Motorola Moto X hands-on: First look

GSMArena team, 01 August 2013.

Introduction

It's been a while since Google bought Motorola and it's been a while. It's only now that we finally see the fruits of that cooperation. By this point, we were already overly excited because we couldn't wait to see what rabbit would come out of Google's and Motorola's proverbial hat.

After weeks and weeks of rumors, leaks, assumptions we're now finally here, looking at the Motorola Moto X and taking in its quality finish, sleek display and seamless construction, the colorful interchangeable back cover and the whole shebang.

The Motorola Moto X doesn't premiere with promises to be the most powerful device on the market. Instead, it strives to attract the most attention, relying on several intriguing assets. First off, it comes with nearly completely stock software on board. Unfortunately, it's not the latest Android Jelly Bean 4.3. The Motorola Moto X has Jelly Bean 4.2.2 on tap instead.

Beyond everything else, our inner (and outer!) geeks find the camera the most interesting. The camera uses a clever technology, dubbed Clear Pixel, which lets up to 75% more light to the camera sensor, compared to regular smartophone cameras. But more on that later.

The device is powered by a custom-built Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System, which is based on a Snapdragon S4 Pro chip with two Krait cores, clocked at 1.7 GHz each, but adds extra processors for various specialized tasks. The Adreno 320 handles graphics and there are 2 gigs of RAM to carry out the heaviest of loads.

Motorola Moto X at a glance

• General: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, quad-band UMTS/HSPA, 100 Mbps LTE with a second LTE antenna


• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone


• Dimensions: 129.3 x 65.3 x 10.4, 130 g


• Display: 4.7" 16M-color 720p (1280 x 720 pixels) capacitive touchscreen RGB AMOLED display with curved Gorilla Glass and ~316 ppi


• CPU: Dual-core 1.7 GHz Krait


• GPU: Adreno 320


• Chipset: A custom-built Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System, based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset


• RAM: 2GB


• OS: Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean


• Memory: 16/32GB storage, microSD card slot


• Cameras: Primary 10 megapixel auto-focus Clear Pixel camera with 1.4 µm-sized pixels, f/2.4 aperture, native 16:9 aspect ratio, face detection, HDR mode, panorama, geo-tagging; Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps with HDR, Secondary 2MP front-facing camera with FullHD video capture; Quick capture allows you to activate the camera with a double twist of your wrist;


• Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, standard microUSB port with MHL and USB host, GPS receiver with A-GPS, GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, wireless screen sharing (Miracast protocol)


• Misc: Composite plastic materials - surrounding back panel and curved edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass front; dual-mic setup for noise cancellation; water-repellent coating on electrical components for trouble-free operation in the rain; some 50 GB worth of extra free Google Drive storage for 2 years (on top of the usual 15GB); Active Display system, showing notifications on a fraction of the screen size when the screen is off; Touchless control - voice control capabilities in standby (with the screen off).


• Battery capacity: 2200mAh.

The Motorola Moto X is more than camera prowess and software trickery, though. The housing is just as appealing as the innards. For one, there's a new type Gorilla Glass on board, which is curved towards the edges and covers the whole front.

Moto X by Motorola

The back panel is made out of high-quality plastic and is available in 18 color options. The primary Moto X variants, which you will be able to buy in store are the Woven Black and the Woven White colors.

But more on the hardware in the second chapter. Follow us to get the full scoop.

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Motorola Moto X goes live with X8 chipset, 4.7" AMOLED screen

Motorola has officially taken the wraps off the Moto X - the first phone that has been entirely developed under the supervision of Google. It's also the company's first phone in a while to be fully assembled in the USA.

The Motorola Moto X is build around a 4.7" AMOLED display with full RGB matrix and 720p resolution. This results in a pixel density of 316 ppi. The screen is protected by a new type of Gorilla Glass, which is dubbed Magic Glass due to its curves towards the edges of the phone.

On the inside, the Motorola Moto X features a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with dual 1.7GHz Krait cores, Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM. Internal storage is 16GB or 32GB depending on the version you choose and there's a microSD card slot for further expansion. Just like the latest DROID line-up, the Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset is part of the Motorola X8 board, which also includes a natural language processor and contextual computing processor.

The Moto X camera has a 10MP sensor and uses the ClearPixel technology for superior low-light performance. Every other green portion of the Bayer filter array, which sits in front of the image sensor, is replaced by a clear one, allowing more light to reach the sensor.

On the software side, the camera offers HDR, burst shots and panorama. The Moto X can also shoot full HD videos at up to 60fps and there are features like face detection and geo-tagging on board. At the front, there's a 2MP camera capable of 1080p video recording that serves for video-chatting purposes.

Motorola has gone great lengths to make the Moto X a truly customizable phone. Customers can choose whether the front panel to be black or white, as well as the color of the back panel from 18 options. There's also a third customizable area called accent - it covers the camera rim and side buttons. Further customization includes adding a name or short message on the back of the phone as choosing a Google account and wallpaper to come preinstalled on the device.

The Motorola Moto X runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which at first glance looks as clean as stock, but Motorola has added a few touches of its own. One of them is the Active Display feature, which makes use of the OLED screen and brings a snippet of information (the time, new messages and voicemail) on a blank black screen. Think of it as an Android version of Nokia's Glance Screen feature.

Motorola has also preinstalled a transfer app called Migrate. It allows you to transfer your photos, videos, SIM contacts and even call and text history from any Android phone running Android 2.2 or higher.

Because of the curved back, the Motorola Moto X thickness varies from 5.6 to 10.4mm. The phone has a pretty decent footprint for its 4.7" display - 129.3 x 65.3mm with a weight of the very acceptable 130 grams.

Below the customizable back panel sits a 2200mAh battery, which Motorola rates at 13 hours of 3G talk time and up to 24 hours of mixed usage endurance.

The Motorola Moto X a will be available on the five largest carriers in the USA - AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and US Cellular. It will cost $200 for the 16GB version and $250 for the 32GB units, both with a two-year contract.

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Official Android 4.2.2 ROM for Samsung Galaxy S II Plus leaks

We already know that Android 4.2 Jelly Bean upgrade will be the last major update for the Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy S II smartphones. But the good news is the wait is almost over and Samsung might soon start seeding the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy S II Plus. What's more an official (if probably not final) ROM has been leaked and if you are really impatient you can flash it right now.

The ROM is based on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and has a built date July 24. Unfortunately, there is no change log available at the moment, nor a list of what issues (if any) it has. Still, early adopters mention launcher, weather widget and lock screen from the Samsung Galaxy S4 and a slightly smoother performance.

Unfortunately, the multi-window feature is still not available for the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus users. Samsung will start rolling out the official update in the coming days and Germany will be the first region to get the taste of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Meanwhile, if you are in a hurry to check out the Android 4.2.2 on your Galaxy S II Plus smartphones, then the firmware is available in the source link below.

As a reminder, flashing process involves some risk and would void your warranty. So, please continue with the instructions only if you are sure about what you are doing.

Source

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Front panel and innards of the iPhone 5C leak

Hours after the purported camera module of the cheaper Apple iPhone 5C got snapped, now photos of the phone's display and framing have surfaced.

Said parts of the rumored cheaper iPhone 5C have been leaked by a company called Chinese C Technology. It claims that there are minor differences between the iPhone 5 and the device they claim is the affordable iPhone 5C. The inside wiring is one of them, in addition to the all-plastic build.

We've already seen the plastic casing of the iPhone 5C on video as well as the different color variations that allegedly Apple is going to launch it in. Naturally, if you've been following the topic, you've also seen a lot more leaks regarding the low-cost Apple smartphone, as well as renders showing how it would look like based on the information available.

Naturally, there is no official confirmation from Apple just yet. Even worse, Apple has repeatedly denied that it's working on a more affordable iPhone, so you'll have to judge for yourself whether the leaks and reports are to be believed.

Source | Via

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Front panel and innards of the iPhone 5C leak out

Hours after the purported camera module of the cheaper Apple iPhone 5C got snapped, now photos of the phone's display and framing have surfaced.

Said parts of the rumored cheaper iPhone 5C have been leaked by a company called Chinese C Technology. It claims that there are minor differences between the iPhone 5 and the device they claim is the affordable iPhone 5C. The inside wiring is one of them, in addition to the all-plastic build.

We've already seen the plastic casing of the iPhone 5C on video as well as the different color variations that allegedly Apple is going to launch it in. Naturally, if you've been following the topic, you've also seen a lot more leaks regarding the low-cost Apple smartphone, as well as renders showing how it would look like based on the information available.

Naturally, there is no official confirmation from Apple just yet. Even worse, Apple has repeatedly denied that it's working on a more affordable iPhone, so you'll have to judge for yourself whether the leaks and reports are to be believed.

Source | Via

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Play Store beats Apple App Store by downloads for the first time

For the first time ever, the Google Play Store served more app downloads in a quarter than the Apple App Store, about 10% more according to App Annie. However, the iOS store still brings in 2.3x more revenue than the Google реpository.

The main moneymakers in both were games, accounting for 40% of downloads during Q2 of this year. Games accounted for 75% of the revenue generated by the App Store and 80% of the revenue by the Play Store.

It's interesting to see how the two platforms differ in the Top 5 most downloaded app categories. For iOS users, Entertainment, Photo & Video, Lifestyle and Utilities were the most important (after games), while Android users pushed Communication to #2, above Tools, Entertainment and Social.

Social networking apps made a lot of money, getting into Top 5 on both platforms. But while the Apple store had the Music category shoot up 3 places, it was Travel & Local that climbed in the Google store.

How different countries placed in the top downloads and top revenue is also telling. The US is on top in all but revenue from the Play Store. Russia is the only other country to be in the Top 5 for app downloads from the App Store and the Play Store.

Interestingly, China is #2 by downloads and #5 by revenue for the App Store, even though the country is dominated by third-party app stores (yes, for jailbroken iGadgets). The US and Japan (at #2 by revenue) accounted for 40% of the revenue.

Japan spends a lot of money to the Play Store too – in fact it's at the top, even though it isn't in the Top 5 for most downloads. South Korea and the US are second and third respectively, with these top 3 making up 70% of the Play Store revenue.

Thanks to Jean for sending this in!

Source

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More Sony Xperia Honami live photos appear

A new set of Sony Xperia i1 Honami images have popped up online and they go nicely with previous leaks we've seen. The smartphone's Omni Balance design is a certainty at this point with the front and back covered in glass.

This time we get a closer look at the camera lens along with the "G-lens" label and some placeholder Xs to cover what will be the megapixel and focal length information.

We also get a glimpse of the camera UI's and mores specifically the resolution options, which re-confirm the 20 MP sensor.

Sony Xperia Honami

Finally there's an image of the Xperia Honami's side where the dock connector magnetic pins lie.

The next image was allegedly taken with an early model Xperia Honami and got uploaded to Facebook. The image doesn't really tells us much as Facebook does away with EXIF information and downsizes images.

Alleged downsized photo sample from Xperia Honami

The Sony Xperia Honami is supposed to come with a 5" 1080p display, 20 MP CMOS sensor, a fast Snapdragon 800 with the Adreno 330 GPU, Android Jelly Bean (probably 4.2.2) and water resistance. We're expecting it to make an appearance on the IFA floor in Berlin on September 4.

Source | Via

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