Hailed as the first true “anti-iPhone”, the Moto X allows the buyer to change everything from the cover to the background. They have been experimenting with different organic materials like wood and bamboo for possible covers for even more customization. Everything is about creating a device that looks and feels the way the consumer wants it to, not how the company says it should.
Motorola appears to have learned from the company’s mistake and has issued the Moto X, which puts all the control in the hands of the consumer.
One of the biggest complaints about the iPhone is the fact that every aspect of the device is tightly controlled by Apple. Hence why jailbreaking is so popular, and why Apple has tried so hard (without success) to make the process illegal.
From the conference that took place this week we learned that Motorola prepares more than 500 possible combinations in design, including the back and front panels, buttons and more. Which shows just how far they are willing to go to make the Moto X the device of the consumer.
As for the features themselves, they aren’t that impressive. But it is a decent mid range phone with a 4.7-inch 720p AMOLED display, 16 GB of on board storage (Google offers 50GB Google Drive storage for free), or a 32GB upgrade for $50.
It also has a unique processor. When I say “unique”, I mean it…they are calling it an X8, but it is really a chip made up of other trips. The center of it uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC processor, with other custom built processors that enhance it. This should be enough to smoothly run Android 4.2.2 and be ready for Android 5.0 which should be announced somewhere this fall.
The Clear Pixel camera has 10 megapixels, it’s built by OmniVision and it features excellent low-light performance.
All of this is for $200 with a two year contract. Which isn’t really a bad price, but it might give some people pause. After all, the hardware is already a bit behind the times, and there are phones out there that offer a lot more. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a much more solid iPhone alternative.
But for those who want true customization and more freedom that the iPhone, and who don’t mind a few lacking features for a lower price, it might be a decent purchase. The only real downside is the two year contract, but lets be honest here: pretty much all modern day smartphone that are on the mid to high end are going to try and lock you into a service to cut down the insane price.
The real selling point is going to be the customization, and that is a pretty cool, feature. People like making phones their own, and with so many combinations (and more allegedly to come) you can design the perfect accessory. The basic design is good, too. It isn’t as bulky as other Motorola models, and so will add a sleek quality to whatever you choose.
I would mark this one as “mediocre”, which in today’s world of frantically released mobile phones could be a lot worst, but let’s remember that the iPhone 5 for instance is also awkward at features (1 Ghz dual-core processor and 1 Gb of RAM) and we all know how great it is.
