Moto X and the dawning Context Ecosystem

The Moto X is too expensive. It’s underpowered. It’s ugly. Consumers don’t want color options. They don’t want to talk to their phone, just on it. If it’s not metal, it’s not premium. Man, the Moto X is a disappointment. Some of the instant – and vocal – criticisms of Motorola’s new phone have bordered on the vitriolic, the backlash perhaps again proving that pre-reveal hype can be a double-edged sword. Nonetheless, there’s a sense that in immediately dismissing the Moto X on how it measures up to today’s phones, we’re missing out on recognizing how it could be showing us the shape of the phones of tomorrow.

We’re trained to judge on numbers, in part because it’s simply easier. User-experience is subjective, but 1.7GHz is faster than 1.5GHz, four cores are twice as many as two, and 13-megapixels is far more than 8-megapixels. That conveniently ignores the fact that just because a camera has more megapixels, say, it doesn’t mean it will necessarily take better photos; just because you have a quadcore, it doesn’t mean your phone will necessarily run smoother than a handset with a dualcore.

Moto X benchmarks leak specifications in black

Right here a the start of another week of Moto X leaks leading up to the official August 1st device reveal comes Motorola’s next hero phone spillingessentially infull, complete with specifications,benchmarks, and all. The device is captured by a leakster who has decidedto photograph the phone with benchmarks runninghot, 3DMark and AnTuTu included. BONUS: The FCC has been so kind as to drop some additionaldetails on this machine here as well, dimensionsgalore!
The Moto X has been all but confirmedhere by the FCC to be working with a bodythats 128.5mm by 65mm large, this containingwhat’s almost certainly a non-removable battery that’s 2200 mAh space-wise. The FCC has spilled thefull-on next-generation abilities of this machine to go 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-fi full-speed-ahead!
The iteration of this device appearing through this leak appears to be theGSM version – that being one of the basics that’ll be sold directly through Motorola complete with customizations on its outer hardware. This exact model likely has slightly less-than-final software aboard, but we can tell from here that it’s essentially runningthe newestversion of Android available: 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
That means that the finaldevice will either be runningthis newestAndroid as it exists on the Nexus 4 and Google Play editions of theGalaxy S 4 and HTC One, or it’s simply a tester (it really is, don’t fool yourself) that’ll eventually getan upgrade to a newer Android, 4.3 more likely.
Inside you’ll find thedevice-code XT1058 “Ghost”, this pointingtoward it possibly being along AT&T’s line of innards. Inside you’ll also find 16GB of internal storage, working with NFC, and sporting two cameras. The front-facing camera comesin at 2.1-megapixels while theback-facing camera comesin at a cool 10.5-megapixels.
This next-generation camera shouldbe encouraging for those guessing that this Motorola smartphone will ONLY be winningout on hardware customizability, not specifications market topping. That said, this machine wont be killingthe rest of the market for processing abilities, runninghere a Qualcomm S4 Pro MSM8960DT 1.7GHz SoC with Adreno 320 GPU.
That’s dual-core and essentially one-upping theNexus 4 without growing so powerful as theHTC One or Galaxy S4, each of them working with thequad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600. This Moto X and its S4 Pro hit 18753in AnTuTu in this tester’s leaks along with a 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme score of 7143 – not half bad!
ALso you’ll find this 4.3-inch display’s processor to be rollingout with 720p – aka 720 x 1184 pixelsin this case, with a screen density at 320 dpi. Or at least that’s what AnTuTu says. It’s quite possible the machine’s display is 4.5-inches without on-screen buttonsor 4.7 countingsaid buttons– but it’s all still up in theair until we see thefinal product!
SOURCE: Android Police

Motorola Moto X press shots leak

Invites have gone out. Specs have been leaked. Now we have an official press images according to habitual leaker @evleaks.
The new phone, which is scheduled to be announced on 1st August in New York, will supposedly look like the above picture.
"Designed not as an early adopter’s phone, but instead as an every man phone, the X is the new Motorola’s first attempt to push some serious volume under new-ish owner Google," claims Evan Blass, the man behind the @evleaks tag.
With that in mind the images make sense, suggesting that this will be a Nexus 4 replacement rather than a device that will complete against the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One.
The official shots don't give much away as to the specs, but it does look like the back will be made of Kevlar, a favoured material by Motorola and already used on the Motorola RAZRI, RAZR M, and Droid Maxxrange.
Rumours suggest that the Moto X will purportedly feature a 720p 4.5 inch display, as well as a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 2 GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
The cameras include a 10-megapixel shooter on the back and 2-megapixel shooter on the front. It its also likely to have Android 4.2.2 on board, with support for LTE, NFC,Bluetooth 4.0+ EDR and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
With only 10 days to the event on the 1st August,we don't have long to wait. Pocket-lint will be covering all the news as it happens.
Stay tuned with us for more news about Moto X .
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Google sends out invites for August 1 Moto X event

Here’s the latest on Google’s upcoming Moto X smartphone. News has it that the company is all set to unveil the highly-anticipated device at its scheduled August 1 event.
The Verge has confirmed that it received an invite to Google’s August 1 event in New York City, accompanied by a teaser that reads: “Come experience the new Motorola”. That apart, the invite features the black and white variants of the Moto X smartphone that are not any different from what we’ve seen in the past through the leaks.
A lot has already been said and written about the Android-running Moto X smartphone,including that it will be available with the Canadian carrier Rogers Wireless August onwards.
Just this week, a video featuring the Moto X smartphone was posted by a Google+ user. The video gave us a more intimate look at the upcoming smartphone which Motorola has been working on alongside Google. Among Moto X's key features is a more powerful version of Google's voice-command service — Google Now. Google Now seems to be always enabled on Moto X, just waiting for the activation phrase, which in the video is "Okay Google Now." When the phrase is said, a user doesn’t even have to unlock the screen,let alone touch it. Design-wise though, the video doesn't show anything new. We've already seen a lot of the phone in leaks so far, and the video shows the same Nexus-esque design.
In addition to that, the phone has a new notification system in lieu of the notification LED - a common feature on Android devices. Instead of a blinking light, notifications on the Moto X show up briefly on the screen when the phone is locked with an icon depending on what the notification is about.
The smartphone also has some really handy motion-sensing capabilities. Starting the camera, for example, does not require the user to look for the Camera app icon. Instead, he can just twist his wrist twice, and the camera will start up. The interface for the camera also seems to be rather different compared to what we’re used to from Android. Instead of a shutter button, users can tap anywhere on the screen to take a picture. Tapping and holding results in multiple pictures,like the burst modes that we see in many high-end smart phones these days.

Moto X to hit stores in August, will have always-on Google Now voice commands

A video has popped up posted by Google+ user Дима Прокопенко that gives us a much more intimate look at the upcoming Moto X which Motorola has been working on alongside Google. Design-wise, the video doesn't show anything new. We've already seen a lot of the phone in leaks so far, and the video shows the same Nexus-esque design that Motorola has employed.
One of the key features shown off in the video is a more powerful version of Google's voice-command service—Google Now. On Motorola's new handset,Google Now seems to be always on, just waiting for the activation phrase, which in the video is "Okay Google Now." When the phrase is said, a user doesn’t even have to unlock the screen,let alone touch it, before using a voice command.
The phone also has a new notification system in lieu of the notification LED that is oh-so-common on Android devices. Instead of a blinking light, notificationson the Moto X show up briefly on the screenwhen the phone is locked with an icon depending on what the notification is about.
It also has some nifty motion-sensing capabilities. Starting the camera, for example, doesn’t involve hunting down theCamera app icon. Instead, users can just twist theirwrist twice, and the camera will start up. The interface forthe camera also seems to be rather different compared to what we’re used to from Android. Instead of a shutter button, users can tap anywhere on thescreen to take a picture. Tapping and holdingresults in multiple pictures,like theburst modes that we see inmany high-end smartphones these days.
The videoseems to be part of an advertising campaign by Canadian carrier Rogers Wireless,and the phone is set to be available with the carrier from August onwards. The phone will be available inblack and whitecolour variants.