The Moto X has been ranked as one of the best Android smartphones of 2013 in spite of its lackluster specs and mediocre camera. Motorola committed to improve the Moto X experience with the Android 4.4 update and the company has delivered.

While Google owns Motorola, it still leaves the latter to its own devices and daily decisions. This explains why Moto X still lacks a few things from Google like the wireless charging and notification light. It is still blurry as to how much influence Google has over Motorola's hardware or an access can Motorola have over Google's Android team.

Kudos to Motorola who was able to release the Android 4.4 KitKat update to the Moto X even before HTC or Google was able to update the HTC One or the Nexus 4 or Google Play Edition variant. Samsung is even working through the pandemonium of the Android 4.4 KitKat update on the Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition.

Android 4.4 on the Moto X is a bit similar to the Nexus 5 experience but still maintains its own identity. Moto X still doesn't have the Google Experience Launcher and home screens have the same full screen wallpaper. This doesn't make a huge difference but it's a small change that enables full screen features and many apps look much better.

The Moto X has always been a snappy phone, in spite being technically underpowered compared to the Galaxy S4 or HTC One but with Android 4.4. Compared to the Snapdragon 800-powered Nexus 5, the Moto X slides around and launches apps very quickly. Facebook, Chrome and other apps loaded with just similar performance. The only difference was that the Moto X was almost two full seconds faster when it came to camera app launch.

The Moto X camera autofocus is now faster with the HDR less blurry. There's a tool that dramatically improves manually selecting exposure and focus. This new technique drags a reticle to where you want to apply focus and you can tap anywhere to take the shot. The Moto X is one of the few cameras that has an "autoHDR" for a default. When tested how it will handle indoor and outdoor using HDR and non-HDR, the Moto X HDR proves fantastic at delivering bright, realistic and sharp colors, especially compared to the Nexus 5.

Source: YouTube.com/Geek.com