7 ms·

I think they might be shooting themselves in the foot - I mean what's the consumer benefit of upgrading to Moto X?

drzaiusapelord 13y ago
LTE and better screen are two most obvious. I cant imagine buying a non-LTE phone today. I currently have the HSPA N4 and after playin with a couple LTE phones, its almost night and day. It feel more like I'm on wifi than a cellular wan. HSPA in Chicago barely gets me 5mbps with lots of latency and this weird 2-5 second lag where the request is made but no data is sent. LTE's responsiveness, even if its at the same 5mbps bandwidth, is something of game changer. With the nexus 5 at $350 right now, not sure why I would bother with either.
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  This device isn't even primarily targeted at the US or other developed economies. Its intended for price-sensitive consumers in developing nations where LTE isn't even available.
  - drzaiusapelord 13y ago
    The GP was asking about the Moto X and why one would pick the cheaper phone. My comment is a reply to that. Yes, in a country that is a decade away from LTE its a good fit. But in the West? Might as well spring for the X or the N5.
    - icebraining 13y ago
      Well, I live in a developed nation with LTE, yet I barely use mobile internet, since Wifi is essentially everywhere in urban zones.
      - puzzlingcaptcha 13y ago
        In France to take advantage of LTE I'd have to double the price of my subscription. The difference between HSPA+ and LTE is not worth that much for me.
        bookwormAT 13y ago
        In Austria it's about 4 times the price of a HSPA+ connection. LTE is not expected to get any mass adoption until 2016 or so. I read in Germany they are a bit faster. If you want to sell phones in Europe, LTE is not a relevant technology right now.
- rayiner 13y ago
  > With the nexus 5 at $350 right now, not sure why I would bother with either. The N5's apparently abysmal battery life?
  - dsr_ 13y ago
    I just bought a G2, which looks like the Nexus 5's older brother. Battery life is amazingly excellent: it's not uncommon for me to go to sleep with 45-50% remaining. The number one reason I didn't buy an N5 was the 2300mAh battery, versus the G2's 3000. I think it was the right choice.
  - drzaiusapelord 13y ago
    I was reading the battery life thread the other day in /r/android on reddit and saw mostly positive statements.
  - adrow 13y ago
    I unplugged my N5 this morning at around 07.00, it's now 16.30 and I'm on 80%. Did some web browsing on the train into work, have been messaging on and off all day. Lowest I've seen on a weekday for me was about 40% by the time I go to sleep. Admittedly I tried some games on Sunday (Real Racing 3 and PvZ2) and the battery drained much faster, but the same happens on my ipad mini so it wasn't unexpected.
  - jwoah12 13y ago
    Granted I am upgrading from a 2 year old Galaxy Nexus that would fully drain in a few hours, but I am quite happy with the N5 battery life. The only way I don't make it through a full day is if I play A LOT of Plants vs. Zombies 2.
  - eswat 13y ago
    I would have agreed about the abysmal battery life if I only have a day’s worth of experience, playing around with it a lot more than I would usually, which is what a lot of anecdotes on the battery life are. Read reports from N5 users now and you’ll find the battery life is nowhere near abysmal when tested against the conditions one would put with a phone they use normally. I was one of those that lambasted the battery life when I first got it. But now at the end of the day my battery life barely dips below 50% and I use mine a fair lot.
- Touche 13y ago
  > With the nexus 5 at $350 right now, not sure why I would bother with either. Well this is almost half the price... so there's that. This is more of a competitor for the Nexus 4, if Google was still selling that (not sure why they chose not to).
  - cdr 13y ago
    Exactly, half the price of a Nexus 5 with way better than half the performance. At this price point, I'll be buying a Moto G just for the hell of it - much like I bought the original Optimus V. As far as the 4, I think they stopped manufacturing it - the sale earlier was them clearing out the remaining stock. That seems to be status quo for Nexuses.
- edvinbesic 13y ago
  Funny, I'm of the opposite opinion. I don't really feel it's worth it (yet) due to battery drain. I'm running my nexus 5 in 3g mode to extend battery life and it makes a huge difference. Things might take a second longer to load but for most of the day I'm on Wi-Fi anyway that the extra battery life is well worth it for me.
  - commandar 13y ago
    My Moto X routinely gets well in excess of 24 hours battery life with LTE on. https://www.dropbox.com/s/rsykvxftze1izdm/2013-11-21%2014.30.34.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/rsykvxftze1izdm/2013-11-21%2014.30... On a day with a bit more screen time: https://www.dropbox.com/s/428tbqi5jkspbkj/2013-11-25%2001.18.23.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/428tbqi5jkspbkj/2013-11-25%2001.18... Coming to this from a Galaxy Nexus where I literally had to carry two spare 2100mAh batteries to get through a full day has been a game changer for me. Motorola did an amazing job optimizing power usage on this thing.
- mahyarm 13y ago
  Work pays for your phone and phone bill, but it's locked in the USA so you can't take it with you on vacations. You want a phone because of things like maps, transit directions, dictionaries and such, but you know you will only use it for your vacation, so you don't need the extra features.
- pkulak 13y ago
  $350 is almost twice the price. I agree that I would rather have the Nexus 5 (and do), but I'm really into these kinds of things. Even if you don't give a crap about phones, you can probably drop $179.
cryptoz 13y ago
Google/Motorola aren't in the game of trying to upsell customers to higher-end hardware. In the end, Google needs to own low-end smartphone marketshare and it needs to make those customers happy; low-cost, happy-UX smartphones are the future. Also, treat the Moto X like the Model S/iPhone 1/whatever; a who-cares-the-price-let's-make-something-awesome-to-get-started.

LTE and better screen are two most obvious. I cant imagine buying a non-LTE phone today. I currently have the HSPA N4 and after playin with a couple LTE phones, its almost night and day. It feel more like I'm on wifi than a cellular wan. HSPA in Chicago barely gets me 5mbps with lots of latency and this weird 2-5 second lag where the request is made but no data is sent. LTE's responsiveness, even if its at the same 5mbps bandwidth, is something of game changer. With the nexus 5 at $350 right now, not sure why I would bother with either.

w1ntermute 13y ago
This device isn't even primarily targeted at the US or other developed economies. Its intended for price-sensitive consumers in developing nations where LTE isn't even available.
- drzaiusapelord 13y ago
  The GP was asking about the Moto X and why one would pick the cheaper phone. My comment is a reply to that. Yes, in a country that is a decade away from LTE its a good fit. But in the West? Might as well spring for the X or the N5.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    Well, I live in a developed nation with LTE, yet I barely use mobile internet, since Wifi is essentially everywhere in urban zones.
    - puzzlingcaptcha 13y ago
      In France to take advantage of LTE I'd have to double the price of my subscription. The difference between HSPA+ and LTE is not worth that much for me.
      - bookwormAT 13y ago
        In Austria it's about 4 times the price of a HSPA+ connection. LTE is not expected to get any mass adoption until 2016 or so. I read in Germany they are a bit faster. If you want to sell phones in Europe, LTE is not a relevant technology right now.
rayiner 13y ago
> With the nexus 5 at $350 right now, not sure why I would bother with either. The N5's apparently abysmal battery life?
- dsr_ 13y ago
  I just bought a G2, which looks like the Nexus 5's older brother. Battery life is amazingly excellent: it's not uncommon for me to go to sleep with 45-50% remaining. The number one reason I didn't buy an N5 was the 2300mAh battery, versus the G2's 3000. I think it was the right choice.
- drzaiusapelord 13y ago
  I was reading the battery life thread the other day in /r/android on reddit and saw mostly positive statements.
- adrow 13y ago
  I unplugged my N5 this morning at around 07.00, it's now 16.30 and I'm on 80%. Did some web browsing on the train into work, have been messaging on and off all day. Lowest I've seen on a weekday for me was about 40% by the time I go to sleep. Admittedly I tried some games on Sunday (Real Racing 3 and PvZ2) and the battery drained much faster, but the same happens on my ipad mini so it wasn't unexpected.
- jwoah12 13y ago
  Granted I am upgrading from a 2 year old Galaxy Nexus that would fully drain in a few hours, but I am quite happy with the N5 battery life. The only way I don't make it through a full day is if I play A LOT of Plants vs. Zombies 2.
- eswat 13y ago
  I would have agreed about the abysmal battery life if I only have a day’s worth of experience, playing around with it a lot more than I would usually, which is what a lot of anecdotes on the battery life are. Read reports from N5 users now and you’ll find the battery life is nowhere near abysmal when tested against the conditions one would put with a phone they use normally. I was one of those that lambasted the battery life when I first got it. But now at the end of the day my battery life barely dips below 50% and I use mine a fair lot.
Touche 13y ago
> With the nexus 5 at $350 right now, not sure why I would bother with either. Well this is almost half the price... so there's that. This is more of a competitor for the Nexus 4, if Google was still selling that (not sure why they chose not to).
- cdr 13y ago
  Exactly, half the price of a Nexus 5 with way better than half the performance. At this price point, I'll be buying a Moto G just for the hell of it - much like I bought the original Optimus V. As far as the 4, I think they stopped manufacturing it - the sale earlier was them clearing out the remaining stock. That seems to be status quo for Nexuses.
edvinbesic 13y ago
Funny, I'm of the opposite opinion. I don't really feel it's worth it (yet) due to battery drain. I'm running my nexus 5 in 3g mode to extend battery life and it makes a huge difference. Things might take a second longer to load but for most of the day I'm on Wi-Fi anyway that the extra battery life is well worth it for me.
- commandar 13y ago
  My Moto X routinely gets well in excess of 24 hours battery life with LTE on. https://www.dropbox.com/s/rsykvxftze1izdm/2013-11-21%2014.30.34.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/rsykvxftze1izdm/2013-11-21%2014.30... On a day with a bit more screen time: https://www.dropbox.com/s/428tbqi5jkspbkj/2013-11-25%2001.18.23.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/428tbqi5jkspbkj/2013-11-25%2001.18... Coming to this from a Galaxy Nexus where I literally had to carry two spare 2100mAh batteries to get through a full day has been a game changer for me. Motorola did an amazing job optimizing power usage on this thing.
mahyarm 13y ago
Work pays for your phone and phone bill, but it's locked in the USA so you can't take it with you on vacations. You want a phone because of things like maps, transit directions, dictionaries and such, but you know you will only use it for your vacation, so you don't need the extra features.
pkulak 13y ago
$350 is almost twice the price. I agree that I would rather have the Nexus 5 (and do), but I'm really into these kinds of things. Even if you don't give a crap about phones, you can probably drop $179.

cryptoz 13y ago

Google/Motorola aren't in the game of trying to upsell customers to higher-end hardware. In the end, Google needs to own low-end smartphone marketshare and it needs to make those customers happy; low-cost, happy-UX smartphones are the future. Also, treat the Moto X like the Model S/iPhone 1/whatever; a who-cares-the-price-let's-make-something-awesome-to-get-started.