Motorola is finally making a play for smartphone relevance. Although the company's previous Android handsets were generally well-received, they've never achieved the same popularity that Samsung enjoys with its Galaxy line. That may soon change, as the Moto X is easily one of the most interesting Android phones Motorola has produced in recent memory.
I managed to snag some alone time with the Moto X on Thursday and walked away from the encounter with a better idea of how Motorola is trying to position itself in the smartphone market.
A full spectrum of color choices
The Moto X will be available in a host of colors.
This is is easily Motorola's best-looking handset to date: While the company's previous Android efforts are boxy and rigid, the Moto X features gentle curves that help the phone rest comfortably in your hand. The Moto X is made primarily of a composite material that doesn't feel as flimsy as the plastics used in other smartphones, although I would have preferred if Motorola had used aluminum. The back of the phone can be customized to be practically any color you can imagine, and I was particularly smitten with a red model Motorola had on display at the event.
The front of the phone features a 4.7-inch, 1280-by-720 AMOLED display. It looks good, but it's not as impressive as the displays of other recent Android phones from Samsung, HTC, and LG. It's disappointing that Motorola didn't opt to go with a higher resolution display, but I honestly doubt most people will care—the 316 pixels per inch you get on the Moto X is comparable to the 326 pixels per inch offered by Apple's Retina display iPhone 5.
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