Back in mid-September, we 1st reviewed the 3rd-generation Motorola flagship w/ the Moto X Pure Edition. For the most part, we loved a lot about it and others could have been a little bit better. Overall, a great device from Motorola.
Now some time has passed and we got to see exactly how it fares after the new smell has worn off. We also got a big update from Lollipop to Marshmallow too within that time. Over the past 3 months, its been my primary daily driver w/ the Nexus 6P being secondary. We wanted to discuss what things have changed and what things have stayed the same w/ my experience.
- My Moto X was created via Moto Maker w/ a White front & Walnut rear. Other than a few scratches on the top right corner, it has held up quite well. No splinters on the rear wood panel thus far too BTW.
- The 5.7inch QHD LCD panel is still a great display w/ bright colors and such. I'm no longer missing the AMOLED panel. I keep the brightness just under the halfway mark. Within my time, the screen hasn't put too much of a dent into the battery life.
- The overall performance has improved greatly thanks to the Marshmallow update. Previously, this was one of 2 downsides I've had w/ Moto X. The 1.8GHz Snapdragon 808 handles a whole lot better now. Not much lag at all. Thank God this got better. I haven't had to reboot it since the update as prior, I had to do it once every few weeks.
- The 20MP rear-facing shooter hasn't really changed much either. It still remains a great camera for just about any situation - minus low-light. Still no improvement in regards to the camera software as it really needs a shutter button at this point rather than touching the screen to capture a photo.
- On the software side of things, not much has changed other than the addition of Google Now On Tap, Doze, app permissions, Android Pay support, Direct Share, and a more robust Volume control.
- On the battery side of things, the 3000 mAh battery still does an amazing job holding me down on a daily basis. I was getting around 12-15 hours on a single charge and now thanks to Doze, I'm getting a little bit closer to 18 hours w/ medium usage.
- The front-facing speakers still perform superbly. Making this and the Nexus 6P must-haves for those of you love good audio for media. Still sounds good after several months w/ it.
The Marshmallow update improves the daily usability of the Moto X to make it a better device.
Marshmallow gave the Moto X the performance bump it was lacking at launch. We would give the Moto X an A+ now over the A- it got originally. Starting at $400, this remains or actually is now an even better buy for Android lovers. Customization, great audio & performance, a pretty good camera, and everything you could want - depending on what you need in an Android device. Make sure you swing by our original review to see and compare our views from then till now.
