Come ONNNNN Motorola, don't fail me now!

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 06/05/2018 at 14:25 • Filed to: None

0

21

This image is !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I’m apparently one of the few remaining people rooting for Motorola to make good phones, but it has me excited. Unless Motorola manages to fuck it all up like the first two iterations of the Z series.

I !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Basically the only reason I got rid of it was I needed a fingerprint reader that it didn’t have. It had great hardware, was easy to hold in one hand in spite of a bigass screen, and as is usual for Motorola, it had a nice clean Android build with only a few subtle additions that are actually useful, like Moto Display, which has proximity sensors at all corners of the phone and displays lots of notification content.

It had fun gestures like opening the camera app by twisting the phone, or turning the flashlight on with a karate chop.

I replaced it with a Galaxy S7 Edge, which has !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and lately it had been !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Not to go on a rant about that, but I lowered the resolution from 1440p to 1080p, which helped a lot, actually.

The other thing that helped was when I went from T-Mobile back to Verizon. Samsung unlocked phones are weird with swapping carriers. You have to change the SIM while the phone is turned on, which is the opposite of basically every other phone I’ve had, and then the OS reconfigures itself to the new carrier’s settings.

I had been on Verizon ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) but switched to T-Mobile because of bad coverage at my previous job. T-Mobile coverage sucks at my current job, so I went back to Verizon ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) yesterday. The jank was less bad when I first got the phone, it was worse on T-Mobile, and now with it back to the Verizon configuration, it seems to actually cooperate with Google Maps, Pandora, and 1440p. It’s not fluid, but it actually, you know, works. What the hell? I’m still leaving it on 1080p because I’d rather the phone be smooth in general use.

Anyway! Motorola!

My old Moto X Pure was 1440p, and with its older Snapdragon 808, it never struggled the way my S7E does with running Google Maps and Pandora at the same time. At the time it came out, it was an “almost flagship,” cheaper than stuff like the Nexus 6P. Kinda like where OnePlus sits in the market right now, except compatible with all carriers including Verizon.

My wife’s cheap Moto G5+, in general use, also often feels smoother than my S7E set to 1080p and back on Verizon. The S7E really is fine at the moment, but there’s still a dropped frame here, a stutter there, and mildly perceptible general not-quite-smoothness that just doesn’t happen nearly as often with Motorola (and other brands’) phones.

While I’m admittedly a Motorola fan, they haven’t made a high end phone I want to buy since the X Pure. The Z series has been a non-starter for me because none of them are unlocked with universal carrier compatibility. Even though that’s exactly what Motorola is great at in their lower-end phones, and my old X Pure, and the X4, which is a low/midrange model now, not a flagship competitor like the X Pure was. The unlocked versions of the Z series have been GSM only, and some of them haven’t even had unlocked versions at all.

The whole Moto Mod concept of accessories that slap on the back of the phone with a dedicated connector is kinda dumb, except if you’re an external battery enthusiast. I don’t hate it, except the way to get wireless charging is with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that’s been unavailable for a while, and all the cases for the phone itself don’t fit over the phone with this Moto Mod attached. Oh, or you can get this !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that also does wireless charging, but I have to carry a second phone from work and don’t want my personal phone to be all chunky. Whatever.

The original Z was ok, if not for the whole not-unlocked problem, but the Z Force and Z2 Force have this stupid ShatterShield screen that is plastic instead of glass, so it doesn’t crack if you drop it, but is so soft it !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , even when handled gently.

Thats right, the only way to keep a phone with ShatterShield, a supposedly-indestructible screen, free of scratches, is to put a damn screen protector on it. Talk about dumb. I don’t like messing with screen protectors. Gorilla Glass is strong stuff! I’ve dropped multiple phones with Gorilla Glass screens and relatively slim TPU cases and never once cracked the screen. I haven’t scratched them either.

The Z Force was easy to avoid because there were three versions of the original Z series: Z, Z Force, and Z Play. The regular and Force versions had the same internals and OLED panel, but the Force was thicker, with a bigger battery and ShatterShield. The Play had a slower processor, lower resolution LCD screen, and big battery, for lots of battery life. People who like big batteries love Moto Z Play phones.

But on the Z2 series, you couldn’t avoid the ShatterShield if you wanted flagship specs. There was no regular Z2, only Play and Force. Except the Z2 Force combined the flagship internals and ShatterShield with a small battery like the regular Z, not the Z Force. D’oh!

The upcoming Z3 series keeps the same overall shape and Moto Mod concept as the first two Z series. They have tall screens like other recent flagship phones. The Z3 has flagship specs and a 1440p screen, the Z3 Play has midrange specs and a 1080p screen. The Z3, with no Force branding, might finally be ditching the stupid ShatterShield.

PLEASE MOTOROLA, MAKE THE Z3 UNLOCKED, COMPATIBLE WITH ALL CARRIERS, AND FREE OF THE GODDAMN SHATTERSHIELD, AND I WILL GIVE YOU ALL OF MY MONIES!!!

(Psst...at least as long as it’s priced more like a OnePlus 6 and less like a Pixel 2 XL.)  

Oh, and there’s a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

gawdzillla > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 14:33

0

I posted this y-day

motorola is now lenovo, which is chinese ...

the google pixels are pretty awesome, bought 1 for the wife.

I like my LG v30+, good all round phone you can get for a great price.

get the S9 if you must go with samsung

i am still worry about the chinese phone stealing my info, so no go there

samsung got bad quality control, or their stuff just wasnt seem to be design to last more than 6 months

Echo51 > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 14:36

0

The chop-motion moto you show looks like the G3 i had, which i utterly loved. Moto sadly went and did the big ugly camera hump on the back, and it’s why i’m looking at other brands for a phone...

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 14:41

1

I have a Moto X Pure. The touch controller died last week so now I’m looking at a replacement. If you ask me, a shattershield screen with a tempered glass screen protector is the IDEAL way to build a phone. Touch scratch-resistant yet brittle outer layer that is easily replaceable, but the “main” part of the screen is next to impossible to crack. Best of both worlds. Currently considering a Droid Turbo 2 because of inexpense on the used market and AMOLED displays make me very happy.

Textured Soy Protein > gawdzillla 06/05/2018 at 14:43

0

I hated the LG V20. I also had an LG G2 before my X Pure that was always kinda wonky. B&H has the unlocked V30S for $679. I dunno, haven’t completely ruled it out but I’m not in a rush to try it. Not looking to go back to Samsung.

Motorola has been owned by Lenovo for a few years now, and Lenovo has been selling stuff in the US for a long time. I don’t look at them with the same skepticism as Huawei or ZTE but honestly those don’t bother me too much either. My wife previously had a ZTE phone, and my sister has one right now, both purchased at my recommendation.

Sovande > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 14:50

0

I have a V30. Great phone and much better than the V20 I also had. That camera wart on the back of the Moto phone would drive me insane. I also learned from this post that Pandora is still a thing.

Textured Soy Protein > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 06/05/2018 at 14:51

0

ShatterShield on the Droid Turbo 2 was user replaceable and the replacement plastic bits are still available. On the Z Force it has to be sent to Motorola for servicing, or perhaps local phone repair places might be able to do something with it. It’s not designed to be serviceable at all on the Z2 Force. Motorola knew two phones ago would wear out, but removed any ability to freshen it back up. If that’s all the commitment they’ll make to it, then it’s time to cut bait on the idea.

Textured Soy Protein > Sovande 06/05/2018 at 14:57

0

I’ve tried Spotify but have never been able to replicate the experience I get with Pandora radio stations. With Spotify I’ve always felt like there’s so much stuff and yet I often end up listening to stuff I’m just like, ehhh nah let’s try again.

Pandora Premium has the play-anything capability of Spotify and they finally just added a $15/month family plan. I like the Pandora radio because sometimes I don’t want to have to try to figure out what to listen to.

Previous bad experiences with LG have me hesitant to try again, especially when approaching Pixel 2 XL prices, although the unlocked V30S at $679 isn’t a terrible deal.

I rock a case at all times so the camera hump doesn’t bother me.

Sovande > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 15:07

0

For whatever reason I like the LG phones. I spend a fair amount of time on the water (except for this year because it has decided that it will rain every single weekend and it will not be a passing shower, it will be a succession of storms of biblical proportions leading to a river that looks like a chocolate milk strewn with sticks, logs, trees, washing machines and Honda Civics. Not that I am irritated or anything.) and having a waterproof phone is a nice feature. Plus I am clumsy and mine have been able to take a beating without complaint.

SmugAardvark > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 15:16

0

I left my trend of LG G-series phones for the Moto Z Force Droid back in the summer of 2016. The first one I got did not have working Bluetooth or NFC. The second one had working NFC, but Bluetooth was spotty at best. Then one morning, I woke up and the screen was 50% green lines. Switched back to LG somewhat shortly after the G6 came out.

It’s kind of a bummer, because I did actually like the Moto Mods. I had the extended battery, the JBL speaker, and was about to pull the trigger on the projector before it all went bad. Maybe, just maybe, when Motorola fixes their QC issues, I’ll revisit it. When it worked, it was a fine phone. It just seldom worked as expected. I did, however, love having the fingerprint sensor on the front of the phone rather than the back. But that alone wasn’t enough to keep my business.

However, I do have to say that the LG G7 ThinQ, despite the awful name, has an incredible audio system built in. Might be enough to hang on to my business. Seriously, if you get the chance to play with one, find a song you love, and crank the volume. They designed the whole slab to be a resonance chamber for the speaker.

SmugAardvark > Sovande 06/05/2018 at 15:18

0

The idea is that you won’t carry the phone around without something on the back. Even the cheap plastic “style shells” are enough to make the camera sit flush. The design was intentional, to help keep whatever back you have on there lined up correctly and prevent it sliding away during normal use (they are held on magnetically).

Textured Soy Protein > SmugAardvark 06/05/2018 at 15:33

0

The amount of times I play music out of a phone’s speaker is essentially zero. My wife does it sometimes and I’m like, we have all kinds of Bluetooth devices with better sound you could be playing this through, but whatever.

All the ThinQ phones I’m just not saying ThinQ. Right now B&H has the unlocked V30S for $679. The G7 is listed at $749 and coming soon. Either is better than $849 for a Pixel 2 XL but if anything I might be more inclined to wait for the Pixel 3 to come out and jump on the inevitable price drop on the 2.

And then there’s the idea of a used black Pixel 1 XL 128 GB ($275-300) or if I want to be really cheap, the original Moto Z Droid (I found a brand new one for $185).

B/Xmrrmvr > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 15:44

0

The Play had a slower processor, lower resolution LCD screen, and big battery, for lots of battery life. People who like big batteries love Moto Z Play phones.

The Z Play has a lower resolution AMOLED but everything else is right (the SD 625 is good for general use - same as your wife’s G5+). Also at the time of sale, it was almost half the price of the Z and the Z Force.

I can’t even imagine what my next phone is going to be since I’m locked into VZW. I’m used to 1.5-2 days of battery life now and I don’t think I can go back.

SmugAardvark > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 15:51

0

Makes sense. I have a few decent BT speakers, and I do use them when the situation calls for it. But I think I use my G6's speaker more often, excluding when I’m in my car.

One of my prime uses is when I’m riding my bicycle. I have a phone mount on my bike’s handlebars, and don’t feel like putting a second mount on for a speaker. Plus, when I lock it up somewhere, I don’t want to have to carry the speaker around with me.

This was one of the reasons I was initially sold on the Moto Mods. The JBL speaker has enough volume without adding a second device to the mix. But until I have confidence in their phones again, it just wasn’t worth the trade-off for me.

Spasoje > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 16:12

0

I’ve got a Moto X Pure – I, too, like it a lot! It’s a shame that the battery is starting to kick the bucket – it’ll randomly decide to shut down b/c of “low battery” at 30-40%. When it doesn’t do that, it can only eke out a handfull of hours at best before needing a full charge.

That, combined with the very sporadic updates, makes me want to jump ship (though it’s still miles better than the Galaxy S3 it replaced). Instead of buying another Motorola, I’d love a world-beating Nokia Android flagship...hopefully that happens before my battery gets even worse!

Textured Soy Protein > Spasoje 06/05/2018 at 16:22

0

Nokia has been looking promising but so far with no Verizon compatibility not really an option for me. I keep my personal phone off the work wifi because my company runs a FireEye sniffer on the network. Verizon and Sprint are the only carriers that work consistently at my office but Sprint is a mess elsewhere.

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 16:29

0

I’ve looked my g5 allot... But... It is becoming clear to me the materials aren’t flagship quality. The USB port is touchy and sometimes doesn’t connect anymore and the headphone port is similar. Plus the camera is slow and meh

Textured Soy Protein > HammerheadFistpunch 06/05/2018 at 16:48

0

My wife is still happy with her G5+. She’s not a photo nerd so the just-ok camera doesn’t bother her much. With HDR turned on it’s capable of good results in good light, but it doesn’t handle high contrast scenes well. You have to make sure to tap on a light or dark area to focus on and meter for it first before taking a photo. The 5.2" screen is smaller than I’d like and a little dull. But we’re also talking about a phone that’s under $250 brand new. Universal carrier compatibility and a nice clean Android build go a long way at that price point. Really the only thing wrong with it for her use is for some reason it refuses to reliably sync with her Fitbit.

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 17:43

0

I’ve also noticed goofy bluetooth behavior. for a while it refused to connect to my cruiser...but then it just started working again.

Sovande > SmugAardvark 06/05/2018 at 18:18

0

Oh. They still make those goofy backs with added features nobody asked for?

Spasoje > Textured Soy Protein 06/05/2018 at 21:28

0

Ah yeah, that could be a problem. The carrier I use works with pretty much any international phone, so as long as the frequencies line up, I’m golden. It seems Nokias are lagging in low-light camera quality at the moment – that and the lack of a headphone jack on their current flagship is basically all that’s keeping me from stepping up to the plate.

SmugAardvark > Sovande 06/06/2018 at 10:02

0

They do. The JBL speaker worked great for me, and was in many cases preferable over carrying a separate Bluetooth speaker. But yeah, I can see why it hasn’t really caught on.