No, we don't need to break the spec races. I, for one, enjoy the better gaming experience offered by higher end hardware. Sure, I don't need much oomph to flick the app drawer, but fire up something like Real Racing 3 (with rear view mirrors enabled) and the difference between a high end and midrange device will be immediately apparent. To a smaller extent so will 1080p.
Think of it this way. A Honda Civic is a better car, day to day, than a Bugatti Veyron. But if Honda offered the Civic for somewhere around a million dollars they'd sell approximately zero of them, because anyone looking for a daily driver would opt for a much cheaper alternative from Toyota (read: any number of $0 to $50 midrange devices with comprable specs offered by HTC, Samsung, LG), and anyone looking for "best of the best of the best" would not consider paying flagship pricing for a mundane device.
This thing is a fish out of water. There's no way I'd buy this over an S4 or HTC One, or even Experia Z. Never mind pay a $50-$150 premium to do so.
Not all of us game. I'd rather have a more responsive camera and UI. Much more useful to me. Even the S4 stutters about once in a while.
You are going the wrong way with my point let me break it down.
13Mp camera vs. 10MP.
That 13MP has poor noise control and heavy NR when in Night Mode. A better sensor might help. If that is the case, give me the 10MP.
Screen: It's smaller, 720p isn't the worst thing, it's not a 5" screen. It doesn't need to be 1080p. Its about the same size as my GXN, no issue of resolution on the GXN. I actually prefer my 4.7 HTC One compared to the 5" of my S4. Yes, it takes a back seat in resolution, but not screen size. Some people have caveats on the 5 inch screen.
Processor: Using the latest s4 Snapdragon and clipping at 200mhz faster than my HTC One, the s4 stutters. It shouldn't. Great, I can play with dolphins with machine guns on dope 10fps faster. Weee.
My HTC doesn't stutter....ever. Don't give me ROM this, ROM that. That's like what, 4% of people willing to do that.
If the Moto can effortlessly breeze through it's own UI faster, smoother, it's camera fires up faster...etc. It's more useful as a phone. If you want a gaming device, fine. But I'm sure even on last years specs, most games should be okay.
Storage:
Expandable storage. That's great the S4 comes with an SD card slot. All phones in reality should. Even the lowly N4 to the HTC One and Nexus 10.
But as far as app storage, even Samsung is nerfing the storage abilities on it's own devices. The 32GB S4 should have been available to all from the beginning. Try finding it outside a few carriers.
At the end of the day, I want a phone that is more useful. With useful features and not gimmicky never used S4 features sitting on top of the ugliest UI in the world.