Moto X is announced now without any live stream from Google. I don't know if Google is making a product that's going to be the next big thing for them, then why don't they market it from the very first day by streaming the event live to the world, and rumours said that Google is going to spend lot of bucks now to promote this Moto X, they should have live streamed the launch event.
But anyway, we have the phone unveiled at the event today in NYC. Only a limited people have got the invite for the event and there's nothing to check but only a Moto X page on their site now.
All in all, this one was special because it was the first phone after Google bought Motorola, it was the first phone to offer customizations on broad level and it was the very first step towards more smart phone experience. Without being worried about the spec sheets and the cores for the first time, Motorola have come out with priority on User Experience and Usability.
Specs First
Although the phone was going to be a mid-range phone, the phone has pretty decent specifications to suffice users expectations. Because it doesn't matters how much cores you add to the CPU, the phone should perform lagless and should be enough to bear the upcoming updates.
The specs were already leaked and there's nothing new. The phone comes with 4.7 inch AMOLED screen with 720p resolution. This is where Motorola made it to the smartness, and 720p resolution is just fine. There's no point to get into the resolution contest.
The dimensions are good too, and the phone weighs 140g with width of 65.3mm and height of 129.3mm with curves around the edges. Also, the phone is 0.4 inches thick.
The phone has 10MP Clear Pixel rear camera which can shoot 1080p videos at 30fps. Of course it has LED flash to light up your photos in the dark. The front camera is 2MP capable of recording 1080p HD videos.
The phone sports 2GB of RAM enough for no lags experience and runs on Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System. Also, it doesn't runs on the recently released Android 4.3, it runs on Android 4.2.2 for now.
The phone will come in 16GB and 32GB models with extended cloud space of 50GB for 2 years on Google Drive. The phone has Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR and supports LTE. The phone will support NFC and Wireless Charging.
The phone has 2200 mAH battery and not 1500 mAH battery as previously rumoured by some sites. Motorola says the phone will be able to make a day without charging on normal usage.
The specs are nicely researched by Motorola and it is a capable phone, it will not disappoint those who were looking for Moto X.
Moto X Customization and Moto Maker
It is the first phone to offer customizations. When Motorola first announced this, it said "... the first phone you can design yourself". It was a confusion whether it applies for both Hardware and the Design or just the design. The only thing customizable in the hardware is the storage, 16GB or 32GB.
The specs mentioned above are pretty decent for a mid-range phone and the customization was meant only for Design. You can customize this phone to much extent with not only colours, but also the build material as leaked.
Motorola will be releasing an online tool "Moto Maker" which will allow you to customize Moto X before you order.
The tool is not released yet, but it is announced in a video on Motorola Official YouTube channel. The Moto Maker looks good and gives you all the customizability option. You can choose between different colours, different accents.
You have a lot of colors to choose from for the rear panel of the phone, and for the front panel, you have black and white option. You can also choose the accent, which changes up the colors of the Camera ring and the side buttons for volume rocker and Power button.
You can even write your signature in Moto Maker which will be printed at the bottom of the rear panel. You also have the option to write your signature on the phone's boot screen, which is something in deep. The phone will be shipped with the wallpaper you will choose in the Moto Maker, and that's cool.
You can also buy and customize the accessories like the color of the headphones to match your style.
I must say this is a truly customizable phone. Motorola will take 4 days or less to make your phone and ship it to you.
Always-On Voice Commands and Active Notifications
Motorola introduced some new stuff in Moto X. This phone as rumored have Always-On Voice Commands or Always Listening Google Now. You don't need to touch your phone to command your Moto X phone. And with this always on Google now, you don't need to worry about the battery life as it is optimized well.
You also have new way of launching the camera app. You just need to twist your hand twice to get the camera open. No matter you are on the homescreen or playing a game, you twist your hand and snap the pictures. You can now touch anywhere in the camera app to capture a picture.
Active Notifications shows up your notifications on the screen. It is often when you unlock your phone just for checking the notifications, Active Notifications makes it simple to check the notifications without touching your Moto X.
Pricing and Availability
The phone will be available at the end of this month. It will cost $199 on-contract for 16GB for 2 years and will support major carriers in US. The unlocked version will be available soon on Google Play Store but the price of unlocked version of Moto X is not revealed yet.
Though since the Google Play Edition of Moto X will be fully stock, it is confusing whether it will have the Always-On Voice Commands and Active Notifications or not. Also, it is not yet confirmed that Google Play Edition of Moto will be customizable or not.