Design
Although the Moto X shares a lot of its internals with the MAXX, when you have it in hand they are worlds apart. Part of that is related to the small difference in screen size, but along with that the shape of the Moto X is different. The corners are a little more rounded and the screen doesn’t push as close to the top and bottom of the phone. It’s actually very close in shape to the Nexus 4, other than the slight size difference.
Where the Moto X stands out the most is on the back of the phone where the entire back is rounded. The rounded back has its camera centered on the top of the back with a single LED flash directly below it. The speaker phone is hardly visible, but is to the right of the camera in a slightly perforated section. The back of our test phone is black but Verizon also has it available in white as well through their store. You also have the option to actually build your own phone with 18 different back panel colors, two front panel colors, and 7 accent colors. The only thing that was sad for me was the lack of orange as an option on the back panel. Even so, you can’t beat the options and this is one of the biggest reasons to consider the Moto X in my opinion. They even went above and beyond the colors with options to be able set a greeting that will show when you boot the phone , pick the wallpaper that it will have when you get the phone, and even pre-set your google account for an even quicker activation.
All of the Moto X’s physical buttons can all be found on the right side of the phone up near the top. You get a fairly standard up/down volume control as well as the power button. Unlike the MAXX, the volume doesn’t pull out and house the SIM card as well, so freaking people out by pulling the volume knob off isn’t a possibility. You can find the SIM slot on the opposite side, to open it you will need the small tool included with the phone.
On the top edge of the Moto X you have the headphone jack for easy use as an MP3 player when the phone is in your pocket. On the opposite end you have the USB charging port.
On the front of the phone, beyond its screen, you get the same old. You have a small microphone hole in the bottom as well as a thin slit up top for your earpiece. They also slipped in the 2MP front facing camera just to the right of the earpiece.
