Fly Or Die: Motorola Moto X

The Moto X has caused a rift between the TechCrunch Gadgets family. Chris Velazco and I think it’s just fine, whereas Darrell Etherington and John Biggs are rather unimpressed.

But why?

Well, the Moto X is Motorola’s first real Google phone, with pure Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, customizable back plating, a 4.7-inch 720p display, a 10-megapixel camera, and a dual-core Snapdragon processor running the show.

Under the hood, you’ll find 16GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM.

In other words, the specs are right on par for a phone of this price ($199 on-contract) but nothing to write home about. There isn’t one feature of this phone that truly sets it apart or above any other phone, except maybe the customizable back panel, giving the user slightly more cellular flare than was previously available.

Pure Android, without any of that TouchWiz, Sense, Motoblur crap is actually quite wonderful, and voice-activated Google Now is a nice touch. But like Siri, it’s not always dependable.

It’s hard to come down to a solid conclusion with this guy. Still, whether you’re excited like Chris, ambivalent like myself, bored like John, or actively against the Moto X like Darrell, the phone itself seems to have a solid build at a fair price.

You can also listen to us argue about the Moto X here on the TC Gadgets podcast.