The Moto X Sucks (The 2014 version)

Subtitle: FYI: Don’t buy a 2nd Gen Moto X. 1st Gen built like a tank, 2nd Gen built like a  Christmas ornament.

A Faberge Egg from Wikipedia

I have been with Republic Wireless for a year with a first gen moto x and loved every minute of both the phone and the service. Republic really is awesome.

Like many people who have switched from a big carrier I became something of an evangelist trying to free friends and family from those big carriers.

Adding it up I have convinced 8 people to join Republic with Motorola phones telling them how great my phone was, noting every time the build quality.

That all changes now that I have a second gen moto x. I will no longer be recommending the phone I have (now the second gen). I will tell them to get a 1st gen while they can or get a moto e (their cheapest offering) because motorola makes poor quality phones and thinks that is to be expected.

My first gen that I loved survived many drops and bumps and weathered them like a tank. One or two dozen times was it dropped from standing height onto hardwood and tile, and several times it survived drops onto the street as well. For a while I was doing a lot of construction work renovating an old house. The phone I had before that (an iPhone 4s pre-republic) I dropped maybe a few times in 2 years.

The Moto X first generation was remarkably durable and I did in fact make such remarks repeatedly, I sang it’s praises in that regard. I never placed the first gen in a case and it was bulletproof.

Being so impressed I decided to sell my previous phone to someone I convinced to join republic and upgrade to the newer supposedly better 2nd gen. That was two weeks ago.

In the past two weeks I have babied and coddled the new phone as it seemed too pretty too use. I was right about that. It is in fact too pretty to use.

The first gen is built like a tank, the second gen is built like a christmas ornament. Pretty, shiny, bright, and so delicate that if you dare to touch it the phone will shatter.

This morning I set my new, still pristine phone on a chair, I didn’t know that a) there was a slight slant to the chair and b) the moto x was so slick. The phone slowly slid off the chair and from about 18 inches off the floor.

I thought to myself that I shouldn’t have been so careless and I hope the decorative metal border is not scuffed.

I picked it up and to my shock the screen was shattered! I thought: I must have a defective phone! There is no way motorola would build such a delicate piece of crap! The first time it had been touched by anything but a loving caress destroyed it!

But I was sure that motorola would stand by the quality of their product and replace a defective phone that was waiting to shatter like this one.

I spent almost an hour with their support/warranty department first by online chat and then by phone.

I was wrong. Motorola does not stand by their products.

According to Motorola phone that shatters when you use it is expected! Something like the exploding gas tank of the Ford Pinto, it is a design feature!

In paraphrase such defects and frailties are to be expected in Motorola phones and the shattered screen is not covered by warranty. The shattered screen from an 18 inch drop the first gen (or a fresh egg) would have laughed at.

When I asked him the guy I talked to on the phone in customer support (name withheld I don’t want to get him in trouble) even admitted the new moto x has lower build quality and is much more delicate than the first gen.

Republic is still great, Motorola is not.

In the future I will tell people how great Republic is despite the low quality phones and that they should get a first gen moto x that made Motorola worth noticing again, not the worthless low quality sequel cashing in on the good name of the first.

I will tell potential converts to Republic Wireless to get the cheapest moto e because anything else is a waste of money.

I wonder if this low quality is standard now that Google sold Motorola off to Lenovo.

tldr:

• the X2 is particularly delicate
• this is a degradation from the X1
• that the build quality is lower in the X2 than the X1
• and that Motorola knows it.
• I would have never purchased such a delicate phone had I known, and recommend you don’t now that you know.
• Buy a 1st gen while you can or don’t waste your money with Motorola and get the cheapest phone you can to access republic.