the difference between a US made and Chinese made Moto X

[hans007]

So i posted earlier about how I ordered a T-mobile XT1053 Moto X.

Anyway I returned it...

I noticed it had a scrape on the bottom back lip that the rubberized coating had been painted over. it also had 2 minor plastic defects on the trim bezel . ifixit had a similar issue, but it was a much larger one, i had 2 smaller little pin head defects

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Motorola+Moto+X+Teardown/16867/1


anyway, given it was $600 + tax ($657 for CA) i figured, yeah this needs to go back. I loved the phone otherwise, but the other reason was I found an alternative.

It turns out there are several sellers on ebay selling latin america units. XT1058 models that are at&t and t-mobile compatible (well mostly, no HSPA AWS, but im in a refarmed area so that doesnt really matter in my experience).

So most of them are shipping out of puerto rico. At the time I ordered I found one guy shipping out of illinois for $550 for a black one. So i figured ok, that works. Seems black ones are a bit more rare and cost more, but i checked just now and white ones are going for $480 if you want one shipped out of PR (at the time i bought cheapest was $530... so yeah could be even cheaper now) no tax either.

anyway i get the phone today. chinese made, in a box with spanish on it. perfect build, no weird little marks or scrapes or rattly buttons

So here are the minor differences:

first this is an XT1058 so its more like the at&t model. it is unbranded, has no carrier apps at all and should be bootloader unlockable (haven't tried it yet). i'm running it on t-mobile so obviously its unlocked GSM.

it came with a headset / earphones which the american ones dont.

and unlike america where we love marketing and fall for it...

H+ = hspa+, H = hspa , 4G = LTE, and E = edge. thats how it is in the status bar. apparently the normal AT&T units have the carrier name in the left too, which this doesnt.

an interesting alternative if you guys want a cheaper moto x.

 

[desura]

Honestly, I'd be worried a little about the fit'n'finish of the American-made model.

The Chinese have had practice at this for a while. The Americans by contrast are amateurs in assembling these phones.

 

[hans007]

Honestly, I'd be worried a little about the fit'n'finish of the American-made model.

The Chinese have had practice at this for a while. The Americans by contrast are amateurs in assembling these phones.

i remember when bmw first started building cars here, they were worse (i think it was the z3 first and the X5). but a new X3/X5 these days is great. so hopefully it just takes some time. i think a lot of it is just americans might not think a "little defect" is a legit defect. sort of like the movie "gung ho"

 

[Ravynmagi]

Children's fingers are more nimble at factory work. We should put our children to work here in the US. Solve our lack of manufacturing and child obesity with a single stone.

 

[shabby]

I have a feeling the us model simply has the colored covers installed by americans and nothing else, i doubt they make the pcb's and populate it locally.

 

[lothar]

I have a feeling the us model simply has the colored covers installed by americans and nothing else, i doubt they make the pcb's and populate it locally.

I highly doubt that statement is true. If that's all they are doing, then they certainly don't need all that equipment.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/11/4717796/made-in-america-a-look-inside-motorolas-moto-x-factory

That said, it wouldn't surprise me to discover that the PCB was made elsewhere.
But clearly they're doing more than just installing colored covers.

 

[hans007]

I highly doubt that statement is true. If that's all they are doing, then they certainly don't need all that equipment.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/11/4717796/made-in-america-a-look-inside-motorolas-moto-x-factory

That said, it wouldn't surprise me to discover that the PCB was made elsewhere.
But clearly they're doing more than just installing colored covers.

i know people who have run electronics factories in america. i'd doubt the pcb components were say soldered onto the pcb here.

i'm guessing they just get the 8-10 major components and assemble it and do the testing that they were all integrated correctly here.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Does a CM build the phone for Motorola in China? I thought Motorola has plants in China, so don't they assemble there also?

If that's the case, it's one company, and assembly in the US or China shouldn't matter as long as you adhere to the same quality system. You have to validate these processes, and unless your US operators suck on the line, you should be able to create equal build quality. I wouldn't use anecdotal evidence to judge product quality.

 

[ultimatebob]

and unlike america where we love marketing and fall for it...

H+ = hspa+, H = hspa , 4G = LTE, and E = edge. thats how it is in the status bar. apparently the normal AT&T units have the carrier name in the left too, which this doesnt.

an interesting alternative if you guys want a cheaper moto x.

My old at&t Inspire "4G" also showed H+ for an HSPA+ connection as well in the status bar. Odd, considering how they are trying to scam people into thinking that was a "real" 4G connection.

 

[hans007]

Does a CM build the phone for Motorola in China? I thought Motorola has plants in China, so don't they assemble there also?

If that's the case, it's one company, and assembly in the US or China shouldn't matter as long as you adhere to the same quality system. You have to validate these processes, and unless your US operators suck on the line, you should be able to create equal build quality. I wouldn't use anecdotal evidence to judge product quality.

There seem to be quite a few people finding small issues with the us units on xda thrrads. I mean for the most part minor but people have said the lens on their cameras aren't flush a few times too. I'm guessing they just aren't following the processes to the letter right now since its a new factory or are careless .

 

[lopri]

So basically you've got a brand new, unlocked/debloated Moto X for $480? That's awesome.

Not sure how much generalization can be made for made-in-USA v. made-in-China in cosmetic defects, though. Glad that you've got a scot-free one in any case.

H+ = hspa+, H = hspa , 4G = LTE, and E = edge. thats how it is in the status bar. apparently the normal AT&T units have the carrier name in the left too, which this doesnt.

That's how the label works on the LTE-enabled Nexus 4 as well.

 

[hans007]

So basically you've got a brand new, unlocked/debloated Moto X for $480? That's awesome.

Not sure how much generalization can be made for made-in-USA v. made-in-China in cosmetic defects, though. Glad that you've got a scot-free one in any case.



That's how the label works on the LTE-enabled Nexus 4 as well.

well , no i ended up paying something like $540 . had to have a black one from a seller in an actual state. then a couple days after i bought the prices on white ones dropped for some reason.

still pretty good deal regardless. though i dont have the camera update yet which i would have already on the t-mobile one, so i guess thats one drawback

 

[rcpratt]

That's how the label works on the LTE-enabled Nexus 4 as well.

In my experience, that's how pretty much every phone on every carrier labels it...except in the good ole US of A.

 

[robvp]

in my experience, att phones label hspa+ as 4g, and lte as 4glte, others label it correctly as h+

 

[hans007]

in my experience, att phones label hspa+ as 4g, and lte as 4glte, others label it correctly as h+

t-mobile does the same (my t-mobile moto x did that before i returned it).

i unlocked my razr M on verizon to run on t-mobile and it did the proper H+ / H thing so i'm guessing the GSM carriers that made up "4G" hspa are the main culprits.

 

[thedosbox]

Had to exchange my China made Rogers Moto X as the seam between the glass and bezel wasn't fully fused at a couple of points - you could feel a little "flap" when running your thumb over it. The second one had no such issues. LTE is displayed as "LTE"

 

[lopri]

Those signal labels are controlled by the carriers. Remember when the carriers labeled HSPA+ as "4G"? (well, they still do.. )

It's a surprise to hear about manufacturing defects on this phone's casing, considering its design and choice of material. I thought it'd be an easy part of the manufacturing.

 

[hans007]

well i just went off the deep end. warranty voided, bootloader unlocked. hoping the dev community for this gets pretty big since its on every carrier

 

[SAWYER]

No way in hell would iI pay that much for a Moto X after having a nexus or being able to get a higher end phone for similar price or much lower used

 

[thedosbox]

No way in hell would iI pay that much for a Moto X after having a nexus or being able to get a higher end phone for similar price or much lower used

That's fine, but not all Nexus fans have the same opinion

http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus-fans-take-moto-x

But in the end, when you need a smartphone that's a productive tool, the Moto X just does it better than any other I've tried. I purposefully put off writing this for about a month, just to make sure the new-phone feeling went away, and I still feel the same way.

 

[hans007]

No way in hell would iI pay that much for a Moto X after having a nexus or being able to get a higher end phone for similar price or much lower used

i also buy new cars.

the used argument gets old.

i mean you can buy used anything for less. i dont really think this phone is not high end as well. its high end in a different way, the active display by itself makes it feel more high end just because its one of thsoe features you begin to expect. i mean theres plent of "new" ones for $500 ish now on ebay. i am not sure i'd pony up $650+ tax for the dev edition (or even $600 + tax for the t-mobile i had that had the little defects) , but the GSM one has been sold out for most of this week so its obvious al ot of people are.

 

[SAWYER]

I am speaking for me only