It’s an exciting time right now! After a long, long two years I’m finally eligible for a phone upgrade. While in the process of determining a worthy successor to my Droid 4, I realized just how much smartphones, and my taste in them, had changed in just two years.
October 2012: The yearn for customization
When I could finally afford to add a data package to my cell phone plan, I was beyond excited. A few years earlier, I had begun my foray into pocket computing with a second generation iPod touch, which was then upgraded to a 4th generation to take advantage of some new stuff from Apple. After having jailbroken both of them to get some more desirable features, and with Android getting a better reputation thanks to their release of gingerbread, I realized that Android was really where my heart was. I was able to snag an original Droid off of ebay for the cost of a couple lunches (an order of magnitude cheaper than my iPods) and after installing Cyanogenmod on it, was satisfied with the performance but completely taken by everything else. The OS was nowhere near as polished as iOS at the time, but it was also much more open to my tweaks and ad hoc enhancements.
After that there was really no looking back. The college student with social media accounts and a borderline obsession with Google searches was ecstatic that he was going to be killing so much time on lines answering emails and scrolling through feeds, and the for-the-heck-of-it tinkerer and tweaker knew that there would be no shortage of opportunity to explore and refine my experience with the open ecosystem – Android it was. The external keyboard and removable microSD card were what sealed the deal for me at the time, both features I planned to use extensively in the coming months.
My 2012 phone of choice.
September 2014: The yearn for cutting edge
Fast forward two years, and my phone has been through quite the overhaul. The quest for features and improvements has led me to adopt Cyanogenmod 11 in the absence of updates from Motorola/Verizon, and the immense amounts of customization available for Android has allowed my homescreen to adapt to my needs. But the biggest issue as of late? My phone is old, and it’s slow. The custom ROM breathed new life into the device, but regardless, it’s showing its age. Luckily, it’s a quality product and I’ve been able to continue to use it, however at times it has become more of a chore than an experience. I’ll often go retrieve my tablet (or laptop if it’s on) to perform some task because I know there’s a chance my phone will give me some sluggish response time, even if it’s in another room (dramatic I know…although more beneficial from a health standpoint until Google Fit and Apple HealthKit get up to speed).
So since I’m about to head into another two-year commitment, I wanted to be sure that my new device, which is sure to be amazing at the start, would still be amazing a couple years down the road, or at least not almost obsolete. In addition, my personal use cases for my phone has altered a bit, for example, the slide-out keyboard is hardly utilized anymore (save those times I really need to SSH into a machine while on the go), my microSD card consists mainly of music and is accessed less and less frequently (the “shuffle-all” setting is just an invitation to hit next for an hour), and I wanted to increase my screen size (studies have shown this is a common trend, as clearly evidenced from Apple’s latest phone behemoth). These trends line up with the trends of the smartphone market in general, allowing my personal tastes and a company’s flagship phone to line up more easily. Why flagship? Because those are the devices that get all the attention (attention = updates), and the ones (in my experience) that user’s are continually swearing by even years after their release.
So really my choice became clear once I knew that I wanted a flagship Android smartphone with no shortage of customizations: the Moto X. Coming from a Motorola phone, I can appreciate the almost-stock experience it provides, and the sheer level of options afforded through Moto-Maker are sure to provide me a unique phone from start to finish. The added voice and notification features, combined with some trend-setting inclusions such as Trusted Bluetooth devices are all just cherries on top.
Will it actually withstand the test of time? We won’t know just yet, but from past experience, I think the 2nd generation Moto X has a lot going for it (maybe enough for me to be more verbose about it once it’s in hand), and it will sure be a fun ride along the way!
My new phone of choice!