The Official Motorola Blog

Monday, June 15, 2015

You love smartphones, but not the contracts

For a limited-time, try Moto X risk free and save*

According to a recent report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Motorola customers are some of the most satisfied smartphone owners in the country. In fact, Moto X ranks as one of the top three smartphone brands!

The report also sheds light on the massive shift we are seeing in the wireless and mobile industry. People are happiest without a contract. The good news is that more and more carriers understand the importance of offering simple to understand, no contract wireless plans. To embrace going off-contract, we recognize the need to offer great premium smartphones at a better price so you get more bang for your buck.

With that in mind, we’re offering you the opportunity to customize and try a new Moto X for 30 days, risk free at a new off-contract price of $299** (after $50 rebate).

To try one out, simply design and order your device at motomaker.com and activate it on a no-contract plan. If you don’t love your Moto X, simply ship it back to us for free any time in the first 30 days. No hidden fees or restocking charges — and if your Moto X didn’t turn out how you envisioned, we’ll even give you one “do-over” for another shot at designing your Moto Maker creation. If you love it, keep it and get a $50 discount off the purchase price**.

As always, we want to give you the power to choose a great mobile experience, and when it comes to form and function, Moto has you covered.

Check out motorola.com/sayhellotomoto to say goodbye to contracts and Hello to Moto.

Posted by Jeff Miller, Head of North America Sales

*Say Hello to Moto valid from 6/15 - 6/29
**Requires survey response for rebate eligibility, Price will appear as $349.99 in cart. Refund to the credit card you used to make purchase will be processed 6-8 weeks after delivery.

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Thursday, May 07, 2015

The Download: Introducing Chop Twice for Flashlight with Lollipop 5.1 for Moto X (2nd Gen.)

Today we began rolling out Android 5.1, Lollipop for Moto X (2nd Gen.)—and with it, we’re pleased to introduce a new Moto Action: Chop twice for Flashlight.

First some details on the rollout. We began rolling out the update in a soak test to those of you who bought your Moto X (2nd Gen.) at select retail partners in Brazil. We have been working on putting the software through carrier and regional testing in other countries and for other devices, so please stay tuned for more.

Now for the fun stuff. Google’s latest build of Lollipop 5.1 provides stability enhancements and squashes some bugs. At Motorola, we’re also throwing in a new Moto Action we believe is both useful and fun. In addition to twisting twice to launch camera, waving once to silence an incoming call, or passing your hand above the screen for Moto Display, you can now do one more thing.

How many times have you fumbled through your settings or awkwardly opened an app to turn on the flashlight? When you typically need a flashlight, you need one quickly. Chop twice for flash allows you to make a natural chopping motion (that’s right, like when you’re chopping an onion) to turn on the flashlight. Then simply chop twice again to turn it off.

We hope you enjoy the update. Learn more about 5.1 for Moto X (2nd Gen.) here and get other information at our software updates page. Let us know what you think about it on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.

Posted by David Schuster, Software

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Friday, May 01, 2015

Time-lapse Inspiration: Make a beautiful video like this professional videographer in Hawaii

While there’s a lot to love about our Camera app, we also love our creative Android developers community, which makes fantastic additional apps for your whimsy. Today, we’d like to spotlight Lapse It Pro, which is an app that helps you take time-lapses and makes stop-motion videos.

We asked a professional videographer at 9th Ave Studio in Hawaii to take a Moto X out to shoot time-lapses and this was the beautiful result:

Want to make the most of your Moto X camera? Here are some other cool built-in camera tricks:

Take a short cut and open your Camera quickly. Use Quick Capture by simply twisting your wrist twice to launch your Camera app and never miss a shot.
Add some drama with 120 fps slow-motion.
Get the full effect with a panorama shot. Select panorama mode by opening by swiping right from the left edge of your screen.
Save some time by using Recommended Shot which helps you choose the best picture.
Take a selfie out of arm’s reach. Just call to your Moto X using your voice trigger and say, “Take a selfie.”
Store and easily share your photos from the cleanly designed Gallery app.
Backup your photos and videos automatically to Google Drive, so you don't need to worry about losing your memories.

What are your favorite Moto X videos and camera tips? Share them with us on our Google+, Twitter, or Facebook, using the hashtag #MyMotoX.

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Thursday, April 30, 2015

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.

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Monday, April 27, 2015

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

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Monday, April 27, 2015

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

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