All Eyes Are on Moto X, Thanks to Touchless Control

by Michelle Maisto

This image from the Motorola site sums up the Moto X: Be young. Be fun. Be creative. Just not yet. The Moto X will arrive “late August, early September,” says Moto.

Motorola clued into something that brands like Vans—which lets shoppers design their own shoes through an online system—understood early: Some people want what everyone has, while other people want what no one else has.

Buyers will be able to choose from 16GB or 32GB; dictate the front and back colors, the accent colors of the power button, the volume key and the camera ring; choose the wallpaper; purchase accessories; add a “signature phrase” and eventually even choose from different materials.

Motorola is smart to play up the fact that the Moto X is made in the USA—in Texas, to be exact. Some will recall President Obama asking Steve Jobs in early 2011 what it would take for the iPhone to be made at home. Jobs answered, according to The New York Times, “Those jobs aren’t coming back.”

Motorola is also capitalizing on the location of its factory by promising that a user can design a phone online and have it in-hand in just four days.

Motorola says that, all told, there are more than 2,000 possible option combinations. What’s non-negotiable are the internals. There’s a 10-megapixel back camera with 1080p video, a 2-megapixel front camera, Long Term Evolution (LTE), mobile hotspot capabilities and the Android 4.2.2 operating system.

The Moto X is 129.3 by 65.3 by 5.6 to 10.4mm thick. That last wonky measurement is because the back of the phone is curved, to fit more comfortably in a user’s hand. Motorola executives say the shape of the phone was determined by measuring thousands of hands to figure out the average size.

With the size of the Moto X determined, the Motorola team then put in the largest display that would fit: a 4.7-inch Active-Matrix Organic LED (AMOLED). The battery is 2,200mAh and said to last 24 hours.

While it’s easy to focus on the hardware, early users suggest the device’s key feature is its Touchless Control software. A user prompts the phone by saying, “OK, Google Now,” and then can tell it to do any number of things. This, however, isn’t unique to the Moto X. It’s also in the three Motorola-made Droid devices Verizon introduced July 23.

The three Droids, like the Moto X, also feature Quick Capture, which wakes up the camera with a quick twist of the wrist, and Active Display, which sends desirable information to the home screen so that the user doesn’t have to wake the phone and look. This saves time and battery life.

In the United States, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, U.S. Cellular and retailers including Best Buy will all sell the Moto X. The 16GB model is priced at $199 and the 32GB model (on the AT&T network) at $249.99.

Chartreuse isn’t for everyone. “If customization isn’t your thing,” AT&T said in an Aug. 1 statement, “you can also pick up the 16GB version of the Moto X in black or white.”