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RIP: Motorola's glory days.....

gloriousnumber1

gloriousnumber1

Android Expert
I sure miss the days when Motorola actually made flagship phones. I am on Verizon so I will mention mostly models on that network. I had the original Motorola Droid. Solid as a rock, all metal and glass. It did quickly get overshadowed but for a while, it was King! The Droid X wasn't one I wanted but it was the first 4.3" on Verizon (correct me if I'm wrong).

Not all of their models were great though. Sometime probably in late 2010, they fell behind with the Droid 2, then Droid 3, etc. The Droid 2 R2D2 was especially interesting! The world was moving away from smartphones with physical keyboards but Motorola kept them coming until the Droid 4.

The Bionic looked promising as the first dual core LTE phone on VZW but it sure got delayed for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, it gave us endless BSOD's until it quickly got forgotten.

The Droid RAZR shook things up! It got followed up by the RAZR Maxx which I had and enjoyed. The macro camera capabilities blew me away. along with great night shots. Battery life was great too.

Then, something happened. I did briefly had a Droid HD which was ok, and similar specs to the SGS3. Motorola may have changed because Google bought it, or maybe because Samsung and Apple had emerged as clear leaders in the market.

Whatever the reason, it's as if they have just given up. Maybe Google has decided that entry level phones for cheap are a better way to keep their foot in the door. However, it seems most end up around the world to some other country or pay as you go network and not in the USA. The Moto X seems solid to me, and may be a good iPoop competitor, but not for me with an S4.

I would love to see them come out with something truly revolutionary like the Original Droid when it came out. Could it be the marketplace doesn't have room for something like this anymore? Possibly true. Here is what I would like them to do, if I could choose.

I want an IP67 rated flagship phone. I would love to see a free, unlimited PC backup app that would carbon copy all items on their phone like people who root can do. IT would be as easy as syncing Chrome bookmarks with the phone and PC. I would like to see it have a 4.7" to 5" display, offering 500 ppi, also 64 bit, 4GB ram, 64 GB storage with micro SD slot expandable to 128 GB. Quad core, snapdragon 805 or something equivalent. I would like it to have a great camera with sharp colors comparable to an S5 or similar, that works great in day or night. Maybe some camera options of the M8. I would have a 3,000 mAh battery that is removable, and offer amazing optimization that would make the battery last a full day on heavy use, 2-3 days of light use. Finally, I would love it to have a full 2 YEAR warranty where if ANYTHING breaks that isn't the user's fault, Google will ship a BRAND NEW unit, no questions asked priority overnight shipping. This warranty would take effect from the moment of first activation. It would be transferable an unlimited amount of time to other users and people who may buy it from the original owner. It would be $200 on contract or $700 full price.
 
How about Project Ara? You get to chose what you want in the phone. You could have all that and then some...

Honestly, even Samsung is lacking on innovation because there's just not much more that one can do with a phone. How many sensors and stuff can one place in a single device. I think that Project Ara is a truly innovative project and it would be great to have Motorola's name on something like that.

Building the highest speced out phone doesn't make it a good phone.
 
I wouldn't say they've given up, it's hard to have a new groundbreaking feature every release cycle. Project Ara is definitely innovative, the question is will it end up being successful? I'm optimistic but it's hard to tell how popular it will be.

As for Motorola flagship phones, there is supposedly a new version of the Moto X coming out this summer. It's great Motorola has just released several low - mid end phones at affordable prices for greater choice, of course a second flagship device would be cool :)

offering 500 ppi
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To be honest that's just overkill, plus it would make text small and hard to read.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/26/new-moto-x-this-summer/
 
Last year, Google seemed to be think the top end was totally saturated and that growth was going to be pretty much confined to the mid- to low-end markets. A consequence appears to be that they had Moto concentrated their efforts there.

Things is, it worked: Moto's market share went from effectively zilch to 6%, almost entirely on the back of the low-end Moto G. They've now released an even cheaper Moto E (that is getting reasonable reviews).

My guess is that Moto's new owners are going to continue to concentrate on the market with growth potential and use flagships as they have traditionally been used in other markets: as little more than a loss-leading advertising opportunity. I expect other phone manufacturers to follow as low end phones become increasing capable. Already there's not too much a low end phone can't do well enough - plus, Google's new high end 'initiative' is effectively going to make it more difficult for manufacturers to differentiate at the high end, anyway.
 
gloriousnumber1 said:
I want an IP67 rated flagship phone. I would love to see a free, unlimited PC backup app that would carbon copy all items on their phone like people who root can do. IT would be as easy as syncing Chrome bookmarks with the phone and PC. I would like to see it have a 4.7" to 5" display, offering 500 ppi, also 64 bit, 4GB ram, 64 GB storage with micro SD slot expandable to 128 GB. Quad core, snapdragon 805 or something equivalent. I would like it to have a great camera with sharp colors comparable to an S5 or similar, that works great in day or night. Maybe some camera options of the M8. I would have a 3,000 mAh battery that is removable, and offer amazing optimization that would make the battery last a full day on heavy use, 2-3 days of light use. Finally, I would love it to have a full 2 YEAR warranty where if ANYTHING breaks that isn't the user's fault, Google will ship a BRAND NEW unit, no questions asked priority overnight shipping. This warranty would take effect from the moment of first activation. It would be transferable an unlimited amount of time to other users and people who may buy it from the original owner. It would be $200 on contract or $700 full price.
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But realistically?

I think of the phone as a tool, so specs for specs' sake are not desirable. If you can't tell the difference in a blind test between a 400 ppi display and a 450 ppi one then you don't need 500 ppi (though as 500 ppi in 4.7"-5" gives rather strange resolutions your real options are either 440-470 ppi for 1080p or 590-620 ppi for 1440p). More pixels than you can resolve just work the cpu and gpu harder, using more power and reducing responsiveness, for no gain. RAM also needs powering whether it's used or not, so even having more RAM than you need is a slight disadvantage (so since I have RAM sitting unused in the current 2GB I'm not bothered about having 4GB).

But if you want a 2 year warranty that's easy: come and join us in Europe :). Though if you want a "we'll ship a new unit no questions asked regardless, fully transferable" manufacturer's warranty you should expect to pay for that in the purchase price of the handset, which doesn't seem to have been factored into your wishes (and it wouldn't be Google doing this as they no longer own Motorola Mobility).

But I would like to see Moto produce a flagship consistent with the philosophy they described when they released the X: not a "we've crammed more GHz/MPix/ppi than anyone else" device (using big numbers as a marketing tool) but a "here's a thought-through high-end experience" handset. Make a flagship that's a better high-end handset rather than just a temporary blip in the specs arms-race.
 
Agree with pretty much everything Hadron says there, though I think ALL phones should be IP67 rated: it's flat out absurd that something so expensive, that's supposed to be used outdoors, can be killed by a little water.
 
The PPI may be irrelevant past maybe 400 or so , I agree with that. However Verizon used to offer a warranty like that before smart phones. If anything happened on warranty, just go into the store and they will open a brand new phone from the box and exchange it.
 
Yes, my provider (Orange UK) used to do something like that. But you were paying for it, just it was hidden inside the monthly contract charge (and then they decided to make it a chargeable extra instead).

But that's a bit different from the manufacturer doing it, because the carrier gets a monthly income from you which they can set at a level which covers the costs of such a system. But if the manufacturer were to provide that (implicit when you said Google would ship the handset) the cost of that service would have to be included in the handset price.
 
Hadron said:
Yes, my provider (Orange UK) used to do something like that. But you were paying for it, just it was hidden inside the monthly contract charge (and then they decided to make it a chargeable extra instead).

But that's a bit different from the manufacturer doing it, because the carrier gets a monthly income from you which they can set at a level which covers the costs of such a system. But if the manufacturer were to provide that (implicit when you said Google would ship the handset) the cost of that service would have to be included in the handset price.
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That makes sense. What I really mean is I would like a company (any of them) to stand behind their hardware and put their money where their mouth is. People always brag on Apple products and say they last a long time. In many cases of people I know, unless they abuse them, it is true. I want a company to stand up to them and give a 2 year guarantee that doesn't cost extra to prove that short of abuse, their handset will last at least 2 years.
 
gloriousnumber1 said:
That makes sense. What I really mean is I would like a company (any of them) to stand behind their hardware and put their money where their mouth is. People always brag on Apple products and say they last a long time. In many cases of people I know, unless they abuse them, it is true. I want a company to stand up to them and give a 2 year guarantee that doesn't cost extra to prove that short of abuse, their handset will last at least 2 years.
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Yeah. No. My daughter has a lemon iPhone that Apple will do nothing about.

They're all the same - dealing with returns is cheaper than deep testing every unit when dealing with high production rates.
 
EarlyMon said:
Yeah. No. My daughter has a lemon iPhone that Apple will do nothing about.

They're all the same - dealing with returns is cheaper than deep testing every unit when dealing with high production rates.
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Dang, that's too bad. I certainly would never claim Apple has perfect warranties or that their products never fail. I spent $240 on an 80GB color classic iPod years ago and it didn't last but a year and a half and I didn't even abuse it or get it wet.

I just want stuff that lasts like my old Sony Discman from the 90's. Darn thing probably has thousands of hours on it with zero issues.

I know what many of you are thinking... "But those were simple! No processors, just a motor, laser, and display! You can't compare them to a smartphone!"

Well that is all true. However, 6 of my 9 smartphone units that have failed over the past 4 years didn't fail because of that. The headphone jack simply failed. Either stuff quit snapping in or it started to give me static and need to be jiggled around to work. However both ended up going out and I needed to replace it. Why can't they make headphone jacks last at least, for crying out loud!
 
No, I hear you and I agree.

Technology levels are merely relative but consumer goods are not.

The Discman was very high tech for its day (mine didn't last as long, congrats on better luck).

But - production levels and complexity have both increased.

The same things that make them affordable make them disposable.

I don't like the second half of the equation either but there's not much to expect otherwise.
 
EarlyMon said:
No, I hear you and I agree.

Technology levels are merely relative but consumer goods are not.

The Discman was very high tech for its day (mine didn't last as long, congrats on better luck).

But - production levels and complexity have both increased.

The same things that make them affordable make them disposable.

I don't like the second half of the equation either but there's not much to expect otherwise.
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Agreed, I'm glad you brought all that up. I guess we can all hope the One Plus One sets a new precedent on price and software that will help drive down price across the board due to competition!
 
gloriousnumber1 said:
Agreed, I'm glad you brought all that up. I guess we can all hope the One Plus One sets a new precedent on price and software that will help drive down price across the board due to competition!
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I do think that the OnePlus One is just a one off thing at the moment. Really do have to jump through hoops to actually get one, having to join and actively participate in forums, begging for invites, smashing phones on YouTube etc. If people can't just walk into a store and buy one there and then, it's not going to set any precedents and provide much competition at the moment, not with OnePlus's current marketing antics.

I was seriously looking at getting a One, but in the end couldn't be bothered with going through with it, so bought a phone from a local store, like most people would.
 
One of the worst issues with Motorola phones is it has troubles with recording calls. Apparently MOtorola razr hardware is built in a way that makes it nearly difficult to impossible to run a call recording app, if you want to record a call for your records. There are apps that can record via the phone's mike, but you need to put the phone in s speaker mode to do this, and it can be an extra inconvenience...
 
Eagletrump said:
One of the worst issues with Motorola phones is it has troubles with recording calls. Apparently MOtorola razr hardware is built in a way that makes it nearly difficult to impossible to run a call recording app, if you want to record a call for your records. There are apps that can record via the phone's mike, but you need to put the phone in s speaker mode to do this, and it can be an extra inconvenience...
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That's not limited to Motorola at all. Anymore, it's pretty common.
 
EarlyMon said:
No, but it gripes me too, it wasn't always this way. If I find one, I will let you know for sure.

Sometimes you can find a kernel replacement that restores the feature.

A lot of people get hung up discussing it for legal reasons, but it's not illegal everywhere and certainly in my case, wasn't used for anything underhanded.

Same thing with silent camera shutters. Those became illegal in some places due to creepazoids and for a while, many phones removed the option to turn that sound off. And it's the worst thing possible when trying to sneak a candid shot of the baby with the dog, to name but one example.
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I'm sure there's various countries privacy laws that manufacturers have to comply with, like no silent cameras, no call recording, etc. It's one thing I noticed about when using a non-manufacturer's ROM on my phone, camera can be silent, and can do call recording without the other party knowing, or having to use the mic and speaker.

There are call recorders available that don't announce or beep, or have to use the mic and speaker, but they usually require root or are specific to particular phone. Ask the NSA, what are they using these days. ;)
 
This is a weird thread. I think the Droid Maxx is an excellent phone. It's a great phone. I hate that it doesn't have an sd card but I can take it into explosive environments.
 
TJGoSurf said:
This is a weird thread. I think the Droid Maxx is an excellent phone. It's a great phone. I hate that it doesn't have an sd card but I can take it into explosive environments.
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I'm surprised that it got this much attention. I'm simply sharing my opinion about Motorola, but obviously everyone has a different point of view and varied personal experience. I'm glad you like your Droid Maxx. For the record, I haven't called any Motorola phones bad, I just don't think they are even trying to compete with apple or samsung anymore.
 
gloriousnumber1 said:
I just don't think they are even trying to compete with apple or samsung anymore.
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Most growth in the mobile industry isn't on high end devices, its on low to mid range devices in developing areas

The moto G and Moto E have been a huge success in that aspect.

So while they may not be competing with apple, that's not what they're trying to do. It's about carving their slice out of the much more lucrative lower spec pie
 
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