Why Motorola is Android’s Best Shot
Motorola is no stranger in this ever-growing mobile world.
I mean, they're the ones that pioneered the world’s first portable cellphone, and then went on to dominate the cellphone world with their Razr. Their reputation for game-changing innovations is not to be taken light of, and that’s why I believe Motorola is the company to look at once again.
In the earlier years of Android, they had their Droid series, which became one of the most well-known branding for Android. You've all heard it. That robotic voice saying “Droid” in those advertisements featuring a smartphone with a frigid, dark background.
But then, Motorola fell off the ranks when Samsung and Apple began devouring up the market share and became the only two brands that people came to know and love — with lesser known companies like Sony, LG, and HTC quietly releasing brilliant phones with weaker voices to shout.
On May 22, 2012, Google acquired Motorola for $12.95 billion which gave Motorola a fresh start. Together, they developed the Moto X (2013) that rethought how “smart” smartphones should be. It ran stock android with improvements such as an always-listening phone that waited for voice commands, gestures like twisting your phone to activate the camera, and waking your device when pulling it out of your pocket.
Motorola breathed new life in the buying process with Moto Maker which encouraged consumers to get a little creative by designing their Motorola phone by picking the front colors, back color/materials, and accents with no extra charge. You can even engrave it for an extra fee of around $5.
It shook up the industry — well, sort of. Although Motorola was guided by Google’s philosophy and funded with their money, the Moto X 2013 was not a spec-monster as everyone would like, but that’s not the point. The point of the Moto X was to make you forget about the specs — because all that matters is that it lasts all day, it runs buttery smooth, and it improves your lifestyle.
In January 2014, Google sold Motorola to Lenovo for $2.95 billion. Why? Motorola wasn’t making any money for Google, and they were really just in it for the patents. Google wanted to remain neutral in the mobile world by not owning a manufacturer and didn’t want to give them the special treatment.
Lenovo bought Motorola because Lenovo has almost zero market presence in the US, but has strong market presence in Asia. By buying Motorola, they can get into the game where the big boys are playing — even though we haven’t seen much yet. Lenovo made a smart move by allowing Motorola to remain independent, though.
With the Moto X (2014), they made strong refinements over the 2013 model but they still had an achilles heel that prevented them from making it to the top with Samsung, LG and Apple: the camera.
You see, Motorola is really hitting it off here. But to be number one, you need to have a good camera. Motorola already has practically everything else on the list checked off: screen, battery, design, speakers, and software.
Reaching to Other Markets
That’s not the end of the story.
Motorola went to other markets such as India and South America and took them head-on with budget smartphones: Moto G and Moto E. Budget smartphones have always been janky with bloatware, slow updates, and just straight up garbage build quality. With Motorola on the job, they made the Moto G their best selling phone of all time by incorporating simple design and stock-android approach with really decent specs.
In fact, the Moto G 3rd generation is no slouch at all: It has the same camera sensor as my Nexus 6. With 2GB RAM on the side, that phone does everything you need at under $180 for the base model and under $220 at its peak.
2015: Victory At Last?
Today, on July 28th, 2015, I believe Motorola has finally done it. They have made the first no-bullshit Android phone.
It has almost everything an Android enthusiast AND consumer needs:
- Front-facing, dual-stereo speakers
- 3,000mAh battery
- Snapdragon 808
- World’s fastest turbo-charging
- Customizable designs (Wood, leather, colored plastics, colored metal accents)
- 5.7" QHD (1440p/2K) display
- SD card expansion
- How about cameras? Have they finally done it? Well, it’s too early to tell, but according to a DXO report, the Moto X Style/Pure Edition camera ranks just behind the Samsung Galaxy S6. (21MP rear // 5MP front with flash)It should be noted that Marques Brownlee is not yet impressed with his limited time with the Moto X.
- 3GB RAM
- Stock Android? That’s the most important part. This phone has no bloatware except a few Motorola enhancements, which means you can expect the fastest updates (besides the whole 5.1 fiasco with the Moto X 2013)
- Oh, come on! Surely it won’t work on Verizon! Nope! The Moto X Pure Edition has all the wireless bands you need, unlocked, so you only need to buy one phone to use it with AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, or Sprint!
This is truly the first no-bullshit Android phone if the camera holds enough water to its name. With a few preferential features such as a fingerprint sensor, removable battery, AMOLED screen, and others, Motorola has hit the nail on the damn head.
Here’s a quick spreadsheet I made to describe every main OEM’s strengths and weaknesses:
You see, I believe that Motorola is the only Android OEM that gets Google — which makes sense, since they've worked together on the Nexus 6 — because Motorola believes in Google’s work on Android and has no real reason to modify it like Samsung or LG does. Why should a company waste more resources on developing software skins when Google has already done all the heavy load?
Motorola takes that idea and brings in very light modifications with great features while keeping to Google’s stock android feel. That is where every other OEM falls short in realizing that consumers do not need custom skins.
Of course, these are all subjective and mainly my observations, but Motorola’s weakest skill is making a better camera, which they have hopefully fixed with the Moto X Style/Pure Edition Moto X/Moto X 2015.
I know I'm only reading specs out loud, but using Motorola’s reputation with the Moto X 2013, 2014, Nexus 6, and the other Moto Gs and Moto Es, I’m putting my money on Motorola, and only time will tell.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to recommend it!
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