Moto X, my new phone
Long-term readers might recall my original review of Republic Wireless and their dreadful Defy XT phone last October. In short, I said great company to deal with, but wait until they make the Moto X phone available before you sign up. Having dealt with the Defy XT since then, that was excellent advice.
The good, no make that great, news is the Moto X has been on the market for a while now and I just got mine a couple of weeks ago. It is light-years better and a piece of technology that actually has made my life better and cheaper.
Better because the Moto X is far more user-friendly and cheaper because now I can switch between plans. With the new Moto X phone they are now offering four different plans. Here they are, as described by RW and cribbed directly from their website:
$5 Wi-Fi only plan
This is the most powerful tool in your arsenal of options. Why? You can drop your smart phone bill —at will— to $5. If you’re interested in getting serious about cutting costs, you can use this tool to best leverage the Wi-Fi in your life to reduce your phone bill. It’s also the ultimate plan for home base stickers and kids who don’t need a cellular plan. It’s fully unlimited data, talk and text —on Wi-Fi only.
$10 Wi-Fi + Cell Talk & Text
One of our members, 10thdoctor said : “I use WiFi for everything, except when I’m traveling and for voice at my school.” Yep, this is the perfect plan for that. Our members are around Wi-Fi about 90% of the time. During that 10% of the time where you’re away from Wi-Fi, this plan gives you cellular backup for communicating when you need to. This plan both cuts costs and accommodates what’s quickly becoming the norm: a day filled with Wi-Fi.
$25 Wi-Fi + Cell (3G) Talk, Text & Data
Lots of people are on 3G plans today and are paying upwards of $100 a month on their smart phone bills. That’s nuts. This plan is here for you during the times when you need the backup of cell data. For folks who want to surf Facebook and check email in the car (as a passenger!) or who travel regularly for work, this option lets them enjoy all the benefits of Wi-Fi with the luxury of 3G cellular data. You may find you only want this cellular back up part of the month —no problem! Switching during the month to the $5 or $10 plan is easy, and is a great way to keep more money in your wallet.
$40 Wi-Fi + Cell (4G) Talk, Text & Data
We heard you tell us that you wanted a super fast option, so we added this arrow to your quiver. This plan is here for you when you’ve got a road warrior kind of month, and you’ve got a serious need for speed. Have to get work done on a long train ride? And need to work fast? This is your guy. Just like the other plans, it’s just a few clicks away.
Will I be able to switch between plans?
Yes! When you purchase a new Moto X phone, you’ll be able to choose whatever plan you like—and you can also switch plans up to twice per month as your needs change. For example, if you know you’ll be taking a vacation and might require more cell data one week, you can switch to a cell data plan right from your phone and then switch back to a Wi-Fi “friendlier” plan once you return home.
That ability to switch as your needs dictate has been pretty sweet for me. Mostly the $10 Plan serves my needs just fine, and that’s half the cost of the $20 per month I was paying with the Defy XT. When I travel domestically, I’ll bump up to the $25 plan so I can pick up the internet on the road. For my international trips I’ll drop down to the $5 Wi-Fi only plan since that’s all that works overseas anyway.
My wife picked up the new and less expensive Moto G phone and she likes it just fine. In fact, I’m hard pressed to tell the difference, although I’m told the X takes better pictures. But then our needs are modest.
So now, unlike my review last Fall, I can recommend both Republic and their phones without reservation. If you’d like to give it a try yourself, just click on the ad below. By way of full disclosure if you sign up, this blog will earn a commission.
Since the Deft XT is my only other smart phone experience, I also asked my more tech-savvy pal Lito what he thinks of his new Moto X. You might recall Lito from the cool guest post he wrote: Cafe No Se. Here are his comments:
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- Big screen
- Great graphics
- Quite fast with in-phone processing (not including surfing the web)
- Surfing is still quite good for $25/mo but it’s no I-Phone and depends on service
- Surfing on wi-fi is pretty damn fast
- The phone has a really cool operating system. It walks you through tons of features that it has. It really personalizes with you, and helps you get there. This was helpful since I haven’t used fancy technology in a long time (Lito has spent the last few years in Guatemala, where I met him) and feel like I missed the gap. I think this would be spectacular for an older audience that is intimidated by technology.
- I love the company. I’ve had only the fastest/friendliest/best service. It feels so much more personal than any other company I’ve had before.
- Call quality isn’t amazing, but it’s pretty good.
- The speakers are really, really good for listening to music. Super loud, clear, and with a great range. This phone is nice if you want mobile music.
- I really like the swipe texting. It’s a lot more intuitive than you’d think. It’s almost always spot on. Truly incredible.
- 8GB seems like plenty of room for photos and a little music and some games.
- I like how google links up lots of my things together without me paying attention. For example it gave me an update on my flight status even though all it must have had for info was an email somewhere. I programmed nothing as a reminder.
- Even though the only change I made was upgrade from $10 to $25 I love the feeling that there’s no contract. You already know that, though.
- Short battery life, but charges fast, too. Dead to 100% in about an hour and a half. (Battery life has been fine for me, but then I’m coming from the Defy XT where it was a real issue.)
- It sounds weird, but I don’t like that when I set it down on the counter or whatever that the screen almost always auto rotates to widescreen. I realize I can set it to lock, but I like the rotate option. I think it’s just too sensitive. (Ha! I had never noticed this, but yep it does. Not an issue for me.)
- The phone screen is confusing and I often call people accidentally just by holding the phone. If part of my hand wraps around the screen I touch a contact and it dials. I really don’t like that. It’s annoying.
- The “Ok, Google NOW” touchless control is a little disappointing. I thought I was going to be able to have a sort of dialogue with the phone by giving it direct commands like “search my email for bla bla bla” but the majority of things I want to accomplish just end up as a search in a google bar.
- Sometimes I feel like the phone is really hot in my pocket and I think it’s plotting to take over the world or something. It’s obviously running programs or something and I know it’s burning battery. This may be a factor of its “always on” mode. At any time if you say “Ok, Google now” it’ll respond. That must cost a lot of battery. These things can be turned off, though.
If you have experience with Republic and any of their phones, please share your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!