In one word “Open”.
So if there is any news worth commenting on then I will publish it.
I’m will be adding my final thoughts on the Motorola Moto G £99 wonder phone.
Depending on when my Sphero arrives I will get my first impressions up.
And if the two Motorola Shells arrive for the Moto G I will get some impressions and photos uploaded.
For now enjoy the festive season if you can!
Amazon sells tablets, marketed under its Kindle brand. They sell large volumes of these and make compelling hardware too. Amazon have one of the best media online stores for books, music, video and now a decent app market place store.
So in 2014 it should come as no surprise when Amazon launches it’s own range of smartphones that will play havoc with other companies business models. This will hurt people like Apple who actually like to make money from their hardware sales.
It will be interesting to see how 2014 pans out as their will surely be winners and some losers.
So what are your predictions ?
In this part of the Moto G review I am going to look at some of the apps Moto include. The Moto G is predominantly stock android but it does have a few tweaks.
First before I chat about the apps, the Moto G has managed 3 full days on one battery charge. Incredible.
The Moto G has a FM radio which does require your headphones to be plugged in.
It scans and then allows you to select favourites. In the settings I found options for changing the radio frequency banding dependent on which part of the world you were located.
Moto Care in another included app.
This just gives you the option of quickly getting support and help for your phone.
Next and most useful is Moto Assist.
When in sleeping mode you can change the settings to allow for your favourites to still ring or if somebody tries several times to contact you. The app also starts producing suggestions and tips and how better to manage your phone as you use it. Eg setting brightness into auto mode. The suggestions aren’t mind blowing but for somebody who knows nothing about the phone and android the app is brilliant.
Moto also include their own photo editor but you are best using Google’s own one as it’s much better.
This week I have been left really impressed by the Moto G. It’s a very competent device that happens to be cheap. The camera is only average. It’s not the worst I have seen, and neither is it the best.
I will draw up my final thoughts after using it for another week or so.
But in the meantime please ask below in the comments if you have any questions.
The Motorola G isn’t just a boring slab of black. It also can be customisable with Moto Shells. These come in 3 types. A replacement back cover shell (white version shown above), flip shell (shown below) to protect the front screen and grip shells.
The grip shell is a replacement back cover, chunkier and more grippy. All of the shell types come in a variety of colours too.
You can also get power packs for the Moto G http://www.motorola.com/us/accessories-batteries-chargers/Power-Pack-Slim-series/universal-power-packs-slim-series.html in two different capacities.
If you recall on my first impressions, the Moto G does not come with any headphones. http://www.motorola.com/us/accessories-headphones-speakers/SOL-REPUBLIC-JAX-In-Ear-Headphones/sol-jax-in-ear-headphones.html However, you can buy Sol Republic Jax in-ear headphones that match all the colours of the official Moto G shells.
With the additional cost of the shells and headphones you can easily add another £40 to the overall cost.
Next time I will take a look at all the other non Google features included with this phone.
If you have the Moto G, Motorola is pushing the Android KitKat update.
Android 4.4, KitKat: Android 4.4.2, KitKat, is the latest release of the Android platform.
KitKat includes graphical enhancements e.g. new style status and navigation bars, a new full-screen mode, colour emoji support, improved closed captioning support, stronger security, smarter power use, and more tools and capabilities for better app development.
Phone dialer: Improved the phone app with the ability to look up contacts directly from the dial pad, see and tap frequent contacts, and search your corporate directory easily.
Camera – Focus and exposure: Enhanced the “touch to focus” option with a new circular, on screen control that can be dragged by your finger around the viewfinder to adjust a photo’s focus and exposure.
Gallery – Photo editing: Added new photo editing options to the Gallery app including new filter effects, draw on your photos, advanced cropping, and adjustments to color, exposure, contrast and more.
Printing documents and pictures: Added support for printing photos, Google Docs, GMail messages, and other content via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and hosted services like Google Cloud Print and HP ePrinters.
Hangouts – SMS/MMS support: Incorporated a new version of Google Hangouts that supports integrated SMS/MMS messaging. Hangouts can be set as the default SMS app under Settings > Wireless > Default SMS app.
Accessory: support Added support for Square credit card reader.
The update is for both the U.S. and global versions of the Moto G. I haven’t received it yet for my Moto G. If you have a Moto G, have you received the update yet?
I’ve already reviewed both of the above devices. Click <a href="http://Sony QX10/QX100 lens review “>here to recap.
In January 2014, both the QX10 and QX100 lens cameras will receive firmware upgrades that bump their maximum light sensitivity settings to ISO 3,200 and 12,800 respectively making dark scenes even better. They will also support widescreen 1080p video recording, and the QX100 is getting a shutter priority mode (finally) for action shots and long exposures.
Sony’s mobile shooting app, PlayMemories Mobile, just got updated to Version 4.0 for Android and iOS will introduce a quick photo browser that should make it much easier to review recent shots. For iOS users Sony claims that the app should connect to WiFi cameras twice as quickly as before.
Today I will look at the camera samples from the Moto G.
The camera samples are ok. Not brilliant and neither terrible. The colouring and pixel accuracy is just average. The shot on the moors was taken as the fog came down. The light was fading but the iPhone 5S took a much better shot which was so much better. See sample below.
The camera app is a simple affair. If you swipe from left edge across to the right this pulls out the settings wheel. Here you have settings for HDR including auto HDR, flash, control focus and exposure spot setting, slo mo video, panoramic (sweep mode) geo tagging, aspect ratio (16:9 or 4:3) and shutter sound on or off. Swiping from the opposite edge reveals the photo library. Swiping up or down activates digital zoom. As you continue to swipe up or down you can increase digital zoom to 4x. The built in photos app has basic editing (crop, rotate) and a choice of 9 filters and frames. If you use Google’s Gallery app instead you get far more editing options (crop, straighten , rotate, mirror, auto colour, exposure, and tons more options.
If you agree to auto upload your camera photos and videos to Google+ you also get the options of auto enhance and auto awesome. This is where Google’s software tries to automatically improve your photos and then notifies you once done. The auto awesome creates a gif of a sequence of photos.
If there was one weakness on the Moto G it is the camera. It is not as strong as more expensive contenders. But if you are sharing to social media and the like you won’t really notice the difference. Photographers best look the other way!
In a few days I will report back with more findings. But one of the Moto G’s strength is battery life. I just can’t get over how good it is.
Yesterday, I provided my first impressions. Today, I will start offering my further thoughts on this £99 marvel. To recap on my first views click here.
The official specs are –
-Operating system – Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) with guaranteed upgrade
-Processor -Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU
-Capacity, 8 GB standard, 16 GB version available
-Two years 50 GB storage free on Google Drive
-Dimensions and weight,Height 129.9 mm, Width 65.9 mm, Depth 6.0-11.6 mm (curve)
-Weight 143 grams
-Display 4.5 inches diagonal (11.3 cm) 1280 x 720 HD, 329 ppi
-Connectivity Micro USB
-3.5 mm headset jack
-Battery Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion, 2070 mAh
-Mixed usage up to 24 hours
-Rear camera 5 MP at 4:3 and 3.8 MP at 16:9 (user-configurable)
-LED flash 4X digital zoom
-Slow motion video,Burst mode,Auto HDR,Panorama,Tap to Focus
-Front camera 1.3 MP
-Video capture and playback 720p HD video (front and rear),Capture 30 fps (MPEG4, H.264)
-Playback 30 fps (MPEG4, H.263, H.264, VP8)
-Audio playback AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, PCM, FLAC, MIDI, QCELP, EVRC, OGG/Vorbis
-Networks Global GSM Model: GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+ up to 21 Mbps (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
US GSM Model:
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+ up to 21 Mbps (850, 1700 (AWS), 1900 MHz)
CDMA Model: CDMA/EVDO Rev A (850, 1900 MHz)
-Both GSM models require a micro SIM card.
-Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
-Bluetooth® Technology
-Version 4.0
-Location services GPS, GLONASS
-In the box Moto G in black, USB cable,Quick start guide
The box for the Moto G is very spartan. Just the phone, a quick start leaflet and a usb micro cable.
So is the Moto G really a good deal. Well it sort of is, but if you compare it to the Samsung S4, Lumia 1020 or iPhone 5S it looks every greater value, or is it? Let’s try and compare the Moto G if it had a higher specification comparable to the iPhone or Samsung S4.
£99 gets you the 8gb version. Another 8gb costs £129. So a 32gb Moto G in theory would cost £229. Still at £229 that still is a good deal and half the price of an iPhone. But the iPhone has a much better camera, processor, motion processor, audio quality, includes some cool headphones and a mains adapter. The iPhone has significant improvement on build quality. That’s worth at another £130 approximately. So now the total is £359. Still sounds like a bargain? The Samsung S4 can be bought for £399 and the 32gb iPhone 5C for £549.
The difference now in the price of the S4 or iPhone is down to the extra layers and user experience Samsung and Apple provide. Apple is a fashionable brand and you do pay for the label. But Apple does offer the best user experience, the best retail experience and the best customer care during and after purchase. And that costs something. Samsung also provides it’s touchwiz and an array of “smart” functions.
So really, the Moto G is cheaply priced with a good spec sheet. It just depends what you want in a phone and what features or functions are important. Bear in mind with the Moto G you get an additional 50gb of cloud storage on Google Drive. Plus you can change the back for a colourful option. See link to Motorola site for more info. Click here.
I have been testing the camera out taking loads of photos. I will post samples of these tomorrow along with my critique.
I said yesterday I would report back on battery. Well the Moto G came off the charger at 7am yesterday after being charged overnight. By 6pm it was down to 83%. That’s incredible.
Anyway, more tomorrow.
EE will be showcasing LG’s G Flex smartphone in some of its stores starting this Friday, 20th December.
Just one catch. It’s not available to buy just to gawp at until it’s 2014 launch. The participating stores are –
· London – Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford E20 1EH
· London – Westfield Shopping Centre, White City W12 7GG
· London – 155/157 Oxford Street, W1D 2JH
· Kent – Bluewater Shopping Centre, DA9 9ST
· Nottingham – 16 Clumber Street, NG1 3GA· Manchester – The Trafford Centre, M17 8AP
· Brighton – 209-210 Western Road, BN1 2BA
· Cambridge – 40-41 Lions Yard, CB2 3NA
· Merry Hill – The Merryhill Centre, DY5 1QX
· Sheffield – Meadowhall Centre, S9 1EN
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