I have a problem when it comes to my old phones. Most of the time, I just keep them. Occasionally I will go through and throw out some of the really old ones, but there are several that I keep in a little basket in my closet. I’ve put them out of the way, so I don’t come across them often, but recently I was in that closet and I did come across my little collection of old phones. At this point, I’ve resolved that it’s probably best to get rid of them. What’s the point of keeping a phone you’re never going to use again? You only really need one back-up phone.
But before I did that, I decided that I wanted to know how they've held up over time. It feels like I purchased most of these phones forever ago, but the ones that I’ve held onto are only 3-4 years old at this point (which, I suppose for phones that’s a long time). The one that re-piqued my interest the most was my old 1st generation Moto X, from my short-ish stint with Verizon. I absolutely loved this phone, despite my distaste for it when it was initially released. I’ve been using the phone for 3 days now as my daily driver, and despite its age there’s still a lot about the phone that I admire.
Simply holding it in my hand was a blast from the past. I never would have thought that I would consider a 4.7-inch display “compact”, yet it feels so much smaller than my S7, which only has a marginally larger 5-inch display. It’s not a bad thing, though; it’s actually quite comfortable to hold, especially with that weird little divet in the back of the device. However, I’ve grown to appreciate larger displays at this point, so it’s a bit of a win/lose situation.
As for the way that it looks, I’ll admit that I’m a little disappointed in past me for not choosing a bolder color scheme. Motorola’s Moto Maker was a big draw for the Moto X, but I went with a simple white and silver color scheme because I’m boring. While messing around in Moto Maker, I decided to test out the engraving feature. I jokingly typed in “Swiggity Swooty” just to see what an engraving looked like, but I ultimately decided I didn’t want to engrave the device.
Well, when I got the device the engraving was still there. So it might not look very unique, but at least it will always have a stupid phrase on the back. Some people just shouldn't have access to these kinds of tools.
Turning on the device was a bit of a surprise as well. I never rooted this device, and I had reset it before putting it away in the box. Still, the phone had a noticeable lag from the get-go. It seemed to have resolved for the most part after setting the phone up, however, so that was good.
After installing all of the updates, I wasn’t surprised to see that the phone was on Android version 5.1. Android devices in general aren’t well-known for consistent updates over a long period of time. At least the Moto X received one major update, as the phone started off on 4.3. What did surprise me is that it has had a security update from April this year, so at least somebody remembered lil’ ol’ 1st gen Moto X in 2016.
The camera, which I once considered adequate, hasn’t aged well. Its 10-megapixel rear-facing camera doesn’t do particularly well in low light situations, even with a flash. The quality just isn’t that great. The 2-megapixel front-facing camera hasn’t held up so well, either. Smartphone camera technology has definitely achieved some major accomplishments over the past few years. I will say that I find its gesture-based camera interface more intuitive than Samsung’s.
Real world performance is fine. I’m a pretty casual user these days, so I wouldn’t expect the phone not to be able to run the basics that I use. Netflix, Apple Music, social networks, Reddit, banking, and some shopping apps all work perfectly fine.
The battery life also isn’t great. It isn’t horrible, either, but it’s definitely not great. I usually have to plug the phone in mid-day to prevent a complete shut down. It probably has something to lot to do with the age of the phone, but since the phone has a non-removable battery there’s no easy way around it. When the phone was released 1080p displays were just becoming the standard; I remember a lot of people being disappointed about the Moto X featuring a 720p display (I might have even voiced some concern over it at one point), but right now I’m glad they did. I believe that’s a big reason why battery life is tolerable here. On a 4.7-inch display, I’m not even sure I would have ever really noticed a difference between the two anyway.
I'm still impressed with Moto X's Active Display, despite the fact that my S7 has something similar. However, Moto X’s is way more refined and useful. Samsung’s is only good for telling the time, date, and battery life. Sometimes it will give me notifications, like when I miss a call. But not supporting 3rd party functionality really kills it for me, as most of my apps are 3rd party. Moto X’s works leagues better. I hope Samsung takes cues from Moto in the future.
Overall, the phone has held up okay. You can find them for around $100 or so used, so if you’re looking for a phone on a really tight budget it’s an option, but not the best option. There are other phones out there that wouldn’t cost much more, but have much more to offer (more recent updates, better cameras, fingerprint sensor, better processor, etc.).
The Moto X was an underappreciated phone for its time, but that had a lot to do with failed hype (Google’s mysterious “X” phone rumors were filled with high hopes and dreams, which came crashing down when it turned out the phone ended up just being the Moto X) and uncompetitive pricing, which were remedied after its initial launch. Moto X successors have done the brand well, though. It was still fun to use and reflect on this somewhat iconic phone that could have made or broken the resurgence of Motorola.
