Happy holidays from the Motorola family! However you choose to celebrate the holiday season this year, what we love is being able to celebrate in a way that fits you. We know that many of you use your phones to listen to music, and so in the spirit of the season, we put together a holiday playlist to play on your phones.

Take a listen to our full Spotify playlist here:



Just why do we love these songs so much? Hear from a few members of the team:

Kristin Arnold and Lexi Valasek from Consumer Research
“All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey
“I have only one holiday song I like, and I like it a lot. I could listen to it on repeat forever and skip all other holiday songs (seriously, if there was radio station that played only this song on repeat from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I'd listen). Something about this song just makes me smile.”

Michelle Gatsuo from Product Management
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan
“It gives me a warm feeling of holiday spirit which is playful and joyful! This pop rendition combines many traditional holiday songs into one single song. I love both bands and together the harmony of voices is absolutely outstanding.”

Lally Narwal from Product Marketing, and David Schuster from Product Management
“Chanukah Song,” Adam Sandler
“Can't go wrong with Adam. Why? For years I wondered about Harrison Ford's ethnic background. Thanks to Adam, I now know he is a 1/4 Jewish… not too shabby. It’s also a light hearted look at the holiday season and brings a smile to my face.”

Dickon Isaacs from Design
“Decoration Day” by Howlin Wolf
“I grew up in England in a house where my parents were huge fans of American jazz and blues. My dad managed the Marquee Club in London for a few years and during that time booked artists coming to the UK for the first time including Howlin Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. Christmas was always a music-filled time at home, with this song always making it's way to the record player. Old blues, old vinyl and a warm crackling fire!”

Heather Dowdy from Product 
"What Christmas Means to Me" by Stevie Wonder
“It's a classic song that always brings a smile to my face. It reminds me of all the great memories I get to make with my closest loved ones during Christmas.”

Michael Jahnke, Consumer Experience Design
“Christmas in Hollis,” RUN-DMC; “The Little Drummer Boy,” Bing Crosby; “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” Band Aid
“From a classic duet between a Legend and a Space Oddity, a surprise Christmas rap hit for the whole family, and a genuine outpouring of hope from some of the decades biggest stars… these are the songs that say the most about what the holiday season is to me.”

Happy Holidays!

Posted by the Motorola Blog Team

You can admit it: You’re someone who loves everything about the holiday season. Christmas. Chanukah. Kwanzaa. All of it. You can’t get enough of the most wonderful time of the year.

Holiday lovers, we’ve got you: no matter which holiday you celebrate, your trusty phone offers a few ways to get you and yours in the holiday spirit:

SPOILER ALERT: If you’re reading this with someone who believes in Santa Claus, please tread lightly. Some of these suggestions reveal Santa’s secret identity. Please skip the first two ideas and jump right to “Bring on the Holiday Classics.”

LOL with Santa: Text with St. Nick
To believe in Santa Claus is exciting. To believe that you’re actually chatting one-on-one with the big guy— that’s enough to blow a kid’s mind. To put your little ones in touch with Santa, temporarily change the name of your significant other or a friend to “Santa Claus” in your phone’s contacts. Then, gather the kids and start a text exchange with St. Nick. Talk about gifts, reindeer, elves, Mrs. Claus, and more.

Follow Santa with the Santa Tracker App

So, if you’re one of those sensible people who keeps an eye on the ole bank account as you go through your list, there are other options. Here are a few ideas to mull over that will put a smile on a giftee’s face and yours, too.



Gift of Music

We’ve always loved the fact that our users can use their Moto X (2nd Gen.) to capture memories in Ultra HD (4K). But how could we take a step further and capture some sweet footage? Attach the phone to a drone, of course. Professional drone operator Glenn McKenna took the new Moto X out for a drive. Don’t try this at home, kids!

It’s not often that you have the chance to shoot ultra HD on a phone.

We recently had a chance to fly our aerial rig in San Francisco using the new, lightweight Moto X. Moto X (2nd Gen.) can shoot 4K video, a super high resolution format. It’s usually used for big screens, super sharp TVs, or in filmmaking when you want vibrant images with a lot of flexibility to edit.



We were really pleased with the 4K video from Moto X. The phone’s auto-exposure and auto-focus came in handy as we flew the drone to focus on light and dark areas.

We were able to edit some of the footage on a 1080 (2K) timeline and have quite a bit of wiggle room to crop the video without losing any quality. We could shoot pretty wide and still focus in on the exact images we wanted.

And since the phone weighs 1/10th of what we usually fly, our flight time was more than five times longer than with our typical DSLR camera that only shoots 1080p footage. We’d definitely recommend it for anyone who wants the ability to shoot 4K video from a device that fits in your pocket.

All in all, we captured some stunning extended footage using this lightweight phone. We were able to weave it into this video using exceptional amount of control and versatility with the ability to shoot 4K video!

Check out some of the behind-the-scenes shots from the drone shoot:






Guest post by Glenn McKenna, Drone Operator, Float Deck Films

Though the design of your Moto 360 may be timeless, the software for the watch doesn’t have to be. Instead, it continues to get better and better. Last month we gave you more choice for your Moto 360 including new bands, watch faces, and a new feature called Moto Body. Today, we’re announcing a new update to Android Wear that brings you even more ways to customize your Moto 360 while improving the performance.

With this upgrade you can now choose from a variety of beautiful, new third-party watch faces through the Google Play Store, created by designers like Rebecca Minkoff and Xogram. You can even choose a fun watch face from the makers of one of the most popular Android games Plants vs. Zombies^TM. This is in addition to the existing ability to design your own watch face through Moto Connect. Once you receive the update, there will be a link to the watch faces collection in the Android Wear companion app.

The update also introduces new settings. Swiping down from the top of the screen brings new features like Theatre mode, which turns the display off even when receiving notifications, and Sunlight mode, which temporarily maximizes brightness. You can also manage interruptions and access deeper settings quickly. And if you have a phone running Android 5.0, Lollipop, the choices you make on your Moto 360 automatically change the Interruptions setting on your phone.

Here are some of the other highlights you can expect after installing the update:

• Undo the accidental dismissal of notification cards.
• Get more information about watch battery performance including usage by apps and features.
• Info about storage space including how much memory is available on the watch.

For more information check out the release notes. Or for more on Motorola updates and repairs, visit motorola.com/mymoto360.

Update: We are enhancing this most recent update to Android Wear with a new, optimized build that squashes a few bugs. Some users reported that some watch faces appear off center on their Moto 360. This affects users who are using different language settings on their watch and phone. It is now fixed. We are rolling out this update to users in phases, and all users should have it by the end of the week.

Ever wonder who comes up with the designs of products you use every day? Designers have the ability to shape much of the world around us, articulating the look and feel of the things we use most. Who are these people and what was the thinking behind their designs? We sat down with Motorolan Rhea Jeong, one of the designers of Moto Hint, who was recently recognized in Crain’s Chicago Business as one of Chicago’s tech 50, to pick her brain on finding inspiration in Instagram, pretending to speak Spanish, and designing Moto Hint.

How did you first get into design?
When I was a kid I loved sketching and making things, and reading comics. I was always a very visual person. Growing up I learned the things I liked to create and discover were all actually a process of designing things. Earlier in school I got into making things online like little websites and other communication design-related things, like website and album jacket concepts.

By the time I was in high school, I decided to go into industrial design for a major since I was interested in the synergy of technology and design. After graduating from Hongik University in Seoul for Industrial Design, I decided to come to the US for my career.

Where do you get your inspiration?
I like traveling around and seeing things. I think those experiences accumulate and produce creative fuel. My colleagues are also always an inspiration to me. We share design blogs and new things that pop up. A lot of daily inspiration comes from online sources. Instagram is a great way to see interesting things around the world, if you follow the right sources.

Why is design important to our everyday lives?
It’s a broad question since design can also be seen as a holistic mentality and process. I think good design is important because it can shape our ideas into impactful objects, systems, and creative solutions so we can improve the quality of our lives and create something meaningful that transcends time and location. Design can provoke different ideas and networks that ultimately transform the culture we live in.

What does design say about Motorola?
Our design language connects with the consumers in an approachable way -- it’s very “natural” in user experience and industrial design. I believe it speaks to the consumer when we are connecting the object, interaction, and graphics to a single idea and experience—which becomes the brand and identity of Motorola.

What were some of the main inspirations for Moto Hint specifically?
We were imagining people with their heads up and immersed in the moment. Moto Hint could give you the world’s information directly to your ear by asking a question and giving you a choice to hear rather than see the information. This device could be more than an accessory and more like a personal assistant.

The discreet new wear style was key to this product, to make it universally appealing and comfortable and easy to use. We believed revolutionary design and engineering and novel user experience could create its own category and break the stigma of the traditional headset category. The earbud style makes it comfortable, familiar, and easy to use.

Are there any cool details about Moto Hint that may not be immediately apparent?
Moto Hint can detect when it’s in your ear. So it turns on when it’s in your ear and turns off when it’s out. I think it’s a very magical and intuitive experience. Also, it charges when it’s in the intelligent charging case. The lanyard tag on the charging case is the notification, telling you how it’s doing. When connected to a phone like the new Moto X, you can simply start speaking to activate voice commands. When paired other phones, you can simply tap the surface of the earbud to activate voice controls.

One favorite thing I like to do with Moto Hint is ask how I speak a different language. “How do you say ‘such and such’ in Spanish?” And it will read back to you how it’s spoken in your ear. You can just follow and then pretend you speak Spanish!

What advice would you give to aspiring designers?
I think they should try to meet different people, see many things, and go different places. You can learn something from everyone and everything. But ultimately you decide what you act on. Also, try to have inspiring people around you.

Posted by Noelle Chun, Social Media