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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Harry_Wild - Sunday, September 21, 2014 - link
I will wait to see the new Moto X 2014 in person before deciding them. Thanks for the reply! Since the Moto X seems to be the same shape as the upcoming Nexus X; then I glad that it close the old 4.7" Moto X. A shopping we will go! LOL!gg555 - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
I don't know, to me the original Moto X had a cheap plastic feel to it despite the nice sculptured back. It was a far cry for the higher quality feel of the polycarbonate material in some of the Nokia phones. I think the new design has a much higher quality feel to it, though the large size does affect how it fits in one's hand a bit.grant3 - Saturday, September 20, 2014 - link
Does this phone support 3-button android headsets? (like samsung + HTC do)Monish - Saturday, September 20, 2014 - link
Guys, is MOTO X 2nd gen OTG compatible ? I asked MOTO customer care agent, he said It is not compatible. So when i questioned him that MOTO X 1st gen had it (saw XDA forums) he further added that Motorola cannot guarantee it!OTG compatibility is the only thing stopping me from buying this phone as in INDIA you get only 16GB version.
JoshHo - Saturday, September 20, 2014 - link
USB-OTG is fully functional.Monish - Sunday, September 21, 2014 - link
Did u test it Josh ? Sorry was asking but just double checking since customer care agent said otherwise.erikiksaz - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
It works, at least for USB audio. Haven't tested it with storage.raghwendra123 - Saturday, September 20, 2014 - link
A little off topic... but how come galaxy s5 top most performance benchmarks by quite a margin when it has snapdragon 801 too? And why does its T-mobile version doesn't?raghwendra123 - Sunday, September 21, 2014 - link
I mean the the Basemark ones.EdCraft - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - link
The new moto X seems very good, much better than the ever-so-lagging-behind new iPhone. The question is though, can Motorola match up to HTC in consumer satisfaction? Motorola hasn't quite managed to do it so far (source: http://www.consumertop.com/best-phone-guide/), but this one seems very promising!