Motorola surely established something in the smartphone industry that we haven’t seen in a grand scale when the Moto X arrived on the scene last year to much acclaim. Not only did it present us with a venerable Android smartphone that could be customized in several ways, from its case options to accent colors, but it also proved to many that simplicity and functionality are two things that go hand-in-hand in making a smartphone legendary. Well, the new Moto X, the 2014 version, receives all the evolutionary upgrades we’d expect with any successor, but how much better is it than its predecessor?
Design
Obviously, the biggest design difference here is the new Moto X’s larger size, which depending on your taste, might be a good or bad thing. Indeed, it’s a size that’s more akin to a flagship, but we feel that the original Moto X’s size is perfect – as in, it’s more comfortable to hold with one hand. However, we really dig how the 2014 model is sporting a more aggressive and sophisticated design, aided by its aluminum frame and new leather casing options.
Yet again, the new Moto X reaps the benefits of being more of a flagship phone because of its larger and sharper looking 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920 AMOLED panel – versus the smaller and lower resolution 4.7-inch 720 x 1280 AMOLED display of the original. From a normal distance, it’s almost tough to distinguish which of the two has the upper hand in the details department, but there’s no competition after a closer inspection.
Beyond the size and resolution, these two screens based on AMOLED technology exhibit the same qualities – like their over-saturated color reproduction, wide viewing angles, and tough visibility under direct sunlight.
The numbers below represent the amount of deviation in the respective property, observed when a display is viewed from a 45-degree angle as opposed to direct viewing.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set (area) of colors that a display can reproduce, with the sRGB colorspace (the highlighted triangle) serving as reference. The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x: CIE31' and 'y: CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance (balance between red, green and blue) across different levels of grey (from dark to bright). The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones, the better.
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