As for the front-facing camera, GigaOM's Tofel said it's not on par with Apple's Facetime. "Video wasn't as crisp, and there were occasional audio hiccups," he wrote. "And when I rotated the device to portrait mode, my image didn't appear correctly to my caller."

Screen

The screen seems to be a low point among some critics, marred by excess glare. "I expected better: If the Barnes & Noble NookColor could nail the screen and glare issue on its $250 e-reader tablet, why couldn't Motorola overcome glare on its $800 flagship device?" Perenson wrote for PCWorld.

At Time magazine, McCracken wasn't impressed with the display quality either. "I found videos, photos and other graphics to be blockier, blurrier, and/or duller than on the iPad and the Galaxy Tab," he wrote.

Battery