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I second this philosophy of buying a midrange phone and upgrading in a shorter timeframe. I went for Asus Zenfone2 4GB/32GB with a fast charger(red your ownership review also) . Upgraded from Moto G2, and I am pleasantly surprised with the snappy performance and specs I got at a killer price. With Diwali discounts, exchange (4K) and card discounts, I got this beast in 12.6K !

I do not have much issue with ASUS bloat ware as I had disabled most of them and rest I am finding useful - like single click enabling of data, double tap for screen on/off etc.
Customizations offered ( starting from font size, screen motion, etc) are a welcome change after a drab experience and some shortcomings of pure Android on Moto G2 e.g. Pure Android still does not have Gujarati fonts. Even photos are turning out to be sharp and vibrant in good light and low light mode is also good.

Not so solid build - was fixed with a nice Nilkin back cover and my friends who looked at this phone actually commented about solid build quality!

Only grouse is a rapid battery consumption. While phone is in sleep mode, battery drain is very low (hardly 1% through the night), but while using the phone battery level drops fast. I just manage through the day in a single charge. One caveat though is that I reach for phone more often for checking mails, apps, setting etc and hence my usage has increased! But fast charging is a boon and battery quickly charges in around one and a half hour to full level.

I considered OnePlusTwo, but went for this and believe have not lost much other than a slightly inferior build quality - but got this at a killer price, while looking at demand OnePlusTwo may not be discounted soon enough.

Though Asus is not noticeable or frontrunner in any way - Samsung/Sony offer that premium experience, Motorola/Nexus offer pure Android experience, iPhone provides that exclusivity at a price, OnePlus offers premium build at economical price point, but Asus offer killer specs at a killer price and may be phones are discounted more often as Asus does not have that large fan base - which is good for value buyers like me.

Regards
JLS

Thanks for clarifying. Earlier I was confusing with shattershield + scratch resistance both being in single package but thats not the case. If one wants glossy shining glass feel then gorilla glass or other hard glass based protections still remain good. There are lot of people who have phones with gorilla glass but still put another layer of some sort of screen guard, shatterproof phones are good for them.


I don't have any technical explanation about it but still let me share my views on it. Modern day gadgets and batteries have all sort of protections but still keeping them plugged in the power supply for longer durations, or charging them for shorter and more frequent cycles are not recomended. Even user manuals also insist to avoid such practices.

I have a laptop which comes with a feature called "conservative mode". User manual recommends to leave this feature turned on when using the laptop on direct power supply for longer duration. What this mode does is that it doesn't let the battery charge over 60%.

I also experienced that if recomended charging practices are followed then batteries last much longer. I have been religiously following recommended steps and never needed battery replacement in any of the battery powered gadgets so far. Even I have two phones which are still being used at home where one is in it's 4th year and another is in 6th years with healthy stock battery.

On the other hand I know few people who have habit of leaving the phones plugged in overnight for charging, or they recharge their phones more frequently during a day instead of completing the charging cycle in one go. Later they start complaining about battery within a year of ownership.

These days " quick charging" is also getting popular. My current phone also supports it. But I don't think frequent use of quick charger will let the battery last long. That's why I haven't bought the quick charger, rather didn't feel need of it. Features like quick charging are supposed to be used during emergency situations.
And what about the more frequently generated e-waste if environmental concerns are taken into the account?

Going by India's love for 5 & 6 inch phones and also by the poor demand for the 4.6 inch Z3 Compact, Sony has not released the Z5 Compact yet and probably will not, ever. Originally I too thought of only the compact version but since that didn't make it to our shores, opted for the regular Z5. To be honest I agree that 5+ inches is a tad overkill for single handed operation but with the Z5 you can get used to it pretty quick. The screen is perfect and all the menus and icons are easily readable at a quick glance even with the arm extended fully, unlike a few other brands Sony is also known to make small bezels which reduce the overall size. If compact is the requirement at the end of the day, the only good phone there is, is the Z3 Compact which is over 8mm smaller than even the HTC whilst just being .1 inch smaller screen-wise.

In the size department, the Galaxy S4 was an absolute champ. It just totally felt like a small phone despite having a 5" screen. In fact, if I'm not wrong, it had a footprint smaller than that of the S3, which is quite nuts.

However, on a different note, am I the only one to feel that the Moto X Force isn't a deserved successor to the fantastic DROID Turbo? The Turbo was a complete beast of a phone; seemed straight from the movies. Had fantastic styling, world beating performance, incredible battery life, that 'ballistic nylon' back, stock Android, and possibly THE best clock widget on any smartphone, period. And it also had the coolest logo of any smartphone ever, the classic 'M' dimple. I'd rate it far higher than both the Sony Ericsson logo and the Apple logo, despite both being famous logos on their own. And then it had an ultra-cool name, "DROID". " DROID Turbo".

Motorola was really on top of their game that season. The Moto X 2nd gen was the best smartphone around then, they had built a fantastic Nexus, and possessed the three coolest brands in the Android scene- Moto, Nexus, and DROID at the same time. Shame the last one is just a Verizon exclusive, and will never be seen here or anywhere else. All three flagships, the Moto X, Nexus 6, and DROID Turbo, had immense character, and their own unique ones at that. And all had stock Android, with their own unique garnishes on top. Unreal stuff.

This time, the X Force is rather ordinary, tame and isn't the destructor its predecessor was. Couldn't justify the hype starting to build around it. It is still massively powerful, incredibly well built, and strong too, but doesn't look out of the movies like its predecessor did. And it's a bit ugly too. Just like a typical sequel of a superhit. The sequel might be great, but it's the original that will always be remembered. (It still retains that smashing clock widget though.)

Yes in some ways the Droid Turbo was the actual revolutionary product. The new X Force is an evolution but why fix something if it ain't broke.

The X Force just builds on the old Turbo with the shatter proof screen.

And it actually does have the ballistic nylon glass back with the dimple.

OnePlus X suits your requirements perfectly!

I don't see any such recommendations in my manual. And I have been keeping my phones plugged in for years when not required without issues and have got very healthy battery lives. My Asus Zenfone 2 battery easily lasts a full day and whenever needed fast charges in a jiffy. Though it does help to reset/recalibrate your phones battery once in a while to get rid of any dead charge and keep it running at optimum performance.

And why would e-waste be generated in a country like India where there is a huge market for 2nd hand phones. I have always sold off my used phones at a healthy price.

Yup, the Zenfone 2 is a peach of a performer and quite under rated. I am quite happy with it, only if it had a S6 quality shooter. Rest there are no gripes. But then at 17K it is a lot more phone than its price. Same is not the case with many other flagships being discussed here. One Plus X does trump it on the style quotient though in the same price bracket.

Wasn't the DROID Turbo launched as the Moto Turbo in India without all the Verizon bloatware?

Actually, Motorola has shifted to a different path with the Moto X Force(DROID Turbo 2). The previous iteration was a completely different product from the rest of the Moto family but now it is just a more high end and powerful version of the Style.
The design and internals closely resemble the rest of the Moto lineup unlike last year's phone.

I was talking about the 'DROID' brand. That's an amazing name for a phone. And that being a Verizon exclusive, one has to deal with all the bloatware and their horrible support just to have the DROID brand.

And this year, the new strategy seems more logical too, as the phone was meant for a global market and then simply branded as the DROID Turbo 2. So if it was going to carry the Moto X brand, it had to look like the other X's too. The Moto X Play is also exclusively carried by Verizon unchanged as the DROID Maxx 2. It doesn't sell in the unlocked X Play version in the US.

FlipKart delivered my Moto X Play today. Can someone please recommend a good case or bumper protector?

My Moto X Style came with a plastic holder, in which the phone clips in, which is enough to protect. So I never bothered about any holder / protector.

Wow you actually used that bumper. I saw the bumper and it looked like something you would throw straight out.

Hard plastic, transparent so it made the premium feel look cheaper and within a day of use it would accumulate dust which would be visible.

There are far far better cases available than the Rs.50 bumper in the box for a 32K phone.

Also note, it's one of the most delicate phone being sold today: http://www.androidheadlines.com/2015...ble-phone.html

That was my first reaction, but then when I put it on, it is not that bad. So I am sticking with it. In fact I find it preferable to the case which came with my htc One m7.

Did any one flash CM13 (Marshmallow) on Moto G? Is it worth trying?

--Anoop

Maybe its only my view but this is the key reason why I never buy a brand that deals only through the online platform. The very reason people went out to shop until now was to look at, feel & experience a product before purchase, and if satisfactory, to go through with it.

I simply cannot imagine looking at a couple of photos, reading the specs/details and pressing "add to cart" for any product be it even clothes. I don't care if shipping through the online channel makes for a good pricing due to less handling/storing costs, in the end I feel there would be more transparency if a brand has at the very least both online & offline channels of sale. I don't care what Motorola, Xiaomi or other similar brands boast of when it comes to value, I will not even consider them till the time they have experience stores at all major areas. Reading how fragile the Moto X Pure is makes me glad that I feel this way, not because its possible to test the ruggedness of a phone at a store but because of overconfidence, its possible for brands to become careless and screw up the construction of even a flagship phone when they are no longer afraid of pre-buying inspection of customers. Certain things do become apparent just by the touch & feel factor. Moto must learn from Apple bend-gate and rectify this next time around.