Tech critics verdict: Moto X a solid phone, but may fall short on 'wow' factor

[caption id=“attachment_1005403” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Moto X in customised colours: Reuters[/caption] Google’s highly anticipated Moto X phone was unveiled in New York yesterday with a choice of colors and materials, hoping to stand out in a crowded smartphone market that is dominated by Apple and Google. In terms of specifications, it runs Android 4.2.2, has a 4.7-inch AMOLED screen, a 10mp rear camera, 2mp front camera and 2GB Ram. Good, solid specifications but nothing truly revolutionary. But the ability for customers to personalise the phone along with some cool new features like touchless control (you can pull up Google search even when the phone is locked, by just saying ‘Ok Google now’) means that most critics have given the phone a stamp of approval. How the device will perform in the market of course is another story altogether, but given the initial response to the device, it definitely has a promising future. This is a look at some of the first hands on impressions of the phone: Brent Rose from Gizmodo is probably the most excited of all the initial reviews we looked at. The title of his article is, “ Moto X Hands On: Specs Schmecks, This Thing Is Awesome". In the piece Rose goes on to say, The good news is that the Moto X is basically running stock Android. It’s very clean, and all the ugliness of MotoBlur is finally no more. What’s actually important, though, is that it is FAST. In the couple hours that I’ve spent with it, I have seen zero lag or skipping. Experientially, it’s every bit as quick as the HTC One, Galaxy S4, or iPhone 5 Overall, we are extremely impressed with this phone and we can’t wait to put it through its paces. TechCrunch’s Chris Velazco is also impressed with the phone, but is considerably more restrained in his review: Do I wish Motorola could have pushed the technical envelope further? Sure. I also think the customization angle, neat as it is, is essentially a ploy to make an unassuming phone stand out in a crowd. And frankly, it’s a little frustrating to see that a solid chunk of what the Moto X can do will soon be replicated by — you guessed it — just about every other new Motorola phone in the works. It’s far, far too early to tell if Motorola has a hit on its hands — especially because the X will ultimately compete with Motorola phones with similar feature sets. CNet for its part, calls the device the ‘anti-iPhone’. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, we don’t yet know. The site reviewer Roger Cheng says that this is more than just a battle of smartphones, it is a battle of philosophies: Moto X is an illustration of the contrasting philosophies between Apple and Google. Where Apple is about a single experience and polished products, Google is more about throwing things against the wall to see where they stick. With Moto X, Google and Motorola are giving consumers more control. Whether consumers want that control remains to be seen. The success or failure of Moto X will go a long way in determining just which philosophy is correct As for Mashable? They love the phone, but are not predicting anything. Reviewer Pete Pachal says, “it is a fantastic phone with many great features” but adds that it is just not ‘revolutionary’. The last review we looked at was from Wired, which has a lovely feature article that also includes some good reading on what they are calling ’the inside story of the Moto X’ and details of life in Moto after Google acquired it. As for the review, Wired says, “The $12 billion experiment begins today with the Moto X, available later this month for the standard price of $200 with a two-year carrier contract. Woodside would prefer that people not call it the Google Phone: “People don’t associate Google with phones,” he says. “Motorola’s the brand that resonates to consumers.” But the phone itself knows better. To Moto X, the magic words are “Okay, Google Now.”