2013 was actually a pretty interesting year for Motorola. I was honestly surprised with a lot of the things that Motorola did with their company this year. Motorola was pretty quiet until around July, aside from the normal leaks. Which is when they announced 4 different phones. They announced the DROID Maxx, Mini and Ultra for Verizon in late July, along with the Moto X for Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, US Cellular and unlocked for T-Mobile in early August. These phones virtually run all the same software, however the DROID family has a few extra features along with capacitive buttons instead of on-screen buttons like the Moto X. Later on this year, around November, Motorola announced the Moto G which is a pretty cheap device, that is still kind of high-end for the market it is in. So what are we expecting from Motorola in 2014? All kinds of good things.
Moto X (2014)?
The Moto X was one of the best phones this year. While many people hated the fact that the Moto X had pretty low specs, even though the experience is amazing. They were also upset about the price of the Moto X. Since it was on contract for the same price as the HTC One, and the Samsung Galaxy S4. But with lower specs, like a 720p display. But the real story for the Moto X is all about the features and MotoMaker. The Moto X introduced us to Touchless Control and Active Display, as well as a few other features that I really love about my Moto X. Touchless Control is Motorola taking Google Now one step further than Google has. The Moto X has a core on the processor that listens for you to say “Okay Google Now” and it will wake up and execute the command you give it. So it’s not killing your battery. Then there’s Active Display. Which lights up a few pixels on your display to show you the time and your notifications. Which is a really nice feature. While most people don’t think Active Display is that much of a feature, once you use it, you can’t go back to just a notification light.
For the next-generation Moto X, I’d like to see a few changes in the hardware compared to the Moto X. Like a better camera, wireless charging, and maybe a bigger battery. While battery life really isn’t an issue on my Moto X, I’d still like to have a bigger battery. We always want bigger batteries right? I’d like to see wireless charging, because I love just putting my Nexus 7 (2013) on the wireless charging pad, without needing to plug it in. I don’t think I need to explain the camera part. We all know the camera isn’t the best, but the fact that it is in the Play Store, is great. Meaning Motorola can go ahead and update the camera without pushing out an OTA.
Tablets
When Marques Brownlee interviewed Motorola’s CEO a few weeks ago, they talked briefly about tablets. That’s one thing I’d like to see come out from Motorola. Imagine going to Motomaker and designing your own Motorola tablet? Better yet, what about getting a Motorola tablet with a Bamboo back? Now that would be awesome. Honestly, if Motorola just took the Moto X and turned it into a 7 or 8 inch tablet, I think they’d have a successful tablet. Especially if they priced it just a bit higher than the Nexus 7, but lower than the LG G Pad 8.3. How many of you would buy a Motorola-made tablet? Moto X Tablet?
MotoMaker
Dennis Woodside also said that the future of Motorola is all about MotoMaker. So I’m expecting to see more devices designed with MotoMaker. Which is a great thing. We were told at the Moto X launch, that Motorola would be adding more and more colors and materials for back plates on the Moto X. So far the only new back plate we have is the Bamboo back. So I’m hoping we’ll see more soon in 2014. As well as more devices. Maybe we could get a kevlar back? I really like the back of the Motorola DROID Maxx, while others don’t. But it would be cool to have that option, right?
Another thing I’d like to see is more options for the front. As it stands right now, you can only pick between black and white for the front of the Moto X. I would have loved to be able to make the front of my Moto X navy blue to match the back. I’m not sure why it’s limited to black and white, I’m sure they have their reasons though.
Wearables
Okay, so we know Motorola is working on wearables. What company isn’t? Motorola has actually done a wearable in the past. Anyone remember the ACTV? I think that was a bit before it’s time. Dennis did hint at wearables in recent interviews, so I’m sure they are coming next year or maybe the year after that. But I’m really excited to see a smartwatch from Motorola, and even from Google. I’d also like to see what else Motorola can come up with for wearables. Right now, I don’t see much of a need for a smartwatch right now, at least for me. I know others will disagree, but for me I don’t have a need for one. So it’s hard to think of ways to improve on a smartwatch, like the Gear.
I have a feeling that 2014 is going to be a really big year for Motorola. They are already doing big things, and I think it’ll just get bigger. I think they are doing it right by keeping to two phones. A high-end and a low-end phone. Although I’d like to see them do more, it will take more time and will have less engineers working on updates for those devices. Which we all know how quickly we want our updates. Right now Motorola’s market share is pretty low, which every OEM’s is low because Samsung has so much of the market share right now. Which we can largely attribute to the marketing they do for each device. However, I believe Motorola may make a pretty large jump after Q1 or Q2 of 2014.
What are you expecting from Motorola in 2014? Be sure to let us know in the comments.