Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

I have no doubt that this year’s Moto X can tussle with any of the leading smartphones we have today and match or even surpass them in the common functions, running apps, surfing the web, multitasking, and even starting the camera and taking burst-mode photos, which are all a huge improvement over last year’s model.

Last year’s most surprising smartphone was the Google-owned Motorola Moto X. A mid-range smartphone in terms of specs, it innovated various areas and became a favourite of many reviewers as well as loyal fans who preferred it to the Nexus 5 as the closest thing to a Pure Android device.

Great design, touchless control, gesture-enabled camera and for lucky US-based users, a fully customizable palette of colours, textures, capacities and even startup screens. The Moto X was the blueprint that was used to create the Moto G (Moto’s white knight) and the Moto E; the original Moto X remains one of 2013’s best non-superphone devices. Let's find out how the new one fares.