Motorola has officially announced the Moto X, its first smartphone under Google's umbrella Thursday. It will be available in late August or early September with five major U.S. carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.
The 16GB model will cost $199 and the 32GB version $249. The company says it might eventually offer a version directly through the Google Play Store.
The Moto X was designed, according to Google, "for you." That means it's comfortable to hold and use and has a pleasing shape and finish.
On the back of the colorful phones reads "Designed and Assembled in the USA;" the phone is the first device built from scratch since Google acquired the company and is being built in the U.S. so it can quickly ship to American buyers.
Similar to some of the features available in Motorola's new Droid phones for Verizon, the Moto X has what the company calls "Touchless Controls" and an "Active Display" features. The touchless control works similarly to Google Glass, without having to touch the phone your phone can listen to you. After training it, you should be able to say "OK Google Now call mom," without ever tapping or lifting the phone.
Moreover, customers will be able to use the Moto Maker online tool to customize the look of their device. You can customize the color and even add personal messages to the back of the phone. There are 2,000 color combinations to choose from and the company is working on a back made of wood.
Moto Maker customizations are free, and it is only available for AT&T customers.
Here are the full specs of the Moto X phone revealed at Motorola’s website:
Display: 4.7" AMOLED (RGB) / HD 720p
Width: 65.3
Height: 129.3mm
Curve: 5.6 -10.4mm
Weight: 130g
Battery: 2200 mAh, talk time up to 13 hours
Operating system: Android 4.2.2
Architecture: Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System
RAM: 2 GB
Storage: 16 GB standard, 32 GB version available online. 2 years 50GB storage free on Google Drive
Rear Camera: 10MP CLEAR PIXEL (RGBC) / LED Flash / 1080p video (30 fps)
Front Camera: 2MP 1080p HD video
Bluetooth: 4.0 LE + EDR
WiFi: 802.11a/g/b/n/ac (dual band capable), mobile hotspot
