LuLx
The Moto X maybe a great phone; I don't know. My concern is that the carriers are going to charge a premium price, e. g., 199$ for a phone that costs considerably less to build than a GS4 or IPhone 5.
I bought the Galaxy Nexus when it first went on sale for what was, at the time, the highest price ever for a Verizon subsidized phone. It was an inferior piece of hardware. (And, yes, I understand that it was intended for developers) The point being that the build cost didn't justify the retail price.
On the other hand, I bought a Note 2 for a premium price--and got premium hardware.
Ultimately my question regarding the Moto X is whether the rather mundane (and less costly parts) are employed to jack up the margins beyond what a manufacturer gets for a premium phone.
I understand that your basic point is that the consumer should be more concerned about overall performance not cost. I get it. But if the hardware is the modern equivalent of a Nexus 4, then charge the Nexus 4 price, not the Note 2 or GS4 price.
I'm not an idiot. I understand pricing, hardware, software, the google store, carrier manipulation etc; that's why I tried to stay away from that. The issues I have with everything is the comparison of the actually phone based PURELY on hardware numbers that, in reality, mean absolutely NOTHING to anyone who isn't trying to figure out a way to make CATIA work on their S4.
That is EXACTLY the point I'm trying to make. The phone hasn't even been physically released yet and it's already got a casket right next to the grave everyone's dug for it. I'm not saying the phone isn't going to be a disappointment, I'm just trying to understand how someone could possibly say the phone is worthless based solely on the fact that it has "outdated" hardware. Even that hardware that's "outdated" isn't even outdated if you take it into perspective. The processors people want in phones are the processors that are still ahead of their times. They want the snapdragon 800, the exynos 5 etc, and those are barely done cooling off after coming off the line.
I also understand people have tested the phone, we've had a few people sound off saying they physically have the phone in their hand and they said it wasn't that great. Obviously that's an opinion, which can be taken MANY different ways. For instance, I'm really looking for a phone that has the perfect hardware/software mesh that's going to include fantastic software features that are actually going to see use. Who the hell is going to take the time to open, load, and figure out how to use the IR tech on the S4 if a remote is literally 2 inches away? On the other hand, if my phone automatically detects that I'm driving and gives me the option for immediate voice commands instead of making me navigate to them, that's an awesome feature. Like I said, those are opinions so I understand they go many different ways.
If the phone is going to do something spectacular, whether hardware or software, you're going to pay for it. Engineers and Coders alike put equal time into their projects, you're either going to pay for the cost of the parts, or the cost of the designers creating the software.
