The newly released Motorola Moto X is a flagship killer for those who love stock android. Before I start I just wanted to say not to be too hard on me as this is my first review:P. Getting back to business, if you remember from last year, the first Moto X showed that you don't need the best specs to be a great phone for the everyday user. The new Moto X now has the specs to compete with the high end flagships, but it still retains that lower $400 price point that is so appealing to people who don't want to pay the full $700 of other flagships or be locked into a contract.
First lets get the specs out of the way. The Moto X features a gorgeous 5.2 inch, 1080p AMOLED display powered by a Snapdragon 801 at 2.5 ghz paired with the Adreno 330 GPU. Comparing those to any other flagship phone you will see almost no difference except maybe in the clock speeds which will not make any noticeable real world difference. It is also rocking the latest version of Android 4.4.4 KitKat, which is left stock except with a few improvements (more on that later). On a side note with Android L releasing soon, the Moto X is expected to be the second phone to get it behind the nexus devices.
Now that we have all of the specs out of the way, lets get onto what makes this phone great. First we have the design. The phone is curved in the same way that the 2013 model was, and there is also that now trademark dimple right below the camera. The Moto Maker is improved this year with more backs available such as bamboo and Horween leather, though my favorite is still the soft touch plastic back. All of these things combined make the phone feel great in the hand. If you look at today's phones you will see that the specs are all pretty much the same. What the phone manufactures are trying to do is modify Android to give their phone the advantage. Some make it an almost different os(Samsung) and others change a little, but leave the basics in. Motorola takes their own approach with android. They kept android as close to stock as possible but added in a few key enhancements. The first is the ability to call on Google Now without the phone being unlocked. I prefer this over Cortana and Siri for sure, and I like the ability to say whatever you want to wake it up as long as you start with "Ok". I kept mine with a generic "Ok Moto X", but you can be as creative as you want. The next cool feature is that due to the 4 motion sensors over the phone combined with the AMOLED screen, you can wave your hand over the phone jedi mindtrick style to see if you have any notifications. The screen will also flash notifications as they come in as long as the phone is not covered with something.
Now looking at these features on paper may seem underwhelming and if you do not like stock android, then this is not the phone for you, but if you like stock Android, then you should definitely check out this phone. However I should mention the one con of this phone. On paper the 13 mp shooter equipped with a fancy ring flash should preform great, but it isn't quite so good in practice. The flash is not anything special, and the pictures are hit and miss. Sometimes the pictures turn out decent, but other times they have way too much exposure and in low light the pictures come out grainy. Sample pictures will be uploaded shortly so you can decide for yourself as I am no camera expert. The only other thing that I can think of is the battery life not always lasting me a full day if I am playing games for over an hour throughout the day.
That is going to do it for my review of the Motorola Moto X 2014. In my "expert opinion" I would give this phone a 4.7 out of 10, and the best smartphone of the year. However here are a few more reputable(and better quality) reviews from around the web. The one that I would recommend is the first one which is a video from MKBHD. I recommend him for any phone review that you want. Also if you have any suggestions for my writing, leave them below. If you think that I should do this more often, I would love to, but its up to you guys:D.
1.MKBHD - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK3YvlOFRTg
2.CNET - http://www.cnet.com/products/motorola-moto-x/?_escaped_fragment_=
3.Forbs - http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2014/10/10/motorola-moto-x-2014-review-the-years-best-smartphone/
4.Engadget - http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/11/moto-x-review-2014/