10 Reasons the Motorola Moto X Is an Attention-Grabber

Motorola unveiled new versions of its flagship Moto X smartphones, including one designed for the U.S. market. Take a look at the Moto X’s key features.

Motorola didn’t skimp on the hardware components when it comes to the Moto X. The Pure Edition launching in the states comes with a 5.7-inch quad-HD display, boasting 1,440 pixels. Better yet, it has 520 pixels per inch, meaning the quality of its colors and accuracy in representing actual photos and videos is spot-on. The 5.7-inch display also makes it one of the bigger smartphones on the market.

Part of the appeal of Motorola’s Moto X is its customization options. Users will be able to employ a tool, called Moto Maker that will help them pick the kind of casing and accent colors they prefer. According to Motorola, the device has 18 different inlays for the back casing and seven accent choices. Overall, the customization options far exceed any other product on the market right now.

Motorola is all about touting its device’s all-day battery life. The device is capable of keeping an “all-day charge,” thanks to its big 3,000mAh battery. For most consumers who aren’t staring at a screen for 10 hours straight, expect the device to last perhaps two days of normal use before it needs to be recharged.

The Moto X Pure has a 21-megapixel rear-facing camera that’s capable of delivering image sizes that far exceed anything one would expect to find in competing products. The vast majority of Android-based products have rear-facing cameras around 8 to 12 megapixels. Motorola’s decision to go with a 21-megapixel lens is a surprise.

The hardware specifications that you would expect to find in a high-end smartphone are all included with the Moto X. The device has 3GB of RAM and up to 64GB of on-board storage, as well as support for near-field communication. There’s also a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor built into the Moto X, though it’s worth noting that the device’s processor is a hefty 1.8GHz 808 hexa-core unit, coupled with the Adreno 418 GPU.

Motorola’s Moto X has some serious charging power. According to the company, the TurboPower 15 Car Charger can add 10 hours to the battery life after just 15 minutes of charging time. As anyone who has ever had a low battery in an airport or on the road knows, getting a quick recharge from your car is very useful.

When it comes to connectivity, Motorola provides what one should expect from a flagship smartphone. The device has support for all the latest WiFi bands, as well as Bluetooth 4.1 LE. But perhaps most importantly, the device can access LTE category 6 networks, allowing for throughput of up to 300M bps. Not all Android devices can handle those fast speeds.

Expect to see a lot more of this in the coming years, but for now, the Moto X is on the cutting edge with support for universal banding. What that means is customers can buy the Moto X and connect it to any network, GSM or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). In the past, companies would need to make separate GSM and CDMA handsets so they could run on various carriers’ networks. Those days are gone, thanks to universal banding, and the Moto X delivers it.

Although Android M represents the next frontier in Google’s mobile operating system, the Moto X comes with the Android 5.0 Lollipop version. While that’s not necessarily an issue, would-be buyers should hope that Motorola will update the Moto X to Android M as soon as possible.

Arguably the most surprising detail about the Moto X is its price. When it launches this fall, the device will come with a price tag of just $399. As noted, since the Moto X has universal banding, it’ll be available unlocked for that price. Considering many other devices go for hundreds of dollars more and have lesser specifications, the Moto X looks like a bargain for Android shoppers.