Motorola, which unveiled the Moto X and a passel of new gadgetry at a special event in its cavernous headquarters in Chicago’s historic Merchandise Mart Plaza, apparently found that consumers were buying larger and larger screen phones — it’s simply what they want.
Motorola Unveils Bigger, Stronger Moto X:
Same name, new generation
At a glance, it’s obvious the new Moto X is part of the X family. It has the same curved back and tapered edges and the Motorola logo appears in the same spot. Once again, there are no buttons on the face — just power/sleep and a volume rocker along the right edge.
Closer examination reveals a much larger phone Closer examination reveals a much larger phone, however. The original was a 4.7-inch design, and the new Moto X is almost 0.28 inch wider and over 0.39 inch taller. It also has a narrower bezel around the screen and more sharply tapered edges, which Motorola added to help the larger phone still usable for single-hand operation. It does feel pretty good, but I have a big hand, and may not be the best judge.
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On the back, the camera (now 13 megapixels; the front-facing camera is 2MP) is encircled by a translucent ring that houses two LEDs. This is supposed to give flash photos a softer look. We’ll need to test that to see if that works.
Motorola also swapped out the slightly cheap-feeling plastic for a new aluminum chassis that, at least around the outside edge, serves as the antenna. Despite the new metal, the new Moto X is only 0.18 ounces heavier than the last model. It actually weighs less than Amazon’s smaller Fire phone (which is 5.6 ounces).
The LTE device features a 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU (up from the 1.7GHz processor on the first Moto X), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage (32GB is also available) a super AMOLED screen, a full 1080p HD screen and it’s running Android 4.4 "KitKat." Motorola tells me it’ll be ready for Android L.
Hands free, always aware
While Motorola, which is still owned by Google until its acquisition by Lenovo is complete, works hard to maintain a clean Android experience, it has not skimped on the technology. The smartphone is full of intelligent touches that leverage updated and enhanced Moto Voice, Moto Display and Moto Actions.
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The front of the phone now features a collection of infrared sensors that Moto Action uses to sense when you’re using the phone or gesturing at it. So it’s easy to wake up Moto X with a wave of your hand and quickly see the time and fresh notifications.
It’s also always listening. The low-power Moto Voice responds to customized commands. For example, you could have it respond to “Hello, Professor X.” Once you have the phone’s attention, you can give it another voice command, like “Take a Selfie.” We tried this out and as soon as my Motorola guide spoke the command, the phone switched on the front-facing camera, began a countdown and then snapped our picture.
A bigger phone, larger screen and more powerful CPU can spell trouble for battery life (it has a 2,300mAh battery), but Motorola has done whatever it can to save energy. Its special features run on low power and it allows users to interact with the phone in subtle, non-battery-draining ways.
Moto Display, for example, will let you peek at new messages by touching and holding the lock screen Moto Display, for example, will let you peek at new messages by touching and holding the lock screen. You then move your finger in the direction of the action you want to take: answer the message, unlock the phone. In this mode, it only lights up the pixels it needs to display the notifications in black and white.
Motorola also introduced something called Best Picture and it works a bit like Apple’s iSight camera burst and favorites function. The Moto X will sense when you're going to take photos and take multiple shots during that time. Then, when you look at your final photo, the Moto X will offer up a best shot option, which, like iPhone 5S’s favorites, will auto-identify the best shot while allowing you to delete the duds.
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As with the original Moto X, consumers can design their own body at Motorola’s updated Customization Studio. The newest material? Leather, which is what our sample unit is clad in. It feels nice, but I worry about it getting scuffed.
The Moto X is available now later this month for $99 with a two-year contract and for $499 unlocked.
MOBILE, MOTO X, MOTOROLA, TECH, MOTOROLA MOTO X, MOTOROLA MOBILE, MOTOROLA X SERIES MOBILE.
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