How Moto X inspired these West Hollywood stylists

Spring is here and with the warm weather are endless ideas for cute looks. We’re a big believer in choosing your own style, which is why we give you the choice to customize your Moto X in a variety of different combinations, including genuine leather and wood backs. So we asked West Hollywood-based fashion experts at The Style List on Sunset Boulevard for their advice on creating a look that works.

They gave three tips:

Tip #1: Make a statement - A statement piece is a great way to define your look. It could be a skirt you love, a bold piece of jewelry—or even your phone!

Tip #2: Customize your style - It doesn’t matter what this season’s trends are—the most important thing is that you’re your own person! Make the style your own by choosing pieces and colors you love.

Tip #3: Be inspired - Look around you for inspiration to bring together your outfit or your style. Your statement piece could be a great place to start.

Want to see happens when you put these tips to work? The Style List uses customized Moto X’s as their statement pieces and put together three adorable outfits based on the phones:



Visit Moto Maker to create your own customized Moto X today.

Changing the Rules

Recently, our president, Rick Osterloh, has been sharing his thoughts about the mobile device industry and other topics on Medium. We wanted to share one of his posts here. He'll be posting more stories like these on Medium, and you can find them here.

Last week the Times of India reported that Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce site, would abandon its desktop website and go all-mobile. This says something about how they see their market and the users they are cultivating. India is one of the great growth stories for mobile -- a country with 1.25 billion people and just over 200m mobile Internet users. 

But that great untapped market is also a conundrum. Many of the people on the fringes of global mobile Internet adoption have radically different expectations and habits than the consumers we’re used to dealing with. In some cases they’re buying bandwidth literally a few kb at a time. No matter how inexpensive good devices get, many of these people don’t have the years of accumulated experience that make modern mobile operating systems decipherable.

This is a great illustration of something I’ve been talking about with my team recently. The mobile device business remains one of the most amazing growth stories of our age. But three forces are profoundly changing the shape of the industry, making this the most interesting and perilous time since it emerged in its modern form in 2007. We have to adapt to this new world to survive. These three forces are new users and markets; China; and new competitors and new models. 

Read the full post on Medium here.

Posted by Rick Osterloh, President and COO

What is Patina?

You might have heard the phrase in an art history class, read it in article, or even heard a friend use it describing her shoes: patina. It’s the term people use to describe what happens to an object over time. Patina has an especially beautiful effect on leather and wood—which means that your Moto X and Moto 360 become more beautiful over time.

So we turned to an expert to learn more—Nick Horween, CEO of Horween Leathers, whose family has worked in leather for generations and provides the leather for our products. 

Though many different types of material patina, leather has a particular beauty when it ages.

“Horween leathers are vegetable-tanned leathers,” he said. “That means they are cured by tree barks. Because of that, the leather is very accepting of the environment: sunlight, oils, waters. Since all our leathers have an aniline finish - which means there are no pigments - nothing gets in the way of it interacting with the environment. That lets the leather patina pretty quickly.” 

Just as important is how you handle the leather. The way you touch and hold your phone, how it rubs against your pocket or when you expose it to light - all these things affect the patina. A tobacco-colored piece of leather might develop a caramel shine while black leather takes on highlights that give the leather visual depth.

To treat your leather well, be careful not to overexpose your leather. Too much sunlight can actually be harmful so leaving your Moto X baking in the sun at the beach or on the dashboard is definitely not a good idea. And moisture can lead to issues like mold so be very careful to dry your back and front if moisture does get on the phone. No need to worry about special cleaners, just wipe down with damp cloth when needed.

This is good news for people looking to develop a patina on their phone in short order. But, as Horween is quick to add, there are no short cuts. “The best you can do is just to use it.”

Photo Credit: Kevin Flynn

Project Fi and Nexus 6: More choice in how you connect

We want to give you the freedom to choose the mobile experience that’s right for you, which is why we are proud to be the first hardware partner to bring you Google’s Project Fi on Nexus 6 by Motorola.

Google recently introduced Project Fi -- a wireless experience that intelligently moves you to the fastest available high-quality connections between Wi-Fi and 4G LTE network partners. This service is designed to push the boundaries of what’s possible wirelessly and makes it easy to communicate across multiple networks and devices.

Nexus 6 is the first smartphone to work with Project Fi. Nexus 6 is a bigger phone with more everything. Together, it gives you more ways to connect and more control of your mobile experience.

Learn more about Nexus 6 here. If you live in an area where Project Fi has coverage in the U.S., request an invite at fi.google.com/ to get started.

Posted by Andria Nickel, Nexus 6 product manager

Moto 360: It’s time for an update

Simpler, easier and more fun. In the next few weeks, an update is coming to Moto 360 equipped with fun few new features like Wi-Fi connectivity, new gestures and easy-to-draw emojis. That way, you can get more done and have some fun with your watch.

Go Ahead, Put Your Phone Down
Over Wi-Fi, you’ll be able to use your Moto 360 when you are out of Bluetooth range from your phone.

Flick It
With a flick of the wrist, scroll between cards of useful info, check out new notifications or go back to the previous one without ever touching the screen.

Turn Quick Drawings into Emojis
Admit it, life is more fun with emojis. Now you can simply draw something - a burger, a clock with time, a smiley face - and Moto 360 will transform it into an emoji to send to your friends and family.

Always-on Screen, Always-on Apps

Now you can continuously view apps while optimizing battery life.

All screen images simulated. 

These new features and more will be available for Moto 360 in the next few weeks. And if you’re thinking it’s time to consider other upgrades to your watch, check out Moto Maker for the latest options.

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