Google and Motorola have finally lifted the veil on their latest flagship smartphone the Motorola Moto X, and people are very interested about this much-hyped device.

It’s not because of the technical specifications — the Moto X doesn’t brings anything new to the table — but because of its features and customization options.  Unfortunately, though it was rumored that the Moto X will have a lower price than most high-end smartphones in the market, it’s actually priced in the same range.  The customization feature may be what brought about the high price tag.  But if you think about it, the ability to customize your own smartphone with 18 colors and materials for the back of the device, different accents for the ring around the camera lens and the volume and on-off buttons, the price bump may not be too bad.  After all, what other OEM offers this kind of customization?

Enough babbling, let’s get on with the comparison.  I know you’re dying to find out how the Moto X stacks up to other smartphones.  So let’s get on with it!

Design

 

Moto X: Front and back panels may be customized with various colors and materials, curved design for a more comfortable hold

Galaxy S4: Special polycarbonate body, slim bezel, wide display, unique textured design

iPhone 5: Anodized 6000 series aluminum body, ceramic glass or pigmented glass inlays that gives it the two-toned look, diamond-Cut beveled edge, first Retina display with integrated touch technology that makes it the thinnest, lightest, fastest iPhone – according to Apple.

HTC One: Sleek aluminum body, live home screen, dual front stereo speakers

Xperia Z: Slim body, reflective durable front and back glass, glass fibre polyamide frame, OmniBalance design, dust and water resistant

BlackBerry Z10: Though it looks a lot like the iPhone 5, it’s sleek and simple design claimed the Red Dot Award for Product Design 2013.

Lumia 1020: Polycarbonate body, with physical buttons, convex back

Optimus G Pro: Smooth metallic highlights done with Laser Cut Contour and a unibody with a clean finish

Dimensions

 

Moto X: Height 129.3 mm x Width 65.3 mm x Depth varies from 5.6 mm to 10.4 mm, Weight 130g

Galaxy S4: 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm, 130g

iPhone 5: 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm, 112 g

HTC One: 137.4mm  x 68.2 mm x  9.3mm, 143 g

Xperia Z: 139 x 71 x 7.9 mm, 146 g

BlackBerry Z10: 130 x 65.6 x 9 mm, 137.5 g

Lumia 1020: 130.4  x 71.4 x 10.4 mm, 158g

Optimus G Pro: 150.2 x 76.1 x 9.4 mm, 172 g

Display

 

Moto X: 4.7” AMOLED display, 1280 x 720 resolution, 316 pixels per inch

Galaxy S4: 5-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 1080 x 1920 pixels, ~441 ppi pixel density, topped with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. multitouch

iPhone 5: 4” Retina display with 1136 x 640 resolution and 326 ppi, Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front

HTC One:  4.7 inch  Super LCD 3 display, Full HD 1080p, 468 PPI, Gorilla Glass 2, multitouch

Xperia Z: 5-inch shatter-proof and scratch resistant tempered glass, Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2, TFT capacitive touchscreen, 1080 x 1920 pixels, ~441 ppi pixel density, multitouch, OptiContrast™ panel

BlackBerry Z10: 4.1” 1280 x 768 resolution, 356ppi, IPS LCD, All-touch screen, with intuitive gesture based navigation

Lumia 1020: 4.5 ” ClearBlack AMOLED with super-sensitive touch technology featuring PureMotion HD+, Brightness control, High brightness mode, Refresh rate 60 Hz, easy to clean sculpted glass, Nokia Glance screen, Lumia Color profile, Wide viewing angle, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Sunlight readability enhancements

Optimus G Pro: True Full HD IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.5 inches (~401 ppi pixel density), multitouch

Processor

 

Moto X: 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro

Galaxy S4:Exynos 5 Octa 5410, 1.9GHz quad-core or 1.6GHz octa-core processor, depending on what region you’re from,

iPhone 5: A6 – Apple engineered chip – dual-core 1.2 GHz

HTC One: Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, quad-core, 1.7GHz,

Xperia Z: Qualcomm S4 Pro Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait

BlackBerry Z10: Qualcomm Snapdragon Dual Core 1.5 GHz

Lumia 1020: Dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4

Optimus G Pro: Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600, Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300,

Memory/Storage

 

Moto X: 16GB, can be upgraded to 32GB as part of the customization option – avialable for $50 on AT&T, two years of free 50GB on Google Drive, 2GB RAM

Galaxy S4: 16/32/64 GB storage, can be upgraded with up to 64GB of storage via microSD, 2GB of RAM

iPhone 5: 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB, 2GB RAM

HTC One: 32GB and 64GB, 2GB RAM

Xperia Z: 16 GB, upgradable with 64GB microSD, 2GB RAM

BlackBerry Z10: 16GB, can be upgraded to up to 64GB via microSD, 2GB RAM

Lumia 1020: 32BG mass memory, 7 GB free SkyDrive cloud storage, 2GB RAM

Optimus G Pro: 32 GB, upgradable with 64GB microSD, 2GB RAM

Battery

 

Moto X: 2,200 mAh, 13 hours talk-time, 24 hours standby time

Galaxy S4: 2600 mAh Li-Ion removable battery

iPhone 5: 1,440 mAh, Talk time – Up to 8 hours on 3G; Browsing time – Up to 8 hours on LTE, Up to 8 hours on 3G, Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi; Standby time – Up to 225 hours

HTC One: 2300 mAh embedded rechargeable Li-polymer battery

Xperia Z:  Non-removable Li-Ion 2330 mAh battery, Battery STAMINA mode for longer battery life, Up to 550 h (2G) / Up to 530 h (3G) on standby, Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 14 h (3G) talk time, Up to 40 h music play

BlackBerry Z10: 1800mAH removable battery, Up to 10 hours talk time (3G), Up to 13 days standby time

*Note: Battery life claims are for Model STL100-3

Lumia 1020:  2000 mAh built-in battery with a maximum 2G talk time of 19.1 hours, maximum 3G talk time of 13.3 h, music playback time of 63 h, video playback time of 6.8 h, maximum WiFi network browsing time of 5.5 h, and supports wireless charging via an accessory cover.

Optimus G Pro:  Li-Po 3140 mAh battery

Operating System

 

Moto X: Android 4.2.2 JellyBean

Galaxy S4: Android 4.2.2 JellyBean

iPhone 5: iOS 6

HTC One: Android with HTC Sense

Xperia Z: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

BlackBerry Z10: BlackBerry 10

Lumia 1020: Windows Phone 8

Optimus G Pro: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

Camera

 

Moto X: 10MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, gesture based camera UI

Galaxy S4: rear camera – 13MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, front camera – 2 MP, 1080p@30fps, dual video call, Dual Shot, Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization, HDR

iPhone 5: 8MP iSight camera that features Autofocus, Tap to focus, LED flash, Backside illumination sensor, Five-element lens, Face detection, Hybrid IR filter, ƒ/2.4 aperture, Panorama and improved video recording feature now with face detection and enhanced image stabilization, 30fps; 1.2MP FaceTime camera with 720p HD video and Backside illumination sensor

HTC One: HTC UltraPixel Camera, BSI sensor, Pixel size 2.0 µm, Sensor size 1/3′, Dedicated HTC ImageChip 2, F2.0 aperture and 28 mm lens, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), Smart Flash: Five levels of flash automatically set by distance to subject, Front Camera –  2.1 MP, 880 wide angle lens with HDR capability, 1080p Full HD video recording for both front and back cameras, HDR Video, Continuous shooting and VideoPic, Slow motion video recording with variable speed playback, HTC Zoe with HTC Zoe Highlights and HTC Zoe Share, Retouch with Object Removal, Group Retouch, and Sequence Shot

Xperia Z: Exmor RS rear camera – 13.1 MP, 4128×3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, front camera – 2.2 MP, 1080p@30fps, sweep panorama, geo-tagging, touch focus, HDR, face detection

BlackBerry Z10: front camera – HD 1.2 MP wide angle, 1280 x 960 pixels, f/2.4, capable of video recording, still image capture, video call; rear camera – 41 MP, PureView, 7712 x 5360 camera resolution, with autofocus , Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, 1/1.5 inch sensor size, f/2.2 aperture, 26mm camera focal length, 15cm minimum focus range, JPEG camera image format, Xenon flash, 4.0m flash operating range, with on, off and automatic flash modes.

Lumia 1020: 8MP auto-focus camera, Back Side Illumination for better low-light performance, 5-element F2.2 lens, flash, continuous and touch to focus, image stabilization, 5 x digital zoom, 1080p HD video recording, Time Shift mode for pinpointing and adjusting individual elements of your picture; Front camera – 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera, Image and video stabilization, 3x digital zoom, 720p HD video recording.

Optimus G Pro: rear camera – 13 MP, autofocus, LED flash, front camera –  2.1 MP, 1080p@30fps, geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization, Smart Shutter, Time Catch Shot, Cheese Shutter

Price

 

Moto X: $199 with a two-year carrier contract, no news yet as to how much the device alone costs, but Motorola says a more affordable version will be coming soon

Galaxy S4: $199 with a two-year carrier contract

iPhone 5: $199 with a two-year carrier contract

HTC One: $199 with a two-year carrier contract

Xperia Z: $600 or $25 for 24 months on T-Mobile

BlackBerry Z10: $99.99 with a two-year contract, $439.99 full price

Lumia 1020: $299.99 with a two-year contract, $659.99 full price

Optimus G Pro: $99.99 with a two-year contract, $439.99

Special features

 

Moto X: Always-on screen notifications, Always-on voice commands, quick camera launch, new UI,

Galaxy S4: Smart Screen – Smart Stay, Smart Pause, Smart Rotation, Smart Scroll; Air Gesture, WatchOn, ChatOn, AirView, Group Play, S Health, wireless charging cover, S Translator, Sound and Shot, Dual Shot, Cinema Photo, Drama Shot

iPhone 5: Retina Display, iSight camera, Ultrafast Wireless, Maps, EarPods, Lightning connector, enhanced Siri, Passbook, Panorama mode, iCloud, AirPlay – provided you have an Apple TV, AirPrint – provided you have an AirPrint enabled printer.

HTC One:  BlinkFeed, HTC Zoe, HTC UltraPixel Camera, HTC BoomSound with Beats Audio integration, HTC Sense TV

Xperia Z: Water resistant – one meter, 30 minutes; dust-resistant, PlayStation Mobile, PlayMemories, Xperia Care, Battery STAMINA Mode, One-touch mirroring with NFC technology

BlackBerry Z10:  BlackBerry Balance, BlackBerry Magnify,  Teletypewriter (TTY) Support, micro HDMI, BlackBerry Flow, BlackBerry Hub, BlackBerry Keyboard, BBM Video with Share Screen, Camera with Time Shift

Lumia 1020: 41MP camera, physical camera buttons, camera apps

Optimus G Pro: Quick Memo, Live Zooming, Screen Zooming, Message Wallpaper, Icon personalizer, Application Link, Dual Screen, QSLIDE

The Verdict

 

As I’ve said, nothing about the Moto X’s technical specifications is jaw-dropping.  We’ve seen it before, we’ve seen better.  The best part about the Moto X is the customization options.  The best way to customize other smartphones is to buy cases or covers, but with the Moto X, you can order it with the specifications you like.

The price tag may not be something consumer will be happy with, but the ability to customize the device may outweigh the price.  What’s concerning is the always-on voice control, as it could possibly be used to spy on people, especially if hacked.  But as the world of connected devices continues to grow, we expect more gadgets to come with more sensors in the coming years.