Mysterious Motorola X phone picture pops up, testing as the XT1056 on Sprint's LTE

15. nbringer (Posts: 180; Member since: 11 Sep 2012)

Shut up! :P

18. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

All I'm saying is that build quality on unibody designed phones is typically A LOT better than those with removable backs... And considering removable batteries are getting more and more inconvenient, it would be a bad move to include a removable back.

34. Paradox (Posts: 124; Member since: 08 Aug 2012)

How can a removable back be inconvenient? It is convenient as you can take it off, and replace the battery if required, or if the phone crashes, you can easily take the battery out and put it back in, instead of doing something like holding a power button down for 10 seconds. Also, it is possible that it helps in a drop, as the energy is transferred into making the back cover and the battery come off of the phone. I'm sick of people saying unibody when these phones aren't even unibody too. Unibody means it is made from 1 piece, these phones are just a few pieces glued together so you can't pull them apart.

37. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

What you said makes removable back convenient is exactly what I think makes them inconvenient. Having to pick up the pieces of my phone off of the floor is a HUGE inconvenience to me, and I would be glad to do without it, even if some of the energy from the impact gets diverted from the rest of the device. Same thing for hard resets, I find it much easier to just hold a couple buttons for a few seconds than to strip the back cover off and take the battery out, and I bet a lot of other people do too, especially when many people have cases on their phones.

I don't like it when my device can have a piece of it taken off with a fingernail and a small amount of force. Having it in one solid piece not only makes it feel a lot sturdier (unlike the creaking on my GS3), but also just makes it better looking. And with batteries becoming more reliable and operating systems becoming more stable, system crashes and battery malfunctions are few and far between. Only the power users that actively need to switch batteries because they use their phones so much actually take advantage of it.

Unibody designs (which is the common term for it, even if it is technically incorrect) are just preferred for aesthetic purposes, which take priority over function when those functions aren't needed nearly as much as they were before.

38. Paradox (Posts: 124; Member since: 08 Aug 2012)

The battery door and battery door coming off could be the difference between a broken screen, and an undamaged screen. I'll take the removable myself. Also, it makes it much easier to put in sim cards and sd cards, as you don't need a special pin. And, tbh, not all the doors come off when you drop them.

Another advantage is that if the phone isn't waterproof, and you drop it in the water, then you can quickly remove the battery and store it in rice. Also, if your battery goes bad, you can easily replace it yourself, instead of sending it back to the OEM. One more advantage is that it's better on the environment, as you can easily remove the battery, and dispose of it safely, when the time comes for the phone to die.

41. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

With glass used in phones getting stronger, I'd take my chances with unibody. You don't need a pin, but you still have to strip the cover off, and some phones require taking the battery out as well.

Insert pin < put SIM/SD card in tray < push tray back in

Take off battery door < take out battery* < put in SIM/SD < assemble back together

Take your pick.

Taking the battery out when dropped in water is nice, but many OEMs are adopting water resistance with their phones, so that argument will be null in due time. Like I said before, batteries are becoming more reliable, so bad/degraded batteries are becoming less and less of a problem. My old phone from 2010 still lasts as long as it did from when I first got it without any replacements.

Most people (like myself) just put old phones in a drawer or maybe sells them, and don't just throw them away. Or, if they trade them in, the retailer/manufacturer properly takes care of the old phone because of environmental laws.

57. TheLolGuy (Posts: 483; Member since: 05 Mar 2013)

I'll still take a removable back. I'd rather hope they improve the sturdiness and find a way to use a less sticky and glossy material than they use for the back, but I don't want to give it up.

I'm not going crazy for the s4's design, but the SD card slot and removable battery is more than worth having a non-unibody design for me.

The battery generally has around 500 charging cycles before it starts losing capacity. If you charge everyday, or hell, maybe even twice, that won't even last you the two years you have it. Especially if you decide to use it past 2 years. The HTC One already has a puny battery. If it starts going bad early, you're screwed.

Also, older phones I had that had a side flap for things like the SD card are unsightly and they tend to wear and break.

I'll definitely be sad if they start making all their phones unibody -- if you don't like removable back, don't hate it, hate it's current implementation. You never know, they can probably keep it's removable feature and work on its cons...

59. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

You can't have a sturdy device with a removable back, it's pretty much impossible; unless you're a device like the Kyocera Torque and have a heavy duty lock on the back cover.

The only sturdily built device with removable battery and memory (within reasonable dimensions) that I have ever seen was the Wave 3. It's a Bada device, and the back wasn't removable, it used a sliding mechanism to gain access to the battery. It's probably the best looking and most sturdy Samsung device ever built. If Samsung could use the design of the Wave 3, thin out the bezels, and put the specs of the GS4 on it, I would buy it in an instant without any second thought.

Until then, unibody is the way to go. Before the battery even has a chance to degrade, I will already have a new phone, and with the quality parts used in today's high end models, the chances of getting a faulty battery are extremely low.

66. Paradox (Posts: 124; Member since: 08 Aug 2012)

"Insert pin < put SIM/SD card in tray < push tray back in" you missed the part where you find the pin.

Removal back cover is also much better because you can easily replace it once it becomes too scratched for your liking. Also, if you really want to, you can have two batteries. One as a backup, and one in the phone, so you instantly gain double the battery life.

69. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

If you're going to switch out SIM and SD cards so much that too many steps to do it would be a problem, you're more than likely going to keep a pin around.

Scratches are very hard to see on anything other than glossy polycarbonate and a badly done anodized aluminium (iPhone 5), so it's not much of a problem, especially considering manufacturers are putting a lot of effort into making devices more durable.

There are external battery packs that more than double your battery life, and even though it's through a charge method, with the new quick charge technology coming out you can charge your battery almost half way in just 30 minutes. I also addressed this before when I said only power users who actively switch out batteries because they use their phones so much actually need removable batteries.

Notice, a lot of things I'm saying are referencing the near future, which is what I was saying in my original comment. Removable backs are getting more and more inconvenient, in the sense that soon we just won't need them anymore. It's not debatable, it's just a natural development.

71. Paradox (Posts: 124; Member since: 08 Aug 2012)

"Scratches are very hard to see on anything other than glossy polycarbonate and a badly done anodized aluminium" you can't really say that, as most phones are made out of those 2 materials, or glass too. My nexus 4's back is quite clearly scratched, and I don't even want to know how much the glass back will cost me to replace.

External battery packs cost a ton, so you won't catch me, or many other people buying one too.

"Removable backs are getting more and more inconvenient" I'm still failing to see why they are inconvenient.

56. Mdpats (Posts: 2; Member since: 26 Jun 2013)

If you drop your phone, then you are a clumsy idiot and deserve to be inconvenienced. 'Nuff said.

58. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

That's a bit harsh. A large group of consumers drop their phones, why do you think the accessory business is going so well?

67. Paradox (Posts: 124; Member since: 08 Aug 2012)

I assume you have dropped your phone in the past, so you just called yourself a clumsy idiot. Who's the real idiot here? I don't drop my phone often, but it happens. It's just one of those things in life that are inevitable, and when it does happen, you want your phone to be able to survive that fall

48. kabhijeet.16 (Posts: 874; Member since: 05 Dec 2012)

Agree..

24. Potato. (banned) (Posts: 607; Member since: 14 Jun 2013)

It looks similar to LG Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus... May be it is the Nexus 5?

27. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

More than likely it's just a prototype, and not the final design. Also, if the specs are real, I would definitely hope it's not the Nexus 5. It has the same processor as the Nexus 4 minus 2 cores and a lower resolution display. LG is probably making the Nexus again, and it'll be similar to their flagship; Snapdragon 800, 2 GB DDR3 RAM, and a 5" 1080p display.

40. Potato. (banned) (Posts: 607; Member since: 14 Jun 2013)

Revolutionary camera?

42. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

Hopefully. Google did say they wanted to focus more on cameras.

5. _Bone_ (Posts: 2155; Member since: 29 Oct 2012)

You reviewed the device already, bambino?

31. neutralguy (Posts: 1152; Member since: 30 Apr 2012)

You for real dude? How will this change the game?

70. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

Contextual awareness doesn't sound cool to you? If Motorola does it right, it could very well be an interesting feature that would be a major selling point.

52. kabhijeet.16 (Posts: 874; Member since: 05 Dec 2012)

This will be a game changer in PRICE.

68. neutralguy (Posts: 1152; Member since: 30 Apr 2012)

Well, nexus were made for that reason, so... no.

25. Potato. (banned) (Posts: 607; Member since: 14 Jun 2013)

Moto Galaxy Nexus.