The Motorola device we’ve all been waiting for was finally unveiled today. That being the new device with a little Google input known as the Moto X. While there’s plenty to be excited about, and we truly are enjoying this phone, more details have surfaced about the price that has us a bit concerned. AT&T has confirmed the full outright off contract price will start at $575.
Earlier Motorola officially announced the new X, and confirmed it will run users $199 for the 16GB model, and $249 for the 32GB flavor. Those are with a 2-year contract. Then all those customizations will be free, but are only available (initially) from AT&T. Early leaks suggested the price would undercut the Nexus 4, which made sense given the specs, but sadly that didn’t happen.
While talking with AT&T we’ve confirmed the 16GB Moto X will be $575 if you buy it outright from the carrier, and opt to not sign a new 2-year contract. The 32GB model will run you $629. That certainly is a lot of cash, especially when you consider the more powerful, bigger, full HD devices like an HTC One and Galaxy S4 are roughly the same price.
Then, you can’t forget the completely unlocked and stock LG Nexus 4 comes in at $299, and $349 for the 8 and 16GB model direct from Google. A phone that has a similar 4.7-inch 720p display, but offers a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro vs the S4 Pro dual-core in the Moto X. As a reminder though, the Nexus 4 sold for a lot more than $299 from carriers themselves vs from Google’s Play Store, so maybe we’ll see a cheaper Moto X soon.
So far Motorola got everything right with the X, except for one thing, and that is the price. $99 and $149 on contract would make this news a lot better, and we’ll have to wait and see how it fairs against the competition. Check out all our X coverage below.
This turned out to be a big disappointment.
Absolutely ridiculous.. Why would I pick this over an HTC One? Because I can pick a pretty back cover color? Wow….
Or maybe because you’re not a fan of HTC Sense and would prefer a near stock Android UI. Also maybe you feel that buying a phone from a Google subsidiary might give you a better chance at timely Android OS version updates beyond the first year of the phone’s life, which is just about when HTC will stop giving a crap about the folks that bought the H One; planned obsolescence really sucks.
Um? HTC One comes with stock Android through the Google Play Store for about the same price ($599) and it has better specs. Well worth the extra $15 if you ask me.
Can’t activate Play Store Edition on Verizon or Sprint.
two thumbs down
Uh, no
The first hands on reviews say the phone is fast and excellent. The pricing is a big disappointment though. I was hoping that the pricing was going to be nexus like. I was going to cancel my verizon account and go to t-mo and go for this phone. But now if I go to T-Mo is going to probably be the Nexus 4.
Remember though, most people are not like us gadget geeks. If the phone just works properly, and they can customize the look, I do think a lot of people are going to go for this phone.
The rest of us can go for an HTC one, Nexus 4 pay for the jump program and wait for the nexus 5.
Yeah i think they are going after iphone users. worse specs same price but you can choose the color
Still better than an iPhone.. but yes, they are going after the mass market millions of people. Not the enthusiasts like us.
Either way, it’s still an awesome phone.
so expensive? wait fot nexus5~~~
The moto x is so expensive because of the 500million dollars publicity compain , if there was not publicity , it would’ve cost less than 500 dollars :/
I’m starting to understand why they didn’t have a livestream for this phone.
FAIL
The phone is too expensive, especially for the hardware in it. $300 would have been reasonable. I guess a bunch of Americans in Texas will be out of a job after this thing fails…
wow haha…. Motorola must have laughed so hard at those reports saying the Moto X would be $199-$299
720p and 2,200mAH battery are 100% NO deal for me.
A cam feature and case color options can’t bring Motorola back to life.
I’m VERY disappointed, Google and Motorola can do something really AWESOME.
Made in USA is a BIG +, but it doesn’t look and feel like made in USA, it even doesn’t have Made in USA LABEL ON IT!!!
Moto x the sim free version is costly, as compare with others.
The people complaining about this phone need to realize it was designed, made, and assembled entirely from a domestic standpoint and the price goes up when employees are paid 9 – 15 times as much as employees in china are (a lot of chinese employees make only 1 dollar an hour vs 9.25 at minimum for people making the Moto X) You pay more for domestically created and built good most of the time or at least things made in the “western world” (this includes japan)
Maybe I’ll shell up the cash to go prepaid, but I’d rather just buy a refurb GS3 on eBay for around $300 less.
Obviously far too much value is being placed on this idea of being able to design your phone. Great phone with all the contextual awareness but placing this much price on it simply because of the customization is a huge fail. I don’t even begin to see the market share. Now if it was an iPhone you could do this to I’d see it because of the type of buyer but not elsewhere.