In the four decades since Motorola first showed off a prototype of the
world's first cellphone, the company has watched Apple, Samsung and
other innovators surpass it in sales. With Google as its new owner,
Motorola is introducing the Moto X, a phone notable for innovations in
manufacturing, as part of an attempt to regain its stature.
Yes,
there's plenty the Moto X offers in terms of software, including the
ability to get directions, seek trivia answers or set the alarm without
ever touching the phone. There's good hardware, too, including a body
that's nearly as slim as the iPhone 5, but with the larger, 4.7-inch
screen that is comparable to those found in rival Android phones.
But
what's really special about the Moto X has nothing to do with making
calls, checking Facebook or holding it in your hands. Rather, it breaks
from the pack by allowing for a lot of customization. You can choose
everything from the color of the power button to a personalized message
on the back cover.
To make those special orders possible, Motorola
is assembling the Moto X in Texas, making it the first smartphone to be
put together in the U.S. Motorola promises to ship custom designs
within four days, faster than it would be able to if the company had
chosen to make the Moto X halfway around the world in Asia, as other
phones typically are. (Phones for overseas markets will be made
overseas.)
You can still buy the phone the traditional way, in
black or white. Walk into a store, pay about $200, sign a two-year
service agreement (or installment plan with T-Mobile), and off you go
with a brand new phone.
But that's boring
Just as Apple's
colorful iMacs showed more than a decade ago that personal computers
don't have to be beige or black, Motorola is moving away from
traditional black and white. You're still limited to black or white as
your front color, but you can choose any combination of 18 back cover
colors and seven "accent" colors, which highlight the power button,
volume control and the rim of the camera lens. There's more coming:
Motorola is testing back covers made of wood, for instance, and it plans
to let people vote on Facebook on future patterns, colors and designs.
You
can choose a custom message for the back of the phone - with limits. I
tried to enter profanity and trademarked names and was told, "We'd
rather you not say that." You can use the space to display your email
address, in case you lose the phone, for instance. In addition, you can
choose one of 16 wallpapers in advance and enter your Google ID so your
phone is all set up the first time you turn it on. You can select a
different custom message to appear on your screen when you turn the
phone on. You can even choose the color of your charger, white or black.
Choose
carefully, as you won't be able to make changes after a 14-day return
window. These aren't parts that you can simply pop out and swap.
With
the exception of $50 more for a phone with 32 gigabytes of storage
rather than 16 gigabytes, there's no cost for the customization. They
will be available at about the same time the standard white and black
phones come out in late August or early September. Wood back covers
aren't expected until later in the year, however.
In the
beginning, you can get custom versions only with AT&T as your
service provider, but other carriers are coming. Standard versions will
also be available through Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular at
launch. You do the ordering through Motorola's Moto Maker website,
which will cover service plan options with AT&T when you order the
phone. If you walk into an AT&T store, you can pay for it there,
just like a gift card, but you'll then have to visit the Moto Maker site
and enter a scratch-off code.
So what does all this mean?
At
first, I thought of it as a gimmick. But then I thought more about how
phones are among our most personal possessions. Your phone contains your
private thoughts in email, contact information for your loved ones and
precious memories in the form of photos. So I can understand the desire
to add a personal touch to the look of your phone, especially if you
don't have to pay more. Keep in mind that your customizations might make
the phone harder to resell when you're ready to trade up for a new
model.
In many ways, it's similar to the way desktops and laptops
have been sold. You can go to Dell's or Apple's website and order any
number of configurations. The difference is those configurations
typically have to do with the amount of storage, the speed of the
processor, the size of the screen and the software that comes with the
machine. With Moto X, you're getting the same storage choices that other
phones offer, but all the other options are cosmetic.
Meanwhile,
the Moto X advances hands-free phone use. Although hands-free options
are available elsewhere to make a call or send a text, Moto X opens the
door to the entire Web. It relies on Google Now, the virtual assistant
that retrieves information when you speak into the phone. Normally, you
press something to activate Google Now. That's how Siri works on iPhones
as well. With Moto X, you simply say, "OK, Google Now."
That
command is specific to your voice. I asked three colleagues to speak
"OK, Google Now" into a phone I trained by repeating the phrase three
times. The phone ignored my colleagues, but responded to me instantly
once I spoke from the same distance. Sorry, pranksters: You won't be
able use this feature to set 3 a.m. alarms on your friend's Moto X.
I
was able to get the phone to recognize my command from about 10 feet
away, as well as close by with an episode of "The Walking Dead" playing
at full blast on a laptop inches away. But under those conditions, the
service was more prone to make mistakes. For instance, the phone
misheard a request for directions to Boston as "directions to fall."
Even
in a quiet room, Google Now made a lot of mistakes responding to
requests to call specific people. When I asked Google Now to "call Bob,"
it offered me "Emily," ''Dave" and "Super" - for the superintendent of
my apartment building, who's not named Bob.
I can see this feature
being useful to motorists, but it's imperfect. And if you protect your
phone with a PIN code, you'll need to type it in to unlock the phone,
except to make a call. Motorola says it tried voice recognition for
passwords, but couldn't get it to work properly.
There are two
things that will work without entering your PIN: You can get a peek at
text messages and other notifications by pressing the center of the
screen for a second. If you want to respond or see more, then you'll
need the PIN. You can also access your camera by twisting the phone like
opening a doorknob. You can browse through shots you have just taken,
but you'll need the PIN for older ones.
Speaking of the camera,
Motorola did a good job of keeping it simple. With Samsung's Galaxy S4
and HTC One, I've often hit the wrong buttons for gimmicky features I
don't want. With the Moto X, you have to swipe the screen from the left
to access the settings. That way, the buttons aren't there to hit
accidently. To access your gallery of photos, you swipe from the right.
Again, you won't be getting old images accidently and miss the chance to
snap a new one.
The camera also lacks a shutter button. Instead,
you tap anywhere on the screen to take a photo. Keep pressing on the
screen, and the camera will take a series of shots in succession.
The
screen measures 4.7 inches diagonally, which is larger than the iPhone
5's 4 inches and close to the 5 inches found on a few other leading
phones. Held like a skyscraper, the phone is narrower than most leading
Android phones. The edges are curved, but the middle is thickened more
than the typical phone. That actually fits nicely in my hands, as the
palm isn't flat when in a grip position. It's not heavy either, at 4.6
ounces.
Although Motorola has released other phones since Google
bought the company in May 2012, the Moto X is the first to be designed
under Google. It's an impressive offering that could make Motorola a
contender in phones again.
