The New Motorola Moto X (2nd Gen) Review
by Joshua Ho on September 17, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Motorola
- Android
- Mobile
GPU Performance
As said in the previous section, we'll look at game-based benchmarks to get a better idea of how the Snapdragon 801's Adreno 330 GPU performs.
Once again, there are really no results that stand out. I suspect that the metal frame helps to prevent thermal throttling in short benchmarks, but in most scenarios this doesn't really play out and there's no real way to establish long term performance as the GFXBench rundown test doesn't complete properly.
NAND Performance
NAND performance has been an ongoing issue since we first illustrated how poor NAND could easily become a massive detriment to user experience. While sequential reads and writes are generally at a good level these days, it’s the random read and write tests that can be incredibly poor, and these are often a good indicator of overall UI performance as something like installing applications can make a device unusable if storage performance isn’t good enough. In order to test this, we turn to Androbench with a few custom settings to best represent performance.
While the new Moto X doesn't quite top the previous Moto X in random write speeds, it's unlikely that the storage solution is worse. I found that the data and system partitions now use ext4, which means that the performance gains we saw with f2fs are gone. I'm not sure why Motorola decided to change back to ext4 given the performance gains that come with f2fs, but possible reasons include unforeseen conditions where f2fs could result in data loss compared to ext4 or difficulties in integrating f2fs support on Android. At any rate, the new Moto X is one of the best performers in this category, which should keep performance high after a year or two of use.
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knightspawn1138 - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
We all know that nobody is allowed to release a review of an Apple product until the ghost of Steve Jobs has had a chance to convince the reviewer that there's something groundbreaking about a phone that's following all the same trends as the rest of the smartphone field (bigger display, less power draw from a smaller, more efficient SoC, and more room for a larger battery). And he has yet to convince me that a smartphone is worth Apple's price without expandable memory.darwinosx - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
You don't know anything about iPhones.Most Android devices don't have expandable memory.
The latest iPhones goes to 128GB of fast and reliable contagious memory.
Google does not want Android phones to have expandable memory because they know it sucks.
Why did you post if you don't know anything?
sprockkets - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Speak for yourself apple troll. All you ever do is troll any article dealing with Android.GFY.
Kenneth2011 - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
I don't think I want any contagious memory, reliable or otherwise... My own is quite enough, thank you.probedb - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
No phone has expandable memory that I know off, you can't just put a couple of sticks of DDR3 in a phone. Some Android phones have a memory card slot, that's it.lypanov - Thursday, September 25, 2014 - link
I just wanted to inform you that as blatantly nonsensical as your claims are, and as bad as the products you defend are for many use cases... it's not possible to get cooties from iPhones.alex2 - Friday, September 19, 2014 - link
That is so not true. I have no idea where you get your info from.. The device is not even out for testing yet. That's the real reason. Not the shit android fanboy info you just spat out. Jesus.. That's a new low... Also, remember that you started this when it wasn't even called for. And no, I'm not an apple fanboy in case you get the idea to reply with that juvenile nonsense. Writing this from my Moto G!DeciusStrabo - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Anand surely could have hooked up his old site with a few phones...Review embargo for pre-release phones all the sites Apple likes have gotten has been lifted today.
ruggia - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
it's quite rare for Anandtech to release mobile reviews at the day of embargo lift (including this one)good things take time. it always has.
dsraa - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Seriously no cares that you are 'first'. Even if you are being sarcastic, which is how your comment reads, it still doesn't matter, and no-one still cares....and yes I took the time to write this, but only because I am generally annoyed at this current trend of idiots who still think commenting 'first' is actually col, and to gloat about, as if it really matters........Then there's the slight slight possibility that you made the comment just to annoy others, which for that I can see the valid logic. :)