By 
We’re only a few short days away from Motorola’s official Moto X announcement, but the leaks are still rolling in faster than we can handle. The latest comes from Taylor Wimberly, who has revealed that the Moto X will be constructed with something Motorola’s calling “Magic Glass.” It’s apparently a strengthened sheet of glass molded to cover not only the front of the device, but the sides as well.
Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds — the glass is specially coated with a polymer material and should be sturdy enough to withstand some bumps.This design should make for zero-gap consistency throughout the device’s chassis. It’s hard to get a sense of just how well this works, so we’ll have to wait until Thursday to get a look at it for ourselves.
Wimberly also mentions that the device has laminated aluminum construction, something that will make for a better, stronger build quality while keeping a lightweight feel. The Moto X might not have the horsepower we were all expecting it to don before it was made official, but it still has us intrigued by pretty much every other aspect. Be sure to stay around as we’ll head to New York for a close-up with the thing this Thursday!
Glass sides? There are going to be a lot of broken Moto X’s.
This was literally my first thought when I heard about the wrap-around glass. If this is true, anyone who carries this without a case is out of their mind.
If I get it I won’t be using a case. I almost never use a case because they ruin good looking phones.
So does a tile floor =/
(speaking from experience)
True, and I understand some people are just accident prone and they help. I’ve had a smart phone since the OGDroid and I’ve never cracked a screen. I’m very careful.
I thought the same thing until about two weeks ago. I dropped it 1ft onto my bathroom tile floor when taking a dump (too much info). Now I wish I would have just kept the case on it. Sucks.
I do understand where you’re coming from, and if you treat your phone with EXTREME care, you may be ok. I personally can guarantee I will drop any phone I own my phone over 20 times throughout it’s life. I have seen WAY too many broken screens to go without.
Yea, some people just have slippery fingers haha. I’ve literally never dropped a phone on more than carpet. I am pretty careful with it.
To each his own I suppose. I prefer to have the extra layer of security. I’m on the go a lot which typically means hard surfaces below my phone. I actually dropped my Droid X down some lumpy stone stairs (it literally hit two stairs down from the one I was on and crazily bounced down 3 more) after being bumped by a friend. I can guarantee it wouldn’t have survived without the minimal hard silicone case I had on it.
bumper cases FTW!…esp if the backplate is customizable i can see them coming out with a bumper case to show the phone off and custom work a case similar to the n4….and dare i say…..no i wont dare to say
I could see a bumper appealing to me so long as it protruded slightly above the front and back surfaces. I don’t want my screen, phone edges (especially with a glass or glass like material) or phone back taking on any impacts. It’s truly amazing the difference that a mm of silicone can make!
Agreed, still rocking the N4 completely naked. Cases make everything feel cheap and clunky.
i completely agree. historically, i pay top dollar for factory unlocked phones – i never use cases on them and haven’t broken one yet. no regrets for having broken a $700 device shortly after buying it.
granted most of those devices were all from Nokia (built like tanks) but some were considerably more fragile looking than others (E7-00, N900, etc).
the only thing i have a case on is my 10″ tablet – and that’s just to provide a built-in stand so i can prop it up without having to carry around a second “thing” wherever i bring the tablet.
Yea, I have a case/stand for my nexus 7 but that is because I like standing it up. And I don’t know, I didn’t go for looks or portability on a tablet. Being a bit bigger doesn’t bug me. But something like the Moto X had a lot of work put into it to make it look nice, why ruin that?
Its not glass its coated with a special polymer….so its seemless with the gorilla glass but not glass but strong…if you ever worked on housing projects this type of polymer is used on glass surfaces n such so its not exactly glass like it wouldnt break it may chip if you drop it hard enough but then again any material will
Thanks for the heads up!
I’m confused – is the screen we’re making contact with glass or is there a polymer over it?
im assuming its like glass front plate is either coated with a thin layer of polymer that thicken around the sides of the device making it appear seemless…thus adding strength also to the front glass
Even though it is called “Magic glass” or “Gorilla Glass” ,it isnt really actual glass. It is probably some kind of special strengthened transparent polymer (plastic) material.
Glass is nowadays used as a generic name for anything transparent.
knowledge
Is power.
Moto does all kinds of drop testing on their phones. If they can’t handle being dropped (or having things dropped onto them) they don’t get released until they can. Not to say that hitting the ground at just the right angle might not find a weak spot, but a typical fall won’t hurt it.
THATS A SEXY PHONE!
Sounds like a terrible idea, glass sides? Really?
sigh…please see my post below…articles misleading
Interesting, thanks for the clarification.
sorry for the sigh i reread it and it sounded rude of me lol
another phone that Verizon won’t have to offer until it is 5-6 months old and almost past normal life span of that version
not if you buy straight from moto/googleplay
not if google only offers gsm models
yeah but i think this device will be different…moto n verizon are very close and they want this phone on all carriers
I hope your right. While I’m an att user an not a Verizon fan (ex user) I don’t feel any of the carriers should be left in the cold when it comes to new devices.
I’m not a fan of exclusive devices at all. Let your service speak for itself not “we have this phone that they don’t so you have to come here if you want it” bs
I sure hope so. If Moto makes this a universal phone with radio support for all US wireless bands you could take it to any carrier by just switching your SIM card. If it has Verizon LTE radios in it, it would be illegal for them not to allow it on their network as per their C-block agreement. (Though there are some regional and prepaid carriers who would still block access.)
In the UK certain carriers don’t stock certain phones so you instead go to a shop like phones4u where they re-sell phones and contract. This was you pick the handset and network of your choice and you are done. Do you not have that option at all in the US?
Not witht he difference in gsm and CDMA we don’t and the 4 nation wide carries have a stranglehold on pricing and competition
I knew it was different (paying to receive calls right, what’s up with that?) but it’s hard to understand how much. Do you think it will change at all as you move to 4G as they are all using the same LTE right?
Unlikely…..as our US carriers are so greedy that they block the LTE bands of other US carriers and any phone other than the ones they issue themselves. Government legislation is also unlikely to pass that would stop this anti-competitive practice since our government legislators are busy filling their pockets with dollars from these carriers to keep this practice in place. Sadly, our government is no longer “for the people, by the people”, but instead….”for the corporations, by the corporations”.
You paint a dire picture :( I like a lot of things about the US but the political system doesn’t make the list.
You only have the story half right. Veirzon and Sprint since they are CDMA can block any phone they don’t sell and the phones have to be enabled to run on their network. T-Mobile & AT&T who utilize GSM have to allow any phone with compatible bands onto their network. I have bought phones from the UK and have used them here just by putting the SIM card into the phone.
With LTE, Verizon and Sprint will be a bit more open because they need SIM cards. If you noticed, the new Nexus 7 LTE version will run on T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon.
Mr Politis, you win the Internet! Good Show man! :)
(my silly way of showing happiness that SOMEONE else realizes the difference between broken-CDMA-carriers and perfectly-normal-GSM-carriers)
only if you buy the device from the carrier.
buy it factory unlocked and get a phone with whatever bands you want. pay full retail for it but save $ in the long run.
this has been a valid approach with US GSM carriers for well over a decade. only the CDMA side of the US market is broken and backward; the GSM side operates just like the euro carriers do.
No. They all have different bands they use for LTE.
The US cell market is VERY different from yours. Verizon is CDMA. Verizon only allows authorized devices on their network.
just one more reason to boycott VZW.
the US cell market isn’t that differnt from the UK – just the CDMA carriers are. the GSM carriers operate pretty much exactly as any other GSM carrier does in the rest of the world. pop your SIM into any device with support for the proper bands and you’re good to go.
CDMA networks? they STILL don’t even support a proper 3G standard. i just wish CDMA would die an ugly death already.
you have that option if you go with GSM devices – CDMA carriers over here are just awful. our GSM carriers work just as yours do in the UK though.
So what will the heat be like touching the screen? My Razr already gets hot enough.
it’ll double as a portable egg frier
What time will the Moto X event start on Thursday? Will there be a live stream? I cant seem to find the answers to these questions…
It’s a closed off event. No live stream, no blog, nothing. You won’t get any information until it’s all over at 1pm (I think).
well…that sucks!
I know. Motorola is really going all out with the hype on this guy. And it’s certainly working on me. This press embargo thing is going to drive me nuts. I hope there are live leaks but I wouldn’t count on anything.
Seriously? Who LAUNCHES a phone at a closed event???
man you guys need someone to work on the weekend that way when news breaks big or small he can cover it
Magic…really?
Doesn’t Apple have magic trademarked? Just wait for the lawsuits.
Maybe someday phones will be lite enough and contoured just right that when dropped they just float down like a piece of paper or feather.
I wish! ha
Sounds cool.
you know what would be funny if Motorola/Google we’re all trolling us and the phone was some 5 in 1080 P Octocore beast
Don’t let Chavez touch one.