Moto X Revealed: A Simple, Customizable Android Smartphone

Here we are after months of waiting, Motorola has just announced its brand new flagship smartphone, the Moto X.  Our first report of the Moto X came back in March when specs were reportedly leaked, since that time Motorola released a huge ad campaign (which I called daring and gutsy) to build massive hype for the company’s latest attempt to regain consumer mindshare in the smartphone marketplace.

In addition to the advertising campaign, several leaks about the Moto X surfaced, including its brand new camera app, always-on voice commands, and stylish design.  So what was left to show off at today’s Moto X event?

Well for starters, despite the leaks which stated the phone came in black and white, the Moto X is completely customizable when you order it online.  You can choose the front (black or white), the back (huge selection of colors), the accents (ring around the edges and the buttons), the wallpaper, the memory (storage, not RAM), and even add a signature phrase. Now that’s pretty cool.  And it’s all assembled in the good ol’ US of A.

In terms of tech specs, the Moto X sports a 4.7″ AMOLED HD 720p display, a 2200 mAh battery, up to 13 hours talk time, a rear 10MP camera that can shoot 1080p video, and a 2MP front facing camera that can record 1080p video as well.  Unfortunately, you cannot customize the specs.  It also runs stock Android 4.2.2 — so not the latest Android.

Meanwhile Google’s acquisition of Motorola has yet to really pay off — since the acquisition Motorola has only refreshed its Droid series of smartphones twice, the most recent being just last month.  Now it seems Google and Motorola are moving away from the “Droid” brand and shifting their focus to the Moto X.

Obviously, Motorola is keeping it simple with the latest Moto X release, it’s not a super powerful phone and it doesn’t have the plethora of features that comes with a Samsung Galaxy S4, but Motorola is betting on the fact that most people don’t need that stuff — that they would rather just have a phone that works the way they want, when they want.

You can get the latest updates for the Moto X on the Motorola site.  The Moto X will be available for $199 on contract at all five of the major US carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular).  One unfortunate thing to note is that AT&T has an exclusive on the colors, so they will be the only carrier to offer customers the variety of colors available for the Moto X.  Kind of a bummer as that’s one of the most appealing reasons to get the Moto X.

What do you think of the Moto X? Are you disappointed or is it basically what you were expected?  And perhaps most importantly, do you want one?  Let us know!