Motorola Mobility finally reveals the reason why Google shelled out $12.5 billion for it back in 2011-- the Moto X, the first Motorola product designed with Google supervision.
At first glance, the Moto X looks like any other 4.7-inch Android handset, if one carrying what Motorola calls "innovation themes." These include "Touchless Control" (as in voice-activated Google Now functionality), "Active Display" (a low power means of showing alerts on screen without unlocking the device) and "Quick Capture" (two flicks of the wrist activate the camera).
Powering such features is the "X8 Mobile Computing System"-- a custom-built 8-core architecture designed to handle multiple tasks while sipping as little battery life as possible. It consists of a pair of dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Processors, a quad-core Adreno 320 GPU and 2 custom processors (one for natural language, the other for contextual computing).
The OS of choice is a lightly modified Android 4.2.2 build. Further specs include 2GB RAM, either 16 or 32GB of built-in storage and a 10MP Clear Pixel camera promising "exceptional" low-light performance.
One unusual point hyped by Motorola is the Moto X being the first smartphone from the company designed, engineered and assembled in the US. This means potential customers can buy customised models, with an online Moto Maker storefront allowing users to create the Moto X of their dreams. Especially if those dreams involve a wooden smartphone chassis (in teak, bamboo, rosewood and ebony!).
Will the Moto X usher Motorola (and, in turn, Google) towards a golden smartphone age? We will know once it is available in American markets from September 2013, with no word as yet of the eventual European release.
Go Moto X
