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Moto X Demo Video Reveals Google's Android Superphone
MojoKid writes with word that "A tech demo posted to YouTube shows off Motorola's upcoming Moto X smartphone, a seemingly high-end device that is sure to win over a few fans with its wealth of new tricks and features. The Moto X handset, which is launching exclusive to Rogers in Canada (no mention of U.S. market carriers) this August, will be available in black and white, but a key selling point of the device comes from its voice activated features. The tech demo heavily emphasizes Google Now, which Moto X users can engage without touching the device. In the demo, a woman is shown asking Google Now what the weather will be like in Toronto while she types away on a computer, never having to reach down to tap the handset. It was also previously leaked that the Moto X will ship with a 4.4-inch display (1280x720), 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8960 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 10MP rear-facing camera, 2MP front-facing camera, and of course Android 4.2 Jelly Bean." With a marketing budget said to include up to half a billion (!) dollars from Google, it's hard to imagine that any leaks are actually unintentional.
I can't see anything bad coming of this...
"a woman is shown asking Google Now what the weather will be like in Toronto while she types away on a computer, never having to reach down to tap the handset."
That is the type of "feature" I immediately deactivate to conserve battery. Most features added by manufacturers these days seem like gimmicks where the drawbacks are greater than the benefits.
With a marketing budget said to include up to half a billion (!) dollars from Google, it's hard to imagine that any leaks are actually unintentional.
Or this advertisement.
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
All I can see is yet another smartphone. Nothing in that video made me want to run out and buy one of these things. These smartphones are way more powerful than I need them to be which has resulted in ridiculous prices.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Exclusive to Roger's (and of course any spy agency that feels like listening to your calls).
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Looks like my Nexus 4 ... with a Moto badge on it.
AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
Avoid google, avoid android, avoid microsoft windows phones. Both of these companies (Google and Microsoft) are the worst when it comes to sharing your data with the 3 letter agencies.
Buy the Jolla phone when it becomes available or get yourself a Firefox OS phone. Yes, you may need to wait a little while, and yes, you may not get all the features you want, but it is about time we consider our rights and privacy above the next shiny thing.
Vote with your dollars or else forego your right to speak about privacy and rights.
Hey, what are you worrying about? If you speak no evil, it'll hear no evil. And if a future upgrade leaves the camera on all the time, just make sure it sees no evil! :-)
>"Moto X Demo Video Reveals Google's Android Superphone"
Superphone? Hardly. Compare to the HTC One/OneX/EvoLTE or the Samsung Galaxy S4/S3 or several other high-end models from other companies (LG, Sony) and it loses in most categories we know about so far.
*Smaller display.
*Lower resolution
*Slower processor
*Less storage (and I am assuming no SD slot either)
*Few special features
*No front speakers
So it is a somewhat midrange phone by the already set high-end standards. And even LESS attractive if you find Google Now" creepy, and REALLY less attractive if you find a phone listening to you all the time and linked into Google, Google Now, and probably Google+ even more creepy. And what does listening all the time and using the main screen for notifications do to the battery life?
It is nice to see Motorola getting back into the game, but let's not go ga-ga over the presented leaks because so far, they just don't look all THAT impressive. I am sure there is a market for a non BEASTLY phone, but this is not the "ultimate" phone, nor the solution for everyone (of course, no one phone is).
Being able to respond to voice commands requires the CPU to always be parsing audio input. That will have a noticeable, and negative, impact on battery life. When I want to look something up I am in a context switch already, pushing a button on my phone is not an inconvenience. What problem are they trying to solve?
Funny thing, I came to the exact opposite conclusion you did... maybe it's because you're "pushing" the screen? If you're using the same amount of force on the virtual button as you do on a physical one, you're using too much (unless your phone has a poor-quality touch sensor).
On my iPhone 5 I don't need to firmly tap the virtual button, the barest touch will trigger it, meaning no additional motion gets added. Meanwhile, pressing a physical button can't help but introduce a lateral motion as it clicks, making it more likely to make photos blurry.
Anyway it's rather moot, the volume-up button on iPhones now acts as a camera trigger so you have both options. I don't remember the last time I used it, though.
It is also dead-simple to take photos one-handed on an iPhone, and that's what I do most of the time. In portrait mode it should be a no-brainer: index to pinkie fingers on one side, other side rests on palm, thumb free to move around. For landscape mode, extend fingers, then bring index and pinkie closer to you. These go on bottom side edges of the phone, and fingers 3 and 4 support the back to hold it in place, leaving the thumb free to press the virtual button.
You can also start by holding it like you would taking one-handed portrait photos, then turn it 90 degrees clockwise (counter-clockwise for lefties) and slide grip down a bit so pinkie is now on the bottom edge. The thumb then automatically hovers right above the trigger button.
Sorry I really should add - I'm 99% sure I'm buying this phone on launch despite the tone of my previous post. I'm a grandfathered in Verizon customer and this will fit the bill nicely at it's rumored price.