true. Google now scans my exchange calender used for work and notifies me of the flights automatically. You don't need to route appointments through gmail. Just grant GN permissions to your calender.







If people don't think what they are doing online and in email isn't being data mined then they are dumb. Snowden wasn't incorrect. I was in the military overseas and can tell you stories of the intel we had access to that would shock you. 99% of computers out there have cookies collecting data.









Who cares if it's Google Now, Siri or a third party app that runs in the background. In terms of the app, I'll look it up. I deleted it as I really didn't find it of need for me as I tend to just glance at my phone when I stop. However, no, you don't need to touch your phone, you just click on the widget and it puts your phone in drive mode and reads your texts and emails to you as they come in.







I'm pointing out S-Voice because it needs mentioned. It works. Regardless of whether you have to push one button or not.







I've NEVER Seen advertisements pop up. In regards to google collecting the data, again, your blind if you don't think it's not being collected already.







Don't know. I don't use a pattern pin. Much rather use a simple code.

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That's your view. I'd much rather have options than just what Apple bakes into iOS. I'll never go back to iOS unless they allow me the user not them the developers to choose what app I want to use for specific actions.


You may not care about your personal info being collected but I do. I wish Google would allow us to request to have all our info gone forever like they did in the EU. I would be one of the first ones to request this.

I have options. They're called apps. I install what I need or want. If you use a Google service, you have no choice but to provide your personal info.

If you dislike iOS and will never use it unless they make changes you want, why are you even on MR? Do you make a habit of searching for threads where people are excited about what Apple is doing and try to throw dirt at it? Android already does this...Android already does that. So what! We like iOS. I can understand if you use multiple platforms but you just admitted you don't use iOS.
 
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No one I know really uses voice commands on any phone that I know of except the Moto X. Think the main reason aside from accuracy is that on every other phone you have to hit a button to activate the voice commands. I can't tell you how many times on my Moto X I use the voice commands because of how easy it is and I can do it with out touching the phone. I really don't use Siri all that much. I never use it on my iPad Air and only use it on my phone when it is in hand and I need to call someone. Even then I don't use Siri all that much to even do that lol. I think if Apple integrates Siri like "Ok Google Now" I would find my self using it a lot more. If Apple could have it be trained to my voice like my Moto X that would be the cherry on top.

I ask questions with Google now all the time but i dont use the OK Google saying. I think its lame to say. I think we should be able to change it, but anyways, i just touch the mic button instead.
 
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Sooooo iOS 8 anyone?

I too use Siri all the time but don't use her on speaker phone as much as I hold the phone up to my ear if I have people around me. I use the "raise to speak " option so people think I'm speaking to a live person.
 
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