Technology News

It’s been over a year since Google bought Motorola. Now we have the first phone from the newly acquired company. This new phone is called 'Moto X'. The Moto X specs, release date and prices had been officially announced at an event in New York.

Specifications : 

Display : 4.7-inch Super AMOLED 1280x720 Pixel Screen

OS : Android 4.2.2

CPU : 1.7GHz Dual-Core Snapdragon S4 Processor
 
RAM : 2GB
 
Memory : 16GB/32GB Internal (No MicroSD Slot)

Primary Camera : 10.5MP Camera With Moto’s Clear Pixel Technology
 
Front Camera : 2.1MP

Battery : 2200mAh

In the four decades since Motorola first showed off a prototype of the world's first cellphone, the company has watched Apple, Samsung and other innovators surpass it in sales. With Google as its new owner, Motorola is introducing the Moto X, a phone notable for innovations in manufacturing, as part of an attempt to regain its stature.

Yes, there's plenty the Moto X offers in terms of software, including the ability to get directions, seek trivia answers or set the alarm without ever touching the phone. There's good hardware, too, including a body that's nearly as slim as the iPhone 5, but with the larger, 4.7-inch screen that is comparable to those found in rival Android phones.

What's so special about Moto X?

What's really special about the Moto X has nothing to do with making calls, checking Facebook or holding it in your hands. Rather, it breaks from the pack by allowing for a lot of customization. You can choose everything from the color of the power button to a personalized message on the back cover. You can choose any combination of 18 back cover colors and seven "accent" colors, which highlight the power button, volume control and the rim of the camera lens. There's more coming: Motorola is testing back covers made of wood, for instance, and it plans to let people vote on Facebook on future patterns, colors and designs.

To make those special orders possible, Motorola is assembling the Moto X in Texas, making it the first smartphone to be put together in the U.S. Motorola promises to ship custom designs within four days, faster than it would be able to if the company had chosen to make the Moto X halfway around the world in Asia, as other phones typically are. (Phones for overseas markets will be made overseas.)

You can still buy the phone the traditional way, in black or white. Walk into a store, pay about $200, sign a two-year service agreement (or installment plan with T-Mobile), and off you go with a brand new phone.

More Features :

Touchless Control :
Touchless Control allows you to control your Moto X using your own voice commands. Like Google Glass, it will learn what you sound like. As previously rumoured, the Moto X can be completely customised to meet your taste.

Active Notifications : 
One of the coolest Moto X features is something Motorola is calling “Active Notifications”. Essentially, this is lockscreen that is enabled whenever the X receives a notification. In olden times, you’d have to pick up your phone, press the power button and swipe down the notification area to check your notifications — not on the Moto X. Active Notifications makes the process easier with a black and white lockscreen (provides for minimal impact on battery life) that pulses with, not only the time, but shows you when you have unread notifications.

Motorola Assist :
Assist is one of Motorola’s bigger apps that automates tasks like enabling hands-free communications while driving or keeping your phone quiet during meetings and/or evening hours. Definitely cool, and definitely many users will find helpful.

Other Motorola Apps & Services :  
Call it bloatware or whatever you like, but Motorola also sprinkled the Moto X with a little more of their specialty software. Motorola Device ID ties to your Gmail account and allows you to access Motorola specific services like Motorola Connect (a Chrome extension for sending/receiving SMS messages and calls from your computer), Moto Care tips (an app with FAQ and options to auto-enable suggested tips), and Lost Phone Web Portal (to help track down a misplaced or stolen Moto X). One handy security feature is something Motorola calls Trusted Devices that will disable a pattern, pin, or other screen locks whenever the device is paired to a “trusted” Bluetooth device. Pretty damn awesome.

There’s also Migrate to help with transferring media, call, SMS, and contacts to a new device (either wirelessly, or using NFC). Motorola Privacy (found in the Settings app) disables or enables Moto Care tips or opting in/out of usage statistics. The Moto X also tweaks the stock Android software by adding their own Battery saving mode that will turn off background data during low battery (until the device is charging), and audio EQ tweaks found in the sound settings.

Verdict : 
In the end, the Moto X was made to provide Motorola with a mainstream success of iPhone-level proportions. Motorola made a very strategic move in not focusing on specs, but on what the X could offer that was unlike the millions of other Android devices on the market.