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
WiFi Performance
For the most part, WiFi performance is generally driven forward due to an increasing need for better battery life and higher speeds. In order to get a closer look at this, we use iperf on UDP mode. In the case of the Moto X, we see that the WiFi solution continues to be the same WCN3680 that is quite popular amongst OEMs as a 1x1 802.11ac solution. In order to get ideal performance, the phones are connected to Asus' RT-AC68U router as the sole client in order to try and eliminate the router as a gating factor.
As one can see, there's a mild performance uplift compared to the previous Moto X. The Samsung Galaxy S5 continues to lead because of its 2x2 MIMO solution, but the new Moto X doesn't give any reason for concern when it comes to WiFi performance.
GNSS
While at this point GNSS reliability is not nearly the issue that it was in early smartphones, there are still some differences to be had. For the most part though, any phone with a Qualcomm modem is utilizing IZat to enable GPS. In the case of the Moto X and Snapdragon 801 phones, this is IZat Gen 8B. Any lock with the cellular radio on is incredibly fast as the initial time and location data from the modem drops time to first lock to about 8 seconds in good conditions. From a cold start without assistance data and on airplane mode, it takes about 30 seconds to get a location fix. The Moto X seems to have a strong GPS antenna, and it's relatively easy to reach 10 foot accuracy if the sky is visible.
Misc.
Unfortunately with these reviews it isn't feasible to cover every aspect in the level of detail that I'd like to, but I still want to mention some of my observations. First, the TFA9890 speaker amp seems to only drive one speaker at a time, and while the lack of stereo speaker functionality is a bit disappointing the speaker gets quite loud, and feels comparable to the M8 in sheer volume. There is a BCM2079x NFC controller in the Moto X, and tap and pay with Google Wallet seems to work. I also see an Atmel touchscreen but I'm unsure what family it falls under as there isn't any public information on the model. The same TPA6165 amplifier is used for the headphone jack as on the previous Moto X, so any improvements will come from the new audio codec in Snapdragon 801 when compared to Snapdragon S4 Pro. In addition, while I don't have a setup to test noise cancellation I wanted to note that Motorola has made their own custom solution for noise cancellation instead of using an Audience or Qualcomm Fluence solution. Finally, if the "STM401 Sensor Processor" is really the STM32F401CC MCU made by ST-Microelectronics, there's potential to integrate similar functionality into Samsung Galaxy S5 as it has a similar IC for sensor hub functionality.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
179 Comments
View All Comments
bigboxes - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
For the most part I would agree that measurements should be given in inches. However, almost all manufacturing is done in metric and if I needed otherwise I would just use a conversion app on my smartphone. And for all the hater comments I'll await your cries the very next article that posts specs in inches. I know there are some foreign readers, but this is an American website so don't get too distraught when that happens. You can use that very same conversion app to convert inches to metric.Peroxyde - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
I always respect AT audience as knowledgeable people. But this is the exception. Trust me on this one sir, the metric system is far superior. If you don't get it, this means there are some implications you are not aware of. This could be you are not strong in maths or science? Here is a simple test, do you know by heart each increment of the wrenches or drill bits sizes when measure in inches? With metric it goes by 1, 2, 3, ... even a 3 years old kid can know it without learning.nivedita - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Um, the US makes drill bits in fractions of an inch. You sound like a 3 yr old who just learned how to count yourself, you know.soccerballtux - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
inches will always be superior for size estimation. it's impossible to visualize how many centimeters a phone is by looking at it, because the count always exceeds 5. Inches, eh about 5, maybe 6. What, 13 centimeters? how am I supposed to visually divide the phone into 15 rows like I do with 5 inches? Just doesn't work, and won't ever. I, for one, think our socialist commie europeans can suck a fat 5" one.Peroxyde - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
Oh please, you don't know what you are talking about. You are blissfully happy to know that 1GB = 1000 MB, and you would scream in despair if you were told that a smartphone capacity has a 3/8 Giga inch bytes. When you start doing engineering calculation using feet, inch and pound you will understand what I meant.soccerballtux - Saturday, September 20, 2014 - link
I prefer mils myselftechxx - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
I still think Motorola made the mistake of not realizing that the market wanted a BETTER Moto X, not a BIGGER one. If they had kept it at 4.7" and used a high quality display at 720p, we would have a very unique and incredible ergonomic phone that is high-spec'd with awesome battery life. My fingers are still crossed for a Moto X Compact that can deliver this because as of right now the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is the true successor to the Moto X IMO.semo - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Or at the very least, they should have kept the Moto G the same size or bumped it to no further than 4.7". I think this is the only high end phone that doesn't have a SD slot. A removable battery is also a must as batteries are considered consumables. Like selling printers with sealed ink/toner cartridges. Madness!chrone - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
+1. We want high performance 4.7" device.flyingpants1 - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
It's called the Samsung Galaxy Alpha.