Motorola CEO Promises Budget Moto X Soon

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Sit tight if you're waiting for a cheaper model.

Motorola just announced the Moto X yesterday. Despite the fact that the phone has yet to go on sale, the company's CEO is already talking about new versions of the device to be released in the coming months. As seems to be the trend these days, Motorola is planning a cheaper, lower cost version of the Moto X for shoppers on a budget (similar to Samsung's Galaxy S4 mini; the HTC One mini; and the rumored iPhone 5C, the device).

CNet cites Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside as saying the Moto X is just the beginning. The Moto X is the flagship phone in an entire line of devices carrying the Moto X branding. This line will contain a model designed and priced for international customers in markets where subsidized devices aren't as popular. This device will also target the USA's prepaid wireless market. Though Woodside didn't provide much in the way of specifics, he did mention that the sub-$200 market offers a sub-par experience, so it's likely this phone will be extremely affordable.

The new Moto X uses the "Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System," which consists of a software-optimized Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro dual-core SoC clocked at 1.7 GHz, a natural language processor, and a contextual computing processor. Backing this system is 2 GB of RAM and a 2200mAh battery promising up to 13 hours talk time and up to 24 hours mixed usage time. The phone also features a 4.7 inch AMOLED 720p screen, a 10MP Clear Pixel camera capable of 1080p recording at 30fps, up to 32 GB of internal storage, dual-band wireless AC and Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR connectivity, and location services consisting of aGPS (assisted), AGPS (autonomous), sGPS (simultaneous), Standalone GPS, eCompass and GLONASS. The whole show is running on Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean," although given that Google owns Motorola, we imagine it won't be too long before the phone is updated to v4.3.

The device is set to be available in the U.S., Canada and Latin America starting in late August/early September 2013.

Jane McEntegart
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • shmung
    How are they gonna make it budget use a single core processor and a qhd screen with 512mb of ram because this already has a dual core and a 720p on it but sold at 1080p quad core price
    Reply
  • shmung
    How are they gonna make it budget use a single core processor and a qhd screen with 512mb of ram because this already has a dual core and a 720p on it but sold at 1080p quad core price
    Reply
  • therealduckofdeath
    11289066 said:
    How are they gonna make it budget use a single core processor and a qhd screen with 512mb of ram because this already has a dual core and a 720p on it but sold at 1080p quad core price

    Maybe they'll just sell the same phone at its right price in a firesale later next month? :)
    Reply
  • house70
    Time to get off the MotoX hype train.
    Reply
  • killerclick
    Moto X should be the budget Moto X. It's got a Snapdragon S4 CPU, 2GB RAM, 4.7" 720p screen, no LTE - it's basically a Nexus 4 eight months later. Nexus 4 8GB was $300 contract-free when it came out, so I'm not sure Moto X can cost much more than that and still move units. Maybe the huge advertising budget will make a difference?
    Reply
  • BranFlake5
    The ONLY cool feature brought by the Moto X was the always ready Mic, besides that the Moto X was a huge disappointment, and customization wasn't all that fascinating. Making a budget version of an already low spec phone is ridiculous, they should have released it Unlocked at a budget price with stock android. The reason that probably didn't happen, was Google didn't want to cannibalize Nexus 4 sales. Sad.
    Reply
  • hecksagon
    If any of you would read any reviews of the phone you would be aware that this is not your typical S4 SOC. It is Krait 300 based, which gives it a 10% performance boost over the older Krait 200 based S4. Also has an Adreno 320, which puts its GPU on par with every other high end device. The DPI at 720p on a 4.7" is more than good enough for any user, and the lower screen resolution allows it to KILL the S4 in real world game performance. Browser performance benchmarks, which are the most important benchmarks on smartphones, put the Moto X performance at or above the S4, even though its down 2 cores.
    Reply