All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

It's like they have a vendetta against SanDisk or something.

 

Rumor is that it'll be exclusive to AT&T for a while after release, but will then be extended to other carriers.

 

It's probably part of their business model. Force consumers to get a phone with a set amount of data space so when (if, really) they fill up all the memory, they're more inclined to upgrade to a newer model before they're eligible. Ingenious.

 

Nope, it's a strategy to make users use their cloud services. And also to use more data for carriers.

 

Meh, I can't see cloud services costing more than a non-contract upgrade in the long run.

 

The Moto X's review on TheVerge is really pretty informative. This isn't the phone for the tech-head who also owns an overclocked MSI laptop. But this is the phone he can recommend for his mother or his tech-illiterate brother; the sort of people who previously have been best served by iPhones. It's premium-feeling, it's got a bunch of fashionable case designs, it's not too big physically, it's got a very simple, straightforward interface, and it emphasizes battery life more than performance benchmarks.

Plus, made in the USA. Not only does that give them a five-day turn-around on custom designs, but it's appealing from both a patriotism and an employee working condition perspective.

This is the Moto X. Can it save Motorola? | The Verge

 

I don't consider expandable memory a "power" feature.

The first Android phones had it. My old Windows 6.x phone had it... and my current non-Samsung Android phone has it.

It's a USEFUL feature... and if you really want to poach iPhone users, I think being able to expand the memory without having to spend $100 per 16/32GB would be a no-brainer.

 

This is true, and Samsung has marketed this feature before to differentiate it from the iPhone. But there's a more significant concern: US carriers have incredible sway in how well a phone does on the market due to the nature of device subsidies, and thus, phone manufacturers have to work closely to please these partners as well. It is in the carriers' best interest to push cloud services and reliance on more expensive data plans rather than to allow a customer to simply buy a microSD expansion card. A phone manufacturer would benefit far more from axing that "minor" feature to make carriers happy and increase the subsidy amount (and lower the phone cost for the end-consumer, as well as boost direct profits for the phone manufacturer).

Samsung has been able to preserve the microSD card slot as it now has just as much sway with carriers as Apple does, and can consequently dictate its own terms (ie: keeping the hardware same across-the-board, rather than providing carrier variants). Smaller manufacturers like HTC and LG lack that negotiating position.

 

I feel like Motorola included features that are actually useful. Disabling most the Touchwiz features is standard procedure for me when I get Samsung phones.

 

my razr had microSD ^^

Also how do you disable touchwiz features?

 

Go into Settings and turn things on or off.
..
...
....
Profit?

 

...i just figured the touchwiz features your permanent embedded options. my HTC doesn't have anything like that...so that si why i asked.

 

However they did it, Motorola did something key: they got the Moto X on all US carriers. All of 'em. Nobody besides Samsung and Apple have done that recently.

 

isn't that though due to the manufacturers? I think all carriers would carry any brand phone if the deal was good. I think some manufactures want to have a only big contracts. I know Sprint was eating it for trying to get iPhone on its network. They had to make a huge deal that was very unfavorable for them to actually get apple to sell them the iphone.

 

AT&T Moto X will run you $575 without a contract, $629 for the 32 GB version

Not quite sure about the price point. It's still cheaper than a Galaxy S 4 or HTC One, but not by much at all. This should have been a $449/$499 off contract handset.

 

With the hardware it has, there's no reason it couldn't have been $399/$449. The Nexus 4 still trumps it, and it's cheaper. Granted, profit margins and all that... but the profit margin on the X is pretty large.

 

@MidnightSun:

Is it really "carrier influence" that axed the expandable memory? Because if it is, I smell a possibility for unfair business practices to force consumers into usage of services (data plans) by colluding with handset manufacturers. That might sound far-fetched, but if people can sue over the ability to root or jailbreak, you never know.

I feel it's more either handset maker influenced (cheaper, easier design without having to worry about SD card) and some Google pressure.

Whichever way it is... it's horrible for the consumer. Let's remove memory card slots from notebook computers too!

 

Carriers have a stranglehold on data. All types. They're pushing you into streaming/cloud services, then lowering the data package sizes while simultaneously charging more for the devices AND the bandwidth. I mean have you SEEN AT&T's quarterly revenue?! It's equal to the combined GDP of several European countries.

Then we have the other possible lawsuit over ISIS/Google Wallet that I hope someone just nails the cuss out of them with. Not officially supporting it is one thing, but completely blocking it's use and then announcing that customers can only use ISIS... that's 126% anti-competitive business practices.

Then we have the other matter of what, by definition, should be labeled collusion, but instead they're calling it "price signaling".

The US wireless market is a scum pit. Pure and simple. It makes the US government look innocent in comparison.

 

Not to mention that then they proceeded to roll out ISIS at a glacial pace. As of now, the only places ISIS can be used are Salt Lake City and Austin. So basically they crippled a feature on my phone so that I would use their alternative, except they never actually gave me the alternative.

 

Google intros Android Device Manager to help you find that missing handset

 

Sprint did this with their smartphones some time ago. I was always wondering when the rest of the stooges would implement such a feature. Great to see they have finally. :thumbsup:

 

what about blocking PDAnet on app stores?

 

Third party vs first party feature.

Yep, and charging more for tethering when you already pay for data as well.

That's one of the many reasons I run CM. Tethering is built into Android, and with AOSP/CM you can use it without having background software check AT&T's billing system to see if your account is provisioned for "tethering". On CM/AOSP it just works. Check a box and you have an instant LTE/HSPA+ hotspot that uses the data you ALREADY paid for.

 

I'll take my 3rd party app thank you very much. It's helped me out immensely and works better than advertised.
Sprint Total Equipment Protection

 

It's from Asurion, which is a company I can't stand. They're the company that also provides all those grossly overpriced device insurance policies through the carriers.

 

Yeah... don't get me started on not being able to use my unlimited data the way I want to use it.

It's even worse for people who pay for xGB of data per month, let them tether... they paid for it.

 

My carrier is offering 4GB of data for 30€ a month. Just data, no calls/texts. If I want 4GB and calls/texts, that'd be 100€ per month.

I asked them if they had some sort of unlimited data, and they said no. What carrier doesn't offer unlimited data?! Shouldn't it be standard by now? I've read that data is cheaper to maintain than calls....

 

I disagree that it's the networks that have overseen the demise of expandable memory.
If that were true, it wouldn't explain the likes of the recent Nexus devices or the fact that increasing numbers of devices released internationally (where the US networks have zero influence) don't have memory card slots.

That's massively over-stating matters.



And the Android Device Manager looks like a less-capable version of what Samsung already offer.

 

Maybe in the rest of the world, yes. But in the US, that is not an understatement. The US is the third largest mobile phone market in the world, and probably the largest in terms of smartphone penetration (if only MAYBE second to China). We have a lot of sway on OEM's.

Expandable memory isn't all on the carriers. I'll give you that. But a LOT of it is. TBH, there's not a legitimate reason to exclude a MicroSD slot. Period.

 

You say that like all insurances (mobile phone, automobile, and otherwise) aren't all overpriced.

 

They make their 10% or so like any other industry.

-says insurance broker me.

 

You're still exaggerating.
I'm sure if you look at handsets released exclusively on US networks, a lot of them will still have microSD slots - handsets that aren't available anywhere else, that the networks have the most say in the design of, yet still have memory cards.

It's far more down to the OEMs, it's a trend that's far bigger than the US alone.
But I would say Google are the biggest perpetrator personally, they've set Android on a particular path that some OEMs are either too eager to follow or too spineless not to.

You're right when you say there's no good reason not to have a microSD slot on a handset.

 

If the lack of expandable memory was primarily the carriers' fault, we'd see microSD slots on wifi iPads, the Nexus 7 and 10, the Kindle Fire lineup, etc. I think the primary blame falls on companies trying to push cloud storage options on people (which Apple, Amazon, and Google all do).

Someone previously said that cloud storage isn't expensive enough that that's the main reason why they're doing this. I disagree. It's not the expense issue, but the customer loyalty issue. Once someone is dependent on iCloud or GoogleDrive in their day-to-day life, they're far less likely to switch ecosystems in the future.

 

if you have USAA or know how to haggle with Toyota the car insurance is super cheap. $840 for 125k miles 7 years is a steal....one thing goes wrong i made all my money back

 

@Mitlov:

I understand the desire to make consumers reliant on the Cloud but it's just not tenable at this time. Not everyone has perfect 3G/4G reception everywhere they go (esp on planes), there is a big concern over privacy, and other than small files and pictures, some data plans can't handle larger files like videos... AND many US carriers (except TMo and Sprint) have gone to GB pricing on data plans.

I'll guess I'll just have to carry around a personal mini storage device w/ BT/WiFi access that has an SD card slot (some hotspots are like that).

 

I'm not trying to talk people into relying upon iCloud or GoogleDrive instead of SD storage. You don't have to convince me that it's not the ideal solution for you. I'm saying that OEMs that sell both mobile devices and cloud services have a self-interest in pushing those cloud services, and that's why they're removing expandable storage from their devices. Big difference.

 

You're much shiftier than the rest though.

That's about what I pay per year for my 2006 Tacoma.

 

Does anyone know what kind of DAC does the Atom Z2760 have? Currently doing some audio tests of my own, and my ASUS tablet is MUCH more pleasent to listen to classical music ( Here's what I used) than my untouched CM10.1 Note 2. Doesn't pack the same punch dB-wise, but the sound is much crisper and clearer. Everyday I'm happier with my purchase, honestly.

 

so lower db but crisper and clearly? How is that worse? Turn up the volume..... I'll take clear tones any day.

for the DAC type info i would recommend googling for it. Kinda random information. I have rarely seen anyone review the audio portion of the chips. AP does it on and off.

 

Laptop Magazine reviewed the Moto X: Motorola Moto X (Verizon Wireless) Review | Android Smartphone Reviews

 

PhoneArena's:

Motorola Moto X Review

I'm going to wait for the Developer/Play Edition. The good news is all the other carrier variants except for AT&T can be bootloader unlocked.

 

Isn't 575 a tad expensive for a phone spec inferior to the Nexus 4?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

GPU wise, it's better than all current phones, including the Exynos GS4 and S600 Adreno. CPU wise, it beats in some benchmarks the GS4 S600.

I don't see why people think it's inferior spec wise. It has GREAT specs. It doesn't have a thousand cores because it doesn't require that many cores to have Android running fluently, as it has matured enough in these past years.

Add Verizon to the locked list

 

Well, I can either convince you or not. I guess not.

As someone who's seen this from the carriers side, even from how they shop a device from an OEM, I can tell you I'm not exaggerating.

No, it's not. It's just not driving a 1080p panel. Though, I do agree about the "cores" thing. I like a nice powerful SoC, but for most people this will be way more than enough power.

 

Yep. The additional benefits with this SoC too is that you still get 90% real-life performance but probably 60% of the power consumption and heat. I imagine that 'always-on' microphone feature probably isn't helping the standby battery life for the phone though.

 

That was probably one of the major considerations made when going dual-core instead of quad. Though, with hotplugging you can disable whatever cores you want in standby...

 

About as close to the dual core and quad core variant battery comparison as you can get, the Xperia SP and ZL. Both have the same GPU and battery size, although the SP does have a smaller screen.

 

Or was it was alternate reasons Paranoid alert ^^

 

Misunderstood King Kong

 

^He's holding it wrong.