Moto X4 hands-on review

Research Center:
Moto X4

We have seen a lot of phones from Motorola this year. Just in the last few months we’ve had the Moto Z2 Play, the Moto Z2 Force, the Moto E4 and E4 Plus, all coming hot on the heels of the deserved reigning budget champion, the Moto G5 Plus (don’t forget the Moto G5S). Now, Motorola has revived its X range in a totally new form with the Moto X4, which we managed to get our hands on at Lenovo’s IFA event in Berlin.

Motorola’s mastery of the budget Android smartphone market is well established, and the company has pushed the boundaries of what we can expect from a budget phone. The X4 is looking to do the same thing for the mid-range sector, with a dual camera, an aluminum frame sandwiched by glass, and some really nifty software tricks. Are there too many Motos now? Having spent a bit of time with the latest release, we think there’s room for one more in our Moto X4 hands-on review.

Glass front and back

The Moto X4 is a seriously shiny smartphone. The metal and glass blend is a familiar design aesthetic, popularized by high-end phones, but the X4 costs just 400 euros (around $475). The gentle curves in the glass back make it comfortable to hold and the finish comes in a classy black or reflective silver. The trademark round camera module on the back protrudes and it houses a dual camera setup.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The metal frame is solid, blending into the glass front and back. On the front of the X4, you’ll find a recessed fingerprint sensor below the 5.2-inch screen, with a 16-megapixel selfie camera above. The screen is bright and the 1,080p resolution looks sharp. It feels well-made and we like the subtly textured finish on the back, as well as the ribbed design that circles the camera module.

One design trend that Motorola is not yet on board with is the move towards bezel-less design, because the Moto X4 has pretty hefty bezels top and bottom and a frame round the sides of the screen. As a result, the body feels a bit bigger than it really needs to be. Still, this is a mid-range phone, so it’s unfair to compare it with something like the Galaxy S8 or LG V30.

Selective focus with the dual camera

The first feature we really wanted to try out was the dual camera, which is fast-becoming an expectation in new smartphones. The Moto X4 pairs a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/2 aperture and a wide-angle 8-megapixel sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. The selective focus mode allows you to pick a subject to focus on and blur the background or the foreground.

If you’re a fan of bokeh effects, then it’s going to grab your attention. Selective focus seems to work pretty well, provided you take your time and your subject doesn’t move. The Moto X4 is very slow to process shots, though, so be prepared to wait. Having said that, a Motorola spokesperson told us the software isn’t final, so we can expect speedier performance in the release version.

If you’re a fan of bokeh effects, then it’s going to grab your attention.

We also tried out the 16-megapixel selfie cam and the panoramic selfie mode, which prompts you to turn the X4 right and left to fit everyone in for group selfies, or show your surroundings. It stitched together nicely, but it’s a bit fiddly, so we’re not sure it’s something you would use often.

There’s also a Landmark Detection mode in the camera, which we were able to use to identify a photo of the Brandenburg Gate. It took a couple of seconds, then popped up a Google Maps location and some information. It’s a feature we’ve seen before, so it’s hard to get excited about.

Impressive Bluetooth features

Something we did get excited about is the support for multiple Bluetooth devices. You can pair up to four different speakers or headphones and sync a single music stream to them simultaneously. If you tap on the volume you can even get individual volume controls for each device. We tested it out and it worked perfectly. This is a smart feature that could transform your ragtag collection of Bluetooth speakers into a Sonos-style multi-room music system.

Moto X4 Compared To

Alcatel Idol 5S

Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom

LG X Venture

Moto Z2 Play

Lenovo Moto G5 Plus

ZTE Axon 7 mini

Meizu Pro 6

Nextbit Robin

Sony Xperia Z5

Motorola Droid Turbo

Sony Xperia Z3

Sony Xperia Z3v

HTC Desire Eye

Motorola Moto X (2014)

LG G2

Inside the Moto X4 beats a Snapdragon 630 processor backed by 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. In our short time with the phone it handled just fine, slipping in and out of apps quickly. There will be a 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage version in some markets. Both versions also have room for a MicroSD card.

The battery is rated at 3,000mAh, which should see you through an average day with change. There’s Turbo Charge to get it juiced quickly – six hours worth of power in just 15 minutes of charging. The Moto X4 is durable, too. It scores an IP68 rating and we dunked it in a pool during our hands-on and found it worked perfectly after fishing it out again.

The Moto X4 runs Android 7.1.1 out of the box and it’s close to stock, but we really like the additions Motorola has made. Another smart software innovation is the Moto Key, which enables you to use your fingerprint to automatically log into websites. If you already have a Moto you’ll be glad to hear that this feature will be rolling out to older models via a software update.

You’ll find support for Alexa in the Moto X4, as well as Google Assistant. It’s possible to wake Alexa by simply uttering the name, though we had trouble testing it out on the loud show floor.

Availability and pricing

The Moto X4 is available across Europe from September for 399 euros, but it won’t be landing Stateside until the fall. That euro price translates to around $475, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it came in a bit cheaper. We’re not sure whether the X4 will stand out in Motorola’s crowded line-up. It’s wedged somewhere between the budget G5 Plus and the more expensive Z range. If Motorola can improve the camera software a bit before release, we think the Moto X4 is a compelling prospect that offers a lot for the money.

LG V30 Cine Video Mode Review

Outside of going to film school, how can we quickly and easily elevate the production value of videos shot on our smartphones? After all, whether it’s a special moment with the family, or a document of a fun weekend; our videos deserve to be treated with care and attention. We want to watch them again, not delete them without a second thought. The new LG V30 is a videographer’s dream phone. The camera is optimized for video use, with a collection of tools influenced by modern filmmaking that turn a very ordinary video into something more visually exciting, helping tell your story.

Do they work, and are they really simple enough for everyone to use? What’s more, has LG used a light touch, or gone all-out with heavy-handed effects that may do more harm than good. We found out after filming the morning of the V30’s announcement on an LG V30.

Has LG used a light touch, or gone all-out with heavy-handed effects?

The first thing you need to know is that no matter how good the V30 is — and it’s very good — if you don’t put thought and effort into creating a visual story, the end result will still be ordinary. But the V30’s tools are compelling, making you want to experiment, practice, and crucially, learn how to improve. The few hours we had to shoot video with the V30 wasn’t enough. We could have carried on doing so throughout the day, such was the creative drive to have fun with the camera.

LG’s triumph is the Cine Video mode. At first it looks and sounds like a collection of filters, which we’ve seen many times before. However, LG’s Cine Effects go way beyond slapping a Juno filter over a 10-second clip in Instagram, then hoping for the best. The difference is Cine Effects maintain color accuracy, have a wider dynamic range for a smooth transition between light and dark scenes, and more vivid colors. All this adds up to a vastly improved image quality. Any fears of LG’s Cine Video mode being heavy handed are dispelled. It’s easy to dial-down the effect. Used with care, the V30 will make you a Christopher Nolan-like auteur, and not a bombastic Michael Bay. This, by the way, is very good news indeed.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

It’s not just the Cine Effects that make the V30’s camera so good. The 16-megapixel main camera is a strong performer, with an industry-first f/1.6 aperture and a glass lens. This has 4-percent more light transmittance than plastic lenses, which doesn’t sound a lot, but makes a large difference. LG says the dynamic range is 11 stops, rather than 9.5 ISO stops with a plastic lens. More light means better low-light photos and video.

Let’s get filming. There are 15 Cine Effects, all of which are based on styles popular in movie-making. For example, Thriller gives a moody deep blue, nighttime look, and Romantic Comedy adds a dreamy “golden hour” style. Each theme can be adjusted for strength, and a vignette effect added, again with varying strength. To get the right cinematic look for its Cine Effects, LG worked with post-production film experts and colorists, who were able to make the final, crucial  adjustments to the palette. The themes are based on mood, situation, and feeling; not a simple style choice, and the final product is often startling.

The morning sun was blazing in Berlin as we approached the V30’s launch event, and passing along a tree-lined street with the canal off to one side, gave the perfect opportunity to try Romantic Comedy. The look is almost autumnal, with golden brown skies, a haze in the air, and some beautiful lens flare from the sun. The thing is, the V30 and Cine Effect completely changed the atmosphere and feel of the scene. It didn’t look like that in real life. It was a regular street in a bustling city. Thriller mode added another dimension to Berlin’s subway, at once making already dimly lit, graffitied passages more foreboding; but when faced with some bright street art, the colors popped off the screen. A subway station suddenly became an almost hyper-real environment, where anything could happen next.

We recorded without an external microphone, which is likely how most people will use the V30, and the audio has some great moments — the quad microphone setup separates audio into stereo channels very well; but isn’t so good at focusing on its subject. In a noisy room, it recorded everyone speaking around us at the same volume, making the primary voices much less clear.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Point Zoom is another video feature that has some interesting uses. Activate it, tap an area on the screen, and the phone will track that spot when zooming in and out. An easy to use slide bar is used for zooming, and the speed can be varied. This, along with the auto tracking, gives a really professional look. However, zoom in really close and quality drops drastically.

Anyone with time and talent could really exploit the V30’s ability.

Shooting our short movie was fun. Swapping Cine Effect themes to see how it altered a scene’s look was addictive and genuinely enjoyable, because it really did change the mood of the scene, and as it dynamically adjusts as you move around, you’re rarely left feeling you choose the wrong setting. The V30’s 6-inch,18:9 aspect ratio screen helps here too; because the live video view isn’t covered in distracting settings, theme adjustments, or other buttons. They’re off to the side, so you can see what’s going on, without the need to dig into menus or hide buttons away.

It’s good news on the battery side too. The 3,300mAh battery, combined with the power efficient Snapdragon 835 processor and OLED screen, didn’t drain away in moments. We shot 44 short videos over a few hours, often leaving the camera paused while changing locations, and there was still 76 percent battery life remaining.

While our own video efforts here won’t be eligible for any Oscars, it’s clear that anyone with time and talent could really exploit the V30’s ability, and produce some amazing movies. Not just “home movies” for showing to friends, but pro-quality, engaging, exciting, and enjoyable movies of which they can be proud. The best thing is, the V30 makes the filming process just as enjoyable as watching and re-watching the end result.

Amazon’s latest drama ‘Tin Star’ premieres September 29th

Tin Star, a new drama coming to Amazon Prime Video, just got a premiere date and a trailer. The show stars Tim Roth who plays ex-British detective Jim Worth who recently moved his family to a small Canadian town called Little Big Bear. But a big oil refinery moves into town shortly thereafter, bringing with it lots of problems including organized crime, and the company’s corporate liaison — played by Christina Hendricks — seems to be the strong, unwavering front of an even stronger, unsavory corporation. However, Wright is no saint himself and after a family tragedy, his violent, alcoholic alter-ego Jack is awakened.

The show is written by 28 Weeks Later writer Rowan Joffé and features Genevieve O’Reilly of Rogue One and Episodes, Christopher Heyerdahl of True Blood and Kevin Hanchard of Orphan Black. The show premieres September 29th on Amazon and you can check out the trailer below.

Source: ComingSoon.net

Spotify’s head of video and podcasting leaves the company

Last year Spotify rolled out a package of original video shows, however, they’ve mostly failed to make an impact and now the executive in charge of the initiative has left the company. Bloomberg first reported that Tom Calderone, a former head of VH1, was out after overseeing the rollout of a dozen music-related series last year. In a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter, Spotify said that “We are focusing our expanding video offerings on Rap Caviar, Rock This and other popular Spotify owned and operated playlists…Building out our video and podcast content remains a priority for Spotify and we will have more information to share on our future plans soon.”

Spotify’s interest in video dates back a couple of years, but, like other music services, hasn’t produced much noise among subscribers. It started off licensing short videos from outlets like ESPN and BBC, and also made an attempt at launching a subscription TV channel bundle that never saw the light of day. Calderone’s oversight included its podcasts, where rumors have indicated the company is planning another big push, but we’ll have to wait and see exactly what its new strategy includes.

Source: Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter

Facebook will use AI to help correct skewed 360-degree photos

Ever since Facebook added 360-degree photos to your news feed last year, more and more images of this type have appeared. You can even take and share these full-circle images right from your mobile device, as well, making them even more ubiquitous. Finding them is even easier with Facebook’s Gear VR app, too. As reported by VentureBeat, the social network is now using deep neural networks to analyze 360-degree photos to fix the image orientation for a better viewing experience, especially in VR.

When you take a 360-degree photo, it’s easy to end up with a tilted shot if you don’t hold the camera in line with the horizon for the full capture, says VentureBeat‘s Blair Hanley Frank. This makes it even worse to view in VR. Facebook’s new system — which isn’t yet in production use — is based on AlexNet, a convolutional neural network originally created in 2012. VentureBeat also reports that Facebook has a system in place to deal with 360-degree photos’ large file sizes, too. The company converts the images into cubes and then stores them at different resolutions. As users access the photo, Facebook’s AI calculates which resolution needs to be loaded to give the viewer the best possible view, even at lower resolutions. We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment and will update this post when we hear back.

Source: VentureBeat

Second ‘Battlefield 1’ DLC deploys on September 19th

At Gamescom last week, EA showed off a timeline of future expansions headed to Battlefield 1, including the next to come, In The Name of the Tsar. The game’s second DLC just got a global release date on September 19th, but players who bought the Premium Pass can load it up two weeks early on September 5th. Even if you don’t care about the extra content, tech heads might want to buy it for another added feature: HDR10 support.

EA and DICE introduced In The Name Of The Tsar back in February when it unveiled Battlefield 1’s DLC roadmap, but an April teaser revealed that the expansion would be sending players to the Eastern Front. Like the first DLC They Shall Not Pass, which introduced French-themed multiplayer maps with that country’s forces, In The Name of the Tsar’s six new maps all involve Russian armies fighting against Germans, Austro-Hungarians and even each other as Bolsheviks and Imperials grapple for control of the nation. Players get eleven new weapons, three new vehicles and a new mode: Supply Drop. Get ready for war in the cold, soldiers.

Source: ‘Battlefield 1’ website (news)

Parallels makes Windows apps work with your MacBook’s TouchBar

If you’re one of those Apple users who likes (or needs) to run Mac OS and Windows side by side, you’ll probably be into Parallels Desktop 13. Especially if you have one of those MacBook Pros with a TouchBar. The latest version of the software makes certain apps on Microsoft’s platform fully compatible with Apple’s digital OLED strip, including all the major web browsers and the entire Office suite. For instance, if you’re running PowerPoint for Windows through Parallel, you can use the TouchBar to do things like bold or italicize the text on your slides. You can also customize functions based on which app you’re using, just as you would on the Mac OS interface.

During our demo of the feature here at IFA 2017, using the TouchBar with apps like Internet Explorer, Excel and Powerpoint was smooth (read: there was barely any lag between prompting commands). That said, the images displayed on the OLED strip, specifically the icons for the apps we were using, looked sort of blurry and low-res. Still, we’ll take functionality over aesthetics any day, even if it is nice to combine the two. Aside from TouchBar support, Parallels for Desktop 13 brings a picture-in-picture mode, a light theme and an installation assistant that will help you get Windows going on your Mac within minutes.

A representative for Parallels tells Engadget that it will make more applications work with the TouchBar in the near future, though it’s unclear how it will pick and choose which exactly. As for the apps that don’t have full support, the strip will show traditional function buttons on the TouchBar. Those of you with a compatible MacBook Pro can get a new Parallels Desktop 13 license for $80, while anyone with coming from version 11 or 12 can upgrade for $50.

Follow all the latest news from IFA 2017 here!

Nintendo ordered to pay $10 million in Wii patent lawsuit

Today, a Dallas jury awarded iLife Technologies $10 million in its patent infringement lawsuit against Nintendo of America. The suit, which was brought forth in 2013, alleged that Nintendo used iLife’s technology when creating its motion-sensing Wii Remote.

The technology created by and patented by iLife was designed to detect when elderly individuals fell and monitor babies for sudden infant death syndrome. It sought $144 million in damages, or $4 for each of the 36 million Wii systems sold prior to the suit being filed, along with an injunction against Nintendo’s use of the technology in question.

Nintendo said it didn’t infringe on the patent and that the patent was improperly written, causing it to be invalid. Around the same time that it sued Nintendo, iLife also filed patent infringement suits against a number of other companies — including Fitbit and Under Armour — that involved the same patents listed in the Nintendo case. Both of the Fitbit and Under Armour suits were dismissed by the parties themselves and presumably settled out of court. Nintendo plans to appeal the ruling, according to reports from Rolling Stone.

Via: Gamasutra

Source: Rolling Stone, Scribd

Twitch streamers will soon customize their page with new tools

Twitch released a desktop app earlier this month offering more functionality than its browser version, but they saved even bigger news for PAX West. Today at the games show, the streaming channel platform announced that creators will soon be able to load up a whole slew of new third-party tools and extensions to interact with followers in many more ways. Best of all, developers will be able to make their own plug-ins.

Twenty extensions are available now, ranging from overlays and follower leaderboards to those specifically built for games like League of Legends, Hearthstone, Overwatch and Destiny. Savvy followers might have seen their favorite content creators demo the new tools in the last few months (like Hearthstone streamer Trump in the pic at the top of this post).

Other extensions benefit creators directly: ‘Gear on Amazon,’ for example, earns Twitch Partners and Affiliates (aka streamers) commission through Amazon’s Associates program when fans buy stuff promoted by their favorite content creator (see example below). This one is the first, but not last, extension to use monetizations: In a press release, Twitch noted that they will share more ways developers can make money through extensions at TwitchCon’s Developer Day on October 19th.

Users can make their own extensions by heading to the updated Developer Portal, which will freely provide both asset hosting and fanout messaging to help promote their software. Developers can showcase their finished plugins in an Extensions Manager, which will act as a directory for creators to peruse. Twitch didn’t announce when exactly all the extensions features will go live, but noted they will be available soon.

Source: Twitch Extensions

Paranormal thriller ‘Oxenfree’ teased for Nintendo Switch

We love Oxenfree around these parts. The paranormal thriller captures the awkwardness of being a teenager incredibly well, tasking players to uncover the mystery of an abandoned military base while managing relationships with friends along for the ride. It’s already available on mobile, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but the developers at Night School Studio have started teasing that it’ll appear on Nintendo Switch as well.

The studio tweeted the image below along with a message in Morse code. What’s it say? “Coming soon.” With PAX happening in Seattle this weekend, it shouldn’t be too long before there are more details. Like so many of the other indies that’ve had ports announced, this should be a great fit for Nintendo’s hybrid portable/home console. Oh, and if you somehow still haven’t listened to the game’s soundtrack you should fix that.

-.-. — — .. -. –. / … — — -. pic.twitter.com/HNlZum62em

— Night School Studio (@nightschoolers) August 31, 2017

Source: Night School Studio