Former Flagship: Motorola Moto X Second Generation with Marshmallow

After a month or so of using the Sony Xperia Z2, I have returned it, because of a dead pixel on the camera, plus really poor audio quality in calls and sub-par low-light photo quality. Also, because of the bloatware Sony decided to include, I found I was running out of internal storage space all the time. I decided to replace it with a second gen Motorola Moto X, since I have experienced the near-stock Android experience of Motorola before with the first and second gen Moto G devices. I did not really have the budget for the X's successor, the Moto X Style or a Nexus 6/5X/6P. I also went for the second gen X because it has already received Android Marshmallow when the Z2 and G3 were still yet to get it.

I found a very good condition second gen Moto X on eBay that looks practically new, other than a few barely noticeable marks on the outer edges. It's a device that was originally ordered from Moto Maker, in white with blue detailing and beautiful walnut back.  It arrived in it's original box with booklets, Sim tool, unused charger and USB cable, still in their wrapping.

Once I'd unboxed it, setting up was simple as restoring from the backup stored by my previous device. I could also have restored from a previous Motorola device, but it's been ages since I had one.

Screen

The second gen Moto X has a beautiful 5.2" AMOLED screen (as opposed to the IPS screens on the Sony Z2 and LG G3) at 1080p but it has a bigger screen to body ratio than the Sony, which had a quite a big chin and forehead. Instead of using Knock-To-Wake like LG, you can wake the X by hovering your hand near it, I never get tired of this Jedi mind trick! I also really like Moto Display that only lights up the clock and notification bubbles on the lockscreen to save power. You can also quickly peek at notifications depending on privacy settings. AMOLED does not need to light up individual pixels when displaying black images, so using a very dark or black wallpaper should also save battery life.

Build

The Moto X is slim (helped by the lack of a MicroSD slot) and feels great to hold and about the same weight as the LG G3, but also lighter than the Sony Z2. It felt a bit of a shame to enclose the beautiful water resistant body, with it's nice walnut rear, in a leather flip case, but even then, the device is slimmer than my LG G3 was with the Quick Circle cover. The SIM cover and headphone jack is at the top and the buttons are all on the right hand side.

Software

The second gen X has the latest Marshmallow OS from Google that does not include lots of duplicate apps of Google apps, and the only notable Motorola apps are it's camera, useful gallery app (I find it better for dealing with locally stored images than Google Photos). The granular control of permission in Marshmallow are a great addition to Android, it offers fine control on a per app basis as to what each app can access. Google Now Launcher is installed by default but I prefer the smaller icons and customisability and features of Nova Launcher Prime. You may also notice I have made the battery percentage appear in the battery icon, using the tweak found here. This device is the smoothest Android experience I have had since I had since my Nexus 5. There is also considerably more storage space left for apps than I had with the Sony Z2 and LG G3.

 

Camera

In the past Motorola devices have sometimes suffered from poor quality cameras, but all that changed with the second gen X, which has a superb 13MP shooter with similar specs to my LG G3. It produces great sharp images and great low light shots. Here's a very low light shot of the very last embers of a sunset.

I have found Motorola's simple Camera app is great for taking a quick photo of something, but sometimes I get better HDR shots using A Better Camera, the only problem is it tends to use way more battery than the stock camera, as it did on my LG G3 too. One thing I miss from the LG is holding down Volume Down to get straight to the camera and the Sony Z2 had a hardware Camera button. Motorola's solution uses a gesture instead, a double flick of the wrist, which takes a little practice to get right.

  You can find some other photos I have taken with the Moto X here.

I have also found audio recording quality in videos, and in calls, to be excellent and far better than that of the Sony Z2. I recorded a quick test video of a busker on the high street to try it out, at the default 1080p settings. I have yet to try the slo-mo and 2160p settings out.

Battery Life

With only a fixed 2300MaH battery, the second gen X reportedly gets mainly average battery life, but still on a par with what I got from my LG G3, which had a 3000MaH battery but had a True HD screen which impacted on battery life. Marshmallow's Doze should improve battery life over previous Android versions and I will find out how things go in the coming weeks, since I have only had this device for a short time.

Conclusion

So far I have found this to be the best Android device I have owned so far, with it's smooth near-stock Android experience with only minimal tweaks from Motorola. I love Moto Display and the beautiful screen, and that it fits better in my pocket than my LG G3 (or the Sony Z2) did even with a leather flip case on it. I also like the crystal clear sound quality, including in Skype calls. Hopefully I shall keep this device for a good long while, as long as it continues working well. The second gen Moto X is still a great device, particularly since it received marshmallow.

Former Flagships: From LG G3 to Sony Xperia Z2

Several months back I accidentally dropped my LG G3 and had the screen replaced, but unfortunately it now seems to be becoming glitchy, so I decided to replace the phone with something different/better.  On my limited budget, I went for a one of the G3's competitors (of the era), a Sony Xperia Z2 as it has a 20MP camera, 3GB RAM, decent size battery, shatter-proof screen and waterproof (IP58 certified) body. I found a decent secondhand one on eBay at a reasonable price. It only has a few marks on the rear glass back, the rest is in great condition, including the 5.2 inch 1080p screen.

 
First impressions when I picked it up out the box was it's feels reassuringly heavy and robust, particularly the metal sides and buttons. Booting up, the device led me through the setup wizard, including creation of a Sony account. When I had finished I realized I could have used their backup/restore tool to restore straight from my G3! The default look isn't a stock look, the icons and widgets look a bit toy-like to me, so I installed Nova and replicated a cleaner, nearer stock look, with Marshmallow icons, in the same way I did with my G3. Like the LG, the Z2 has Knock To Wake (but not Knock to screen off), it just needs to be enabled in the settings. It might take me awhile to really get used to having the buttons on the side of the phone again, especially as the Z2 has the Power button and Volume rocker in the centre of the side of the device.

The Z2 currently runs Sony's version of Lollipop 5.1.1 (my LG G3 only has 5.0.2), it feels quick and I have so far not felt any lag, likely helped by a lighter UI and 3GB RAM. My G3 used to underclock itself when it got hot so it sometimes lagged briefly. All Z2s will get Marshmallow at some point, and there's a beta currently available for some. There's quite a few extra apps I am not sure I actually need, mostly camera effects, and some can be 'uninstalled' but at least it's easier to make it look stock than with LG. For example, Sony does not skin the Quick Settings so they're not ugly like LG's. However if you do not disable these extra apps, particularly Facebook and Twitter, you will find they bloat up to huge sizes as each update adds to the original size of the app and the 16GB version quickly feels too small.

Camera

The Sony Z2 has a 20MP camera that can record video at 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps (compared to 30FPS on my G3) and 720P@120fps. It does not have Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) which the LG G3 has. Slightly annoyingly HDR mode is buried in the stock camera settings, so it is not convenient. In fact most advanced features are only available when you set it in manual mode such as resolution and shot type. Luckily there are plenty of decent third party camera apps. Marshmallow will apparently bring the Z5 style camera interface to the Z2. I like the physical camera button, which can take you to the camera app when you hold it for 1 second, wherever you are in the OS or from the lockscreen. I do kind of miss the Quick Look case though. There's a ultra-quick burst mode setting, and you hold down the shutter button to activate it.

I'm a bit disappointed in the low light sunset shots by the Z2, as no matter which app I tried, I could not get a decent shot, as the white balance and contrast seems to be all out of whack, even when using HDR mode in other apps. I shall have to experiment further with settings and other camera apps to see if it can do better.

By default, the Sony camera app seems to use 8MP at 16:9 ratio, but I prefer to set it to Manual mode and 20MP at 4:3. I think the LG G3 has a greater dynamic range. On one very sunny day in Lincoln, I tested out the camera and found I got the best results, or at least to my tastes, using A Better Camera's HDR mode at 20MP, 4:3. The app used to suck the battery life out of my G3 but works just fine on the Z2. Here's a few examples:

You can find more photos from the same day here.

Here's another sunset shot, on a different day, that came out very well:

Battery Life


I am already noticing that I get far better battery life with the Z2 than I did with my LG G3. I used to have to charge my phone at some point in the early evening and then put on charge when I go to bed. The Z2 on the other hand seems to last me all day without that evening recharge, depending on usage. This is probably due to a combination of the larger 3200 mAh battery (the G3 one is 3000 mAh) and lower resolution screen. The G3's 1440p display might be larger, and pretty with it's tiny bezels, but it really does suck up more power.  I also actually find the Z2's display more pleasing to my eyes and easier to see in bright sunlight. The G3 does have a removable battery, unlike the Sony, but it's not as convenient and obviously requires the purchase of a spare battery. I also like that I can remove the MicroSD card from the Sony without having to shut the phone down.

Call Audio Quality

When I first tested the Z2s in a call, the caller at the other end could barely hear me, as my mic audio volume seemed to be really low. However, I found out that disabling Microphone Noise Suppression (Settings > Call Settings) solves the problem. After a reboot, it's now perfectly acceptable, though in Skype it is still a little bit low so I think I shall be using my Bluetooth headset for that.

Conclusion

Overall, despite the slightly better camera performance on the LG G3, I prefer the Sony Xperia Z2 as it doesn't lag at all, or get as hot. One time I awoke to find my LG G3 was really hot and about to shut itself down. I had to leave it off for about 20 minutes or so until it had cooled down before attempting to use it again. The Z2 also feels more durable and can apparently survive a splash or a dunking, though I'm not going to test that myself on purpose! The G3 is a great device when it's working fine, but I much prefer the Sony Z2's reliability, better battery life, and solid performance as a daily driver.