I'll happily put myself in the "disappointed" column, but I want to be 100% clear why (and why not).
First, why not.
I'm TOTALLY OK with the hardware. It looks like a damn attractive phone to me, and if in touch-and-feel it falls somewhere between the S4 and the One that's fine by me. As far as internals, I'm also completely fine with a 720p screen, 2GB RAM, yesterday's dual core or quad core...whatever, it's all good.
And now, why I AM not so thrilled.
To be honest, I think this discussion highlights to me a fundamental assumption buried deep in my thinking, which was:
Thank god Google has stepped in and bought Motorola. I'm a HUGE drinker of Googlaid -- their workplace model, their business model, and especially, the technology they develop. I think they're an awesome company. Not perfect but damn good. Now that they own Motorola's cell division, they'll have the resources to build devices that are the true physical expression of the company's ideals. I really want to own a Google phone.
But it doesn't stop there. More importantly, I assumed:
I am absolutely OK with Google building and selling a phone with yesterday's specs, as long as it has tomorrow's intelligence. You go Google -- put THE BEST PROGRAMMING YOU HAVE INTO THE X.
THAT is why I'm disappointed
. I know and love Google, and this is not a Google phone. It's a "hey, let's add a few cool innovations" phone with a truckload of HYPE piled on the top. I'm not disappointed by the hype. I'm disappointed that Google didn't come close to what they're capable of. (And until anandtech or whoever demonstrates that the battery life, processing agility, and other new features are all that, as far as I'm concerned
this is just more hype.)
-Matt