Why do Android diehards love Android? A lot of it comes down to freedom — they don’t like Apple’s walled garden approach and they love being able to have devices that have more customization options than iPhones do. But freedom isn’t just about how you use software — it’s being free from mobile carrier contracts and the assorted carrier bloatware apps that come with them. And this is why, as Droid Life’s Kellen Barranger explains, Android fans should really hope the new Moto X Pure Edition is a hit.
READ OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Moto X Pure Edition and Moto G hands-on: The pure Android phones you’ve been waiting for
Instead of selling its device through mobile carriers at a subsidized price, Motorola offering the Moto X Pure Edition directly to American consumers starting at $399. This has several advantages for Android fans:
- It means they can easily bring their phone to any of the four major carriers in the U.S. and shop around for the best deals.
- It means their phones will be free of the carrier bloatware that we all love and hate.
- Not only that but it gives Motorola the ability to push out updates to devices more quickly because they no longer have to go through carriers.
- And from a pure aesthetics point of view, it means the Moto X Pure Edition will come with no ugly carrier branding.
What’s not to love!
“For the first time I can recall, the US has a flagship phone that is affordable, completely unlocked, and will ship directly to you,” Barranger writes. “If Motorola were to succeed, who knows, but maybe in a few years Motorola won’t be the only big brand selling directly to you and I.”
As someone who has a love-hate relationship with Android — I love the customization options of Android phones but I hate the added carrier and OEM bloatware and the extremely long time it takes to get the newest software — I sincerely hope this is the case. While I’ll still be buying an iPhone 6s in the fall, I had also been planning on getting the new Nexus 5 to go along with it.
Now I’m feeling very tempted to pick up a Moto X Pure Edition instead of the Nexus. The model that Motorola is trying to introduce here is something that could make me love Android all over again if it catches on.
