No, the Moto X doesn't beat the Android competition on specs, and no it isn't cheaper than the flagship HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4. Then again, you could say the same thing about the iPhone 5, yet folks buy it in droves. While Moto might have a serious case of hubris thinking they can rival Apple for user experience and design, we give them credit for trying. In fact, with the Moto X they've done something Android sorely needs: they've paid attention to you and me and how we actually use the phone rather than cramming it with more pixels than the eye can see and more CPU power than we have a use for.
That doesn't mean the Moto X is drowning in software features (ahem, Samsung). Apple doesn't do that, and Motorola, now a Google company, has learned that less can be more. You get a very clean Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean user experience with no UI frosting or 12 background apps to slow things down. The software and hardware customizations come in the form of Touchless Control, Active Notifications and Moto Assist. The phone (if you wish) is always listening for your command so you need not pick it up, unlock it and press the voice command on-screen button to tell it to call someone or look up something on the web. The lock screen shows info such as messages, emails and appointments: no need to press the power button and unlock the phone to see if you actually need to unlock your phone and look at it. This saves battery power and time. Assist can silence the phone at night and automatically switch to driving mode in the car (it uses the GPS and motion sensors to know when you're driving). It's good stuff that actually makes the phone much more usable. It makes the phone feel personal, something that Android hasn't been so good at.
Then, for AT&T customers, there's the Moto Maker customization to make it even more personal. At no additional charge, you can design your own 16 or 32 gig Moto X in your choice of 18 colors and 7 accent colors. Textures will come some time in the future, and I know several of you are eager for the wood finish. There's also an engraving option, which is more of a silk screen. Moto Maker might come to other carriers, though Verizon has opted out since they're focusing on their exclusive Moto Droid trio for the fall of 2013. The customized colors have a matte polycarbonate back and the stock black and white woven models stocked in stores are a Kevlar composite.
The Moto X will be available on all major US carriers and it has a 1280 x 720 AMOLED display, 1.7GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU with custom processors to handle voice recognition (Moto calls this their X8 processing platform), 2 gigs of RAM, 16 or 32 gigs of storage, WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0 LE + EDR, NFC, a front 2MP camera and capable RGBC 10MP rear camera. The phone's rear mono speaker is louder and fuller than average, and though it can't rival HTC's stereo Boom Sound speakers, it sounds better than many smartphones on the market.
The Moto X has Miracast wireless display technology and it supports USB host, though not for mass storage devices like USB flash drives. For mass storage support you'll need to buy something like Nexus Media importer for a few bucks on the Google Play Store.
Ergonomics for the Win
Smartphones, other than the iPhone, are getting downright huge. We love our big displays, but with them come big casings and pocket-unfriendly phones. The HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Motorola Droid Ultra are all noticeably larger than the Moto X, but the nice thing with the Moto X is that you still get a big 4.7" display (that's the same size as the HTC One's display). It's designed to feel good in the hand and to be just the right size for the average hand (if there is such a thing). The curves are in the right places and the phone indeed feels nice to hold. Moto got it right. The stock Kevlar black woven model looks premium. The white woven stock model's white sides look a bit too plasticky to my eye. The custom colors look unique and attractive. Just in case you don't want to cover up your nifty color customized smartphone, there's a clear case that lets it continue to stand out.
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