Google and Motorola Mobility launch the customizable Motorola Moto X - Motorola Moto X is The Wolverine of Customization that’s Made in America

“Google is the first to commercialize the self-driving car,” says Woodside. “This is the first self-driving phone.”

Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside in an interview with Forbes Magazine, Thursday August 1^st 2013

Motorola Mobility, which is owned by Google, has done it yet again. Not in the IPTV Streaming World as was hoped in my Geezam article entitled “Google Acquires Motorola Mobility – Weapon of Choice in the IP and Set Top Box Wars” but rather in the smartphones arena!

On Thursday August 1^st 2013, which happens to also be my birthday (Happy Birthday Yah me!) Motorola Mobility ended months of speculation and launched the Motorola Moto X Smartphone as stated in the article “Motorola's flagship phone, the Moto X, has arrived”, published August 1, 2013 12:02 PM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News. Check the Official Motorola Moto X Website for details and alerts on the phone, which is available on Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular in the US of A.

So brushing aside the sill retro name, it’ now clear that Google isn’t gonna use Motorola Mobility to make set top boxes; they’re REALLY gonna make smartphones, fulfilling the fears of the other Smartphone makers. Then again, Google Chrome OS is used by PC Makers to make Chromebooks as stated in my blog article entitled “Lenovo and HP now making Chromebooks - Google Chrome OS is being Built from the Cloud Up as Microsoft experiences the Side Effects” since January 2013.

So not really a surprise here albeit it’s a lot to take in after having just launched the 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) update of the 7” Google Nexus 7 Tablet and the revolutionary US$35 Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Stick a week ago on Tuesday July 24^th 2013 as stated in my blog article entitled “Google launches a 4G LTE Google Nexus 7 and Google Chromecast Streaming Device - Uninspired Tablet upgrades but US$35 Google Chromecast is the Streaming World's Blue Jasmine”.

Straight to the main Specs for the Motorola Moto X:

Hardware

           

1.      Operating System: Android OS, 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)

2.      CPU: Dual-core 1.7 GHz 8 Core Qualcomm MSM8960Pro Snapdragon codenamed Krait

3.      GPU: Adreno 320

4.      Storage: 16GB and 32GB

5.      Memory: 2 GB RAM

6.      Dimensions: 129.3 x 65.3 x 10.4 mm (5.09 x 2.57 x 0.41 in)

7.      Weight: 130 g (4.59 oz)

8.      Screen: 4.7 inches 720 x 1280 pixels HD (~312 ppi pixel density)

9.      Display: AMOLED capacitive touch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass at 16M colors

Features

1.      SIM: Nano-SIM

2.      Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0

3.      NFC: NFC (Near Field Communication)

4.      USB: MicroUSB 2.0

5.      HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps

6.      Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

7.      Rear facing Camera: 10 MP 1080p video at 30fps

8.      Front Facing Camera: 2 MP at 1080p

Telecoms Networks

1.      2G Network GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and CDMA 800/1900

2.      3G Network HSDPA and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO

3.      4G Network 4G LTE

Battery

1.      Li-Ion 2200 mAh battery

2.      Stand-by - 576 h

3.      Talk time - 13 h

Motorola X is an Apple iPhone Clone – Attack of the Un-Apple iPhone

Interestingly, this looks a lot like an Apple iPhone 5, down to even the Nano-SIM (Subscriber Identification Module), a feature many Jamaicans have to getting used to as per my Geezam article entitled “How to make your own Micro-SIM or Nano-SIM Card”.

It comes in 2 versions, a 16GB version and a 32GB version with no options for memory Expandability, again a very Apple, like Trait as argued in “Moto X: The first true anti-iPhone”, August 1, 2013 12:06 PM PDT by Roger Cheng, CNET News.

So it’s just another Android Smartphone, this time made by a Google owned Company, Motorola Mobility and sporting some Apple Stylings but with an un-Apple like philosophy. The Motorola Moto X will be available on Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular in the US of A for US$200 for the 16GB version on a 2 year Contract and US$50 extra for the 32GB version, very un-Apple. The Octo-Core Motorola Moto X is coming in U.S., Canada, and Latin America by September 2013, just in time for School.

What unique about this phone, however, is not the specs but rather the Customer Service option of customization which is very un-Apple as well. On visiting the Official Motorola Moto X Website, once you’re an AT&T customer, you can customize the smartphones color from a range of eighteen (18) colours using a service called Moto Maker.

And yes, like the new Apple Mac Computer, the Motorola Moto X is made here in the US of A at a plant in Fort Worth, Texas making the customization realistically possible as stated in the article “Motorola CEO: Moto X Brings Us Back To Our Root In Innovation”, 8/01/2013 @ 3:05PM, by Parmy Olson, Forbes Staff, Forbes Magazine.

Google and Motorola Mobility have also indicates that customer may also be able to customize even the material for the back with materials such as wood and bamboo. The wallpapers also customizable, albeit this you can do when you have the phone in your hand. Still, this is a very thoughtful gesture. Even better, this customization option will expand to other Telecom Providers, making this phone, despite its lackluster specs, a stand out in a field of smartphones that are really starting to look alike.

It’s good to note to, that the Smartphone is a 4.7” device and not phablet sized like the 5” Samsung Galaxy Note in 2011 and it’s update in 2013 the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as stated in “Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review: The ultimate anti-iPhone”, published April 2013, CNET News or  the 6.3” Samsung Galaxy Mega in April 2013 as described in “Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3-inch phablet, hands-on”, published April 18, 2013 12:55 GMT (05:55 PDT) By Ben Woods, ZDNet.

This is interesting. It appears that by focusing on customization and not on screen size, Google appears to be noting the trend towards smaller, cheaper smartphones with additional perks such as Dual-SIM a predicted in my Geezam article entitled “Trend towards Dual-SIM Smartphones developing in Jamaica as MNP Approaches”.  

As if to confirm this, Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside has also confirmed that, yes indeed, they’ll be making a cheaper version of the Motorola Moto X in a few months aimed directly at Developing Markets as stated in “Motorola CEO: Don't worry, cheaper Moto X in the works”, published August 1, 2013 1:55 PM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News.

Google is clearly focusing on reducing the learning curve of a Smartphone experience instead of making yet another supersized Smartphone. This is a tactic similar to what Samsung is doing with the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini or even introducing a new category, the Feature Smartphone dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Folder as stated in my blog article “Samsung to launch the Samsung Galaxy Folder phone in Q4 of 2013 - Android improvement of the Feature phone is the R.I.P.D. resurrected Feature Smartphone”.

Motorola Moto X is The Wolverine (2013) of Customization that’s Made in America.