‘Twas the night before Christmas, and I, home alone.
Sat typing texts on my outdated phone.
After sending the last, I folded it closed.
Then laid my head down for a holiday doze.

As I lay sleeping, a sound in the distance.
I rushed to the door to offer assistance.
I looked all around me, and there in the snow.
A neatly wrapped box with a ribbon and bow.


I lifted the box and shook it with care.
Examined the label and read what was there.
“To Stephen, From Santa” was all that it said.
A wash of confusion, a scratch of my head.

It was then that I heard a voice from behind.
I whirled around quickly and who did I find?
A large, bearded man, I felt so perplexed.
Said the red-suited man, “How’s your new Moto X?”

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.