As a recent Android convert I have to say that one of my favorite things about it is Google Now. Besides the incredible voice control capabilities it works in the background and creates “cards” that remind you of virtually everything you can imagine.
Let’s say you have to be at work at 9 a.m. Every morning there will be a card there waiting for you letting you know the best time to leave depending on the traffic, weather etc. In order to interact with it through voice commands you need to hit the little microphone button or an app icon. In other words, you have to somehow actively engage it.
The new Moto X‘s main feature is that Google Now is “always ready”. It’s always actively listening in the background for the right words to activate it and then it takes your commands. They’ve obviously figured out a way to do this with minimal effect on battery life but it’ll still be interesting to see the difference in battery life when this feature is on or off.
The question is, would you feel comfortable with a device that is always on, listening for your command? Personally, I now look at my phone with disgust at the fact that I actually have to touch it to make it talk back to me or to do what I command it to do. Maybe the Moto X will be the phone that gets me to try out how well T-Mobile’s new Jump feature works.