The Download: Lollipop for Moto G in India and Brazil — And How Lollipops Are Made

Some sweet news for Moto G users in Brazil and India! Android 5.0, Lollipop, is now fully available for download to all Moto G (1st and 2nd Gen.) smartphones bought through Flipkart and Airtel in India and through Motorola.com and retail in Brazil. This makes Lollipop available to millions of Moto G users across the two countries. If you haven’t already been prompted to download the new update, you can also pull the update by going to Settings > About Phone > System Updates. If you have a first-generation Moto G, you’ll need to ensure that you have the latest version of Motorola Update Services from the Play Store.

As you unwrap the new software, we wanted to use this week’s Download—our regular spotlight on software—to answer three of the most frequently asked questions we’ve been hearing about our upgrade process.

How come everyone doesn’t get the upgrade as soon as Google releases Lollipop?

Though we try to make the process seem easy, it’s actually pretty complicated. That’s because we want to ensure a quality experience across every device that gets the upgrade. Let’s do a quick recap of how a major new version of Android comes to your phone.

Google improved the Android release process with Lollipop, which was important because Lollipop is the biggest and most ambitious release of Android ever. Everyone needed time to adapt. Several developer previews were released early so that developers—and device and chipset manufacturers that are part of the early access program—could kick the tires. 

A critical milestone occurs at the “public push” of a new version of Android—when Google releases the source code to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), typically with the introduction of a new Nexus device. 

At this point, we are able to start testing the software with most other third parties, such as local carriers in different markets and various governing organizations. The process varies from region to region. Fortunately, one benefit to shipping cleaner software with no skins and less bloatware is that it allows us to test more quickly with fewer third-party apps to validate. This enables us to bring you updates even faster.

Once the testing is done, we are able to begin pushing the update to your device.

Even though Lollipop was way bigger than past releases, we raced to beat our prior record, releasing the first upgrades to Moto X (2nd Gen.) Pure Edition just eight days after the public push. 

How come some users in my country get the upgrade and not me?

Before releasing an upgrade widely, we perform “soak” tests, during which we release the software to a small group of users so that we can monitor performance data and user feedback over several days to make sure everything looks good. 

It is very important to us that an upgrade improves your experience. The soak test can reveal problems that need to be fixed, and based on the feedback we may decide to tweak or incorporate new changes to correct any issues. 

Sometimes we expand to a larger set of users to account for issues that might only appear in a bigger group. Once we’ve taken these steps, we open the upgrade for all users for that model and country combination. If you see someone posting a screenshot or tweeting that they got the upgrade, and you still haven’t received it, they are likely part of a soak test group.

If you’d like to learn more information about soak tests and the Motorola Feedback Network, you can visit this page.

When will the upgrade for my specific device be available? 

You can see which products will be receiving the Lollipop upgrade on our software upgrades page, however there may be many different software builds for each device to develop and test, so availability times can vary by carrier and region. We’ll always announce upgrades as soon as they become available.

Carrier partners often have additional features and test requirements that need to be completed for each device. These requirements vary from carrier to carrier and across different regions. They also have lab testing times that can range from weeks to months. In some cases, devices on older or less powerful chipsets may need more work to ensure good performance when running Lollipop. 

We hope you enjoy this latest push of Lollipop! Let us know what other questions you have on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook, and we’ll keep answering. You can also check the software upgrades page for the latest status of your device and read our support FAQs and release notes for more information. 

Posted by David Schuster, Software Updates

Your Guide To The Ultimate Game Day Setup With Motorola

The big game is upon us, and two teams remain. This Sunday. Seattle vs. New England. Tom vs. Russell. Beast Mode vs. East Coast. Tailgating. “Deflategating.” Game on.

For the ultimate game, you’ll need the ultimate viewing setup. Here’s your guide for watching the game in all its multimedia glory with Motorola.

TV

The game airs on NBC this year. And while you’ll certainly want to watch the network feed to see the amazing ads, you’ll also need to check out NBC’s stream of the game, which is available on the web or the NBC Sports app. It promises to be an incredible multimedia experience, including multiple camera angles, live stats, instant replays, and more.

With Google Chromecast, it’s easy to stream the game to your living room. In fact, if you have a second TV, stream it there as well to give you and your guests another way to check out the action. Or look at how well the puppies are playing in their annual match up.

Phone 

Before the kickoff, make sure your audio/video system is a well-oiled machine. Use the THX tune-up app on your Moto X to properly calibrate your TV and surround sound system.

Once the ball is in play, keep one eye on the TV and the other on your phone to follow all of the hashtag action on Twitter. If you don’t have it already, get the NFL Mobile app for your phone. It’s the best way for you and your friends to keep up with all of the gritty gridiron news, stats, videos, and more.

Make sure you're ready with Shazam. If this year’s game is anything like last year, some ads will feature exclusive content for Shazam users. If not, you can always use the app to find out what song is playing in that catchy car commercial.

Watch

Style. Functionality. Smack talk. And what better way to use your Moto 360 than to instantly talk some good-natured smack with your friends. Use your voice to send Hangouts to your friends. We’re pretty sure the intensity will translate. You can also get Twitter feed to your Moto 360 via the Twitter app.

With all of that excitement in the air, you’ll want to keep close tabs on your vital signs. With Moto Body, you can see your pulse jump with every heart-racing play. Also, if you’re feeling stuffed with nachos, walk it off at halftime, tracking your distance and calories burned as you do. You can even listen to music while you stroll and keep the party vibe going (without even taking your phone). 

When the final whistle blows and you’re sufficiently partied out, use Moto 360 to get a Lyft home safely.

Speaker

Turn the party up with some music. Moto Stream lets you turn any speaker wireless, so it’s easy to stream music from your phone, tablet, computer, or Moto 360. Diehard fans may even consider switching over to some additional online game commentary. If you don’t mind sharing control, set Moto Stream to Heist Mode and let others stream tunes from their phones.

Food

Your friends are arriving at your big party. They’ve brought their friends. And their friends’ friends. And you have two pizzas. Don’t worry about running to the store for more food and missing any of the game. Use the Eat24 app to order from select local restaurants from your Motorola device. Even better? You can do it from your Moto 360. Find out more at the Eat24 blog.

The field is set and so are you. Enjoy the game!

Posted by Lally Narwal, Product Marketing

Feel the #Motolove With Up to $140 Off Your Purchase at Motorola.com

Whether you eat all the caramels first, insist on dark chocolate only or pick through candy hearts for your favorites, how you enjoy Valentine’s Day is your choice. This year, we’re choosing to spread the love with a sweet deal.

Starting next Monday, February 2 at 11am CT, we’re offering a promo code* worth $140 off your purchase of $499.99 OR $50 off your purchase of $249.99 on Motorola.com. Pick your favorite Motorola devices and accessories, such as a new Moto X (2nd Gen.) and Moto 360, add them to your cart, and purchase before February 14.

If you miss that offer, you can still get a great deal. Spend $499.99 and get $100 off, or get $35 off a purchase of $249.99 — no promotion code needed. The same exclusions below apply and you’ll still need to complete purchase by 10:59 p.m. CT on Saturday, February 14.

How do you get in on it? Simply register here. Once you enter your contact information, we’ll email you a unique, one-time-use promotion code that can be redeemed no later than Saturday, February 14th at 10:59pm CST.

Here are the details*:

• Register on Monday February 2, from 11am - 11:59pm CT for a code worth $140 off your pre-tax purchase of $499.99 OR $50 off a pre-tax purchase of $249.99.
• You must use a shipping address within the U.S. 
• On Tuesday, February 3: $100 off $499.99 OR $35 off $249.99 site-wide.
• Consumers have until until February 14 at 10:59pm CT to redeem.
• This offer excludes Nexus 6, Moto X (2nd Gen.) on Republic Wireless, and the Extended Service Plan. Limit two devices among Moto X (2nd Gen.), Moto G (2nd Gen.), Moto G 4G LTE (1st Gen.), Moto E, and Moto 360. Promotions cannot be combined.

For more deals, company news, and fun, be sure to follow us on Google+, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And in case you have questions about anything above, check out the FAQ.

Happy Valentine’s Day. Try spreading a little love around yourself with #Motolove.

Motorola Returns to China Today - It Feels Good to Be Back

Today was a wonderful day for Motorola fans and employees in China. A day that we’ve imagined for more than two years, and have been waiting for since Lenovo acquired us nearly three months ago. Today we officially brought Motorola smartphones back to China.

Together with hundreds of fans and guests we celebrated the launch of Moto X, Moto X Pro, Moto G and Moto Hint in China. It was a thrill to have so many people welcome us back with such enthusiasm.

Working on the HR Team at Motorola for nearly 3.5 years, I’ve been lucky to be able to share my passion for the company and its mission and products. Today, I had the opportunity to see that same passion in longtime Chinese Motorola fans. Here are a few of my favorite moments.

Motorola president Rick Osterloh spoke to fans and guests about Motorola’s history in China, and how important it was to us to be back and bring our products to people here.

At several Experience Zones, fans could touch and try our latest generation of devices, explore all the things they can do, and see how we made things like Moto Voice work in Chinese.

In the Experience Zone, fans were invited to walk through a mock Moto lab, similar to our R&D labs in Chicago.

Earlier this month, fans in China were invited to choose their top color choices for Moto X. Today, Lenovo Mobile Business Group VP Zhang Hui revealed that turquoise was the color that got the most votes, and would be sold at a special price RMB 2,999.


It’s been great to see such amazing support at today’s launch event in Beijing. Being here for the return to my home country will always be one of my fondest Motorola memories.

Posted by Nicole Zhou, HR Manager, Beijing

Meet the Craftsman Who Made a Moto X-inspired Bluetooth Gramophone (and Win One of His Speaker Blocks!)

Ryan Boase’s gramophone has elegant accents of walnut and white—just like his new Moto X. The restaurant-manager-turned-full-time-Etsy store owner recently designed this sleek new Bluetooth device inspired by his phone. Among the many other audio devices sold through his online store, Ryan’s gramophone combines the best worlds of old and new audio technology. It pipes tunes through a classic gramophone horn using Bluetooth technology. The result is a speaker beautiful enough for any party with the chops to pump out some tunes to get the crowd going.

We sat down with Ryan to learn more about his gramophone and how he came to make it.

What inspired you to make this product?
By 2011, I started seeing more and more people with smartphones, and one thing I noticed in particular was that they were using them to play music on. My flip phone had some songs on it, but these new phones had much improved speakers on them. I would see people playing music on their phones and instead of using headphones, they would just play music through the built-in speakers in the phone. At this point my wife had already upgraded and finally convinced me to upgrade too. I was amazed at how good the little built-in speaker was. I started tinkering in my garage looking for ways to amplify the speaker that was already built into the phone.

Can you tell us about how you designed the gramophone?

I started using musical instruments to amplify the speaker. I started by chopping damaged, unplayable trumpets, trombone, and French horns and using the bells of those instruments to make acoustic speakers. I then started looking for bigger and better ways to amplify the little speaker in the phones so I started using phonographs, gramophones, and tube radio horns. It originally started out as acoustic speakers, but phone models kept changing and with the introduction of so many tablets, I knew I needed something that could accommodate everything so I redesigned them into Bluetooth speakers. 

How does your gramophone work?

These work on the same principle as a megaphone. Picture a football game where the cheerleader yells into the small end of a megaphone and it is amplified out through the large end.

Why combine a vintage gramophone horn from the '20s with modern technology?

There is something so intriguing about the mixing of technologies. I think that is why the steampunk culture is growing and why record players are making such a comeback. These speakers take modern music and give them a vintage feel. It is also really cool to listen to music from that era and feel like you are hearing it how they did.

You write on Etsy about how you made the device to match your Moto X! Why did you choose walnut and white for your phone and what did you think about when making the Bluetooth speaker to match?

I have been very drawn to Danish Mid-Century Modern furniture lately. With dressers and credenzas, it has been very popular to paint the trim white to contrast the wood drawers. I was excited to see the wood options for the new Moto X. I had to get the walnut and love how the white looks with it.

When I listened to a demo of your product, it sounded like the speaker has a vintage sound to it. Are there any special acoustics incorporated into your speaker and if yes, what were they?

Yes and no. There is nothing special that I am doing to these horns. I am using these horns the same way they were used 100 years ago. It is a very simple process. Music is going into the small end and it is being amplified out the big end. I am using modern technology to get the music to the horn, but it gets that vintage sound because it is being amplified the same way it was 100 years ago.

What's your favorite thing to play through the gramophone?

Etta James's "At Last" is always a go to when I am playing one for someone for the first time, but there are plenty of modern singers that sound amazing on these. One of my favorite songs to play is Lana del Rey's Video Games and Duffy sounds awesome too.

As I think about it, my smartphone really did change my life. I started making acoustic speakers which were inspired by my new phone. I put a couple online to see what people thought. An international publication found them and included them in an article and it blew up my little shop. Two weeks after the article hit, I had a wait list over 100 people long. I was able to quit my job as a restaurant manager two years ago, and this has been my full-time job ever since.

If you’re as inspired by Ryan’s work as we are, here’s your chance to win one of the SpeakerBlocks he created. Tweet your favorite song with the hashtag #MotoTunes for the chance to win starting at 1 p.m. CT.

Posted by the Motorola Blog Team

10 Things To Do With Moto Hint That Might Surprise You

Editor’s Note: Emily Price is a freelance tech journalist in San Francisco. We invited her to share her experience using Moto Hint, a discreet wireless ear bud that can give you complete control over your phone. 

Bluetooth headsets are typically bulky, uncomfortable and pretty dorky looking. I’ve steered clear of them for the most part, but when Motorola released Moto Hint a few months ago, I had to give it a try. When paired with my Moto X (2nd Gen.), the tiny headset is capable of doing some pretty awesome stuff. Here are a few of my favorite things to do with Hint.

Get the weather
The weather in San Francisco isn’t as easy as just knowing what season it is. One day can be warm and sunny, while the next makes you want to bundle up in your favorite winter wear. While I’m getting ready in the morning, I can ask Hint what the weather is outside and decide if I need to grab a hoodie before heading outdoors.

Listen to my schedule
My morning typically kicks off with a walk around my neighborhood with my dog. While I’m leashing him up I can have Hint give me a rundown of my schedule for the morning and find out whether I need to grab a jacket or umbrella for our stroll. By the time we’ve made it downstairs to head outside I already have a good feel for my day.

Directions while biking
If you’ve ever tried to bike and look at Google Maps for directions, you know it’s not easy. If you’re trying to bike around San Francisco and dodge taxis, street cars and enthusiastic entrepreneurs — it’s downright impossible. One of my favorite uses for Hint is getting turn-by-turn directions in my ear while biking around the city. It’s tons better than trying to bike wearing headphones (you can’t hear the road) or constantly looking down at your phone.

Play some tunes
I use Hint occasionally to listen to some tunes while I’m walking my dog or heading to my next meeting. Hint pulls music from YouTube, and I’ve found myself using it to play a tune I can’t get out of my head. The week before I went to see the Generationals play in San Francisco, Hint was pumping out their tunes daily.

Quick Google searches

I work from home, which means those questions you typically ask your coworkers? I ask them out loud to no one like a crazy person. With Hint, I can ask important questions like “What day is Christmas on this year?” and get an answer back instantly, without the need to pick up my phone or open another browser window in Chrome.

Easy texting
Texting is another thing I’ve really enjoyed doing with Hint. My Moto X can be charging across the room, and I can text friends about evening plans without having to touch my phone.

Answer calls without finding your phone

My phone typically lives in my purse or book bag when I’m out and about. With Hint, when a call comes in I can answer it without having to dig around in my bag and figure out where my phone is.

Easy call transitions
I’ve found myself reaching for Hint quite a bit at the end of the day. Around 6pm I’m often trying to cook dinner, which also happens to be when all my friends from back home decide they want to call and chat. With Hint, I can chat with friends while keeping my hands free for chopping veggies and even place calls myself without ever touching my phone.

Post to Facebook

Posting to Facebook using your voice isn't something you're probably going to do often, but it's a pretty killer feature. One day I remembered I needed to find someone to watch my dog Tucker the following weekend while I was at a wedding. From my bike, I posted a status message on Facebook asking if any of my friends can help out with the fur ball. By the time I got home, I already had a few messages.

Remind me to buy beer
I’m a huge craft beer fan. Unfortunately, my neighborhood doesn’t have a real good place to buy some of the brews I like to drink. With Hint, I can set a reminder to pick up some of the rare stuff when I’m downtown for meetings and near some better bottle shops.

Posted by Emily Price, Special to the Motorola Blog

5 Out-Of-The Box Things You Can Do With Your New Moto 360

So you took the plunge and made the wise decision to buy a brand new Moto 360. And now? You look fantastic. You feel fantastic. Now let’s get you up and running with five cool things you can do with your Moto 360 right out of the box.

Step It Up

Keep track of how many steps you take each day with Moto Body on Moto 360. You can also compare those numbers at the end of each week, as well as track your progress against your weekly goal. The better you do, the harder Moto 360 will push you to take more steps by increasing your goals.

Wrist and Shout

With Moto 360 you can respond to a Google Hangout just by using your voice. Just swipe left when a message comes in, select “Reply,” and say what’s on your mind.

Say Cheese

When you open the camera on your Motorola phone, a “Take a Photo” card will appear on your Moto 360. You can set your phone up away from you and use your watch as a remote control trigger to shoot photos on your phone.

Make a Face

Moto 360 has amazing watch faces to choose from right out of the box. That said, you can make your own by using Motorola Connect on your phone and choosing the “My Design” watch face. You can choose a pic from your phone's photo gallery and customize the clock’s hands, accents, and tick marks. When you’re done, the new face will automatically sync to your Moto 360.

Block Party

If your phone is bursting at the seams with tons of cool apps, don’t worry—your Moto 360 doesn’t have to receive a notification for each one. You can choose which apps you want to see and which you’d like to hide. Simply open the Android Wear app on your phone, select “Settings,” then select “Block app notifications.” The apps you select won’t sync to your Moto 360. For some app notifications, you can even use your watch to swipe all the way to the left to block further notifications.

Posted by Lally Narwal, Product Marketing

5 Tips to Make the Most of Your New Moto X

By now, you've had time to play with your new Moto X. You've shown it off, maybe you've read about a few of the features, and even gave your phone a name. If you’re looking to fall even more in love, here are few tips to help you.

Get Comfortable with Moto Voice
Learn all of the ways that you can use your Moto X (2nd Gen.) without laying a finger on it with Moto Voice. Start with your voice prompt. Then fire up the camera by saying, “Take a Picture” to use the back camera—or “Take a Selfie” to use the front camera and count down from three for fumble-free photo fun. Or say “Good night” to turn on Sleep Mode in Motorola Assist. Android Central has a good list of more commands for Moto Voice to help you out.

Twist It for Quick Camera Access

Not that you need to shake it up but adding a twist is always helpful. Sometimes literally. You can twist your wrist to launch the camera and twist it again to use the front camera to take a selfie. Just make sure you have Quick Capture enabled within the Moto Actions settings. To get there, open the Moto app and tap the gear icon in the upper right corner. Then tap Actions and select Twist for Quick Capture. Make sure the option is checked, watch the demo, and you are good to go.

Let Motorola Assist Help

Motorola Assist will recognize when you're in a car and can read aloud text messages or even announce who is calling. You can then use your voice to tell your phone to answer the call or not. Assist will also sync with your calendar so you won’t have to worry about calls during important meetings. Just make sure you accept the meeting first. If you show as available, the call might still get through. To get started, open the Moto app and tap the gear icon in the upper right hand corner. Tap on Assist and choose your own settings for driving mode and meeting mode.

Keep Your Phone Unlocked When You Want

Use Trusted Bluetooth Devices to choose when to keep your phone unlocked for when you’re, say, in the car or using a wireless earbud like Moto Hint. To do this, pair your phone with a Bluetooth Device and select Trusted Device when prompted. If you missed the initial notification, Lollipop users can go to Settings -> Security -> Smart Lock -> Trusted Devices. (Those using KitKat can customize it in Settings -> Security & Screen Lock -> Trusted Devices -> select the Bluetooth devices for which you want to keep your phone unlocked).

Ask for Help

The easiest way to set an alarm is to simply ask. Just use your custom voice prompt followed by "Set an alarm for 6 a.m." or “Wake me up at 6 a.m.” and you're all set. 

Posted by Jim Thiede, Product Marketing

App-y New Year! Treat Yourself with 8 Wonderful Apps

A new year means out with the old and in with the new. In the ole days that might have mostly meant cleaning our houses, but in today's modern lifestyle it can also mean something else: time to choose new apps!

As we begin 2015, here are eight must-have apps that could make your next year a little better.

Timely Alarm Clock
On cold winter days, who really wants to get out of their warm, comfy bed? Make this experience as painless as possible with Timely Alarm Clock. It’s easy to use, gorgeous to look at, and works just as well on tablets as it does on your smartphone. It even turns down the alarm volume when you pick up the device.

Elevate
We spend so much time and energy hitting the gym. Why not give your brain some love, too? Elevate is a mental workout for your brain. Through more than 25 games and personalized training exercises, you can teach yourself to focus better, process information more quickly, write and speak more effectively, improve your memory, and more. You can even track your progress and see yourself get smarter.

Feedly
Stay up to date on reading all your favorite blogs and websites with Feedly. This RSS client is robust, easy to use, and includes other plug-ins to work with services like Evernote. It also makes it a cinch to connect to your social networks so can easily connect to whatever it is you’re reading. You might even use it to discover a few new feeds to follow in the new year.

QuickPic
If you have thousands of photos spread out across various online accounts, QuickPic is your jam. It can pull photos from Picasa, Google Drive, Dropbox, Flickr, and more, so you have access to all of your photos in one central location. And, you know, if some of those photos are of a more, shall we say, incriminating than others, rest assured it’s easy to password protect them.

LastPass
Believe it or not, there are still a lot people out there who still use the password, “PASSWORD.” Don't be ashamed. That’s why LastPass exists. It’s a password management app that lets you store all of your passwords in one place, so you can use a different (and preferably stronger) password for every site without having to remember them all. And if you’re worried about keeping all of your passwords in one place, you can add multifactor authentication to ensure your passwords remain hidden and secure.

Cerberus
While you are an upstanding and model citizen, there are others who may not share your same sense of decency. Which is to say that there may come a time when you find that your mobile device has been stolen. Should that happen, Cerberus can help protect your phone. When stolen, you retain remote control of the device, allowing you to track it, wipe the memory, lock the device, and record audio. And when you get near the stolen device, you can narrow down its location (and really annoy the thief) by turning on a loud alarm on the phone—even if the device is in silent mode.

Slack
Anyone who has ever worked on a group project in school knows collaboration is hard. While Slack isn’t going to prevent someone from trying to let everybody else do the work for them, it does make it easy to communicate and collaborate with your team members, no matter where you are, by creating a central hub for messages and important files. Plus, you can break things down by workflow, so nobody is getting spammed with messages unrelated to their work.

Pushbullet
Keeping with the theme of collaboration, Pushbullet is designed to make all of your devices communicate seamlessly. With Pushbullet installed on all of your devices, you’ll be able to push data from one device to another immediately. This makes it easy to send your phone an article for you to read later, send your desktop a picture for immediate editing, or even read your text messages on your computer when you’re too lazy to get up and check your phone.

Tell us, which apps would be on your nice list? Let us know on our Facebook, Google+, or on Twitter using the hashtag #MotoAppyNewYear.

Posted by the Motorola Blog Team

Hello China! Motorola returns to China with Moto X, Moto X Pro and Moto G

With the Lenovo acquisition complete, Motorola is returning to China -- one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets -- in triumphant fashion, introducing three of its latest devices. The new Moto X, new Moto X Pro and new Moto G with 4G LTE will all go on sale in early 2015.

Motorola has a long history in China and we are pleased that smartphone fans there continue to be passionate about our brand and products. Chinese consumers have long been at the leading edge of smartphone use, blazing trails in mobile messaging, media and more. Motorola's pure Android based devices will give them new choices in how they connect to the world.

Moto X: Choose how it works. Choose how it looks. (Available early February)

Widely hailed by reviewers around the world as one of the best Android smartphones on the market, Moto X features a stylish design with a refined metal frame and a vivid 5.2” HD display, as well as backs made using authentic materials such as FSC® certified woods and genuine Horween® leather.

Starting in early February, just in time for Spring Festival, Moto X will be available to purchase in several different designs. In the spirit of choice, we want the people of China to vote on what colors and materials they would like to see featured first. Visit motorola.com.cn on January 7, Beijing time, to learn more and to let your voice be heard! After Spring Festival, people will be able to design their own Moto X through our Moto Maker design tool.

Moto X Pro: Choose to go big. (Available after Spring Festival)
Designed by Motorola and providing the latest Android, Moto X Pro gives you bigger images and better sound with a 6-inch Quad HD display and front-facing stereo speakers for immersive sound. A 13-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization takes high-quality photos in all lighting. Top it off with the latest 2.7GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 805 processor and a 3220 mAh battery that delivers more than 24 hours of power.

Moto G: Choose a phone that keeps up with you. (Available after Spring Festival)
Moto G was designed with you in mind, focusing on what you’ve said you value most. The curved design fits comfortably in your hand and nicely in your pocket, with colorful Motorola Shells included so you can switch to match your style. Surf the Internet quickly and multitask with ease as Moto G offers 4G LTE and quad-core processing speed, incredible call quality, dual-SIM capability, a brilliant 5” HD display and stereo sound.

We’re eager to build a direct relationship with Chinese consumers and empower them by bringing the mobile Internet to millions of people. With the new Moto X, new Moto X Pro and new Moto G with 4G LTE, the people of China will have the power to choose.

Designing for Choice: The Making of the Wood-Back Moto X [VIDEO]

As a designer, there is this leap of faith that is hard to describe. You come up with a great idea. You know there is a need for it. And then it’s time to make it real, not only in the designing but in the engineering. The two have to come together.

When it came to designing the wood Moto X (what we now fondly know as the Natural Collection), we had to take that kind of leap. We looked to you, our consumers, for inspiration. We visited your homes and listened to your stories. You showed us what mattered to you and why.

We knew that allowing people to customize their phones with a variety of colors—bright, dark, shy, loud—their own accents, and a personalized message was an important step. But we wanted to create another choice that would make a really unique statement. Looking out into the market of black and white phones, we thought of designing something really different: a wood phone.



It was time for the leap. There were challenges to overcome to make our idea real. We had to:

• Design for uniqueness. Synthetic materials, like plastics, are purposefully created identical, so that technology like the antenna work every time. The beauty of wood is that it is a natural material, so every piece is gorgeously different. This meant we had to design the shape of the wood backs—as well as the technology inside—to work the same every time, regardless of the wood’s variation.
• Design to last. This organic material also needed to have the same durability that we create in synthetic materials. The shape and the design of both the wood backs and the casings became key to making the phone weather every day use—art as much as science.
• Design for choice. Underpinning the ability to choose a wood, leather, or color back was Moto Maker. Moto Maker is what would allow customers to choose exactly what they wanted. Beneath the clean website design was more than just code. We had to develop new software, workflows, and creative teams so people could see their designs online before ordering. Offering a personalized message on the back of the phone made it possible to create a totally one-of-a-kind device, but it also required new, automated equipment that had never been used before.

We moved into a shared space, an epicenter where all the leads could work together for the next 10 months. We were moving so fast and so fluidly that we needed to be able to tap on each other's shoulders to ask the most random (but ultimately important!) questions. Moto Maker was weaving our teams and company together in a completely new way to address the unique challenges of enabling you to choose from literally thousands of combinations.

The result?

The ability for the first time to express your style by choosing from first real wood—and now leather—phone backs, among other colors and customization. The backs are designed to be unique, just like you. The feel of the wood isn't slick and artificial. It's smooth but natural, intended to feel amazing and wear beautifully over time. It’s authentic and crafted. It’s not meant to be your standard mobile device.

As the co-creators of this phone, we’ve spent a long time designing. Now it’s your turn to design the rest. Take a leap. What Moto X are you?

Posted by Katie Morgenroth, Lead Industrial Designer