New Moto X 2014 2nd Gen hero

The new Moto X (2nd Gen) specs, pricing, and availability now official [VIDEO]

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It’s official, folks — the follow up to last year’s Moto X is here. Still simply called the “Moto X,” the 2014 device brings major upgrades in every facet of smartphone technology. Processor, display, battery, camera and more are all seeing significant bumps. We’ve also gotten early word on pricing, availability and a lot more.

Moto X (2014) Specs

Here’s a quick rundown of the specs:

How’s that compare to the previous Moto X? It has a bigger screen yet, bigger camera, built with metal, adds several sensors, yet is thinner than the Moto X 2013. And it now allows you to alter “Okay, Google” voice activation with your own custom commands.

Motorola was criticized for using what people thought to be an underpowered chipset in the original Moto X despite it getting the job done well enough for everyday use. That said, they should have no qualms about the Snapdragon 801 that snuck inside this thing. The display’s 1080p resolution isn’t the 2560 x 1440 being featured in other flagship phones, but at a 5.2-inch form factor that’s still pretty nice pixel density there.

In terms of build, the new Moto X is made with a metal frame that stretches across the entire edge of the body. Metal is also used as accents for the power button, volume rocker, speaker grill and the rear-facing Moto logo. Coupled with some of the wooden (Bamboo, Teak, Walnut or Ebony) or leather backs (Natural, Cognac, Black and Navy from Horween Leather) that’ll be made available through Moto Maker it’ll all come together to make a really nice looking phone.

Moto X (2014) Software and Features

As you’d expect, Motorola again avoided the custom software route and instead embraced Android and Google’s apps as pretty organically. You’re getting a pretty clean version of Android 4.4, and you can expect the features Motorola added at the application level more than embedded deep within the firmware itself. This, of course, allows them to not only update the Android core at a ridiculous pace, but also the various apps and features they’ve cooked up.

Returning this year is hands-free voice control, except now you can customize the trigger to be whatever you want — something owners of the original Moto X have been begging for since the device’s launch. You could say “bing bang boom” and have it wake up and ready to act on whatever command you issue. Pretty neat stuff there.

Other big features making returns are Moto Assist for automatic actions (such as silencing a phone at bed time or replying to texts while driving), Active Display for viewing notifications without sucking up battery life (you can now view up to 3 instead of just the latest notification) and context-aware gestures like twisting your wrist to launch the camera app.

And because Moto believes less is more, well, there isn’t much else to talk about — they feel anything else you need is sitting right in the Google Play Store.

Moto X (2014) Pricing and Availability

Wondering when you can get your anxious little paws on it? Later this month, and you’ll be able to find it on carriers through Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. Motorola anticipates some carriers pricing this thing as low as $99.99 depending on which model you get (16GB or 32GB), while the off contract pricing is expected to begin at $499.99. There’s no word on how much Moto Maker additions such as wooden or leather backs will cost, though we’re sure that information will come to light as we head closer to release.

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